Paul Seaman

Religion and enterprise: an introductory exploration

This study argues that religion and enterprise enjoy a complex and interdependent relationship. Analyzing the relationship between society, religion, and enterprise illustrates that religion operates as an environmental munificence factor. Investigating the relationship between the individual religion and enterprise shows that religion affects believers’ entrepreneurial activity, influencing the decision to become an entrepreneur, enterprise management, and the entrepreneurs contact network. Turning to theory, enterprise, and religion, we note that the spectre of Weber still haunts some analyses of the entrepreneurial middle class, and the literature does not clarify the extent of religiosity among entrepreneurs. Using quantitative techniques to study the level of religiosity among a sample of British entrepreneurs we found it to be similar to that of non-entrepreneurial samples. The low levels of religious belief and practice in Britain suggests that religion may not be a significant environmental munificence factor for British entrepreneurship.

Research Assessment Exercise Results and Research Funding in the United Kingdom: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract A considerable sum of money is allocated to UK universities on the basis of Research Assessment Exercise performance. In this paper we analyse the two main funding models used in the United Kingdom and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. We suggest that the benchmarking used by the two main models have significant weaknesses, and propose an alternative benchmark. It is shown that the different models have quite different implications for the focus of UK research.

Universal versus Targeted Benefits: The Distributional Effects of Free School Meals

UK government policy over the past thirty years has seen a movement away from universal provision of welfare towards the targeting of welfare. The advent of devolution in Scotland, and to a lesser degree Wales, has, however, created new policy forums in which the shift towards targeted benefits has been reversed in a number of important fields. Welfare provision in relation to children is a further key area in which this policy debate has emerged. Little evidence has been provided for the effectiveness of this shift in policy until now. We examine the effect of this divergence in welfare policy. We look at the issue of universality and targeting by examining the impact of the proposal for the introduction of universal free school meals to all children in full-time state education. The current system of free school meals is found to be the least effective method of welfare provision. Other methods of targeting are found to be more effective than the current system, but universal provision is found to be the only mechanism for consistently providing welfare to all low-income households.

Research Assessment Exercise Results and Research Funding in the United Kingdom: A Regional–Territorial Analysis

Abstract A considerable sum of money is allocated to UK universities on the basis of Research Assessment Exercise performance. In this paper we analyse the impact of the two main funding models on the intra‐territorial and intra‐regional allocation of funds. We also examine the effect of the present system of territorial safety nets and discuss the impact of their removal. The major conclusion is that the safety net implicit in the current funding arrangements delivers well for Wales but poorly for Scotland and is broadly neutral for England and Northern Ireland. However, this broad neutrality for England masks quite considerable variation across the nine regions of England.

Devolution as a Policy Crucible: The Case of Universal Free School Meals

The election of the Scottish government, in May 2007, raised expectations that devolution may at last give rise to a sea change in the development of welfare policy. Certainly, in the areas of education and health the newly elected Scottish National Party (SNP) Scottish government, despite its minority control of the parliament, lost no time in announcing significant changes to previous policies in the areas of hospital closures and primary school class sizes. The proposals to introduce universal free school meals in all primary schools for school children in years one to three from 2010, following a pilot in selected local authorities, was one of these changes. This policy shift is of significance for three reasons. First, the previous executive had explicitly rejected proposals for universal free school meals on two previous occasions. Second, it represented a movement towards universality and away from the strategy of targeting and means-testing welfare adhered to by both the Westminster UK government and the previous Scottish Executive. As such, therefore, the introduction of universal free school meals marks a significant victory for the campaigning groups behind the move. Finally, and perhaps of still greater significance, the introduction of a pilot scheme for universal provision in England, announced by the Westminster government in September 2008, further highlights one other goal of devolution: that of a potential for policy experimentation and divergence. Universal free school provision may be the first example of devolution providing a crucible for welfare policy for the wider United Kingdom. This paper assesses the extent to which an extension of the entitlement to free school meals is likely to improve the access of free school meals to children from the poorest of households and the extent to which changes in free school meal provision leads to a regionally specific impact on child poverty due to variations of household composition within the English regions and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In doing so we suggest that evidence for the advantages of universal provision provides a positive example of devolutions potential for acting as a welfare policy crucible.

Devolution & Entrenched Household Poverty: Is Scotland less mobile?

The Scottish National Party led Scottish Government has identified household poverty as a key focus for its anti-poverty strategy. The government’s ‘Solidarity Target’ seeks to both increase wealth and increase the share of total income gained by these three deciles. The ability to demonstrate the advantages of policy divergence within Scotland, relative to the other parts of the United Kingdom, is central to the Government’s aim of gaining support for increased powers for the devolved government. This paper seeks to provide evidence on one aspect of the government’s anti- poverty strategy; the degree to which Scotland differs from the rest of the UK over levels of entrenched poverty. The paper demonstrates that not only does Scotland have greater entrenched poverty but that the changes in mobility since the 1990s have impacted on Scotland to a lesser degree than the rest of the UK.

The Living Wage: An Economic Geography Based Explanation for a Policy for Equality

This article examines the theoretical underpinning of living wage campaigns. The article uses evidence, derived from the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey from 2005 to 2008, to examine the extent to which a living wage will address low pay within the labour force. We highlight the greater incidence of low pay within the private sector and then focus upon the public sector where the living wage demand has had most impact. The article builds upon the results from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey with analysis of the British Household Panel Survey in 2007 in order to examine the impact that the introduction of a living wage, within the public sector, would have in reducing household inequality.