Efficiency in Banking: Empirical Evidence from the Czech Republic

The paper examines the cost efficiency of the Czech-banking system in the 1990s by applying the distribution free approach model. Reported results indicate that foreign banks were on average more efficient than the other banks, although their efficiency was comparable with the ‘good’ small banks’ efficiency in early years of their operation. Based on the estimated results it is argued that early privatisation of state-owned commercial banks and more liberal policy towards foreign banks in the early stage of transition would have enhanced the efficiency in the banking system.     

Perceived similarity of mothers and their early adolescent daughters and relationship to behavior

The relationship between mothers' and their early adolescent daughters' self-concepts and the possible relationship to behavior is discussed in the literature review. In an exploratory study of 36 mother-daughter pairs, the mothers' self-concepts were moderately correlated (.37) and predicted their daughters' self-concepts on three of four factors (R=.43) but did not predict their behavior. There was a tendency for the daughter groups' maladaptive behaviors to increase as their self-concept scores decreased.     

Taking Cantonal Variations of Integration Policy Seriously — or How to Validate International Concepts at the Subnational Comparative Level

Abstract: Subnational varieties of immigrant integration policy, which are particularly salient in federal states, remain largely neglected by migration studies. Following Lijphart, who long demanded to verify international research at the subnational level, this study aims at capturing subnational policy variations using the example of Swiss cantons. In line with international approaches, cantonal integration policies are conceptualized and measured in terms of immigrants’ ease or difficulty of access to civic, political, socio‐structural, as well as cultural and religious rights and obligations. The transfer of an international concept to the subnational level facilitates a validation of the former, which constitutes a second neglected research field. Finally, a look at the empirical evidence allows testing the construct validity of our measurement: in line with theoretical assumptions, our data reveal a clear linguistic divide, an institutionalised “Röschtigraben”, with German speaking cantons exhibiting overall more restrictive policies than Latin cantons.     

The criminal act of commercial surrogacy in Australia: a call for review

Australian surrogacy legislation punishes the pursuit of a commercial surrogacy arrangement as a criminal offence. Such legislation was first introduced in Victoria in 1986 and has since been applied in every Australian jurisdiction except for the Northern Territory. The current application of criminal law is based upon this 1980s policy which has never been subject to public debate. This article argues that the continued application of criminal penalties to commercial surrogacy requires review.     

Nur Otan,Informal Networks and the Countering of Elite Instability in Kazakhstan: Bringing the ‘Formal’ Back In

As opposed to the current literature which argues that informal politics pervades formal institutions in Kazakhstan and Central Asia more widely, this article argues that Nur Otan, the political party of the President of Kazakhstan, acts as a formal institution to counter the instability generated by informal networks competing for access to political and economic resources. This is achieved by consolidating the political parties associated with these networks into Nur Otan and the synchronisation of the party and the state apparatus. However, the extent to which Nur Otan can provide this stabilising function in the long term is dependent upon regime dynamics.     

Disciplinary labor regimes in Chinese factories

Using a survey the authors initiated in fifty-four footwear factories in China, this article investigates the extent to which Chinese workers today are subjected to coercive workplace discipline. The authors compare the management practices of state-owned and collective factories, private factories owned by mainland Chinese, and those owned by investors from Hong Kong and Taiwan. The survey selects five indicators of a disciplinary labor regime: corporal punishment, compulsory overtime, discipline vis-a`-vis bodily functions (such as toilet-going restrictions), imposition of monetary penalties, and bonding of labor through mandatory deposits.     

Adjudication of Islamic banking and finance cases in the civil courts of Malaysia

The adjudication of Islamic banking and finance (IBF) laws in Malaysia is unique given the Malaysian parallel legal systems. Although IBF is a branch of Islamic law, the civil court has the appropriate jurisdiction to decide the cases. This is due to the fact that banking falls under the items 7 and 8 of the Federal List of the Federal Constitution. The trails of decided cases showed that there are problems in resolving IBF cases in the civil courts. This paper aims to discuss the adjudication of Islamic Banking in the civil courts. The authors employed the method of legal documents analysis in analyzing the IBF cases. The analysis highlighted four obstacles in adjudicating IBF in civil courts, namely; inadequacy of existing legal framework, complications of legal documentation, competency of civil court judges and expert evidence. It also analysed the four approaches adopted by the civil courts in deciding IBF cases; the ‘parties to be bound by their agreement’, the ‘strict adherence to civil law’, the ‘justice and equitable’ and the ‘looking into the substance’.     

The Role of Group Identity and Personality Domains as Indicators of Self-Reported Delinquency

We investigated the impact of personality factors and group identity factors on self-reported delinquency among high school students. Respondents were 420 Australian youth with a mean age of 15.22 r yrs. The sample comprised 224 males and 196 females. The strongest predictors of delinquency among both males and females were Eysenck's Psychoticism factor and an identity with so-called "rebels". In addition, Extraversion (males) and low self-reported academic achievement (females) were also found to be important factors. It was further concluded that Psychoticism, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness have little in common in their prediction of delinquency. The results are discussed with reference to previous research on the role of personality and group identity factors, and some suggestions for future research are also made.