The Union and COVID-19: Is there a future after failure? EPC COMMENTARY 25/03/2020

Is there a link between governance systems and the ability to act? Could the EU do better in times of crisis? And is the right level of response national or transnational

Labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents: evidence from a field experiment

In view of policy action to integrate ex-offenders into society, it is important to identify the underlying mechanisms of the negative relationship between criminal record on the one hand and later employment and earnings on the other hand. In this study, we identify hiring discrimination against former juvenile delinquents in a direct way. To this end, we conduct a field experiment in the Belgian labour market. We find that labour market discrimination is indeed a major barrier in the transition to work for former juvenile delinquents. Labour market entrants disclosing a history of juvenile delinquency get about 22 percent less callback compared to their counterparts without a criminal record. This discrimination is heterogeneous by the occupation for which one applies

Is Temporary Employment a Stepping Stone for Unemployed School Leavers?

Many school-leavers enter the labour market via temporary employment. In this paper we investigate the impact of a temporary employment spell at the start of the career on the transition rate into permanent employment. We compare the case of temporary employment to the hypothetical case of a direct transition from unemployment to permanent employment. In order to control for selective participation in temporary employment we include a large set of explanatory variables which have been especially collected to study school-leavers. We apply the AIC-information criterion to select the appropriate specification for unobserved heterogeneity. Based on the information criteria we conclude that given our data, there is no support for a model with selection in unobserved characteristics. Simulation exercises provide insights into the development of the effect of temporary employment over time. For a sample of unemployed Flemish school-leavers we find that in the short run temporary employment delays the school leaver's transition to permanent employment. However, in the long run temporary employment acts as a stepping stone and decreases the duration until permanent employment. --temporary employment,school leavers,labour market policy

Support-seeking, support-provision and support-perception in distressed married couples : a multi-method analysis

An emerging consensus argues for the importance of spousal support in our understanding of how relationships succeed or fail. This report covers two studies that examined support seeking, support provision and support perception in distressed married couples. In Study 1 a total of seventy distressed and seventy non-distressed couples participated in a survey study; in Study 2 twenty distressed and twenty non-distressed couples participated in an observational study. Global self-reports were used in both studies to assess spouses' support behaviour and perceived support. These measures were supplemented in Study 2 with measures of observed support behaviour and interaction-based perceived support as assessed during specific support interactions. Our self-report and observational measures consistently indicated that distressed marital couples display lower levels of positive support-seeking and emotional or instrumental support provision than non-distressed couples. We also found evidence for higher levels of negative support-seeking and provision behaviour in distressed couples, as compared to non-distressed couples. Distressed spouses also reported lower levels of global and interaction-based perceived support than non-distressed spouses

How is family support related to students' GPA scores? A longitudinal study

Previous studies of the influence of family support on college students' academic performance have yielded inconsistent results. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the link between family support and students' university-level academic performance in a more detailed way. First, we sought to clarify how two distinct aspects of perceived family support-social support and economic support-affect college students' academic performance. Second, we sought to determine how these two aspects of family support influence not only cumulative GPA scores but also the overall trend (slope) and stability (variability) of students' GPA scores across semesters. The participants in this longitudinal study were 240 university students (62 men, 178 women). The results revealed that the level of perceived family social support was important not only as a "main effect" predictor of the magnitude and stability of the students' GPA scores across three successive semesters, but also as a factor that helped female students to succeed regardless of their level of family economic support. In general, the data suggest that family social support is more important to women's success in college than to men's

'I think you understand me' : studying the associations between actual, assumed, and perceived understanding within couples

The current study examined the associations between actual, assumed, and perceived understanding and partners' levels of dyadic adjustment. One hundred fifty-two couples provided questionnaire data (assumed and perceived understanding), participated in a videotaped conflict interaction, and in a video-review task to assess actual understanding (empathic accuracy). The data were analyzed by means of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. The results suggest that (a) some aspects of how well someone assumes that (s)he has understood the partner during a preceding conflict interaction were positively associated with his/her own objective level of understanding (actor effect), (b) that someone's perception of how understood (s)he feels was not associated with the partner's objective level of understanding (partner effect), and (c) perceived understanding, but not actual understanding, was positively associated with dyadic adjustment

Het gevaar van Google Glass

Glasshole is de nieuwste scheldnaam in internetland. Het wordt gebruikt tegen mensen die zich met hun Google Glass asociaal gedragen. Vooral het ongevraagd fotograferen en filmen van anderen stoot mensen af. Dat ondervond ook Sarah Slocum die onlangs met haar slimme bril een punkbar binnenstapte in San Francisco en er al snel belaagd werd door een aantal aanwezigen die protesteerden tegen haar ongevraagd filmgedrag. Ze vreesden voor de aantasting van hun privacy, en uit de stroom reacties die op het incident volgde, bleek dat de meeste mensen zich dezelfde zorgen maken over die slimme bril

Five minutes with Guy Verhofstadt: “We simply cannot stand by and watch as a whole generation grows up without a good prospect of finding a job”

One of the major distinctions between the 2014 European Parliament elections and previous elections is that each political family will put forward formal candidates for President of the European Commission prior to the vote. In an interview with EUROPP’s Managing Editor Stuart Brown, Guy Verhofstadt, former Belgian Prime Minister and Commission candidate for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, discusses EU freedom of movement, the importance of this year’s elections, and what his priorities would be if his candidature for Commission President were successful