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Systemic cycles of accumulation and chaos in the world capitalist system: a missing link Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-04-12 Giorgos Galanis, Christian Koutny, Isabella Weber
We re-examine the systemic cycles of accumulation (SCA) of Arrighi (2010) and Arrighi and Silver (1999) which provide a framework for the analysis of the cyclical patterns of geographical expansion of trade and production and the related shifts of hegemonic power within the world capitalist system. Within the SCA framework, the last stage of a hegemonic cycle is characterized by what is called ‘systemic
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The standard form under pressure? On the ecological reconfiguration of product presentation using the example of consumables Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-04-05 Eltje Gajewski, Simon Schrör
This article provides a framework for analyzing valorizations and justifications for ecologically sustainable everyday products. By drawing on theoretical arguments from the French neo pragmatist approach of economics of conventions, especially the idea of enrichment, we develop a typology of valorizations that distinguishes between analytic and narrative presentations. A qualitative empirical analysis
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How do countries shift their export specialization? The role of technological capabilities and industrial policy in Ireland, Spain and Sweden (1995–2018) Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-04-03 Guendalina Anzolin, Chiara Benassi
This article contributes to the Comparative Political Economy discourse on countries’ export specialization transitions. While current growth model literature often highlights producer coalitions’ influence, we present a complementary perspective emphasizing industrial policies. These policies, we argue, are not solely shaped by politics but are also deeply influenced by sectoral technological capabilities
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The state and the state-of-the-art: prefiguring private insurance for US flood risk Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-04-03 Rebecca Elliott
States not only govern markets, but they also create them, often with the intention of expanding or improving the delivery of specific policy objectives. This article outlines one way they do this: prefiguration. States prefigure markets, and private market actors, when they imagine and instantiate new market products, logics, and practices. I illustrate prefiguration through an analysis of the history
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Buying into new ideas: the ECB’s evolving justification of unlimited liquidity Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-04-03 Casimir Hesse, Lea Steininger
In 2012, Draghi put an end to rising euro area sovereign bond yield spreads by resolving to do ‘whatever it takes’. The crisis rhetoric and institutional practices of unlimited liquidity have since become commonplace, as countermeasures to recent market turmoil show. This article sets out to explain how and why ‘unlimited liquidity’ ideas moved to the ECB’s center of economic analysis during the euro
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Toward a cultural sociology of taxation Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-03-23 Ruth Braunstein
This article advances calls for a cultural sociology of taxation by arguing that Zelizer’s theory of how monetary exchanges perform ‘relational work’ can be applied to taxpaying. Based on a review of research on taxpaying in the USA, I show this approach offers insight into a disparate set of puzzles about taxation including: why the USA continues to require income tax returns; why anti-tax sentiment
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The spectacle of automation and status aspirations: adoption of automated metro systems around the world, 2000–2020 Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-03-13 Youbin Kang, Jungmyung Kim
Automation’s extensive impact on the labor market and economy is well recognized, but the underlying motivations for its adoption remain understudied. To address this gap, we analyze an original dataset covering 1276 cities across 148 countries, using event history analysis to examine the adoption of automated metro systems. Our research suggests that city governments are driven by status competition
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How much does immigration contribute to national poverty rates? A decomposition analysis for 17 European welfare states Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-03-07 David de Smalen, Jan Van Bavel, Wim Van Lancker
Over the past decades, many European welfare states failed to reduce poverty. We examine two coinciding trends: the inability to lower poverty rates, and the growth of immigrant populations. Immigrants have become the main contributor to population growth in Europe and have higher poverty risks than natives. This contribution quantifies to what extent national poverty rates were driven by population
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Feeling disadvantaged? Type of employment contract and political attitudes Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-03-07 Kseniia Gatskova, Michał Pilc, Maciej Beręsewicz
We tested the theory of relative deprivation in the context of the Polish labour market during the post-crisis period from 2009 to 2015. This period witnessed the highest incidence of temporary contracts in the European Union, providing novel evidence on the causal relationship between the type of employment contract and political attitudes. Our findings suggest that temporary workers are more supportive
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Business, as usual? The impact of organized economic interests on the stringency of Covid-19 containment policies: insights from the Italian case Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-03-07 Arianna Tassinari, Demetrio Panarello, Giorgio Tassinari, Fabrizio Alboni, Ignazio Drudi, Francesco Bagnardi
How do organized economic interests affect the governance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic? We investigate whether the structural and instrumental power of employer organizations and unions impact upon the stringency of containment measures implemented by governing authorities to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on Italy during the first Covid-19 wave of early 2020 as a crucial
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Persistent or temporary? Effects of social assistance benefit sanctions on employment quality Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-03-07 Markus A Wolf
This article analyzes the effects of sanctions for unemployed recipients of the social assistance benefit in Germany. I conduct an analysis using administrative data from 2012 to 2018, applying a dynamic entropy balancing approach. In contrast to most previous analyses of benefit sanction effects, I analyse outcomes over a longer period and assess effects on various dimensions of employment quality
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Flexibility loss and worker well-being: what happens to job satisfaction when workers lose their telework usage? Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Satoshi Araki, Jeremy Rappleye
The association between flexible work arrangements (FWA) and worker well-being has been extensively investigated. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has generated a new phenomenon where workers return to inflexible workstyles after experiencing FWA. This article examines the consequence of this ‘flexibility loss’ with attention to telework and job satisfaction (JS). Using panel data collected by the Japanese
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Losing ground: business power, standardized assets and the regulation of land acquisition taxes in Germany and Sweden Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Hanna Doose
Previous literature on the nexus between land, finance and business power has not systematically analysed the role of the liquidity of businesses’ assets. Combining process tracing with a comparative design, this study contributes a perspective on the role of standardized assets for business power. It investigates land acquisition tax reforms asking why institutional landowners’ structural and instrumental
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What makes elites more or less egalitarian? Variations in attitudes towards inequality within the economic, political and cultural elites in Chile Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Rafael Carranza, Dante Contreras, Gabriel Otero
This article investigates how the type of elite to which a person belongs and their intergenerational contextual experiences are associated with attitudes towards inequality among elite individuals. We propose that membership of the economic elite and access to private schools, higher education business schools and affluent residential areas may contribute to the development of views that favour inequality
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Teaching schools to compete: the case of Swedish upper secondary education Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Stefan Arora-Jonsson, Peter Edlund
Significant efforts have been made to promote competition in public service sectors, expanding the reach of competition into non-economic fields. Surprisingly little is, however, known about the process by which competition is introduced into such settings. We examine this process, focusing on a Swedish municipality’s efforts to implement competition for students among its schools. By incorporating
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Unionization, licensure and workplace variation in pay inequality between immigrants and natives Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Ida Drange, Håvard Helland, Are Skeie Hermansen
Organizational research has revealed considerable variation in immigrant–native pay inequalities across workplace contexts. However, less is known about how broader labor market institutions intersect in the local dynamics of wage setting between employees of immigrant and native backgrounds. We argue that union density and higher shares of employees in licensed occupations in workplaces constrain
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Getting action for global economic justice: the micro-foundations of transnational activism Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Leonard Seabrooke, Duncan Wigan
Generating momentum for activist campaigns on complicated economic issues is difficult, especially in a transnational context. So, how did activists get action on tax justice and create a movement that has changed global tax policy? Drawing on 20 years of para-ethnographic fieldwork with the Tax Justice Network, we suggest that activists initially engaged in ‘identity switching’ tactics to access professional
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Sectors versus borders: interest group cleavages and struggles over corporate governance in the age of asset management Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Dustin Voss
Universally invested asset managers like BlackRock have established a dominant position in equity markets around the globe. While extant contributions have explored their voting behaviour and role in shaping corporate governance at the firm level, less is known about their potential to build interest coalitions with other business groups, and their leverage over state-level corporate governance institutions
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Small money, large profits: how the cashless revolution aggravates social inequality Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2024-01-05 Barbara Brandl, David Hengsbach, Guadalupe Moreno
The replacement of cash by cashless alternatives carries huge potential to aggravate social inequality. Governments struggle to manage these dynamics since they must keep a delicate balance between the formation of strong players and the provision of inclusive payment options. Studying the political economy behind the payment industry is crucial to understanding how digitalization has transformed payments
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Power resources of labor and the state politics of downsizing Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-12-01 Jiwook Jung, Tom VanHeuvelen
Utilizing the geographical polarization of American politics, we examine how state politics shape the implementation of downsizing. Combining power resources theory and the political-embeddedness approach in organizational studies, we propose that labor power resources at the state level, namely Democratic control of state government and state-level union membership, limit firms’ ability to implement
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Managing an ageing workforce: workplace retention practices and early labour market exit Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-11-16 Jeevitha Yogachandiran Qvist
This study addresses a critical gap in our understanding of how the employer and workplace context influences the working career of older employees. Leveraging linked employer–employee data, this study examines the impact of workplace retention practices on an early labour market exit for employees aged fifty-five to sixty-four in Denmark. The findings reveal that, for those eligible for early retirement
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Business power, right-wing populism, and noisy politics: lessons from Brexit and Swiss referendums Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-11-14 Daniel Kinderman
This article contributes to debates on business power, noisy politics, and right-wing populism. The populist right weakens strategies of quiet politics, which many suggest has led to a steep decline of business power. I challenge this view and argue that a combination of innovative strategies and ample financial resources allow business associations to exercise power in this environment. Drawing on
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Closure and matching payoffs from college majors Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-10-24 Dirk Witteveen, Paul Attewell
This article examines the undergraduate major as a closure mechanism in occupations among college graduates, using the American Community Surveys. We measure the college major density of occupations, termed “major specialization”, finding that greater major specialization of an occupation is associated with higher earnings, over and above previously identified closure devices (licensure, unionization
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Digital creatives and digital engineers: entrepreneurial firms, institutional context, and the organization of innovation Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-10-19 Marcela Miozzo, Cornelia Storz, Steven Casper
The comparative capitalisms literature has developed an increasingly dynamic approach to conceptualizing capitalism variety, and has suggested mechanisms to explain shifts in institutional practices under the surface of formal stability of the institutional context. Less is known, however, about how new entrepreneurial firms engage with institutions to develop organizational arrangements needed to
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Silicon law of oligarchy: patterns of member participation in the decision-making of platform cooperatives Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-10-09 Damion J Bunders
Platform cooperatives that are owned and governed by gig workers themselves have been proposed as a silver bullet to improve these workers’ influence on organizational decision-making. However, they remain relatively rare compared with dominant investor-owned platforms. Traditionally, worker cooperatives strive for alternative organizing based on the ideal of workplace democracy but are often faced
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The art of (self)legitimization: how private museums help their founders claim legitimacy as elite actors Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-09-10 Kristina Kolbe
This article explores private art museums’ role for elite legitimization processes. Based on interviews with founders, directors, and curators of Germany-based private museums, I explore the discourses participants invoke to legitimize museum founders as actors in the artworld and as elites generally. I draw out a two-pronged legitimation strategy. First, respondents posit private museums’ increasingly
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Labour market digitalization and social class: evidence of mobility and reproduction from a European survey of online platform workers Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-09-06 Nicholas Martindale, Vili Lehdonvirta
The type of work we do as adults is significantly influenced by our parents’ social class. However, digital technologies are transforming the way labour markets work. Candidates are screened using algorithmic decision-making systems. Skills are validated with online tests and feedback ratings. Communications take place online. Could these transformations undermine the advantages that have accrued to
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The moral economy of land: from land reform to ownership society, 1880–2018 Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-08-23 Alexander Dobeson, Sebastian Kohl
This article offers a comparative-historical perspective on the moral economy of land. We reconstruct the moral economy of the popular land reform movement that opposed the illegitimate income streams of rentiers and speculators in the early 20th century, tracing the movement’s legacy through a long-run analysis of political party platforms since 1880 in the USA, the UK, Germany and Sweden. We find
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Employment status and the on-demand economy: a natural experiment on reclassification Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-08-23 Hannah Johnston, Ozlem Ergun, Juliet Schor, Lidong Chen
This article uses data from a natural experiment to address one of the most contentious issues in the on-demand platform economy—whether gig work is compatible with standard employment. We analyze a US-based package delivery platform that shifted a subset of its workers from independent contractors to employees, thereby creating a natural experiment that allowed us to exploit variation over time and
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Social mobility and education policy: a district-level analysis of legislative behavior Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-07-12 Luna Bellani, Kattalina M Berriochoa, Vigile Marie Fabella
A vast literature has examined how perceptions of mobility shape demand for redistribution. These studies generally refer to contemporaneous tax policies demanded by those directly impacted. But social mobility is often measured as changes across generations. To account for these intergenerational effects, our analysis focuses on educational policies. We examine how social mobility at the district
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Protégés of power: Patrimonialism in mobility narratives of the Danish power elite Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-07-04 Christoph Houman Ellersgaard, Anton Grau Larsen, Morten Fischer Sivertsen, Anne Nørgaard Christensen, Jacob Aagaard Lunding
Career narratives among the Danish power elite often include the facilitating presence of an elite superior. We explore the role patrons play in the mobility narratives of the Danish power elite. Drawing from a highly select group identified in the core of elite networks, we interviewed 37 individuals selected for maximal variation in career paths, networks and positions within the power elite. We
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The family web: Multigenerational class persistence in elite populations Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-06-24 Shay O’Brien
This article introduces the first-ever full kinship network of an upper-class population in a US city (n = 12 273). Multigenerational class transmission models tend to conceptualize families as father–son chains, especially for the upper class, but I systematically include women, finding that nearly 70% of Dallas high society from 1895 to 1945 was related in a single web encompassing most of the city’s
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How platform businesses mobilize their users and allies: Corporate grassroots lobbying and the Airbnb ‘movement’ for deregulation Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-06-20 Luke Yates
This article analyzes and theorizes the political strategies of businesses in the new digital ‘platform’ economy. Airbnb, Uber and meal delivery companies have transformed travel, urban space and repertoires of everyday exchange; they are also transforming norms around governance. Central to platforms corporate political strategies is the use of corporate grassroots lobbying (CGL), the selection, mobilization
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Making sense of the financialization of households: state of the art and beyond Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-06-16 Alicja Bobek, Marek Mikuš, Martin Sokol
Building on, and going beyond, the state-of-the-art literature, this article aims to advance the analysis and conceptualization of the financialization of households. It argues that there is a need to better conceptualize the household and that the relations between households and other actors in financialized capitalism require further elaboration. Its contribution rests on providing a high-level
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What limits intra-household insurance or the ‘Added Worker Effect’? Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-06-13 Debra Hevenstone, Dorian Kessler, Larissa Luchsinger
abstract The ‘Added Worker Effect’ (AWE) theory posits that partners of the unemployed provide intra-household insurance by increasing their earnings. However, estimates of the AWE are small. Popular explanations include lacking need (e.g. due to generous unemployment benefits), capacity or willingness to increase earnings, though these explanations are seldom tested systematically. Using Swiss administrative
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In the shadow of hierarchy: minimum wage commissions in the UK and Germany Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-05-20 Deborah Mabbett
The adoption of statutory minimum wages (MWs) has been accompanied by institutional innovations in the relationship between governments, employers and unions. In the UK and Germany, MW commissions were created to recommend or determine the MW. Their memberships are dominated by trade unionists and employers. Structures that engage the social partners ‘in the shadow of hierarchy’ can be efficient as
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A phoenix rising? The regeneration of the Ghana garment and textile industry Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-05-05 David Sarpong, George Ofosu, David Botchie, Dirk Meissner
Some African countries’ premier industries, such as textiles, garments and agro-processing, which floundered in the face of market liberalization and stiff competition from cheap imports, are now going through regenerative changes, with some beginning to tell a cautionary tale of a leap upwards. Focusing on the Ghana garment and textile industry, we draw on a framework that integrates social practices
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In search of the suitable candidate: the role of status, upstream and downstream diversity in recruitment partnerships Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-05-05 Kristen Tzoc, Neha Gondal
We conceptualize recruitment partnerships between higher education institutions (HEIs) and accounting firms as a social network. While elite closure is known to be typical of such relationships, we posit that commitments to improving organizational diversity should curtail this tendency. Yet, whereas diversity in employee recruitment is culturally institutionalized, there are no imperatives encouraging
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Explaining the training disadvantage of less-educated workers: the role of labor market allocation in international comparison Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-04-29 Carla Hornberg, Jan Paul Heisig, Heike Solga
Less-educated workers have the lowest participation rates in job-related further training across the industrialized world, but the extent of their disadvantage varies. Using data on 28 high- and middle-income countries, we assess different explanations for less-educated workers’ training disadvantage relative to intermediate-educated workers, with a focus on the role of labor market allocation (i.e
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Regulating low wages: cross-national policy variation and outcomes Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-04-27 Siri Hansen Pedersen, Georg Picot
This article provides a comparative analysis of three central policies to regulate low wages: statutory minimum wages, state support for collective bargaining and topping up low wages with public transfers (in-work benefits). We map the variation of these policies across 33 OECD countries and analyze the incidence of low-wage employment they are associated with. We find three approaches to regulating
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Structural adjustment and the political economy of capital flight Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-04-23 Elias Nosrati, Andreas Kern, Bernhard Reinsberg, Dilec Sevinc
The financial haemorrhaging of lower income countries in the form of capital flight is a leading cause of global economic inequality. On an annual basis, trillions of dollars bypass the already starved fiscal spaces of nations mired in poverty, making their way instead to lucrative offshore bank accounts governed by secrecy jurisdictions. The present article relates this phenomenon to the institutional
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Et Tu, Brute? Unraveling the puzzle of deception and broken trust in close relations Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-04-10 David Shulman, Kent Grayson
Embeddedness theory and relational work theory propose that people in close social relations naturally have better information about partners, which helps safeguard and optimize their relationships. Yet, researchers have noted that despite access to better information, broken trust still occurs. Why? We identify two factors that systematically keep access to information from working as anticipated:
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The rise and fall of ordoliberalism Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-04-03 Josef Hien
Ordoliberalism has been accused of being the ideational blueprint for Germany’s fiscal stance during the Eurozone-crisis. While the literature that debates the influence of ordoliberalism on crisis politics is growing, there is a lack of studies tracing the ordoliberal influence within Germany. This study shows that ordoliberalism had very limited influence on the creation of German institutions and
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In your face: a comparative field experiment on racial discrimination in Europe Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-03-27 Javier G Polavieja, Bram Lancee, María Ramos, Susanne Veit, Ruta Yemane
We present the first large-scale comparative field experiment on appearance-based racial discrimination in hiring conducted in Europe. Using a harmonized methodology, we sent fictitious résumés to real vacancies in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, randomly varying applicants’ ethnic ancestry (signaled foremost by name) and applicants’ racial appearance (signaled by photographs). Applicants are young-adult
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Seeing like an economist: using the case of Dutch healthcare reform to bring professions and their epistemologies back in the field of new economic sociology Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-02-21 Ewald Engelen, Mayra Mosciaro, Maria Kaika
The article scrutinizes the Dutch healthcare market system to provide empirical grounding to the debates around the extent to which rationally constructed markets can develop as originally planned. Focusing on one specific pricing device, we document how the perceived economic ‘rationalities’ embedded in its design are challenged by the unforeseen and unanticipated ‘irrationalities’ of daily practices
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Long-term effects of sectarian politics: evidence from Lebanon Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-02-13 Thomas J Emery, Rok Spruk
We examine the effect of sectarian politics in the presence of weak state capacity on long-term economic growth. To this end, we exploit the 1956 civil uprising between Maronite Christian and Sunni Muslim factions in Lebanon to estimate the impact of sectarian political tensions on long-term growth. To isolate the impact of the uprising, we use synthetic control estimator and match Lebanon’s pre-1956
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‘Trust and safety’: exchange, protection and the digital market–fortress in platform capitalism Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-02-11 Graham Denyer Willis
As a space of exchange that transcends historic jurisdictions, the Internet lacks a dominant security provider. This research examines how and why firms in platform capitalism have developed their own method and means of protection. ‘Trust and Safety’ (T&S) is a novel division of labour that has become nearly ubiquitous in the industry, encompassing many of the concerns raised about the influence of
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Regulatory capture’s third face of power Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Wendy Y Li
The term ‘regulatory capture’ is frequently invoked to describe dysfunctional government institutions. In its casual use, it refers to a phenomenon in which regulations benefit regulated industries, rather than public interests. However, as an analytical concept, social scientists have struggled to empirically identify and define the processes in which capture emerges and sustains. In this article
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Tax principles, policy feedback and self-interest: cross-national experimental evidence on wealth tax preferences Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2023-02-02 Manuel Schechtl, Daria Tisch
Rising wealth inequality and squeezed public budgets has brought wealth tax back into policy discussions. A net wealth tax might help to boost state revenue and reduce wealth inequality. Yet little is known about citizens’ attitudes towards the design of a net wealth tax (i.e. the tax unit, exemption and rate). Using a novel multifactorial survey experiment, we examine citizens’ endorsement of fundamental
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The quiet side of debt: public debt management in advanced economies Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-12-23 Charlotte Rommerskirchen, Arjen W van der Heide
Whilst both the level and the make-up of public debt are high salience issues, the management of public debt seldom commands public attention. This study examines the quiet politics of public debt management in advanced capitalist societies, comparing debt management reforms and the everyday practice of debt management in Germany and the UK. We present evidence of two factors contributing to the political
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Navigating uncertainty in networks of social exchange: a relational event study of a community currency system Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-12-23 Jakob Hoffmann, Johannes Glückler
This article analyzes the structure of socially embedded exchange under uncertainty in the context of a community currency system in Germany. We discuss three relational and path-dependent mechanisms—experience-based trust, networked reputation and public reputation—which serve as navigation practices to mitigate uncertainty. We furthermore associate these mechanisms with observable structures of exchange
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Making the ‘business case’: vocabularies of motive and clean tech innovation in the hidden developmental state Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-11-21 Meghan Elizabeth Kallman, Scott Frickel
This article analyzes the hidden developmental state (HDS) from a cultural perspective, exploring the values and vocabularies of motive among technology experts, managers and government officials involved in state-led innovation. We consider the rollout of smart meters in Washington State, an endeavor primarily funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Mobilizing evidence
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Digital power resources (DPR): the political economy of structural and infrastructural business power in digital(ized) capitalism Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-10-21 Michael Kemmerling, Christine Trampusch
Studies on digitalization and business power tend to focus on digital platform firms. In contrast, we argue that data, digital technologies and digital infrastructures create novel digital power resources (DPR) for firms throughout sectors. DPR can be structural, that is, rooted in data and digital technologies, and infrastructural, that is, rooted in digital infrastructure. We propose indicators and
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The strings of the ‘golden straitjacket’: sovereign ratings and the welfare state in developed countries Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-10-14 Alison Johnston, Zsófia Barta
Do sovereign ratings influence social spending in developed countries? Ratings are highly publicized and fiscally consequential assessments of countries’ creditworthiness shown to penalize welfare-largesse. We hypothesize that downgrades induce governments to retrench social spending, and test this hypothesis via panel-analyses of 23 OECD countries between 1995 and 2019. Our event-study shows that
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Economic nostalgia: the salience of economic identity for the Brexit campaign Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-08-23 Lisa Suckert
The rise of ‘new populism’ is commonly explained by two opposing approaches known as cultural backlash and economic deprivation. Their antagonism perpetuates a dichotomous understanding of economy versus identity. This article contributes to scholarly attempts to overcome this dichotomy by introducing the concept of economic identity. It suggests to bring ‘the economic’ back into culturalist explanations
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Novel welfare state responses in times of crises: the COVID-19 crisis versus the Great Recession Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-08-12 Cathal O’Donoghue, Denisa M Sologon, Iryna Kyzyma
Using microsimulation tools, we explore the social policy responses to the Great Recession and the COVID-19 crisis, and their impact on preserving living standards in Ireland. During the Great Recession, the focus was on cost reduction. By contrast, during the COVID-19 crisis, the focus was on mitigating the impact on household incomes. In addition, an innovation in joint public and private responses
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Hyper-elite network building in Madagascar: amplification or compensatory strategy? Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-08-12 Linda Rua, Mireille Razafindrakoto, François Roubaud
Research has proved that social networks are unevenly distributed. Qualitative and theoretical work on elite networks raises the question: do they amplify or compensate for inequalities in the powerful other resources? We test these hypotheses using a unique dataset of hyper-elites in Madagascar. We identify three network dimensions: extent, quality and effectiveness. We find that elite groups disadvantaged
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The managerial contradictions of extroverted financialization: the rise and fall of Deutsche Bank Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-08-11 Mareike Beck
Deutsche Bank was once an acclaimed US-style investment bank but is now struggling. The rise of US finance is often explained as an outcome of financial liberalization that motivated other banks to abandon their traditional industrial support to chase profit opportunities within global securities markets. This story, however, underestimates how the transition to US-led financialization was deeply entangled
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Social investment as a conceptual framework for analysing well-being returns and reforms in 21st century welfare states Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-08-11 Anton Hemerijck, Stefano Ronchi, Ilze Plavgo
Welfare provision is often conceived through the lens of decommodification and analysed in (re)distributive terms. This article argues that a distributive approach does not sufficiently capture the complexity of 21st century welfare state dynamics. It proposes re-conceptualizing provision as a mix of three policy functions: raising and maintaining human capital stock; easing the flow of gendered life-course
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Liberalization, democratization and the remaking of the South African corporate network 1993–2020 Socio-Econ. Rev. (IF 4.058) Pub Date : 2022-08-10 Niall Reddy
Two broad, complementary approaches have defined the literature on interlocking directorates. Inter-organizational theories see them as an outgrowth of firms’ efforts to monitor and manage their commercial environment. Intra-class theories focus on their functionality in harmonizing and coordinating the political action of different segments of the capitalist elite. But comparative work on network