Social networks and labour productivity in Europe: An empirical investigation

This paper uses firm-level data recorded in the AMADEUS database to investigate the distribution of labour productivity in different European countries. We find that the upper tail of the empirical productivity distributions follows a decaying power-law, whose exponent $\alpha$ is obtained by a semi-parametric estimation technique recently developed by Clementi et al. (2006). The emergence of "fat tails" in productivity distribution has already been detected in Di Matteo et al. (2005) and explained by means of a model of social network. Here we show that this model is tested on a broader sample of countries having different patterns of social network structure. These different social attitudes, measured using a social capital indicator, reflect in the power-law exponent estimates, verifying in this way the existence of linkages among firms' productivity performance and social network.Comment: LaTeX2e; 18 pages with 3 figures; Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, in pres

Os militantes são mais informados? Desigualdade e informação política nas eleições de 2002

As organizações da sociedade civil têm um papel didático na instrução de seus membros sobre política que extrapola as questões imediatas de interesse dessas organizações? A maior parte da literatura, especialmente aquela sobre o orçamento participativo (OP) do Partido dos Trabalhadores do Brasil, sustenta que o OP é uma estrutura de oportunidade para que os indivíduos se reúnam e debatam não só problemas locais, mas também discutam política num sentido mais amplo. A mesma lógica se aplica a outras formas de militância, tais como participação em sindicatos, partidos políticos, associações de bairro e grupos de igreja. Este trabalho procura testar, usando dados longitudinais de opinião pública de eleitores brasileiros coletados nas eleições de 2002, se os militantes da sociedade civil organizada são, de fato, mais bem informados sobre política, especificamente, sobre questões eleitorais. Além disso, este trabalho testa também se potenciais diferenças de informação causadas por gênero, raça e classe são atenuadas pela participação em organizações da sociedade civil.<br>Do civil society organizations have a didactic role in instructing its members about politics that extrapolates the immediate issues of interest of that organization? Most of the literature, especially that on the role of the participatory budgeting process of the Workers&acute; Party in Brazil, claims that such meetings are an opportunity structure for individuals to come together and not only debate their local problems, but also discuss politics more broadly. The same logic applies to other forms of activism, such as participation in Labor Unions, political parties, neighborhood associations and even church groups. This paper attempts to test, using a unique public opinion panel dataset of Brazilian voters collected in the 2002 elections, if activists are, in fact, better informed about politics, specifically, about campaign issues. In addition, the paper also tests if potential informational gaps caused by gender, race and class are attenuated by participation in civil society organizations

A systematic review of help-seeking interventions for depression, anxiety and general psychological distress

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Depression and anxiety are treatable disorders, yet many people do not seek professional help. Interventions designed to improve help-seeking attitudes and increase help-seeking intentions and behaviour have been evaluated in recent times. However, there have been no systematic reviews of the efficacy or effectiveness of these interventions in promoting help-seeking. Therefore, this paper reports a systematic review of published randomised controlled trials targeting help-seeking attitudes, intentions or behaviours for depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Studies were identified through searches of PubMed, PsycInfo, and the Cochrane database in November 2011. Studies were included if they included a randomised controlled trial of at least one intervention targeting help-seeking for depression or anxiety or general psychological distress, and contained extractable data on help-seeking attitudes or intentions or behaviour. Studies were excluded if they focused on problems or conditions other than the target (e.g., substance use, eating disorder).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Six published studies of randomised controlled trials investigating eight different interventions for help-seeking were identified. The majority of trials targeted young adults. Mental health literacy content was effective (<it>d</it> = .12 to .53) in improving help-seeking attitudes in the majority of studies at post-intervention, but had no effect on help-seeking behaviour (<it>d</it> = −.01, .02). There was less evidence for other intervention types such as efforts to destigmatise or provide help-seeking source information.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Mental health literacy interventions are a promising method for promoting positive help-seeking attitudes, but there is no evidence that it leads to help-seeking behaviour. Further research investigating the effects of interventions on attitudes, intentions, and behaviour is required.</p