Multi-functional roles of grassland in organic farming systems

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Grassland supports commodity production and maintenance of soil fertility, as well as environmental, economic and social functions beyond the farm. These include biodiversity and landscape; soil, air and water quality; recreation, rural employment and social benefits. This paper discusses whether organic grassland management delivers benefits, compared with other farming systems, within this multifunctional context, and how future land-use systems might meet a wider range of objectives

The Prevalence and Effects of Occupational Licensing

This study provides the first nation-wide analysis of the labor market implications of occupational licensing for the U.S. labor market, using data from a specially designed Gallup survey. We find that in 2006, 29 percent of the workforce was required to hold an occupational license from a government agency, which is a higher percentage than that found in studies that rely on state-level occupational licensing data. Workers who have higher levels of education are more likely to work in jobs that require a license. Union workers and government employees are more likely to have a license requirement than are nonunion or private sector employees. Our multivariate estimates suggest that licensing has about the same quantitative impact on wages as do unions -- that is about 15 percent, but unlike unions which reduce variance in wages, licensing does not significantly reduce wage dispersion for individuals in licensed jobs.occupational licensing; regulation; wages

The Prevalence and Effects of Occupational Licensing

This study provides the first nation-wide analysis of the labor market implications of occupational licensing for the U.S. labor market, using data from a specially designed Gallup survey. We find that in 2006, 29 percent of the workforce was required to hold an occupational license from a government agency, which is a higher percentage than that found in studies that rely on state-level occupational licensing data. Workers who have higher levels of education are more likely to work in jobs that require a license. Union workers and government employees are more likely to have a license requirement than are nonunion or private sector employees. Our multivariate estimates suggest that licensing has about the same quantitative impact on wages as do unions – that is about 15 percent, but unlike unions which reduce variance in wages, licensing does not significantly reduce wage dispersion for individuals in licensed jobs.occupational licensing, regulation, wages

Analyzing the Extent and Influence of Occupational Licensing on the Labor Market

This study examines the extent and influence of occupational licensing in the U.S. using a specially designed national labor force survey. Specifically, we provide new ways of measuring occupational licensing and consider what types of regulatory requirements and what level of government oversight contribute to wage gains and variability. Estimates from the survey indicated that 35 percent of employees were either licensed or certified by the government, and that 29 percent were fully licensed. Another 3 percent stated that all who worked in their job would eventually be required to be certified or licensed, bringing the total that are or eventually must be licensed or certified by government to 38 percent. We find that licensing is associated with about 18 percent higher wages, but the effect of governmental certification on pay is much smaller. Licensing by larger political jurisdictions is associated with higher wage gains relative to only local licensing. We find little association between licensing and the variance of wages, in contrast to unions. Overall, our results show that occupational licensing is an important labor market phenomenon that can be measured in labor force surveys.occupational licensing, labor market institutions, labor market data, wages and labor market institutions, wage inequality and labor market institutions

An ever-present past : Didier Daeninckx and the Manouchian resistance group

In February 1944, Missak Manouchian and twenty-one of his fellow Resistance fighters were executed by the Nazis. Over sixty years later, a prize-winning French author, Didier Daeninckx, is regularly depicting key members of this band of warriors in his novels, short stories, children’s books and other writings, thereby finding himself at the forefront of a veritable wave of imaginative representations and commemorations of these martyrs for the cause of freedom. After exploring this individual obsession of Daeninckx’s and its relationship to the broader retrospective trend, this article ultimately contends that not only the author’s subject matter, but also many of his narrative strategies suggest that France has still not really managed to come to terms with the legacy of the Occupation

The Prevalence and Effects of Occupational Licensing

This study provides the first nation-wide analysis of the labor market implications of occupational licensing for the U.S. labor market, using data from a specially designed Gallup survey. We find that, in 2006, 29 percent of the workforce was required to hold an occupational license from a government agency, which is a higher percentage than that found in studies that rely on state-level occupational licensing data. Workers who have higher levels of education are more likely to work in jobs that require a license. Union workers and government employees are more likely to have a license requirement than are nonunion or private sector employees. Our multivariate estimates suggest that licensing has about the same quantitative impact on wages as do unions—that is about 15 percent, but unlike unions which reduce variance in wages, licensing does not significantly reduce wage dispersion for individuals in licensed jobs.

Patrick Modiano : 'A Marcel Proust of our time’?

The winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature was, in more ways than one, Patrick Modiano. Typically, the publicity-shy novelist had crept in under the radar, despite a late surge in the betting, and had even proved hard to locate once the decision had been taken. In terms of his artistic achievements, however, the Nobel Academy had no trouble in pinning him down. He was, their spokesman, Peter Englund, asserted, a ‘Marcel Proust of our time’.1 It is the aim of the present article briefly to explore this notion, and to evaluate just how apposite an assessment it is

The complexities of sustained urban struggle: The case of Oukasie

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented June 1990On the 7 December 1985, the local community council, elected in a low poll in 1981, summonsed Oukasie residents to a fateful meeting. The residents were informed that they would have to move 24 kilometres north to Lethlabile on the border of Bophuthatswana. The 55 year-old township of approximately 12 000 people situated 90 kilometres north-west of Johannesburg and two kilometres from the Brits town centre was to be demolished. This paper will briefly reconstruct the history of the anti-removal struggle in Oukasie and in the process illustrate the potential difficulties of township struggle. Three key arguments are made. Firstly, it is argued that in order to understand the different responses of Oukasie residents to the planned removal, cognizance must be taken of the fact that like all townships, Oukasie at the time of the announcement, was composed of different social classes and groupings with different material interests and perceptions. Only by taking cognizance of this can the issue of why some residents decided to move and others decided to stay be explained. Secondly, it is argued that the occupation of key leadership positions by unemployed residents fueled the development of vanguardist organisation. Finally, it is argued that this vanguardism, in the context of high and lengthy unemployment, contributed to the rise of factionalism and coercive politics

Analyzing the Extent and Influence of Occupational Licensing on the Labor Market

This study examines the extent and influence of occupational licensing in the U.S. using a specially designed national labor force survey. Specifically, we provide new ways of measuring occupational licensing and consider what types of regulatory requirements and what level of government oversight contribute to wage gains and variability. Estimates from the survey indicated that 35 percent of employees were either licensed or certified by the government, and that 29 percent were fully licensed. Another 3 percent stated that all who worked in their job would eventually be required to be certified or licensed, bringing the total that are or eventually must be licensed or certified by government to 38 percent. We find that licensing is associated with about 18 percent higher wages, but the effect of governmental certification on pay is much smaller. Licensing by larger political jurisdictions is associated with the higher wage gains relative to only local licensing. We find little association between licensing and the variance of wages, in contrast to unions. Overall, our results show that occupational licensing is an important labor market phenomenon that can be measured in labor force surveys.occupational licensing, United States, Labor force, wage variance