The Activation Dilemma

The activation of social welfare recipients has been, and still is, a central issue in the development of social and employment policies in Europe. This ambitious book explores the employment effectiveness of minimum income schemes, and provides the first comprehensive examination of its dependency on how the rights and obligations of the recipients are defined. The book argues that the right to a minimum income can only be adequately justified with reference to the individual's right to personal development. Combining political theory and policy analysis, the author draws on evidence from eight different European countries to illustrate how it is possible to combine higher levels of employment effectiveness with the respect for recipients' right to personal development. Exploring the balance between fairness and effectiveness in the activation of minimum income recipients and acknowledging that individuals have both rights and obligations, this book will provide a useful reference tool to students, researchers and policy-makers with an interest in the work versus welfare nexus.

The question of how cooperation and social order can evolve from a Hobbesian state of nature of a “war of all against all” has always been at the core of social scientific inquiry. Social dilemmas are the main analytical paradigm used by social scientists to explain competition, cooperation, and conflict in human groups. The formal analysis of social dilemmas allows for identifying the conditions under which cooperation evolves or unravels. This knowledge informs the design of institutions that promote cooperative behavior. Yet to gain practical relevance in policymaking and institutional design, predictions derived from the analysis of social dilemmas must be put to an empirical test. The collection of articles in this book gives an overview of state-of-the-art research on social dilemmas, institutions, and the evolution of cooperation. It covers theoretical contributions and offers a broad range of examples on how theoretical insights can be empirically verified and applied to cooperation problems in everyday life. By bringing together a group of distinguished scholars, the book fills an important gap in sociological scholarship and addresses some of the most interesting questions of human sociality.

This book describes the advances and insights made by social scientists from around the world into the understanding and resolution of social dilemmas. Each chapter discusses its own research findings against the background of a more comprehensive view of social dilemnas.

The activation of social welfare recipients has been, and still is, a central issue in the development of social and employment policies in Europe. This book explores the employment effectiveness of minimum income schemes, and provides a comprehensive examination of its dependency on how the rights and obligations of the recipients are defined.

This book presents an accessible and state-of-the-art survey of current research on social dilemmas. A social dilemma arises when actions that are justifiable in terms of individual rationality (e.g. over-harvesting resources, or using private instead of public transportation) threaten the common good and in the long run the individual's own self-interest as well. The study of social dilemmas has important links with many areas in psychology, as well as with cognate disciplines such as risk analysis, environmental science, political science, and economics. Accordingly, the book should appeal not only to psychologists but also to a wider audience of scholars and researchers. Contributors include both established authorities and recent innovators, and the organization and contents of the book reflect the most recent trends in this exciting area. Increased attention is given to modeling dynamics and processes in social dilemmas, and greater emphasis placed on exploring structural solutions to dilemmas. New findings and theoretical developments regarding group and inter-group processes are highlighted and a move is made away from a heavy reliance on laboratory experiments and game theory to field studies and real-world applications. A scholarly prospective chapter at the beginning and an integrative concluding chapter provide useful overviews of the area and the contributions to the book.

Clinical Dilemmas in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease offers hepatologists practical, up-to-date and expert guidance on the most topical dilemmas, difficulties and areas of controversy/difficulty surrounding this ever-increasing area of liver disease they face in daily practice. Roger Williams and Simon Taylor-Robinson, two of Europe’s leading hepatologists, have recruited leading figures from across the world to assist them, resulting in a truly international approach. Each chapter covers a specific area of difficulty, containing clear learning points and providing evidence-based expert guidance on the latest hot topics in clinical management such as: Is NAFLD different in absence of Metabolic Syndrome? Are the pros outweighed by the cons of obtaining a liver biopsy? Is progression to cirrhosis more likely in children with NAFLD? What are the dangers as well as the true benefits of bariatric surgery? How is it best to use antifibrotic agents in clinical practice? Clinical Dilemmas in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease provides the answers to the questions and challenges that clinicians face every day in this area. It is essential reading for hepatologists of all levels and researchers in hepatology, as well as all those involved in the care of patients with NAFLD, including gastroenterologists, pathologists and specialist hepatology nurses.

The phenomenal growth of Islamic finance in the last few decades has been accompanied by a host of interesting questions and challenges. One of the critical challenges is how Islamic financial institutions can be motivated to participate in the 'equity-like' profit-and-loss sharing (PLS) contracts. It is observed that Islamic banks are reluctant to participate in the pure PLS scheme which is manifested by the rising concentration of investment on murabaha or mark-up financing. This phenomenon has been the hotbed of academic criticism on the contemporary practice of Islamic banking. This book explains the 'murabaha syndrome' in light of the incentive provided by the current institutional framework and what are the changes required in the governance structure to mend this anomaly.

This book provides a theoretical, empirical, and pragmatic understanding of social dilemmas (SDs). A SD is a social situation where cooperation maximizing collective or social profit is different from defection maximizing individual profit. Problems arise when too many group members choose to pursue individual profit and immediate satisfaction rather than behave in the group’s best long-term interests. The problems include an environmental problem and various types of urban, economic, and political problems. Most books treating SDs are not monographs but are proceedings or omnibus volumes written by different researchers. Few monographs have been published for SDs, but those few deal only with basic theories and empirical findings. This book, by contrast, is a monograph by a single author and provides complete coverage from basic theories in Part I to applied theories and pragmatic solutions for urban, transportation, and environmental problems in Parts II and III. Various types of strategies are proposed in this book to overcome the problems caused by SDs in various situations based on the basic theories of those dilemmas. The strategies are psychological and structural ones. The book includes theories, empirical evidence in experiments, and practical policies in the real world for these strategies. Thus, the work effectively provides a bridge between basic behavioral scientists, applied behavioral scientists, and practitioners. With this useful source, basic scientists will understand how to apply their scientific knowledge to the real world and also will encounter new scientific problems that should be solved scientifically. Applied researchers and specialists will become familiar with new solutions through basic research on SDs and will be made aware of new pragmatic problems that should be solved with a practical approach.