The conventional economic analysis of welfare programmes is based on the work disincentive issue. This has become a leading justification for recent discussions of welfare reform…
Abstract
The conventional economic analysis of welfare programmes is based on the work disincentive issue. This has become a leading justification for recent discussions of welfare reform in the USA that emphasize getting recipients off the rolls and back into productive employment. The presumption is that recipients are rational and selfish agents, and that welfare is sufficiently attractive as to provide substantial work disincentives. Questions that view. This questioning is motivated by the surprisingly high attachment of welfare recipients to the labour force, and is based on the development of a more general framework for viewing the motivations behind economic behaviour. By allowing for diversity of personality types, we are led to a less pessimistic scenario regarding the possibility of designing a system with adequate benefits and without inappropriately high work disincentives.
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Jana Fedtke, Mohammed Ibahrine and Yuting Wang
This paper analyzes Fang Fang's 2020 Wuhan Diary‐Dispatches from a Quarantined City, to show how the author communicates the coronavirus crisis in Wuhan in a global information…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes Fang Fang's 2020 Wuhan Diary‐Dispatches from a Quarantined City, to show how the author communicates the coronavirus crisis in Wuhan in a global information ecosystem. The success of the diary showcases how the actual health emergency has been transformed into a communication issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is exploratory and qualitative in nature. The authors conducted a thematic analysis (TA) of Wuhan Diary, in which we decided to focus on the aspects of sousveillance and solidarity. For the purposes of our paper, we used the English translation of the text by Dr. Michael Berry.
Findings
The authors focus on two major themes in their exploration of the corona crisis as a global communication issue: sousveillance and solidarity. The authors argue that the diary's ways of seeing perform a version of “sousveillance” or “undersight” in juxtaposition to surveillance or “oversight” (Mann, 2017). Fang Fang calls for solidarity as an effective measure for individuals, communities and societies to contain the pandemic and a potential misinfodemic.
Originality/value
Since Wuhan was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wuhan Diary presents an unprecedented narrative account of life under quarantine that could function as a litmus test for other cities and countries. Fang Fang's diary provides a countermeasure to official accounts of the pandemic in Wuhan, which has resonated both with people in China and abroad.
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Verlumun Celestine Gever, Nabaz Nawzad Abdullah, Mohammed Shaibu Onakpa, Ogochukwu Gabriella Onah, Chukwuemeka Chiebonam Onyia, Ifeanyi E. Iwundu and Esther Rita Gever
This study aimed to develop and test the impact of a social media-based intervention for improving the business skills and income of young smallholder farmers.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to develop and test the impact of a social media-based intervention for improving the business skills and income of young smallholder farmers.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the researchers used an exploratory approach to develop a social media-based intervention for acquiring business skills and improving income. Second, the researchers tested the effectiveness of the developed programme on a sample of 506 young smallholder farmers. Finally, the intervention and data collection took place over five years (2017–2021).
Findings
The result showed steady improvements in business skills and income from 2017 to 2021 for the treatment group, unlike the control group. Also, improvements in business skills led to a reduction in expenses and an increase in profit from 2017 to 2021. A further evaluation of the result showed that an addition of 5.1 mean scores in business skills led to the addition of $91 income between 2017 and 2018; for 2018–2019, 2.6 improvements in business skills increased income by $123. For 2019–2020, a 2.7 improvement increased income by $209, whilst for 2020–2021, a 1.6 improvement increased income by $320.
Originality/value
The results of this study could help explore ways of using social media to change behaviour aimed at improving income amongst young smallholder farmers.