This paper suggests that the discourse of sustainable development (SD) within the United Nations (UN) represents a paradigm shift from first/industrial modernity to a reflexive modernity. Reflexive modernity is defined by the changing nature of political structures in the face of globalised...

This article addresses the growing articulation between migration and security in the European Union. Risk politicization strategies are developed as a way of questioning the consequences of framing migration as a security problem. My general research questions are: i) is migration being...

This paper looks at the joint impact of labour market risk and selection in to the labour market on returns to education. Accounting for non-employment risk leads to substantial changes in returns while wage risk has little impact. The risk- adjusted returns to both high school and college for...

We document that home ownership of households with "heads" aged 25-44 years fell substantially between 1980 and 2000 and recovered only partially during the 2001{2005 housing boom. The 1980{2000 decline in young home ownership occurred as improvements in mortgage opportunities made it easier to...

We document that home ownership of households with 'heads' aged 25-44 years fell substantially between 1980 and 2000 and recovered only partially during the 2001-2005 housing boom. The 1980-2000 decline in young home ownership occurred as improvements in mortgage opportunities seemingly made it...

The rate of new household formation among young adults who live with their parents has decreased in the last twenty years, specially in Southern Europe. At the same time, exposure to the risk that a young adult loses his or her job has increased. We use differences in firing costs across...

The paper develops a dynamic framework for measuring endogenous risk bubbles consistent with debt-deflations; the Systemic Marginal Leverage Index or SysLev. It is symmetrical, proportional, scale invariant, naturally bounded and time dynamic and consistent. These key properties allow the...

Using high-resolution data from Africa over the period 1998-2012, this paper investigates the hypothesis that a higher exposure to malaria increases the incidence of civil violence. The analysis uses panel data at the 1° grid cell level at monthly frequency. The econometric identification...

This study examines the historical origins of differences in attitudes towards risk and uncertainty across different cultures. It establishes a robust positive relationship between cross-country temperature volatility and Hofstede's (2011) [Hofstede, 2011] measure of uncertainty avoidance. This...

While the nation is now a few years removed from the financial turmoil that led to the so-called Great Recession, “crisis” is a word still much bandied about. Crisis is, after all, something that cries out for swift and decisive action -- and the industry of employee benefits has had its...