The divided continent: Understanding Europe’s social landscape in 2020 and beyond. European Policy Centre 11 February 2020

The political upheaval and dysfunction of recent years have focused political minds on better understanding the volatility underpinning European electorates. Interest in public opinion research has soared, yet it can be difficult to draw the findings of such surveys and focus groups into something meaningful and cohesive, from which genuine insights can be drawn. It is pertinent that policymakers at both the national and EU institutional levels grasp a clear and incisive idea of what is taking place culturally, socially and politically in EU member states, and that these tea leaves can be interpreted and harnessed to produce responsive, targeted policies. This research analysis report sets out the findings of a major survey conducted across 13 EU member states (i.e. Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands), which were selected to provide a representative snapshot of the bloc as a whole. This survey was expansive in its scope and unique in its focus on social and cultural issues, as well as politics, leadership and economic security. The data is interpreted through three distinct themes, each of which is likely to play a critical role in Europe’s ‘mood music’ over its coming parliamentary term: nostalgia, intergenerational conflict and democratic legitimacy. These themes have become the subject of much amateur punditry, although institutional understanding of their complex nature is often shallow. Therefore, this paper seeks to shine a more evidenced-based contextual light around their formation and nuances of application

Cost Structure of the Portuguese Water Industry: a Cubic Cost Function Application

The main scope of this paper is to confirm, or otherwise, the idea usually presented in national reports and strategic programmes for the water sector that the Portuguese water market is a natural monopoly. Based on a multi-product approach (considering the m3 of potable water delivered and wastewater collected as the outputs) we use a cubic functional specification to estimate water utilities cost function, and then to look for the presence of economies of scale and of scope. The estimated results show that the average production scale is below the estimated minimum efficient scale and that large utilities have moderate overall diseconomies of scale and scope. In addition, there are moderate economies of scope from the joint production of potable water and wastewater collection up to the minimum efficient scale, suggesting advantages in merging small and medium sized contiguous water utilities. Sufficient conditions for subadditivity of costs are not verified throughout the range of outputs, allowing us to conclude that the Portuguese water industry is not a natural monopoly for all output vectors.cubic function, multi-product cost function, water utilities, regulatory policy

The moral microfoundations of institutional complexity: Sustainability implementation as compromise-making at an oil sands company

Research on institutional complexity has overlooked the fact that moral judgements are likely involved when individuals face a plurality of logics within organizations. To analyze the moral microfoundations of institutional complexity, we build on Boltanski and Thévenot’s (2006 [1991]) economies of worth (EW) framework and explore how individuals produce moral judgement in response to the institutional complexity triggered by a major shift in the sustainability strategy within an oil sands company. Fifty-two interviews with employees, managers and executives reveal how actors rely on four types of justification that combine different moral principles and related objects with the aim of either forming (sheltering and solidifying work) or challenging (fragilizing and deconstructing work) a new compromise with regard to sustainability within the organization. Our results show how the EW framework can enrich institutional complexity theory by bringing morality back into the analysis as a core dimension of inhabited institutions while advancing the microanalysis of compromise-making around sustainability in organization studies

Stakeholder involvement in the selection of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)-focussed voluntary standards within the food / agri-business industry

This study examines issues concerning the sustainable sourcing of raw materials in the food manufacturing sector, with a specific focus on the utilization of third-party, externally-recognised certification standards. The research is set within the context of debates surrounding the use of externally certified certification standards as a means of generating credibility in the supply chains and communities in developing countries. The findings inform the theoretical debate regarding stakeholder theory and the integration of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in business activity, particularly with regards to impacts on biodiversity. The theoretical positioning of the thesis is in two areas. Regarding stakeholder theory, the findings recognise the conflicting views within stakeholder theory relating to the motivations of businesses that implement sustainable business practices. Secondly, the thesis is positioned within the theoretical debate relating to the sources of notions of legitimacy. The research informs the position taken by Gilbert (2010) that the normative nature of voluntary standards is prone to being ‘decoupled’ from the realities of organisational practices. The research question considers the extent to which voluntary certification standards are an effective method of generating legitimacy within stakeholder groups beyond owners and managers. The research objectives are to consider whether certification standards are implemented strategically by ‘best practice’ business managers within food manufacturing, and whether managers consider the implementation of such certification standards as a route to securing and generating credibility and legitimacy amongst their stakeholder groups. This thesis is the product of a mixed-methods research strategy, combining qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. The quantitative element demonstrates the construction of an ‘Environmental Management and Stakeholder Engagement’ (EMSR) composite index to identify best-practice companies in the global food manufacturing sector, and incorporating quantitative analysis using correlation, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) linear regression, and logistic regression methods. Methods combine with the EMSR Index to focus on the management systems and certification standard-related practices of a ‘best-practice’ sub-set of the Composite Index sample of constituent companies to determine relationships between the composite index outcome score, and elements including operational presence, company size and certification commitments. Following the identification of best-practice companies in the food sector, a case study approach analyses considers (i) best-practice company approaches to sustainable sourcing, company strategy and certification-standard participation, and (ii) RSPO and Rainforest Alliance certification standard-providers, to understand the extent that standard design incorporates affected stakeholders in developing countries. The findings provide an empirical account of the level of integration achieved by the best-practice companies in developing stakeholder engagement channels and relationships with the supply chain. The quantitative analysis supports the null hypothesis that claims that no wealth bias exists. Furthermore, only a weak relationship is identified between the extent that a company has quality internal management systems and engagement channels with stakeholders, and a weak relationship is identified between such commitments and the size or location of the parent company: that size and location do not impact on the quality of stakeholder engagement and environmental management systems. The case study findings challenge the use of certification standards as an effective means of establishing legitimacy within the supply chain and community stakeholders. Best-practice companies demonstrate clear steps to embed a sustainability-related ‘Strategic CSR’ approach to business within their business strategy. This approach features a combination of both instrumental and normative approaches to stakeholder theory, with the strategic embedding of stakeholder groups into its business activity representing an input-driven, ‘moral legitimacy’ approach. Best-practice food companies recognise standards as a means of achieving market transformation in areas of sustainable sourcing, and are used from a reputational-risk perspective, but not as a source of legitimacy. Certification standards are considered meaningful mechanisms for developing precompetitive relationships and collaboration. The lack of inclusiveness and representation of non-financial stakeholder interests in the design and governance structures of the observed standards make it difficult for participants to see such standards as being sources of moral legitimacy at local level, and particularly in developing countries

Gender differences in perceived workplace harassment and gender egalitarianism: A comparative cross-national analysis

Using 2015 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data on 38,179 individuals from 36 countries in 9 relatively homogeneous global regions, we analyze the gender differences and the gender gap in perceived workplace harassment (PWH) with particular attention to gender equality's and gender egalitarianism's roles in molding these differences. We find that despite large regional differences, women in most countries are more likely than men to perceive workplace harassment, although this likelihood is higher in countries that score favorably on our gender equality measures. Hence, political empowerment and better economic opportunities alter women's perceptions of workplace harassment, increasing the probability of their experiencing it. Our results also underscore the important roles of values and gender egalitarian practices. Whereas enhanced gender egalitarianism values increase women's perceptions of workplace harassment, concrete practices tend to reduce them. Especially for management, this result highlights the importance of actually implementing gender equality policies at a corporate level, because a discrepancy between corporate values and practices on this issue will only accentuate the perception of harassment

Gender inequality in Italy: a territorial analysis

Despite the principle of gender equality is by now recognized, also in Italy we are still far from its full achieving. There are several international indices to measure gender inequality at national level, but they cannot represent Italian heterogeneity. Thus, we have created a measure of gender gap, which allow a comparative analysis of the Italian Regions

Approach towards an operational tool to apply institutional analysis for the assessment of policy feasibility within SEAMLESS-IF

Environmental Economics and Policy,

Peer heterogeneity, school tracking and students'performances: evidence from Pisa 2006

This paper analyses the interaction between school tracking policies and peer effects in OECD countries. Using the PISA 2006 dataset, we show that the linear peer effects are stronger and more concave-shaped in the early-tracking educational system than in the comprehensive one. Second, and more interestingly, the effect of peer heterogeneity goes in opposite directions in the two systems. In both student- and school-level estimates, peer heterogeneity reduces students’ achievements in the comprehensive system while it has a positive impact in the early-tracking one. For late tracking countries, this result appears driven by pupils attending vocationally-oriented programs. Finally, peer effects are stronger for low ability students in both groups of countries.peer heterogeneity, peer effects; schooling tracking, educational production functions

Early Warning Systems in the Republic of Korea: Experiences, Lessons, and Future Steps

This paper examines the cases of the Early Warning System (EWS) in the Republic of Korea, which was introduced in the wake of 1997/98 Asian financial crisis in a policy effort to prevent its recurrence. The EWS in the Republic of Korea was expanded into a national system in 2005 incorporating the finance, real estate, commodities, and labor sectors. This paper provides the descriptions of each EWS sector and documents several episodes of their policy contributions. The past experiences suggest that quantitative models tend to have difficulty predicting a crisis due to the changing nature of crises. Hence, it is desirable that quantitative models are supplemented by qualitative analysis reinforcing EWSs with various methodologies. To improve economic surveillance and message delivery to guide proper policy actions, the independence of surveillance unit should be maintained and the scope of monitoring should be expanded to incorporate regions and markets other than domestic ones given the growing influences of the external sector on the domestic economy through trade and financial linkages.EWS; crisis; surveillance; monitoring; quantitative model; qualitative analysis