Spatial Spillover Effects from Foreign Direct Investment in Vietnam

This paper investigates the role of inter-firm interaction and geographical proximity in the determination of productivity spillover effects from foreign to domestic firms. We developed an estimation approach using the Spatial Durbin model and applied this to a firm-level dataset from Vietnam from 2000–2005. We found that productivity spillovers diminished when the distance between foreign and domestic firms increases and that interactions among local firms amplify the spillovers. Within short distances, the presence of foreign firms creates positive backward, negative forward and horizontal spillovers. Based on the findings, several implications are extracted regarding promotion policy for foreign direct investment in developing countries.     

Forensic Assessment of Adults Reporting Childhood Sexualized Assault: a Lifespan Developmental Analysis

Many adults reporting childhood or adolescent sexualized assault (CSA) seek remedies through civil proceedings, thus necessitating a forensic assessment to determine the nature and extent of any psychological injuries related to such assault. Such assessments pose challenges, as CSA often occurred years earlier and may have affected not only immediate functioning but also later psychological maturation. The present paper explains how a lifespan developmental analysis can assist such assessments. The concepts of psychological development, attachment, developmental trajectory and risk and resilience can help in evaluating whether and how CSA affected normal psychological development, in determining the influence of risk factors other than CSA and in considering resiliency factors. Risk, resilience and psychological function must be examined in the domains of individual abilities and attributes, relationships and significant life activities both pre- and post-assault. Data on pre-assault risk, resilience and function can be used to estimate a “but for the assault” developmental trajectory that can then be compared to the individual’s actual developmental trajectory. This analysis, together with analysis of the severity of CSA, can assist in determining whether and how the CSA that is the basis for civil proceedings contributed to later life psychological injuries.     

On the consequences of ignoring genetic influences in criminological research

Purpose

Many criminological scholars explore the social causes of crime while giving little consideration to the possibility that genetic factors underlie the observed associations. Indeed, the standard social science method (SSSM) assumes genetic influences do not confound the association between X and Y. Yet, a nascent stream of evidence has questioned the validity of this approach by revealing many criminological variables are at least partially affected by genetic influences. As a result, a substantial proportion of the literature may be misspecified due to uncontrolled genetic factors. No effort has been made to directly estimate the extent to which genetic confounding has biased the associations presented in criminological studies.

Methods

The present study seeks to address this issue by drawing on simulated datasets.

Results/Conclusions

Results suggest genetic confounding may account for a negligible portion of the relationship between X and Y when their correlation (r_yx) is larger than the correlation between genetic factors and Y (i.e., r_yx > r_yg). Genetic confounding appears to be much more problematic when the correlation between X and Y is in the moderate-to-small range (e.g., r_yx = .20) and the genetic effect is in the moderate-to-large range (e.g., r_yg ≥ .30).     

Adolescents’ time use: Effects on substance use,delinquency and sexual activity

Using an integration of social control theory and the routine activity perspective, adolescent time use was examined for effects on problem behaviors. We examined a wide variety of time use categories, including homework, extracurricular activities, sports time, alone time, paid work, housework, television watching, as well as indices of family time and peer time, for their effects on heavy alcohol use, cigarette smoking, illicit drug use, delinquency and sexual activity. The study employed a representative household sample of adolescents (n=606) and took into account important sociodemographic factors – gender, age, race (Black and White), and socioeconomic status. The most important predictors of adolescent problem behaviors were family time and peer time. Family time serves as a protective factor against all five problem behaviors while peer time is a highly significant risk factor for all five problem behaviors. Ph.D. in Sociology from the University at Buffalo. She is a Senior Research Scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, The State University of New York 14203. Her research interests include family influences on the development of adolescent substance use, gambling, and other problem behaviors M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Rochester. He is Project Manager/Data Analyst at the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, The State University of New York 14203. His current research interests include advanced data analysis techniques for studies of alcohol, other substance use and gambling behaviors among youth and adults. Ph.D. in Psychology from the University at Buffalo. He is a Senior Research Scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, The State University of New York 14203. His research interests include the substance abuse/crime nexus, the epidemiology of substance abuse, and the etiology and epidemiology of pathological gambling. Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University. He is Professor and Chair in the Department of Sociology, University at Buffalo, 430 Park Hall, Buffalo, The State University of New York, 14260. His research interests include interpersonal relations in adolescent, family, friendship, and work groups. M.S. in Epidemiology from the University at Buffalo. She is a retired Research Scientist from the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, The State University of New York 14203. Her research interests include alcohol and other substance use among adolescents and families     

A confusion,not a system: the organizational evolution of strategic intelligence assessment in Canada, 1943 to 2003

Recently released documentation has for the first time made it possible to describe the organizational evolution of strategic intelligence assessment in Canada. During the 60-year period surveyed in this article, the analytical groups involved in strategic assessment and the interdepartmental intelligence committee structure underwent a number of changes. These were almost invariably incremental steps—shaped by bureaucratic factors and resource constraints—rather than initiatives guided by a broader vision of the role of intelligence assessment in support of Canadian foreign and defence policy. This organizational study provides the foundation for long-overdue research into the foreign intelligence function in Canada.