Not guilty? Another look at the nature and nurture of economics students

In this paper, we re-examine students’ attitudes towards various allocation mechanisms for a scarce resource. For this purpose, we have run a survey among officers of the German military who are enrolled in different courses of study (such as economics) at the University of the German Federal Armed Forces. We find that significantly more students who are enrolled in economics courses judge price increases as fair than students enrolled in other courses. Moreover, this tendency strengthens the more training in economics the students receive. In addition, fewer students with advanced economic education judge allocation through the local community as fair when compared to first-year students in economics courses or other students. These results stand in contrast to results obtained by Frey et al. (J Econ Educ, 24:271–281, 1993) on the same survey. In summary, we find evidence for both nature and nurture effects.     

Science Parks’ tenants versus out-of-Park firms: who innovates more? A duration model

We study the successfulness of Science Parks (SPs) as seedbeds of innovation. We investigate whether SPs enhance the innovative output of their tenants and if tenants outperform comparable outside-SPs firms. We rely on original matching datasets regarding in- and out-SP Finnish firms and their patenting activity over 1970–2002. We estimate and compare the ‘before-versus-after’ hazard rates of patenting of both samples. The results suggest that, given the existence of a common tendency to slow down the pace at which all firms patent during their life cycle, Park tenants exhibit a comparatively better performance. Results are robust to various model specifications and to Wald tests performed over the pooled samples.

Research integrity — it's about more than misconduct

The definition of integrity is "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change" (meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary). Yet research integrity is frequently discussed through the lens of misconduct or concerns around reproducibility. However, as we can see from this quote, integrity is about more than that. It is about who you are as a person and your behaviour. Your behaviour in terms of how you do your work, towards your immediate colleagues and towards those with whom you communicate; whether across the research and innovation (R&I) system or the general public.     

Romantic Relational Aggression: What about Gender?

This study examined the relations among romantic relational aggression, social anxiety, loneliness, depressive symptoms, and alcohol and drug use in a sample of 215 undergraduate college students. Consistent with prior work, no gender differences were found in the experience of romantic relational aggression. Results indicated that romantic relational aggression was positively associated with social anxiety (for women only), loneliness, depressive symptoms, and alcohol use and drug use. Implications of these findings for the role of aggression within the context of intimate relationships during college are discussed.

Do parents blame or doubt their child more when sexually abused by adolescents versus adults?

Although the importance of parental support for child sexual abuse victims is well documented, the nature of parental support for victims sexually abused by adolescents is less understood. In this exploratory study, we examine whether parents differ in their levels of blame or doubt for their child when sexually abused by adolescents versus adults. Data included 161 reports of child sexual abuse. Parental blame toward their child was higher when sexually abused by an adolescent versus an adult suspect. In the bivariate and multivariate analysis, parental blame was significantly higher as victim age increased, for Black, non-Hispanic children, and when there was an adolescent suspect. Practitioners need to recognize that high levels of blame and doubt could exist for adolescent victims of sexual abuse and when children are sexually abused by adolescents.     

The Sex Crime: Deterioration more Apparent than Real?

Public concern about an escalation of sex crime is unsupported by a critical analysis of official crime statistics in England and Wales. Assumptions about the inveterate recidivism of sex offenders are unconfirmed by follow-up studies. A great variety of behaviours is covered by sex crime, from the grave to the trivial. To the traditional offences of predatory aggressors, violent rapists and a small number of dangerous offenders driven by pathological emotions, are now added date rapes and harassments previously little reported. All sex incidents involving children are widely believed to cause lasting damage, despite evidence to the contrary. Female offenders and boy victims are receiving more attention. Adolescent involvement is insufficiently distinguished from paedophile offences and male homosexuals are suspected of paedophile tendencies. The development of constructive therapeutic approaches is impeded by doubts about efficacy and a punitive ethos.     

Human and fundamental rights: What are they about?

Conclusion Human rights, distrusted by Bentham, through emergence ofGesellshaft, have sometimes been identified with rights of market men and gradually on an ad hoc basis and so have been given a relational or relativist character for that reason. Such a view ignores the test of humanness or the tele of human rights surviving any political association and the need for full development of human personality as an autonomous being inherent in full respect for all as moral persons. This disposes of the view of human rights in terms of rules of a game, or of connection between human rights and human action, or of the standard of the prudent man or, finally, of the ideology of the rising bourgeoisie. Equally, that very test of humanness disposes of criticisms of the human rights theory based on a concern for implementation of rights, on concentric circles based on the specific and concrete, on the impossibility of liking the billions, on the distinction between negative, positive and administrative rights, on the condition of being able to make valid claims and thereby denying human rights to the deprived millions in poor countries, on the social justice model, on the potential for violence and conflict and, finally, on the vagueness or subjectivity of human rights. An eclectic synthesis not between good and evil nor between right and wrong but between the extremes of the views presented in such critical explanations e.g. between the New Right and the New Left and between Hobbes and Rousseau) is what is needed in order to present a workable theory of human rights in the modern-day world.     

Legal Knowledge about What?

We assume—in contrast to many legal realists—that law is a part of reality. Law exists because people believe in law, but law is not identical with beliefs. Law supervenes on human beliefs, preferences, actions, dispositions and artefacts. Moreover, the morally binding personal interpretation of the law supervenes on two things together: on the individual's knowledge of legal institutions and on moral obligation. The first supervenes in its turn on mutual beliefs; the second supervenes on motivations and dispositions of the individual, provided that she is morally sensitive and rational. Personal interpretation of law converts into social law, if other persons on the basis of overriding reasons do not contest it. Morally binding social law supervenes on moral motivation that is triggered by institutions that supervene on mutual beliefs.     

Public security versus privacy in technology law: A balancing act?

Technology invades a person's privacy but this has been justified in law on public security grounds. The more technology advances, the more difficult it is to control its privacy intrusive use. This paper argues that there are a number of difficulties posed by such use concerning the respect of one's privacy. The meaning of ‘public security’ is not entirely clear and there are various laws which authorise the invasion of privacy for public security reasons. Technology is developing at such a fast pace and in a more diffused manner without taking on board its privacy implications whilst technological privacy enhancement mechanisms are not catching up. The law of privacy is not sufficiently elaborate and is slow in coming to terms to deal with these novel situations posed by rapid technological advances. The paper thus develops universally legally binding minimum core principles that could be applied indiscriminately to all privacy intrusive technology.