Impact of public seed-funding on academic spin-offs

In the entrepreneurial economy of today, it is not the multinational firms which are the predominant driver in the creation of new knowledge, but the individual entrepreneur. Correspondingly, new ventures of small size are leading in commercializing new knowledge and transferring it to the market. This economic shift has been reflected by broad entrepreneurship policies, which aim at supporting the individual on the challenge of a high-growth start-up. However, prior experience shows that uniform entrepreneurship policies do not address the individual needs in different countries and ecosystems adequately. In this paper, we study the performance of academic spin-offs that received public funding from the German EXIST Business Start-Up Grant, a support program which aims at increasing the number of innovative start-ups from academia. Using a control group matching approach, we provide evidence that these start-ups are smaller by two full time equivalent employees, generate 1.7 times higher losses and have a nearly three times lower return on capital than science-based entrepreneurial firms with comparable characteristics in the first 5 years after foundation. We interpret these results to be primarily caused by the inferior financial contracting structure of the program compared to private venture capital funding and by the resulting adverse selection and incentive effects on the entrepreneurs. The evidence calls for rethinking public interventions in a national system of entrepreneurship.     

The factors associated with criminal recidivism in Finnish male offenders: importance of neurocognitive deficits and substance dependence

Neurocognitive deficits and psychiatric disorders are often brought up as risk factors of recidivism. In this study, we investigated how neurocognitive and academic deficits and psychiatric disorders (including substance dependence) are associated with criminal recidivism and prison career among male offenders. In a health survey of Finnish prisoners, 72 sentenced male prisoners were examined in Turku prison using a neurocognitive test battery and psychiatric assessment including a standardized psychiatric interview (SCID-I, II). The neurocognitive and academic tests were chosen to assess domains of cognitive functioning and reading, spelling and mathematical skills. Our results showed that the combination of neurocognitive deficits and substance dependence was connected to recidivism. Axis I diagnosis (major mental disorders) and substance dependence were connected with neurocognitive and academic deficits. Moreover, first-time offenders had fewer neurocognitive deficits and Axis I disorders, less substance dependence and fewer personality disorders than those with several convictions. Rehabilitation of cognitive functions and academic skills, along with intervention for mental health problems and substance dependence could help to prevent the unfavourable circle of criminal career.     

Access to party positions and preference formation: a field experiment

Abstract: Surveys are sometimes used to assess preferences towards policy issues that are remote from experience and that have never been publicly discussed. How do these preferences of isolated survey respondents compare with preferences expressed by voters who have access to advice from competing political parties? I address this question by conducting a field experiment with a sample of the general public in which I experimentally control the subjects’ access to the actual positions of competing parties and interest groups on specific novel policy propositions. Access to party positions decreased approval of the proposed environmental policy among right‐wing voters by over fifty percent, and this effect was similar for different educational groups. When voters had access to party positions, their policy preferences were more consistent with their general political orientation. I conclude by discussing implications of these results for the debate about voter competence and for preference elicitation using surveys.     

Suicide in children, youths and young adults

Suicides among children and youths are tragic events. The suicide cases of children, youths and young adults examined between 1995 and 2009 at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Hanover Medical School were retrospectively analyzed. Altogether, 54 suicides among children, youths and young adults (37 males, 17 females; median age 17.5 years) were evaluated. The suicide victims were predominantly male (68.5%). The vast majority used "hard" methods such as hanging, jumping from a height or being run over by a train. In seven cases (13.0%) psychiatric disorders were known. Seven victims (13.0%) left a suicide note. Suicide was most frequently (40.7%) committed in the open air (40.7%). In addition, the evaluation shows that at the time of committing suicide more than 40% of the youths and adolescents, in whom a chemical toxicological examination was performed, were under the influence of alcohol, medical and/or illegal drugs.     

Psychopathic traits in Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia

There is a paucity of studies examining psychopathy in comparable samples of violent individuals with and without psychotic illness. The main goal of the study was to assess the prevalence and nature of psychopathic traits as measured by PCL-R among Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia. Further, the impact of co-morbid psychopathy on the homicidal incidents, as well as the associations of psychopathy and offender background factors, among offenders with schizophrenia was investigated.A retrospective study was performed using extensive forensic psychiatric evaluation reports and crime reports as sources of information. The sample consisted of 72 homicide offenders with schizophrenia and 72 controls without psychotic illness.Psychopathic features were prevalent among Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia, although for the most parts to a lesser extent compared to other homicide offenders. Like non-mentally ill psychopathic offenders, offenders with schizophrenia and many psychopathic traits are likely to present early starting problems in many areas of life and they also commit homicides that resemble other psychopathic offenders' in their choice of victims, intoxication and post-offense behavior.The observed prevalence of psychopathic traits highlights the importance of psychopathy assessment among violence-prone individuals with schizophrenia. In most respects, offenders with schizophrenia and high levels of psychopathic traits seem to be similar to psychopathic offenders without psychotic illness, which has implications for early intervention and management.     

Characteristics of young children exposed to violence: the safe start demonstration project

The Safe Start demonstration projects, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) under the first phase of the Safe Start initiative, are primarily designed to influence change at the systems or macrolevels to reduce the incidence of and impact of exposure to violence for children aged birth to 6 years; direct services are also provided to young children and their families who were exposed to violence. The data presented in this article come from 10 communities that submitted data regarding the characteristics of young children exposed to violence to OJJDP. These data represent families who are typically not represented in the databases of state child protective services programs but instead have been identified by domestic violence advocates, early care and education providers, family members, court personnel, police, and other social service personnel as families with young children in need of intervention due to violence exposure.The purpose of this article is to describe the characteristics of young children and their parents who seek help for psychosocial problems related to exposure to family and community violence. Results indicate that one quarter of the children and nearly half of their parents evidenced clinical levels of stress, suggesting the need to intervene at the family level as well as at the individual level when working with young children exposed to violence. The information presented, including the extent of exposure to violence, the multiple types of violence to which children are exposed, the impact of this exposure on young children and their families, and the multiple ways in which families exposed to violence come to the attention of service providers is useful for policy makers and service providers who are interested in breaking the cycle of violence by meeting the needs of the children exposed to violence and their families.     

Domestic violence and sexual assault service goal priorities

We investigated agency directors' perspectives about how service goals should be prioritized for domestic violence and sexual assault service subtypes, including crisis, legal advocacy, medical advocacy, counseling, support group, and shelter services. A sample of 97 (94% response rate) North Carolina domestic violence and/or sexual assault agency directors completed a survey asking participants to rank the importance of service goals. Overall, participants considered emotional support provision to be a critical service goal priority across all service types. Social support and self-care service strategies were deemed less important. However, prioritization of other service goals varied depending on the service type. Statistically significant differences on service goal prioritization based on key agency characteristics were also examined, and agency characteristics were found to relate to differences in service goal prioritization.     

Elasticity in evaluations of criminal evidence: Exploring the role of cognitive dissonance

Purpose. Previous experiments have demonstrated asymmetrical scepticism in investigators' judgments of criminal evidence – evidence inconsistent (vs. consistent) with the dominant hypothesis about a case is judged as less reliable. In addition, some types of evidence (e.g., witness testimony) are more susceptible to asymmetrical scepticism than others (e.g., DNA evidence), indicating varying degrees of elasticity. This article proposes that inconsistent evidence arouses cognitive dissonance, and that the dissonance can be reduced through either asymmetrical scepticism (for high‐elasticity evidence) or belief change (for low‐elasticity evidence). The hypotheses are tested in two experiments. Methods. In both experiments, law students made a preliminary judgment about the guilt of a suspect in a homicide case, and subsequently received a piece of DNA or witness evidence which was either consistent or inconsistent with the preliminary judgment. The extent to which participants changed their guilt judgments, judged the additional evidence as reliable, and felt dissonance served as the main dependent variables. Results. Inconsistent (vs. consistent) evidence did arouse stronger dissonance, but only for witness (and not DNA) evidence. Experienced dissonance (Experiment 1) and dissonance reduction (Experiment 2) accounted for the effect of the evidence on changes in guilt judgments, but not for the effect on reliability judgments. The greatest dissonance reduction was observed among participants who received inconsistent witness evidence but did not change their guilt judgments accordingly. Conclusions. It appears that dissonance plays a significant, although complex, role in investigative judgments of guilt and reliability. Alternative dissonance‐reducing mechanisms that can account for the findings and practical implications are discussed.     

Reformperspektiven für den Bundesrat

Eine Ländermitwirkung an der oberstaatlichen Willensbildung (insb Gesetzgebung) gehört unbestreitbar zu den Merkmalen eines (echten) Bundesstaates. Über die Formen und Wege, vor allem über die Gegenstände und die Intensität einer solchen Länderbeteiligung wird seit längerem in Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit kontrovers diskutiert. Das Vorhaben der neuen Koalitionsregierung für eine "Staatsreform" gibt Anlass zu neuerlicher Reflexion. Der Beitrag unterzieht die wesentlichsten früheren Reformideen (einschließlich jener im Österreich-Konvent und der Äusserung des Bundespräsidenten von 2005) einer kritischen Analyse und rechtspolitischen Bewertung. Abschließend werden Möglichkeiten einer Verbesserung und Flexibilisierung der Entscheidungsverfahren im Bundesstaat erörtert.