Terror threat perception and its consequences in contemporary Britain

The terrorist attacks of 9/11, and subsequent terrorist acts around the world, have alerted social psychologists to the need to examine the antecedents and consequences of terrorist threat perception. In these two studies we examined the predictive power of demographic factors (age, sex, location), individual values and normative influences on threat perception and the consequences of this perception for behavioural change and close relationships. In study 1 (N = 100) gender, benevolence values and normative influences were all correlates of threat perception, whilst sense of personal threat was correlated with increased contact with friends and family. In study 2 (N = 240) age, sex, location, and the values of Openness to Change and Hedonism, all predicted threat perception, which in turn predicted behavioural change and relationship contact. Such findings point to the important role social psychologists should play in understanding responses to these new terrorist threats

Economic and Religious Choice: A Case-Study from Early Christian Communities

The aim of this paper is to elaborate an evaluative framework of religious choice within the early Christian communities reconstructed through the narrative of a New Testament Epistle, 2Peter, based on an economic approach to moral dilemmas identified in this context. Thus the work concentrates on the stances, attitudes and social practices of deviant members who engaged in free-riding within early Christian congregations and were exposed to serious self-control problems. In our attempt to employ economic theories of religion, we are in a position to better assess the efficiency of early Christian responses to the entry of competing groups in the religious market of this era, as well as to identify and explore the sort of criteria that determine the intertemporal choices of distinct religious actors.choice and markets, religious consumption, free-riding

The causal effect of maternal age at marriage on child wellbeing: evidence from India

We use nationally representative household data from India to establish the intergenerational effect of early marriage on a broad set of health and educational investments and outcomes, and to explicate the underlying mechanisms. The empirical strategy utilizes variation in age at menarche to obtain exogenous variation in the age at marriage. We find that delayed marriage results in significantly better child health and educational outcomes. We further analyze a subsample of uneducated child brides to show that the age at marriage matters by itself, independently of its effects via the woman’s educational attainment and her marriage market outcome. From a household-decision-making perspective, the effects appear to be due (at least in part) to a reduction in desired and actual fertility as a result of later marriage, which may be associated with a quantity/quality tradeoff

Research governance in children's services: the scope for new advice (Research report DFE-RR072)

"In 2009, following a period of informal consultation with key stakeholders, the former DCSF commissioned the work reported here, with the following overarching aims: to identify and evaluate existing arrangements for research governance and ethics review in children’s services in England; and to make recommendations for the future development of those governance arrangements, with the overall goal of ensuring a more coherent and transparent system, that is proportionate to the governance needs and ethical risks in research with users of children’s services." - Page iii

Is unemployment insurable? Employers and the institutionalization of the risk of unemployment

In order to shed light on the recent debates that are reinterpreting the role played by organized employers in the development of modern social policy, this paperexamines the origin of the system of contributory unemployment insurance during the Weimar period. Contrary to the claims of the laborist accounts of the origin ofthe modern welfare state that view the working class as the most important protagonist behind the transition from 'assistance' to 'insurance' policies, this paperargues that employers dissatisfaction with the means-tested system ofunemployment assistance and employers endorsement of an insurance solution tothe risk of unemployment was the decisive factor leading to the introduction of theinsurance system during the Weimar period.Drawing on original archival material, this paper reconstructs the political preferences of employers towards various institutional solutions to the risk of unemployment and focuses on a sectoral conflict between employers of large andsmall firms over the organization of the risk pool within the system of unemploymentinsurance. While the existing literature concerned with the political role played by employers in the development of the modern welfare state fails to provide the analytical elements for an understanding of employers preference towards social policies, this paper attempts to address this limitation of the existing literature by providing the microfoundations for an understanding of sectoral differences in thedegree of employers support for alternative social policies -- In diesem Diskussionspapier wird die politische Entwicklung während der WeimarerPeriode von dem System der Arbeitslosenfürsorge zur Arbeitslosenversicherung analysiert, um die Diskussion zur Rolle der organisierten Arbeit-geber bei derEntwicklung der modernen Sozialpolitik neuerlich zu beleuchten. Das Ergebnis der Analyse widerspricht der power-resource- Theorie. Im Gegensatz zu den laborists, die die Arbeiterklasse als wichtigsten Protagonisten für das Entstehendes modernen Wohlfahrtsstaates sehen, wird hier die Meinung vertreten, daß die Unzufriedenheit der Arbeitgeber mit einem System der Arbeitslosenfürsorge und ihreBevorzugung eines Systems der Arbeits-losenversicherung der letztlichentscheidende politische Faktor war, der die Einführung einerArbeitslosenversicherung ermöglichte.Auf der Basis der historischen Quellen wird in diesem Beitrag die politischeHaltung der Arbeitgeber für unterschiedliche institutionelle Lösungen des Risikos Arbeitslosigkeit analysiert. Dabei geht es besonders um den Konflikt zwischen Groß- und Kleinunternehmen über die Gestaltung des Risiko-Pools innerhalb derArbeitslosenversicherung. In den vorliegenden Publikationen zur politischen Rolleder Unternehmer bei der Entwicklung des Wohlfahrtsstaates werden keine Argumente für eine Analyse vorgelegt, die zu einem Verstehen der Präferenz der Arbeitgeber für sozialpolitische Regelungen beitragen. In dem vorliegenden Papierwird versucht, diese Selbstbeschränkung in der vorhandenen Literatur in den Blickzu nehmen und die Ansätze einer Theorie der politischen Präferenzen der Unternehmen für verschiedene Sozialpolitiken zu entwickeln und so einen Beitragzur theoretischen Literatur über die Rolle der Unternehmer bei der Entwicklung derSozialpolitik zu leisten.

Technology, Information and the Decentralization of the Firm

This paper develops a framework to analyze the relationship between the diffusion of new technologies and the decentralization decisions of firms. Centralized control relies on the information of the principal, which we equate with publicly available information. However, the manager can use her informational advantage to make choices that are not in the best interest of the principal. As the available public information about the specific technology increases, the trade-off shifts in favor of centralization. We show that firms closer to the technological frontier, firms in more heterogeneous environments and younger firms are more likely to choose decentralization. Using three datasets of French and British firms in the 1990s we report robust correlations consistent with these predictions.

Improving the Reproductive Health of Married and Unmarried Youth in India

Provides insights and lessons learned from a ten-year multi-partner research program to improve youth reproductive and sexual health in India. Includes recommendations to strengthen community and government efforts

Technology, Information and the Decentralization of the Firm

This paper develops a framework to analyze the relationship between the diffusion of new technologies and the decentralization decisions of firms. Centralized control relies on the information of the principal, which we equate with publicly available information. Decentralized control, on the other hand, delegates authority to a manager with superior information. However, the manager can use her informational advantage to make choices that are not in the best interest of the principal. As the available public information about the specific technology increases, the trade-off shifts in favour of centralization. We show that firms closer to the technological frontier, firms in more heterogeneous environments and younger firms are more likely to choose decentralization. Using three datasets of French and British firms in the 1990s, we report robust correlations consistent with these predictions.Decentralization, heterogeneity, learning, the theory of the firm

Optimising paediatric afferent component early warning systems : a hermeneutic systematic literature review and model development

Objective: To identify the core components of successful early warning systems for detecting and initiating action in response to clinical deterioration in paediatric inpatients. Methods: A hermeneutic systematic literature review informed by translational mobilisation theory and normalisation process theory was used to synthesise 82 studies of paediatric and adult early warning systems and interventions to support the detection of clinical deterioration and escalation of care. This method, which is designed to develop understanding, enabled the development of a propositional model of an optimal afferent component early warning system. Results: Detecting deterioration and initiating action in response to clinical deterioration in paediatric inpatients involves several challenges, and the potential failure points in early warning systems are well documented. Track and trigger tools (TTT) are commonly used and have value in supporting key mechanisms of action but depend on certain preconditions for successful integration into practice. Several supplementary interventions have been proposed to improve the effectiveness of early warning systems but there is limited evidence to recommend their wider use, due to the weight and quality of the evidence; the extent to which systems are conditioned by the local clinical context; and the need to attend to system component relationships, which do not work in isolation. While it was not possible to make empirical recommendations for practice, the review methodology generated theoretical inferences about the core components of an optimal system for early warning systems. These are presented as a propositional model conceptualised as three subsystems: detection, planning and action. Conclusions: There is a growing consensus of the need to think beyond TTTs in improving action to detect and respond to clinical deterioration. Clinical teams wishing to improve early warning systems can use the model to consider systematically the constellation of factors necessary to support detection, planning and action and consider how these arrangements can be implemented in their local context