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This paper analyses the nature and details of the association that the integration of social and environmental considerations with corporate strategy has for different competitive advantages and innovation activities at the firm level. Its objective is to answer the question as to whether a positive link exists between integration and the effects of environmental and social performance on these different dimensions of economic performance. The question of the specific form of this relationship is also raised. These questions are analysed using cluster analysis and regression models. Results are presented for four different dimensions of competitive advantage, and for two types of innovation activity. These raise the possibility that the process of integration is more important for bringing about a positive link than a resulting integration type. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the second half of the 1990s, cross-sectoral, sectoral and company-level bargaining has developed into a key movement in transnational industrial relations in the European Union. Originally stimulated by EU institutions, these forms of bargaining have since progressed autonomously. At present, it is difficult to say exactly what effect, if any, they can have on individual working conditions. Based on a 2005 report to the European Commission, this paper argues for EU legislative action to create an optional framework for transnational collective bargaining, in the form of a Council regulation to be adopted under the social and economic cohesion chapters of the EU Treaty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ireland there is a widespread belief that the country is moving towards a 'European model' of industrial relations. One claim is that the industrial relations system can be now described as social corporatist. Advocates of this view invariably point to the substance and the durability of the latest round of centralized wage agreements in support of this claim. This paper assesses the validity of the argument. Because discussions about social corporatism are so diffuse, the first part of the paper develops a framework that sheds light on what the concept means in economic and institutional terms. In the second part of the paper this framework is used to assess the functioning of the recent national pay deals. The conclusion is that these agreements should not be regarded as social corporatist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aim This paper identifies socio-economic driving forces of biodiversity change and analyses their political and economic dynamics by modelling socio-economic parts of three scenario storylines developed for the ALARM (assessing large-scale risks for biodiversity with tested methods) project. In the BAMBU (business-as-might-be-usual) scenario policy decisions already made in the European Union (EU) are implemented and enforced, but no additional measures are introduced. The GRAS (growth applied strategy) scenario describes a future world orientated towards economic growth and complete deregulation. And finally, SEDG (sustainable European development goal) is a normative scenario focusing on the achievement of sustainable development. Methods The GINFORS (global inter-industry forecasting system) model is applied to quantify the effects of different sets of policy measures representing the three scenarios. It allows investigation of the inter-relations between socio-economic driving forces and the state of the environment. Results The presented results for the 25 EU countries focus on the following variables: unemployment, material extraction, energy supply and CO2 emissions. The lowest amount of unemployment is in the SEDG scenario, where it steadily decreases from 2005 to 2020. In BAMBU it falls to a level that is also below that of 2005. In GRAS, the number of unemployed people in 2020 is clearly over the value of 2005. The development of total material extraction from 2005 to 2020 is nearly stable in BAMBU, while it clearly increases in GRAS. Only in SEDG is there a reduction in resource use. None of the scenarios achieves a substantial reduction in energy use. However, the development of CO2 emissions shows a decoupling from energy supply. For BAMBU there is a slight decline in CO2 emissions over time, for GRAS they increase but with a slightly smaller growth rate than energy supply. In SEDG the emissions are reduced. The decoupling trends can be explained by a shift to more renewable energy sources in all scenarios, with the highest share in SEDG. Main conclusions The results indicate that a growth-oriented policy design, such as presented in the GRAS scenario, is not compatible with the conservation of biodiversity. Only in the SEDG scenario do the policy measures support the idea of a sustainable development, but in some respects they are still not ambitious enough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American sociology is distinguished from British and continental European sociology by, among other things, a lack of interest in identifying and measuring social class, as distinct from social status. Indices of occupational prestige ratings have served as indices of social status. This article explicates the most popular American scale of occupational prestige ratings, and concludes that this index is not a plausible index either of the relative prestige of occupations or of social status, and furthermore, that such an index in principle is not obtainable. The errors of proponents of the scale lie in an idealistic theory of the social order and repetition of the classic mistake once committed, but now long avoided, by economists: aggregation of subjective evaluations. A well-known characteristic feature of American sociology, in contrast to British and continental European sociology, has been the absence of serious attempts to establish numerical indices of social class. Yet there have been a number of attempts to establish indices of what is variously known as social status or socio-economic status, mainly by means of polled verbal evaluations of occupations.

The establishment of trust is a key component of economic activity and social ties can make business dealings work better. However, we do not know much about how economic actors created new social ties deliberately in order to pursue their objectives. This article analyses the way in which merchants and entrepreneurs used specific rituals to establish formal social ties, with the intent of protecting their business relationships. It focuses on relational instruments that until now had been neglected, particularly godparenthood and marriage witnessing. It shows that formalization, ritualization, and publicity of ties were used by entrepreneurs to establish trust with their business associates, for example when information was asymmetric or when institutions were perceived as inefficient in guaranteeing mutual good behaviour. The analysis covers a long period, from the late middle ages to today. It pays particular attention to the consequences of the Reformation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth. Contrary to the received wisdom, it suggests that formal social ties such as godparenthood continued to play an important role in economic activity during and after the industrial revolution. New databases on early modern Italy and nineteenth-century France are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total fertility rates fell to previously unseen levels in a large number of countries beginning in the early 1990s. The persistence of TFRs below 1.3 raised the possibility of rapid population aging and decline. We discuss the recent widespread turnaround in so-called lowest-low-fertility countries in Europe and East Asia. The number of countries with TFRs below 1.3 fell from 21 in 2003 to five in 2008. Moreover, the upturn in the TFR was not confined to lowest-fertility countries, but affected the whole developed world. We explore the demographic explanations for the recent rise in TFRs stemming from fertility timing effects as well as economic, policy, and social factors. Although the current economic downturn may suppress TFRs in the short run, we conclude that formerly lowest-low-fertility countries will continue to see increases in fertility as the transitory effects of shifts to later childbearing become less important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that, despite globalisation forces, national education and training systems have kept their particularities. Policies of convergence, enhanced by supranational organisations such as the European Commission, have not yet led to a homogenisation of national education and training systems. The latter are still influenced by the political, economic and social framework. Thus, no single model of lifelong learning prevailed in Europe. There were countries close to the demand-led model of ‘voluntary partnership’ (e.g. UK), countries representative of the ‘formalised social partnership’ model (e.g. Sweden) and countries adhering to the ‘statist’ model (e.g. Greece). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the declines in fertility in Europe and the Third World. Lower levels of fertility were largely due to the adoption of innovative behavior within marriage. So far this transformation of reproduction has been monotonic and rapid. Socioeconomic development is associated with the timing of the onset of the transition and is responsible for differences among groups during the transition, although it is not yet possible to rule out alternative explanations such as ideational or institutional change The pace and pervasiveness of the declines, however, suggest that a mechanism of diffusion is involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the national product and structural change in the French economy. During the last two decades national income and social accounting has emerged as a meaningful tool of economic analysis and an instrumentality for the formulation of public policy. After World War II nearly all of the nations of western Europe resorted to social accounting to some extent, a development which resulted in a wealth of empirical data, and provided, as well, valuable theoretical insights into the basic problems of national income analysis. This is true of France. In conjunction with the endeavor to rehabilitate the economy through the modernization and equipment plan (i.e. the "Monnet Plan"), a vigorous effort was made to develop an adequate system of national accounts. Now, the stress placed upon national accounting is such that the annual "economic budget" is one of the key instruments for economic planning, and ranks in importance with the fiscal budget among the documents a government presents to the National Assembly.