Marina Della Giusta

Entrepreneurship and Social Capital Analysing the Impact of Social Networks on Entrepreneurial Activity from a Rational Action Perspective

Governments have invested heavily in building local and regional entrepreneurial networks in order improve economic performance and regeneration. However, there are many types of network, and different types of network are appropriate for different purposes. Some types of network are most useful in the early stages of entrepreneurial activity and others at later stages. Careful definitions are necessary in order to analyse the role of networks in generating interpersonal and inter-organizational trust, and hence in augmenting the stock of social capital. Effective networks are normally intermediated by reputable trust-brokers. The reputation of government gives it a significant role as a trust-broker, but there is a danger that its reputation may be undermined when it extends its activities into areas where it lacks the competence to intervene effectively.

Gender and Life Satisfaction in the UK

Abstract This contribution analyzes the variations in reported life satisfaction for men and women in the United Kingdom. While average levels of life satisfaction are similar for men and women, the variations in life satisfaction are more marked for women. Analyzing the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) for 1996–2007, the paper finds that hours of paid work increase life satisfaction for both men and women, while housework hours are statistically significant only for retired men and women. Childcare (for children ages 3 to 4 years) and caring for adults affect womens life satisfaction negatively but are statistically insignificant for men. Some of these differences might be explained by the fact that women and men in the sample assign differing weights to satisfaction with different life dimensions. Job satisfaction, in particular, matters much more to men than to women.

What Money Buys: Clients of Street Sex Workers in the US

The article presents a review of current theoretical and empirical approaches to sex work, followed by the presentation of an original theoretical framework (Della Giusta et al., 2006), which is tested with an econometric model of the characteristics of demand for sex services by a sample of clients of street sex workers in the US. We present findings in relation to stigma and the relationship between paid and unpaid sex that corroborate our models hypotheses and are in line with findings from other empirical studies. Furthermore, we identify in our sample two diametrically opposite profiles: one for clients whom we label ‘experimenters’, and one for more experienced ones that we name ‘regulars’, we also estimate attitudes toward risk, and draw implications in terms of both policy and future theoretical and empirical research.

Simulating the impact of regulation changes on the market for prostitution services

The paper draws on recent research on the economics of prostitution focussing on the role of stigma in shaping the interaction between demand and supply and the resulting sub-markets in which this activity is typically organised. Here we extend the framework to consider the role of reputation and stigma in determining policy decisions regarding the regulation of prostitution and show how sub-optimal outcomes (from the point of view of the welfare of sex workers) may prevail.

A model of social capital and access to productive resources

The paper addresses the conceptual problem of defining social capital in economic development and presents a theoretical model that concentrates on describing the role of reputation mechanisms in accessing productive resources. The present work is part of a broader research programme aimed at developing a framework for fruitfully integrating social capital research issues within development economics. What follows is a simple exposition of some basic results from one version of the model, whilst its placement vis-a-vis the existing economic, political and sociological literature is discussed elsewhere. Copyright

The Economics of Networks

This authoritative selection of recent work on the economics of networks will appeal to researchers in microeconomics, spatial and business economics as well as international economics and development. Social scientists and natural scientists will also find the book useful as a guide to the increasing wealth of economic literature on networks.

The Show Must Go On Making Money Glamorizing Oppression

This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the glamorization of the courtesan image as proposed by Baz Luhrmann’s film Moulin Rouge. The film sparked the appearance of high-street fashion inspired by the image of the 19th-century Parisian courtesan, which prompted the authors to examine how and why such images might appeal to female consumers. The critical analysis reaches beyond the images themselves to identify and discuss the modes of circulation of such images, and their function in achieving both the material ends of capitalism (ever-increasing consumption and production) and the promotion of one of the system’s core values (patriarchy). Moreover, the article hopes to illustrate the possibilities offered by integrating cultural and structural analyses of current social phenomena.

Sex Work and Trafficking: Moving beyond Dichotomies

ABSTRACT This contribution examines how feminist economists have conceptualized sex work and trafficking through the lens of agency and stigma. The ongoing debate about legalization has focused on sex workers’ agency and choice, and on the role of stigma in shaping the supply of and demand for sex work. Building on the analysis advanced by contributions to this special issue, this study contends that theoretical and policy debates about sex work are dominated by false dichotomies of agency and stigma. It argues that the relationship between stigma and agency operates along a continuum of contractual arrangements that underpins a high degree of segmentation in the industry. The higher the stigma, the lower tends to be the agency. Current policies toward sex work therefore need reconsideration – especially mounting support for criminalization of clients, which, by increasing stigma, is likely to detract from the agency and the well-being of sex workers, however unintentionally.

Innovation and Patterns of Learning: A Survey of Evolutionary Theories

Some of the main international organisations concerned with development issues, like the ECLAC-UN, WB and the OECD, are becoming increasingly interested in studying systems of innovation known as National Innovation Systems. We believe that this interest needs to be complemented by a thorough understanding of the micro-foundations of innovative change, namely evolutionary theory. Such an evolutionary perspective is needed in order to appreciate the crucial role of organisations and institutions in development processes (Cimoli and Dosi 1995). Without such deeper insights, it may be impossible to trace the impact of learning and innovation on possible trajectories of metropolitan development.

Men buying sex. Differences between urban and rural areas in the UK

We build on both our theoretical and empirical work on modelling the demand for paid sex (Della Giusta et al., 2009a, 2009b) and examine the demand for paid sex, considering the effects of risky behaviours and attitudes to relationships and to women on demand. We find that those who declare to have purchased sex have both different socio-demographics (older, with fewer children, more educated but with lower professional status), and different sexual and risky behaviours as well as attitudes to relationships. As expected in the light of findings in the literature (well summarised in a 2004 Urban Studies special issue and in more recent literature) a clear city effect in the sample, mostly driven by London, which goes beyond the attitudes captured in the survey and thus combines a mixture of factors related to the supply of paid sex and unobserved characteristics of city-dwelling respondents.