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The possible impacts of contextual effects on political behaviour have long been studied and analysed by political scientists and geographers. We review previous relevant literature and extend it by incorporating the recent rise of populism and developments of socio‐economic determinants of the political economy of discontent and the geography of happiness and well‐being across the European Union. In particular, the research presented in this paper is aimed at analysing the impact of individual and contextual variables on political behaviour across European regions. Additionally, this paper examines links between subjective well‐being and political preferences, while at the same time considers contextual factors at the regional level across Europe. Methodologically, we adopt a multilevel modelling approach to analyse voting behaviour and to also examine subjective happiness indicators in relation to factors of political geography. We employ data from the European Social Survey (ESS) to estimate the effects of economic and non‐economic factors across Europe on the geography of subjective happiness and discontent using individual social values and cultural norms. We find that not only are individual level characteristics significant, but so too are regional characteristics.
Investments in human capital are essential themes in many policy programs. Besides the direct private returns of education, there is evidence of positive human capital externalities at the level of regions and firms. Our results show that both production and consumption externalities have positive effects on wages. Production externalities are transmitted at the level of firms and not at the regional level. For workers in low skilled jobs, consumption externalities dominate production externalities.Workers on low skilled jobs earn higher wages when working in co-operation with workers in high skilled jobs, while for low educated workers such co-operation with high educated workers is negative.JEL: J21, J24, J31, R23 1
Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract** Many welfare reforms undertaken in OECD-countries are directed towards enhancing efficiency in the administration and implementation of social security and social benefits. In this perspective the governance reforms in The Netherlands are an example of decentralisation through budgeting of means to municipalities. This brings about a unique twofold experiment in which we compare the efficiency changes in providing social assistance as a result of decentralisation and budgeting and the influence of policy measures at a local level. By using data envelopment analysis we assess the effect of the introduction of the new Work and Social Assistance Act (WSA) in 2004 on cost efficiency. By using a stochastic frontier analysis we assess the impact of municipal policy strategies on cost inefficiencies for the period 2005-2007. We find a clear positive effect of the WSA in 2004 on cost efficiency. Furthermore, we find that in the aftermath, when efficiency slowly dropped after 2005, there is a distinct impact of policy strategies municipalities adopt. Pursuing a strategy of activation raised efficiency significantly, whereas strict control or combinations of strategies led a (weak) fall in efficiency.
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