Suchergebnisse

The value of travel time savings (VOTTS) is one of the most important variables for calculating the benefits of transportation projects. However, the way it is currently calculated (usually via discrete choice models) is complex, tedious and subject to a reasonable level of uncertainty. Furthermore, the method is not easily understood by government officials who use the VOTTS for appraisal and the citizens are not fully aware how such values are calculated. This lack of understanding and transparency in methodology may lead to misuse of the VOTTS during transport project appraisals which in turn can result in unfair transport decisions for citizens, government and the environment. To solve these problems, a fuzzy logic rule-based approach is proposed. With this approach, the rules can be made based on economic and behavioral theories by experts, government officials and citizens (via surveys). This approach makes it understandable to everyone how values are calculated. To test the applicability of the approach, a simple numerical example is presented by estimating the VOTTS of various countries using their gross domestic product-purchasing power parity (GDP-PPP) and the traffic congestion level. Results are then compared to values obtained from a recent metanalysis on VOTTS in Europe and some official VOTTS.

On the 5th of July 2017, the European Committee of Social Rights published another decision adopted under the collective complaints procedure, condemning Greece for violating plenty of the European Social Charter provisions concerning labour rights by implementing austerity measures between 2010 and 2014. The Committee adopted a dynamic and analytical interpretation of the Charter setting new criteria, such as the need to take into account the social needs of the most vulnerable when legislating and went even further than in its previous decisions in terms of social rights protection by producing a precedent that can be used as a tool against the application of austerity policies. This paper analyses GSEE v. Greece, Complaint No. 111/2014 before the Committee and attempts to review it under a multi-level context.

AbstractMulti‐level networks of regulatory authorities are considered as vectors of knowledge circulation, norm diffusion, and regulatory coordination. However, this is often assumed without empirical scrutiny of the concrete "micro‐dynamics" between individual participants in networks, which remain a "black box" for analysts. This paper is mainly based on direct observation and informal interviews conducted during a meeting of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities in charge of regulation of the broadcasting sector. It seeks to elucidate what deliberation, socialization, and learning, considered as devices typical of "soft" governance modes, mean as concrete social practices within a network.

The article presents the debates on youth unemployment developed in Greece and Ireland by the social actors before and after the outbreak of the economic crisis. The article examines policies of actors (employers, unions, policy bodies) and analyses whether their responses fit within neoliberal, flexicurity or social Europe discourses. It looks at how youth unemployment debates are framed in two different national settings and whether institutional differences affect the convergence towards or divergence from the neoliberal discourse. The article establishes that discourses of Greek social actors are more conflictual than those in Ireland where the history of social partnership is still evident. There is also evidence of changes in policies and discourses pre- and post-crisis.