How virtual are virtual economies? An exploration into the legal, social and economic nature of virtual world economies

Virtual world economies are undoubtedly increasing in growth, participation and importance. Their macroeconomic impact has already been seen as important in the real world economies; however its governance and jurisdiction is unclear. This paper will argue that virtual economies are not actually as virtual as they first appear to be. Secondly the paper argues that because of the real world effects and impacts virtual world economies can have, they should be applicable to real world jurisdictions and regulations. The question that is therefore posed is in which jurisdiction should the legal backbone be placed? The paper will be divided into several parts. Firstly, a background of what virtual worlds are, and what they mean in linguistic definition. Secondly, a review of law economics and history shall be considered to determine that what is once considered ‘other worldly’ is accepted as the norm. Thirdly, the paper will consider a virtual world economy, namely that of Second Life to establish the real world impacts that virtual world economies can have. Fourthly, the paper will consider two case studies of financial crisis occurring in the virtual worlds and the synergies we can draw from the real world. Finally, the paper will conclude with the proposition that legal governance is required and will enable what is already a lucrative business to flourish further within the realms of possibility and not virtually.     

Opinion Backlash and Public Attitudes: Are Political Advances in Gay Rights Counterproductive?

One long‐recognized consequence of the tension between popular sovereignty and democratic values like liberty and equality is public opinion backlash, which occurs when individuals recoil in response to some salient event. For decades, scholars have suggested that opinion backlash impedes policy gains by marginalized groups. Public opinion research, however, suggests that widespread attitude change that backlash proponents theorize is likely to be rare. Examining backlash against gays and lesbians using a series of online and natural experiments about marriage equality, and large‐sample survey data, we find no evidence of opinion backlash among the general public, by members of groups predisposed to dislike gays and lesbians, or from those with psychological traits that may predispose them to lash back. The important implication is that groups pursuing rights should not be dissuaded by threats of backlash that will set their movement back in the court of public opinion.     

Special Treatment

正The health insurance for foreigners at my company does not cover visits to English-speaking doctors. This isn’t as bad as I first thought because the English-speaking doctor susually don’t speak English anyway.Beijing has a very wide range of medical options. The high end is very     

Competition and R&D cooperation with universities and competitors

This paper analyses the relationship between competitive environment and R&D cooperation with universities and competitors. Our simple model suggests that cooperation creates benefits in terms of synergies but also induces costs due to spillovers. Since the value of these synergies and spillovers depends on the competitive pressure, cooperation propensity depends on the competitive environment. Differentiating between the dimensions of competition, we hypothesize that university cooperation corresponds to quality competition, while horizontal cooperation relates to price competition. Furthermore, we predict that a higher number of competitors reduces the incentives for horizontal cooperation as it diminishes the gains from “collusion”. We test these hypotheses using Swiss firm-level panel data that allows us to control for simultaneity of cooperation decisions and endogeneity of competition. Our empirical analysis supports the relevance of distinguishing between competition dimensions and cooperation partners, respectively. We find that price competition has an influence on university cooperation in the form of an inverted U. Quality competition only has an influence on university cooperation and the relationship shows a U-form. Moreover, we see that the number of principal competitors reduces cooperation between competitors.