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- Volume 94, Issue 3, 2019
Mens & Maatschappij - Volume 94, Issue 3, 2019
Volume 94, Issue 3, 2019
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Genoegen nemen met minder
Authors: Lars Padmos & Jacob DijkstraAbstractSettling for less: a deliberate political choice or a lack of information?
In a well-functioning democracy voters should elect parties and representatives with whom they agree on policy issues. The current paper investigates the extent to which Dutch voters in the 2017 parliamentary election had accurate information about parties’ policy positions. We elicit the extent to which voters think they vote for parties with whom they maximally agree (subjective congruence) and the extent to which this is actually true (objective congruence). Results show voters in our sample to have accurate information about approximately half of the policy positions of a random large party. Only 21.5 percent voted for a party with whom they were maximally objectively congruent. Objective congruence does not increase with information accuracy. Voters appear to consciously accept losses in terms of subjective congruence, as only 34.7 percent votes for a party with whom they think to be maximally congruent. These results are compatible with the interpretation of voters first choosing a party, and then (to some degree) adapting their personal policy positions to those of the chosen party.
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Ernst van financiële problemen
Authors: Jansje van Middendorp, Maurice Gesthuizen & Roeland van GeunsAbstractSeverity of financial problems: The role of financial knowledge and competences, financial behaviour, financial self-efficacy and motivation of ‘Thuisadministratie’ clients
In this study we examine if and how self-evaluated financial knowledge and competences, financial behaviour, financial self-efficacy, and motivation are associated with the severity of financial problems of clients in ‘financial self-management projects’ (Dutch: Thuisadministratie). These projects involve support provided by volunteers. Our data included 249 respondents who filled out a questionnaire at the start of the support. The results indicate that particularly unhealthy financial behaviour and lower levels of financial self-efficacy relate to more serious financial problems. Volunteers support people with serious financial problems in getting access to formal debt counselling. Besides this, volunteers should not only focus on improving financial knowledge and competences, but also on contributing to higher levels of financial self-efficacy and healthier financial behaviour of their clients.
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Wetenschappelijk onderzoek en maatschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid1
More LessAbstractScientific research and social responsibility
Contrary to the powerful image of ivory tower scholarship, aiming to make an impact on society has become an integral part of scholarly practices. This impact emerges through teaching, commercialization of research findings, public engagement, and advice for policy and practice. The latter role requires a solid scientific evidence base. Aligning science and policy is a well-known challenge. I describe ways in which actors ranging from individual scholars, to the organizations where they work, and macro-level players such as publishers, research funders and governments can help advance interaction and communication between the spheres of scholarship and policy. Using firsthand experience in negotiating the boundaries between research and decision making, I describe the context in which the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors works and identify conditions which, in my personal view, make its scientific advice giving effective.
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