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This article analyzes the dialectic of fast and slow mobilities as a continuous tension, since the mid-twentieth century, characterized by three evolutions of the functional, phenomenological, and social dimensions of mobility infrastructure and practices in Brussels, Belgium. It is based on the content analysis of diverse "embodiments" of social imaginaries: mobility infrastructures, narratives and sensory-motor behaviors, and images, movies, and photographs. It casts light on the great triple evolution of (1) the scale of the designed city; (2) the limits between spaces devoted to speed, slowness, and overlaps; and (3) the promoted aesthetics in terms of atmospheres and urban experience. These developments strongly relate to the changing meaning of slow and fast mobilities and to a broader change in the societal relationship to space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested a causal relationship between international public relations (PR) expenditure and its economic outcome at the country level by using a time-series analysis. International PR expenditures of four client countries (Japan, Colombia, Belgium, and the Philippines) were collected from the semi-annual reports of the Foreign Agency Registration Act (FARA) from 1996 to 2009. Economic outcome was measured by U.S. imports from the client countries and U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) toward them. This study found that the past PR expenditure holds power in forecasting future economic outcomes for Japan, Belgium, and the Philippines except Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on fertility among second-generation migrant women across Europe have mainly treated the second generation as a rather homogenous group, not linking and distinguishing fertility patterns by type of partner. This study investigates how and to what extent the origin and generation of the partner (endogamous or exogamous as well as diversity in endogamy) of Turkish and Moroccan second-generation women in Belgium is related to first-birth rates. We distinguish three types of partnerships: those in an endogamous union with a first-generation partner, those in an endogamous union with a second-generation partner, and those in an exogenous union where the partner is of native Belgian origin. We use linked Census-Register data for the period 2001-2006. Applying event history models, our findings reveal clear differences between the endogamous and exogamous unions with respect to the timing of first births. Second-generation women of both origin groups have the lowest parenthood rates when the partner is of native Belgian origin. However, no variation is found within endogamous unions. For endogamous unions with a first-generation partner, the parenthood rates are approximately the same (and not higher, as was expected) compared to when the partner is also of second generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on regional economic development increasingly embraces more nuanced perspectives on the evolution of clusters, industries and agglomerations. The extent to which the emergence and decline of clusters can be directed with intentional regional development strategies is, however, a major point of discussion. The article links the cluster life cycle concept to regional development strategies in order to examine the trajectory of Europe's largest chemical complex in and around the Port of Antwerp (Belgium). This chemical cluster has matured and currently is in a state of stability. Although the cluster did not experience growth over the last decades in terms of new entrants, it did transform internally and maintained its importance as a production centre. Thus, whereas lock-in mechanisms hampered growth, they also prevented the cluster from going into a state of decline. We argue that while regional development strategies stimulated new emerging clusters in the Flemish region, vested interests in the port and associated lock-in mechanisms have resisted such developments in Antwerp. New growth trajectories based on the chemical cluster were therefore difficult to recreate in the Antwerp region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the ways in which ‘good’ representation can be measured and assessed is by the degree of congruence between the preferences of the population and the preferences and policies of the political elite. One of the arguments for defending decentralisation is that governmental institutions on a smaller territorial scale can be closer to the population, and that they can provide policies that are more responsive to the population of the sub-states. This argument is often made in Belgium, where voters in Flanders traditionally vote centre-right, while the voters of Wallonia vote centre-left, and where federal coalitions need to reflect the preferences of both regions whereas regional governments can be responsive to their voters only. Using data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, this paper tests this assumption and compares the left–right orientation of the population and of governments at the different institutional levels and regions. The findings suggest that sub-state governments are partially more congruent to their sub-state voters than federal governments. However, congruence gaps are less related to constraints in government formation than to changes in behaviour of key political actors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Unregistered temporary migration can create large discrepancies between death rates according to the legal, factual or habitual residence of the deceased. The most accurate death rates are those that refer to population numbers based on habitual residence, as they concern the population fully exposed to the hazards of a specific municipality. Using the Belgian population census, the register of vital events and individual death certificates, we calculate the death rates of the population with habitual residence in three large Belgian cities (Brussels, Liège and Schaarbeek) around 1910 and compare them with the typically calculated rates based on de facto deaths. Most significantly, the presence of medical institutions in large cities such as Brussels and Liège artificially increased the rates based on deaths within their territory. In the suburb of Schaarbeek, on the other hand, large numbers of people with habitual residence died outside the town. Consequently, our results suggest that for some age groups, Brussels' well-known excess mortality during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries can partly be attributed to the large number of people without habitual residence who died in the capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we report on a qualitative and interpretative research project in which we gained in-depth knowledge about dynamics in ten federal public policy units in Belgium where a service user with experience of poverty was employed. Starting from an institutional theory perspective, it was argued that these service users with experience of poverty can possibly feature as institutional entrepreneurs or agents of change who initiate a critical reflection in the mindset of fellow social administrators about taken-for-granted practices, routines and rationales. In order to fulfill this ambition, we equally stressed that service users with experience of poverty should be able to perform two other roles as well: to provide direct support to citizens, especially those living in poverty during their contacts with a public policy unit, and to formulate concrete propositions to change some of the policy units' internal procedures. Our research findings reveal that these two roles provide a necessary breeding ground for further interaction and (in)formal dialogue between service users with experience of poverty and fellow social administrators about the quality and accessibility of service delivery. However, installing this shared responsibility proves to be a valuable but also gradual process, and we argue that it is therefore undesirable when service users with experience of poverty act as so-called 'heroes' in changing these taken-for-granted institutional practices, routines and rationales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on how different historical stages of socio-economic development in Brussels are played out on the ground over time in one particular inner-city neighbourhood, the Quartier Dansaert. In particular, I document the history of this neighbourhood and how urban change and gentrification have impacted the outlook of multilingualism and the development of multilingual discourses and language hierarchies in its material and semiotic landscape over time. By using the rich history of multilingualism in the Quartier Dansaert as a casestudy, I argue in favour of more historically-sensitive and longitudinal approaches to social and, in particular, linguistic change as played out in urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In peasant studies as well as agricultural and economic history, little is known about the diffusion of new agricultural knowledge in peasant regions and the ways in which smallholding families gained confidence to adopt new approaches to their farming activities. New agricultural innovations--especially those that required substantial cash outlays--were kept at arm's length because of the outcomes uncertainty, which could harm the survival strategies of smallholding peasants. This article elaborates on the spread of two innovativefertilizer improvements--animal urine and lime--in the eighteenth-century smallholding economy of Inland Flanders. It argues that fa rm size and social relations between smallholding peasants and larger farmers played a pivotal role in the dissemination of fertilizer knowledge. Smallholders did not stick to the safe application of current manures but instead adopted these new innovations after they saw the benefits on pioneering large farms. This study, therefore, confirms much about our understandings of a peasant behavior of risk limitation, yet also challenges it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including wealth inequality in Belgium in 16th century, inequality in Netherlands and history of economic inequality.

It is problematic to think of globalization as a new phenomenon and to believe that the phenomenon of a world city, embedded in the global division of labor, is a 20th century novelty. World city literature in sociology often emphasizes, if not assumes, the relatively recent emergence of world cities in the 'new' international division of labor. Sixteenth century Antwerp, however, was the first world city of an expanding capitalist world economy. Understanding this phenomenon and its decline can raise important questions about the modus operandi of subsequent world cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News content diversity is generally considered to be an essential precondition for the promotion of social pluralism. However, how diversity of news content should be conceptualized and measured is less clear. We use a content analysis of newspaper articles about immigration (2013-14) in Belgium (Flanders) to measure the diversity of actors and viewpoints in the news, and to study the link between those two subdimensions of content diversity. We find that the representation of a plurality of active actors in a news article seems to go hand in hand with a more diverse range of viewpoints. The findings show that there are no significant differences in the level of actor and viewpoint diversity between quality and popular newspapers. However, the length of the article has a positive effect on providing more diversity. Moreover, our results indicate that allowing for individual immigrants to talk in the reporting is fundamental to promoting a more positive representation of immigration in the news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether works councils (WCs) in Belgium have a positive effect on firm performance, notably productivity and profitability, while taking the role of trade unions into account.Design/methodology/approach The authors first introduce the typical Belgian industrial relations system, discussing the similarities and differences with neighboring countries. This is followed by a brief overview of the relevant literature. Subsequently, the impact of Belgian employee representation on firm performance is estimated by means of OLS, using a newly developed questionnaire administered among Belgian CEOs. Special attention is given to moderating and mediating effects.Findings The authors find that Belgian WCs have a small (direct) significantly positive effect on labor productivity, but not on profitability. The additional results of the mediation test show tentatively that WCs might affect profitability indirectly, through their impact on productivity. Despite trade unions’ dominance in practice, the findings reveal that their impact is insignificant.Research limitations/implications Although nationwide, rich and representative, as well as statistically valid, the data set is rather small (196 usable observations). The data set offers ample opportunities to further explore what makes effective Belgian WCs different from their non-effective counterparts.Originality/value The data set is unique, and combines subjective CEO with objective performance data. The data offer the opportunity to do a first study into the special case of Belgium, which has a distinct union-dominated IR regime. In this study, the focus is furthermore on the rarely studied WC-trade union interaction. In addition, subtle moderation and mediation effects are estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Topics of the July 2016 issue of the periodical "Journal of Belgian History" are introduced including economic and fertility fluctuations in Wallonia from the 18th to 20th centuries, legends surrounding Belgian francs-tireurs guerrillas during World War I, and Belgian magistrate Eugène Predom's reaction to German occupation during World War II.

By means of an in-depth analysis of 132 partnership agreements, which had been notarized in the city of Antwerp between 1480 and 1620, the present article aspires to provide a substantiated narrative on the use as well as legal features of private partnerships in the early modern Low Countries. In so doing, it became apparent that such small-scale partnerships constituted an effective means in the hands of, mostly non-related, merchants and craftsmen who were looking for legal certainty. Moreover, the examination of these partnership agreements demonstrated the wide-ranging contractual freedom that contracting parties in sixteenth-century Antwerp could dispose of and that therefore historical reality not necessarily complies with legal ideas and concepts provided for by legislative or statutory documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the economic development of several member countries of intergovernmental economic organisation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for June 2016. Topics include the strong output growth in Australia, the need to reduce the financial relation between banks and public sector to revive confidence of banks in Austria, and the improvement of profit margins and financial conditions of Belgium-based firms.

Belgium was one of the first continental countries to undergo industrialization and develop an extensive transportation infrastructure during the nineteenth century, completing the integration of its internal market by the early twentieth century. As such, the country is an ideal case study of the driving forces behind the decisions that industries made about where to locate. An analysis of factors embedded in both the Heckscher-Ohlin model and the new economic geography indicates that the main determinant of Belgium’s industrial locational pattern between 1896 and 1961 was proximity to regions with a high market potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article derives a gravity equation for commuting and uses it to identify the effect of regional borders on commuting. We build on the seminal trade paper by Anderson and Van Wincoop (2003, Gravity with gravitas: a solution to the border puzzle. The American Economic Review, 93: 170-192) and highlight some interesting similarities between our model and Wilson's doubly constrained gravity equation [Wilson, A. (2010) Entropy in urban and regional modelling: retrospect and prospect. Geographical analysis, 42: 364-394], a workhorse model from spatial interaction theory. The model is estimated by applying a negative binomial regression method on Belgian inter-municipal commuting data. We show that regional borders exert a sizeable residual deterrent effect on commuting, a finding with obvious implications for regional labour market integration. This border effect differs significantly between regions and depends on the direction in which the border is crossed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Checklists for evaluation capacity builders include a wide range of building blocks for supporting evaluation activity. Yet, the relative importance of each building block is not clear. The purpose of this article is to identify the capacity related factors that are necessary , but not necessarily sufficient, for organisations that wish to institutionalise high quality policy evaluations. To retrieve these factors, we rely on the necessity function in qualitative comparative analysis. We present a study of twenty-seven organisations of the Flemish public sector (Belgium), in which the introduction of policy evaluations is relatively recent. Our case analysis thus sheds an interesting light upon how policy evaluation, and the underlying capacity to evaluate is given shape. Our findings point at evaluation demand as the most necessary prerequisite for fostering evaluation activity, more so than supply related factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a systematic assessment of the magnitude of transaction costs of public infrastructure delivery, based on the three attributes of transaction costs, being the asset specificity, uncertainty and frequency of a transaction. Design/methodology/approach – Non-parametric tests were used to test the transaction cost differences between different procurement types. Findings – The authors find empirical support, based on a sample of 172 public infrastructure projects in Belgium, that construction firms make higher relation specific investments to their transaction partners under a public-private partnership (PPP) than a under a traditional public procurement (TPP). In addition, the authors found that PPP transactions are burdened by a greater uncertainty and a less mature market than TPP transactions. Research limitations/implications – Given the complexity of this research, the scope is limited to: a strict distinction between two procurement types, one geographical area, a limited time scope and a focus on the private sector. Hence, the authors suggest that further research broadens the scope of either one of these aspects in order to get a better understanding of the total transaction cost burden of the public infrastructure market. Practical implications – This study offers policy makers form a better understanding of the transaction cost implications when evaluating different procurement types. Originality/value – This paper serves as one of the first systematic comparative analyses of the magnitude and determinants of transaction costs for the delivery of public infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to map the spatial variations in the size of the shadow economy within Brussels. Reporting data provided by the National Bank of Belgium on the deposit of high denomination banknotes across bank branches in the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, the finding is that the shadow economy is concentrated in wealthier populations and not in deprived or immigrant communities. The outcome is a call to transcend the association of the shadow economy with marginalized groups and the wider adoption of this indirect method when measuring spatial variations in the shadow economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]