The Three Natures and the Path to Liberation in Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda Thought

This paper provides a new interpretation of the three natures theory of Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda thought by means of an examination of the path theory associated with it, which has not been previously examined in scholarly literature. The paper first examines this path theory in a number of foundational texts to show that the widely accepted pivotal model is not in fact the three natures model that predominates in foundational Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda literature. Second, the paper offers a new interpretation of the three natures theory as providing a new causal model of the arising of suffering, and a corresponding theory of its cessation. This new causal model both makes possible the continued use of the kind of dharma analysis that Abhidharma thought employs to provide a causal analysis of the arising of suffering, and also couches such dharma analysis within the Mahāyāna framework of the emptiness of dharmas.     

Violent Crime and Capital Market Punishment: How Violent Crime Affects the Supply of Debt to Municipal Mexico

Research shows that violent and organized crime reduces foreign direct investment and that armed conflict lowers sovereign credit ratings. Building on these insights, I argue that violent crime reduces financial institutions’ confidence in the capacity of governments to repay loans, raising the costs attached to loans, and reducing government debt through a “supply-side” logic. Yet, this logic is difficult to test. Governments can render lenders indifferent to violent crime by accepting higher borrowing costs, resulting in no observed relationship between them. It is for this reason that analysis of the effect of violent crime on government credit ratings alone cannot tell us much about its effect on actual government debt. In this study, I explain how analysis of subnational debt from welfare-minded public banks and profit-minded private lenders can distinguish the supply-side logic from the null hypothesis. Cross-sectional time-series analysis of homicide rates and municipal debt in Mexico demonstrates support for the supply-side logic. Evidence of the supply-side logic reveals that those governments most in need of cost-efficient financing are most likely to be charged higher prices for it or priced out of capital markets altogether, signaling the need for market intervention in these cases.     

Equity in assessment: discrimination and disability issues from an Australian legal perspective

Assessment equity concerns all educational authorities and practitioners. When educators consider issues of equity, their predominant concern is accommodation of students with special needs, cultural issues, and creating alternative assessment activities that have equivalence to standard activities, so as not to advantage or disadvantage any student in their demonstration of knowledge. This paper examines equity issues in assessment from a legal perspective, drawing on case history from Australia, and based in discrimination and disability law. The paper is intended to assist authorities and practitioners to understand legal implications of educational assessment in order to promote practices that reduce the likelihood of legal claims and the resultant use of financial and human resources away from educational activities. However, the discussion of cases and judgements is also intended to raise issues of whether educational providers and authorities should be more conscionable in their consideration of educational equity and assessment.