infonet-economy

We discuss a number of issues addressed in the volume. In particular, after an introduction about the capacity for resilience shown by European citizens, we summarize the volume’s content in terms of the economic crisis posing constraints to citizens, but also as opening up opportunities for change. Additionally, we discuss the intertwining of the economic and the political…

The existing literature assumes that unemployment insurance (UI) affects the labor market through the job finding rate of eligible workers. I argue that this focus is too narrow. I show evidence for UI effects through three other margins: (i) search externalities; (ii) takeup of other welfare state programs; and (iii) job separations. This suggests that the analysis of optimal UI…

We analyze social mobility of decennial citizenry cohorts of Zurich born between 1780 and 1870. We categorize individuals according to their occupations and use different measures to show the level, change, and components of intergenerational mobility. Mobility was imperfect and weakly decreasing over time. Both level and change are driven by intergenerational persistence of…

We exploit Italian law DPR 81/2009, which determines class composition, as an instrument to identify the causal effect of grouping students of different grades into a single class (multigrading) on children cognitive achievement. This article focuses on 7-year-old students—those at the beginning of their formal education. Results suggest that attendance in multigrade classes versus…

This article applies social exchange theory to investigate the relationships between work opportunities and organizational commitment in four United Nations agencies. It demonstrates that international civil servants who are satisfied with altruistic, social, and extrinsic work opportunities are more likely to declare high levels of organizational commitment. Furthermore, the…

Welfare states provide individuals with an insurance against a variety of risks. Therefore, how much an individual is exposed to these risks is expected to influence their support for social spending. In this chapter, we focus on the evolution of perceived unemployment risk and its relationship with attitudes towards social policy in Switzerland over the 1999–2014 period. Aggregate…

This article analyses the capacity of radical right parties to attract support from un-ion members in recent elections in Western Europe. It is argued that unionized vot-ers resist the appeals of the radical right better than non-union members. Using data from the European Social Survey 2010–2016, the article shows that union members are overall less likely to vote for the radical…

Switzerland is unique in its reluctance to join the EU. Indeed, all governments and parliaments in Europe have at least once in their history sought to become a member. This is not the case for Switzerland, which has never started accession negotiations and does not intend to do so soon. Currently the debate is between supporters of maintaining bilateral agreements with the EU and…

This study assesses whether economic interest groups (business associations and trade unions) enjoy better access to the policymaking process than citizen groups. It compares the interest group population in Switzerland with those sets of groups present in the administrative and legislative venues. The study devises an aggregate measure of access to policymaking as a whole, which…