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- Title
- INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY: SOCIOECONOMIC ACTORS AND PUBLIC POLICY IN GERMANY AND THE UNITED STATES.
- Creator
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Hudson, Jennifer, Kinsey, Barbara, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In this thesis I conduct a comparative analysis of the influence of socioeconomic actors, business and labor, on public policy in Germany and the United States, specifically public policy that has an impact on economic inequality. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of how institutional constructs may determine the level of influence by different socioeconomic actors on public policy. In particular, I examine the link between institutional design and economic...
Show moreIn this thesis I conduct a comparative analysis of the influence of socioeconomic actors, business and labor, on public policy in Germany and the United States, specifically public policy that has an impact on economic inequality. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of how institutional constructs may determine the level of influence by different socioeconomic actors on public policy. In particular, I examine the link between institutional design and economic inequality, specifically the relative influence of business interests in varying types of capitalist economies and democratic systems, and assess those facets of institutional design that may facilitate the channeling of business influence in policy making. I explore institutional changes in the German political and economic system beginning in the late 1980s to determine whether these changes have altered the policy making process over time, and analyze similarities with institutional changes that have taken place in the United States beginning in the late 1970s to present. Further, I examine whether shifts in institutional design indicate that the German system is transitioning towards a more liberal model similar to that of the United States, and consider what effects this may have on the level of economic inequality in Germany. To conduct my analysis I use the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework; based on the IAD framework I create a conceptual map of the channels by which socioeconomic actors are involved in the policy making process. I evaluate the policy-making process in both formal and informal policy arenas. The policy areas analyzed include corporate governance, industrial relations, and tax, welfare and minimum wage policy during the selected time periods. The analysis shows that the institutional designs that produced the selected policies benefit business interests and may contribute towards economic inequality. The larger goal is to develop research that will build a theoretical foundation to help us identify how these systems may be improved to produce a more equitable allocation of economic resources.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFH0004690, ucf:45243
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004690
- Title
- Youth Labor Market Conditions and the NEET Population in the EU: Do Poor Labor Market Opportunities Discourage Youth?.
- Creator
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Hudson, Jennifer, Hamann, Kerstin, Kinsey, Barbara, Powell, Jonathan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This study examines how poor labor market opportunities discourage youth between the ages of 15 and 24 and 15 to 29 from participating in the labor market in the European Union between 2005 and 2013. A critical portion of inactive NEETs (youth not in employment, education, or training) reports to be discouraged due to a recognized (")lack of opportunities in the labor market.(") Despite indications from descriptive analyses that the conditions that drive the distinct subsets of the NEET...
Show moreThis study examines how poor labor market opportunities discourage youth between the ages of 15 and 24 and 15 to 29 from participating in the labor market in the European Union between 2005 and 2013. A critical portion of inactive NEETs (youth not in employment, education, or training) reports to be discouraged due to a recognized (")lack of opportunities in the labor market.(") Despite indications from descriptive analyses that the conditions that drive the distinct subsets of the NEET population vary, empirical examinations of the effects of these conditions on the rates of different NEET groups across countries and over time are lacking. The policies prescribed for the NEET group as a whole tend to ignore the special needs of discouraged, inactive NEETs. Beyond the fundamental problem of engaging these individuals in the labor market, neglecting this group has a variety of implications, ranging from social exclusion, to poverty, and even radicalism. A central goal of this project is to determine what a recognized (")lack of opportunities(") means. What is known concretely is that fellow youth are increasingly vulnerable to a range of labor market outcomes and conditions beyond unemployment, including difficulty transitioning into the labor market (school-to-work transitions), in-work poverty risk, non-standard employment opportunities (involuntary and voluntary), limited ability to transition into secure employment (i.e. upward mobility), lower wage levels, atypical employment, limited job security and support, and long-term unemployment. Utilizing aggregated survey data from the EU Labor Force Survey and EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions, I examine how a range of labor market outcomes and conditions for youth, representative of the poor labor market opportunities, affect the frequency of discouraged NEETs across 24 EU countries between 2005 and 2013. Findings suggest that the incidence of involuntary non-standard work, in-work poverty risk, and atypical employment among fellow youth and the incidence of decreased work security among the adult working age population are associated with an increase in discouraged, inactive NEETs. This suggests that engaging this hard to reach subgroup of the NEET population requires a greater emphasis on creating improved labor market opportunities.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006605, ucf:51292
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006605