Social versus conservative democracies and homicide rates

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critique recent findings that democratic practices are positively related to homicide rates. Design/methodology/approach – Economic rational choice model supported by empirical evidence. Findings – It was found that higher homicide rates are only characteristic of democracies that fail to respond to the median voter\u27s call for equitable social development. Originality/value – The paper makes an original distinction between conservative and social democracies, operationalizes this distinction theoretically and empirically, and shows that higher homicide rates are a phenomenon of conservative, not social, democracies

Pancasila: Roadblock or Pathway to Economic Development

When Sukarno (1901-1970) led Indonesia towards independence from the Dutch, he rallied his supporters behind the vision of Pancasila (five principles). And although Sukarno used different wordings on different occasions and ranked the five principles differently in different speeches, Pancasila entered Indonesia’s constitution as follows: (1) Belief in one God, (2) Just and civilized humanity, (3) Indonesian unity, (4) Democracy under the wise guidance of representative consultations, (5) Social justice for all the peoples of Indonesia (Pancasila, 2013). Pancasila is a normative value system. This requires that a Pancasila economic framework must be the means towards the realization of this normative end. McCawley (1982, p. 102) poses the question: “What, precisely, is meant by ‘Pancasila Economics’?” and laments that “[a]s soon as we ask this question, there are difficulties because, as most contributors to the discussion admit, it is all rather vague.” A discussion of the nature of Pancasila economics is therefore as relevant today as it was back then. As far as the history of Pancasila economic thought is concerned, McCawley (1982, p. 103ff.) points at the importance of the writings of Mubyarto (1938-2005) and Boediono (1943-present). Both have stressed five major characteristics of Pancasila economics. These characteristics must be seen in the context of Indonesia as a geographically and socially diverse developing country after independence. They are discussed in the following five sub-sections

Muslim Youth Unemployment and Expat Jihadism - Bored to Death?

hile the presence of foreign fighters in military conflict has been a regular ingredient of jihad, never before in modern history have foreign fighters gathered at the scale and speed as they have in the territory of the so-called Islamic State. As the foreign fighter phenomenon in Syria and Iraq pose severe security risks for the sender countries, especially from battlefield returnees and lone-wolf sympathizers, it becomes imperative to better understand the push factors of expat jihadism. Empirical studies of these factors are still scarce and often generate contradicting results. The objective of our paper is to contribute to the emerging discussion of these push factors of expat jihadism and to complement the findings of the few empirical studies already conducted. Contrary to other studies, we provide strong evidence for the hypothesis that Muslim youth unemployment is a driver of expat jihadism not only for the Arab world, but globally

A Comparison of Economic Development in Latin America, Middle Eastern Europe and Asia in the 1990s

The 1990s were characterized by severe turbulence in the global economy. Economic and financial crises occurred in Latin America, Middle and Eastern Europe and Asia. This analysis distinguishes between the two socioeconomic criteria "transitional" and "emerging" region. Transitional countries are former centrally planned socialist economies and emerging countries former agricultural-oriented classical developing economies with mostly a history of military or some other kind of autocratic dictatorship. The resources for the analysis are data sets regarding investment, exchange rate behavior, government finance, international liabilities of monetary authorities and inflation. The study reveals macroeconomic patterns associated with economic development in each socioeconomic region. It is shown that similar patterns are responsible for successful and non-successful performance in each region. A comparison of different regions shows many parallels between emerging economies, but only little similarity between transitional economies

The Social Market Economy- Assembled in Germany, Not Made in Germany!

While the concept of the Social Market Economy has a Made in Germany image, Assembled in Germany is more correct. A made in claim requires that a particular product and all of its components originate from the country. This is not true for the Social Market Economy. Instead, Social Market Economics is a utility model that has incorporated lessons from both international economic history and the international history of economic thought. This article provides an overview of these lessons. It concludes that re-emphasizing the many international influences of and parallels and differences to other political-economic theories is necessary to reposition Social Market Economic thought as the only real-world alternative to the romanticisms of socialism, unfettered market liberalism, and economic macro-management

Legitimacy and Market Development Risks of Sovereign Wealth Funds

Sovereign Wealth Funds objectives can be classified as either demand stabilisation, supply side strengthening, or wealth conservation. These objectives cannot only be explained by domestic development needs, they also show different profiles of market development and political legitimacy risks. Specifically, we find that supply side strengtheners are on average exposed to both legitimacy and market development risks. Demand stabilisers carry only market development risks. Wealth conservation funds have the least exposure to either risk

Economic and geopolitical dimensions of renewable vs. nuclear energy in North Africa

Addressing issues of renewable energy in North Africa must incorporate concerns regarding the compatibility of energy mixes with the nature of political regimes, their geopolitical relevance, and their socio-economic effects, in addition to economic cost-benefit deliberations. One important and under-researched aspect of nuclear energy refers to the trade-off between socio-economic development and political power conservation. Competing interests in North Africa\u27s energy market as well as aspects of regional cooperation capacity are important when assessing the choice between renewable and nuclear energy. Therefore, the future course of meeting North Africa\u27s energy needs is subject to a complex political and economic interplay between domestic and geopolitical development interests. The objective of this paper is to explore this complexity in more detail. We argue that the identification of any energy alternative as superior is hardly convincing unless certain standards of inclusive governance are met. We also find that it is important to highlight political–economic differences between energy importers like Morocco and Tunisia and energy exporters like Algeria, Libya, and Egypt

Did 9/11 change the New York state of mind? Lessons from NYC\u27s leisure and hospitality labour market

The authors show that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 caused a permanent structural break in NYC\u27s leisure and hospitality labour market. This structural break is visible from both an interrupted time-series perspective and a comparison with NYC\u27s overall economic development. Assuming that the labour market dynamics of the leisure and hospitality industry mirror a city\u27s feel in the hedonism–asceticism spectrum, the authors conclude that the 9/11 terrorist attacks have permanently shifted \u27New York\u27s state of mind\u27 from hedonism towards asceticism. These results suggest that greater attention must be given to the formulation of effective industry marketing strategies in response to the legacy of urban terrorism