Child-related Financial Transfers and Early Childhood Education and Care: A Review of Key Developments, Impacts and Influences in Child-related Support to Families

This paper examines policies for the support of families with children, in particular child-related financial transfers and early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. The analysis is mainly focused on countries with institutionalized welfare states -- primarily Western European and other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries -- because that is where child-related benefits and services have the longest history. It focuses on the unfolding of the relevant transfers and services from the period of their inception in the early decades of the 20th century to the reforms that are currently underway. The paper highlights a number of core insights relevant to policy planning and decision-making for child-related transfers and ECEC services: Child-related financial transfers and ECEC services should not be seen as alternatives to each other, both are needed to provide continuous support across the life cycle. Children's needs and well-being should be at the forefront when these policies are designed and put in place. While this may appear self-evident, policies that are intended to meet several objectives can result in a situation where the needs of children are not at the heart of the measures that are assumed to benefit them. The paper also underlines the need for gender equality to be a frontline consideration in this (as in other) policy domains. This paper was produced for UN Women's flagship report Progress of the World's Women 2015-2016, and is released as part of the UN Women discussion paper series

Stotts\u27 Denial of Hiring and Promotion Preferences for Nonvictims: Draining the Spirit from Title VII

The author questions whether the dicta in a recent Supreme Court case, Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts, effectively narrow the scope of relief available under Title VII to non-victims. Specifically, the Court addressed affirmative action and the possible reparations under a Title VII employment race discrimination class action. The dicta in question appear to limit courts\u27 ability to grant relief to non-victims (individuals who were not named parties in an employment discrimination suit) in the form of consent decrees or post-trial injunctive relief. The author examines Supreme Court caselaw on affirmative action, the legislative history of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title VII before determining that race-based employment discrimination is inherently a group wrong. Therefore, limiting recovery and injunctive relief to members of the group who were not named parties in the suit betrays the spirit of Title VII and penalizes minority employees and job applicants

Teaching Integrity in the Professional Responsibility Curriculum: A Modest Proposal for Change

Aquest treball no té altre objectiu que introduir la qüestió de la recepció de l’obra de Charles Péguy (1873-1914) per Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003). Hi exposem algunes notes, donant la paraula molt sovint als propis escriptors, per tal que aquesta exposició descriptiva pugui resultar útil a desenvolupaments posteriors. Hem estructurat aquestes notes en quatre parts. En un primer moment introduirem la qüestió del lligam de Blanchot amb els entorns catòlics dels anys ’30, tot seguit, farem una lectura de l’article titulat «La solitude de Péguy», aparegut al Journal des débats el 1941 i recollit després al volum Faux pas de 1943, a continuació, parlarem de la qüestió política en relació amb la vocació de l’intel·lectual, que troba el seu origen en l’afer Dreyfus, i que Blanchot repensà a «Les intellectuels en question», i per acabar farem referència a la interpretació de la relació entre els dos autors proposada per Deleuze en dos cursos de principis dels anys ’80 i que concerneix sobretot la seva comprensió de l’esdeveniment.Ce travail n’a pour but que d’introduire la question de la réception de l’œuvre de Charles Péguy (1873-1914) par Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003). On y expose quelques notes à propos de cette question, en laissant très souvent la parole aux propres écrivains, de sorte que cette exposition descriptive puisse être utile à développements postérieurs. Nous avons structuré ces notes en quatre parties. Dans un premier moment nous allons introduire la question du rapport de Blanchot aux milieux catholiques des années ’30, ensuite, nous lirons l’article intitulé « La solitude de Péguy », paru au Journal des débats en 1941 et repris dans le volume Faux pas en 1943, à continuation, nous allons parler de la question politique concernant aux intellectuels, que trouve son origine à l’affaire Dreyfus, et que Blanchot a repris à « Les intellectuels en question », et pour finir nous ferons référence à l’interprétation du rapport entre les deux auteurs faite par Deleuze dans deux cours du début des années ’80 et qui concerne surtout sa compréhension de l’événement

Irish Perceptions of the Great Depression

This paper traces how the Great Depression was perceived in 1930s Ireland. Perceptions were complicated by internal political developments. Fianna Fáil, upon acceding to power in 1932, rapidly expanded protection and engaged in (near balanced budget) fiscal expansion. Despite the tariff war with Britain triggered by the land annuities dispute, Ireland appears to have weathered the storm better than most other European economies. The contemporary writings of academic economists reflected the influence of Lionel Robbins and the Austrian School, while – to paraphrase Ronan Fanning – the winds of change in Irish economics blew much more vigorously in the corridors of the public service.Great Depression, Ireland, Irish Economic Thought, Irish Economic Policy

Black-white wage inequality in the 1990s: a decade of progress

Using Current Population Survey data, we find that the gap between wages by black and white males declined during the 1990s at a rate of 0.59 percentage point per year. The reduction in occupational crowding appears to be most important in explaining this trend. Recent wage convergence was most rapid among younger workers with less than 10 years experience; for this group the black-white wage gap declined by 1.40 percentage points per year. Among younger workers greater occupational diversity and a reduction in unexplained or residual differences are important in explaining this trend. For both younger and older workers, general wage inequality tempered the rate of wage convergence between blacks and whites during the 1990s.Income distribution ; Wages

An analysis of oral reading achievement in relation to a basal text,

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Mr. Whitaker and Industry:Setting the Record Straight*

After 16 years of unbroken Fianna Fáil rule, the first four of the five general elections of the period 1948-1963 saw sitting governments unseated. Economic policy pivoted: protectionism was abandoned; foreign direct investment welcomed and an application for membership was made to the EEC. Whitaker’s Economic Development appeared in 1958. Lemass took over from de Valera as Taoiseach in 1959. The ‘long 1950s’ remains of enduring fascination to Irish historians. Conventional wisdom accords the bulk of the credit for the turnaround in policy to Seán Lemass, Minister for Industry and Commerce in most Fianna Fáil governments since 1932 and Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966, and T. K. Whitaker, Secretary of the Department of Finance from 1956 to 1969. This arguably downplays the importance of the intensified electoral competition of the time, and undervalues the achievements of the second inter-party government, which introduced export profits tax relief – the genesis of Ireland’s low corporation tax regime – in 1956. Fine Gael and Labour had long advocated liberalising the restrictions on foreign ownership of industry before Fianna Fáil finally yielded (Bew and Patterson, 1982, McCarthy, 1990). Whitaker’s particular role in the reform process is – to our minds – seriously misrepresented by Walsh and Whelan (2010) in a recent paper in this journal. The present note assesses their main assertions in this regard in the light of information available from the archival records.

Cross-National Trends in Earnings Instability and Earnings Inequality

Changes in inequality of yearly earnings can arise from changes in the distribution of lifetime earnings (permanent changes) and changes in the stability of earnings (transitory changes). Past research has found increases in both components in the United States over the past several decades. We extend this literature by comparing the United States with Germany and Great Britain. We use data from the Cross-National Equivalent Files (Cornell University) to document trends in cross-sectional and long-run earnings inequality. These data enable us to examine earnings dynamics during the years 1979-1996 for the United States, 1983-1997 for Germany, and 1990-1997 for Great Britain. Despite differences in labor market structure, our descriptive models reveal similar basic patterns of earnings mobility and dynamics in these countries. We then apply a method of moments approach to estimate the parameters of a heterogeneous growth model of permanent and transitory earnings. The results indicate that although there are substantial differences in overall cross-sectional inequality across these countries, the persistent component of earnings inequality was quite similar in each in the 1990searnings mobility, inequality, comparative

Keeping up with the Joneses and staying ahead of the Smiths: evidence from suicide data

This paper empirically assesses the theory of interpersonal income comparison using a unique data set on suicide deaths in the United States. We treat suicide as a choice variable, conditional on exogenous risk factors, reflecting one's assessment of current and expected future utility. Using this framework we examine whether differences in group-specific suicide rates are systematically related to income dispersion, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and income level. The results strongly support the notion that individuals consider relative income in addition to absolute income when evaluating their own utility. Importantly, the findings suggest that relative income affects utility in a two-sided manner, meaning that individuals care about the incomes of those above them (the Joneses) and those below them (the Smiths). Our results complement and extend those from studies using subjective survey data or data from controlled experiments.Income distribution