Reforming campaign finance in the nineties: a case study of Spain

This paper analyzes the reforms of the Spanish electoral finance regulatory system during the nineties. We present a number of indexes to measure the impact of the reforms on parties and campaign spending. We also suggest a game theoretical model to explain why the two main parties agreed to support the legal changes in the nineties. A principal outcome of the reforms was to establish an effective limit to campaign expenses. In our view this would have not been feasible in the late seventies or eighties. Then the parties were trapped in a prisoner’s dilemma in which each party had to spend more in order to prevent other parties from gaining electoral advantage. But in the nineties the main parties, ridden with problems of soaring electoral debts and disgruntled voters, used the reform of political finance as a coordination device to achieve a Pareto efficient equilibrium.     

Patent Production at a European Research University: Exploratory Evidence at the Laboratory Level

Most studies of academic patenting focus on the university as the unit of analysis. In contrast, we examine this phenomenon at the laboratory level. Based on a sample of 83 research laboratories of Louis Pasteur University (ULP, Strasbourg, France) from 1993 to 2000, we constructed a panel data set that allows us to discriminate between patents that are owned by the university and those that are owned by firms and other organizations but invented by faculty members. We use these data to estimate a patent production function and find that university-owned patents are more responsive to specific public funding, while non-university-owned patents are more responsive to industrial funding. Our results also highlight the importance to control for disciplinary and institutional differences, since they significantly affect the production of the different kinds of ULP patents.     

Endogenous Development Dynamics of Multisectoral Network Management

ABSTRACT

Little is known about the effects of regime change on government workers’ job satisfaction. Conventional theories of work satisfaction have identified various individual or organizational antecedents of public employees’ well-being in many different contexts. In this study, we add an additional level of analysis to the study of job satisfaction. The German reunification in 1990 constitutes a natural experiment where public employees’ institutional work environment changed dramatically. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we show that, after the reunification, East German public employees who stayed in their jobs experienced a “satisfaction shock” by substantially decreasing their levels of job satisfaction. This finding is in line with what has been labelled as “survivor syndrome” in the general management literature. We also find that, after three years’ time, differences in satisfaction levels between East and West Germans reverted to pre-reunion levels. These findings are robust to various model specifications and alternative estimators. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

Impact of stress and mitigating information on evaluations, attributions, affect, disciplinary choices, and expectations of compliance in mothers at high and low risk for child physical abuse

The objective is to know if high-risk mothers for child physical abuse differ in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, disciplinary choices for children's behavior, and expectations of compliance. The effect of a stressor and the introduction of mitigating information are analyzed. Forty-seven high-risk and 48 matched low-risk mothers participated in the study. Mothers' information processing and disciplinary choices were examined using six vignettes depicting a child engaging in different transgressions. A four-factor design with repeated measures on the last two factors was used. High-risk mothers reported more hostile intent, global and internal attributions, more use of power assertion discipline, and less induction. A risk group by child transgression interaction and a risk group by mitigating information interaction were found. Results support the social information-processing model of child physical abuse, which suggests that high-risk mothers process child-related information differently and use more power assertive and less inductive disciplinary techniques.     

Dispositional empathy in neglectful mothers and mothers at high risk for child physical abuse

This study investigates whether mothers who are neglectful and at high risk for child physical abuse present a deficit in empathy. Participants were neglectful mothers (n=37), mothers at high risk for child physical abuse (n=22), and nonmaltreating mothers (n=37). The Interpersonal Reactivity Index, a self-report measure assessing specific dimensions of empathy, was used to assess dispositional empathy. No differences between neglectful and non-neglectful mothers were found for perspective taking, empathic concern, and personal distress. High-risk mothers reported less perspective taking and more personal distress than nonmaltreating mothers. No difference between groups was found for empathic concern. The present study supported the hypothesis that parents at high risk for child physical abuse show a deficit in particular aspects of dispositional empathy: personal distress and perspective taking. However, no differences were found between neglectful and nonmaltreating mothers in any dimension of dispositional empathy.     

The development of a new labour framework during the Second Republic in Spain: the Central Service for job placement and defence against unemployment

The Great Depression affected the Spanish economy, sharply increasing the number of unemployed workers, known as the ‘sin trabajo’. In an effort to address problems with the labour market, the Central Office for Job Placement and Defence against Unemployment was established in 1931 for the purpose, in Niceto Alcalá-Zamora’s words, of heading off ‘regrettable passions and misadventures of a social or political nature’. The ‘reformist challenge’ to the traditional social order would commence that same year, when the PSOE’s Largo Caballero became head of the Ministry of Labour. The staff of the Central Office for Job Placement were aware of proposals by Keynes and other economists regarding this issue, so it can be said that in addition to responding to the urgent social pressure of the moment, the employment policies implemented also sought added legitimacy in the context of theoretical trends that enjoyed consensus at that time.     

Campaign spending and office-seeking motivations: an empirical analysis

This paper presents econometric evidence on the relationship between campaign spending and office seeking motivations. Our results, using Spanish data, show that campaign spending per capita increases with the stakes for the winner, measured by the appointment power of the office. Moreover we find that campaign spending per capita increases with the level of self-government of the region. Our results concord with those reported for other countries with very different systems of campaign funding.     

Spanish Validation of the Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory (BCAP)

The Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP) is a widely used instrument to assess the potential for child abuse. The brief version of the CAP (BCAP) is a proven time-efficient screener tool. This investigation aims to propose a Spanish BCAP version by analyzing the factor structure of its Abuse Scale (aim 1) and, if needed, developing a valid BCAP Lie Scale (aim 2). Study 1 comprised 205 mothers with problems coping with their children’s behavior recruited from family support and treatment programs. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal consistency, and convergent validity were conducted. Study 2 applied an experimental between-subject design to assess a convenience sample of the Spanish population (N?=?260) with 124 participants in Condition 1 (honest) and 136 in Condition 2 (lie). Differences between conditions were analyzed. Study 1: CFA showed adequate fit indices for the seven-factor model (RMSEA?=?.04 CFI?=?.98, TLI?=?.98). Internal consistency and convergent validity were adequate for the Abuse Scale. Findings also showed that the BCAP Lie Scale does not accomplish the main requirements to detect participants answering in a socially desirable way. Study 2: A new set of six items showing significant differences between conditions (U =?15,481.00, z =?11.14, p <?.001, r =?.77) is proposed to compose the Lie Scale. The findings support that the Spanish BCAP is a valid instrument to assess mothers recruited from Child Protection Services. The new BCAP Lie Scale could be useful to select valid inventories. Further research with more representative samples is recommended.

     

Commotio cordis as a result of a fight: report of a case considered to be imprudent homicide

The report describes a fatal outcome in a 5-year-old male who died after drinking a fatal dose of ethanol at the party held by his parents. Urine and blood alcohol level of the deceased was 0.4 and 0.5 g/dL, what might explain the sudden death of the child. In addition, the analysis of the boy's hair demonstrated the presence of ethyl glucuronide (EtG), a marker of alcohol consumption; hair EtG concentration levels indicated that the boy might have occasionally imbibed alcohol prior to death. Pathological lesions of the liver observed in histopathology did not contradict such a hypothesis.