The purpose of this book is to analyse the remaining obstacles to achieving gender equality. The first chapters present different aspects of the gender earnings gap. Different countries are studied and special emphasis is laid on particular sectors and occupations. The rest of the book deals with the postponement of first birth by educated women, the non-cooperative behaviour in time use, gender differences in job and worker mobility, transitions between employment status, discriminations contained in tax systems and poverty rate of single parent households.

Alberto Heimler and Daniele Meulders In the last decade the modelling of the interrelationship between public finance and the rest of the economy has seen substantial advances, reflected in many of the papers delivered to the Applied Econometrics Association Conference held at Confindustria, Rome, on 30 November and 1 December 1989. In particular, the development of the literature on applied general-equilibrium modelling has found most of its applications in the field of taxation, enlarging and completing the estimation of the welfare loss due to distortionary taxes. In this context an important extension has been the introduction of overlapping-generation models. Furthermore, it has become clear that most individual decisions, especially the decision whether or not to work, are dependent upon the tax system, in the sense that the higher the marginal income tax the larger the wedge between labour cost and take-home pay, the last one being the decision variable in the demand for leisure. Finally, in the European context, the completion of the internal market has brought about the necessity to harmonize fiscal systems in the EEC member countries. A number of papers study, therefore, the effects of fiscal reform on efficiency, welfare and growth.

The focus of this volume is on the European context of public budget policy and a variety of different approaches are used - theoretical modelling, econometrics and applied general equilibrium modelling. Empirical evidence and case studies of European countries are contained in all the papers.
The papers cover the four general themes of public budget policy:
* economic stabilization, in view of the Economic and Monetary Union in the European Community
* reinforcing structural change, involved in market liberalization and harmonization of economic structures
* its distributional effects and implications for social equity
* endogenous economic growth.

This book presents the first ever comprehensive overview of national laws recognising sign languages, the impacts they have and the advocacy campaigns which led to their creation. It comprises 18 studies from communities across Europe, the US, South America, Asia and New Zealand. They set sign language legislation within the national context of language policies in each country and show patterns of intersection between language ideologies, public policy and deaf communities' discourses. The chapters are grounded in a collaborative writing approach between deaf and hearing scholars and activists involved in legislative campaigns. Each one describes a deaf community's expectations and hopes for legal recognition and the type of sign language legislation achieved. The chapters also discuss the strategies used in achieving the passage of the legislation, as well as an account of barriers confronted and surmounted (or not) in the legislative process. The book will be of interest to language activists in the fields of sign language and other minority languages, policymakers and researchers in deaf studies, sign linguistics, sociolinguistics, human rights law and applied linguistics.

Alberto Heimler and Daniele Meulders In the last decade the modelling of the interrelationship between public finance and the rest of the economy has seen substantial advances, reflected in many of the papers delivered to the Applied Econometrics Association Conference held at Confindustria, Rome, on 30 November and 1 December 1989. In particular, the development of the literature on applied general-equilibrium modelling has found most of its applications in the field of taxation, enlarging and completing the estimation of the welfare loss due to distortionary taxes. In this context an important extension has been the introduction of overlapping-generation models. Furthermore, it has become clear that most individual decisions, especially the decision whether or not to work, are dependent upon the tax system, in the sense that the higher the marginal income tax the larger the wedge between labour cost and take-home pay, the last one being the decision variable in the demand for leisure. Finally, in the European context, the completion of the internal market has brought about the necessity to harmonize fiscal systems in the EEC member countries. A number of papers study, therefore, the effects of fiscal reform on efficiency, welfare and growth.

This book presents the first ever comprehensive overview of national laws recognising sign languages, the impacts they have and the advocacy campaigns which led to their creation. It comprises 18 studies from communities across Europe, the US, South America, Asia and New Zealand. They set sign language legislation within the national context of language policies in each country and show patterns of intersection between language ideologies, public policy and deaf communities' discourses. The chapters are grounded in a collaborative writing approach between deaf and hearing scholars and activists involved in legislative campaigns. Each one describes a deaf community's expectations and hopes for legal recognition and the type of sign language legislation achieved. The chapters also discuss the strategies used in achieving the passage of the legislation, as well as an account of barriers confronted and surmounted (or not) in the legislative process. The book will be of interest to language activists in the fields of sign language and other minority languages, policymakers and researchers in deaf studies, sign linguistics, sociolinguistics, human rights law and applied linguistics.

What does it mean to engage in Deaf Studies and who gets to define the field? What would a truly deaf-led Deaf Studies research program look like? What are the research practices of deaf scholars in Deaf Studies, and how do they relate to deaf research participants and communities? What innovations do deaf scholars deem necessary in the field of Deaf Studies? In Innovation in Deaf Studies: The Role of Deaf Scholars, volume editors Annelies Kusters, Maartje De Meulder, and Dai O'Brien and their contributing authors tackle these questions and more. Spurred by a gradual increase in the number of Deaf Studies scholars who are deaf, and by new theoretical trends in Deaf Studies, this book creates an important space for contributions from deaf researchers, to see what happens when they enter into the conversation. Innovation in Deaf Studies expertly foregrounds deaf ontologies (defined as "deaf ways of being") and how the experience of being deaf is central not only to deaf research participants' own ontologies, but also to the positionality and framework of the study as a whole. Further, this book demonstrates that the research and methodology built around those ontologies offer suggestions for new ways for the discipline to meet the challenges of the present, which includes productive and ongoing collaboration with hearing researchers. Providing fascinating perspective and insight, Kusters, De Meulder, O'Brien, and their contributors all focus on the underdeveloped strands within Deaf Studies, particularly on areas around deaf people's communities, ideologies, literature, religion, language practices, and political aspirations.

Low-paid employment is a key issue for labour market policy. The essays in this book, focusing on European countries, provide new empirical evidence regarding the impact of minimum wages on employment, earnings mobility among low-paid workers, job satisfaction across the earnings distribution, unemployment traps, the demand for low-skilled workers, and the existence of monopsonistic competition.

This issue focuses on: 1) Exploring the significance of territorial spatial planning by stressing its necessity and main ideas under the contemporary background of ecological civilisation construction in China, while re-examining the role of landscape architects in this reform. 2) Strengthening research on related methodologies and techniques of urban ecological planning, ecological security pattern, ecological infrastructure, and ecological restoration to improve cities liveability and resilience and rebuild harmonious human-nature relationship under a mandatory planning framework combined with resilient measures, avoiding inflexible ecological conservation practices. 3) Analysing and learning from diversified efforts made by different countries and regions to promote urban development while protecting ecosystems, particularly their experience on territorial, regional, and urban planning that is significantly valuable to the Chinese counterpart, to leverage the value of territorial natural resources. 4) Exploring feasible approaches that help restore urban ecosystem structure and ecological elements, and improve planning and design methods on specific sites, so as to enhance spatial construction and ecological quality, to eventually improve a national eco-security pattern with scientific and user-friendly planning and design. 5) Encouraging applications of research frontiers in geology, macro-ecology, regional economics, public management, and sustainability science.

Today’s urban environments face ever-increasing flows of human movement, natural disasters, and iterative economic crises. In response, city planning has developed innovative, hybrid forms that go beyond conventional ways of planning. Integrating practices of other disciplines, planning has become increasingly intricate and at the same time dependent on the cross fertilization of data, ideas, and actions across economies, societies, and geographies.This richly illustrated book of edited essays aims at introducing new approaches towards the planning of cities across the world, including Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. Covering demographically, politically, culturally, and socially diverse regions, it not only examines the use of conventional planning tools, but also explores more experimental and cross-disciplinary approaches of urban planning.