Reinventing the Treasury: Economic Rationalism or an Econocrat’s Fallacy of Control?

The 1994 Fundamental Expenditure Review (FER) of the UK Treasury was a radical overhaul of organization that had major implications for the way the Treasury conducts its business. This article examines the origins and implications of FER, paying particular attention to the 'strategic' philosophy of controlling public expenditure encapsulated within it. Ostensibly an expression of modern economic rationalism overturning outmoded administrative practices, the FER approach to public spending control might alternatively be interpreted as a manifestation of a recurring 'econocrat's fallacy of control' which aims to remove redundancy, random search mechanisms and external veto points from control systems.     

The free rider problem: Experimental evidence

This paper addresses the need to learn more about the relative desirability of the current FASB and its alternatives. It responds to this need by demonstrating how a given standards-setting alternative might be preliminarily analyzed in terms of its feasibility and the degree to which its theoretical objectives are operationally attainable. The analysis emphasizes that it is not the existence of possible operational shortcomings that is important, but how its operational properties compare with those of other available alternatives. The analysis itself reveals that, in spite of operational shortcomings, standards-setting by means of a demand-revealing process may be an alternative worthy of further consideration both in its own right, and as a basis of comparison for assessing the relative strengths and limitations of the current FASB.     

National Elections in Switzerland: an Introduction

“It is difficult to compare popular participation in Swiss elections with that of any other democratic country in Europe. The smallness of the country, the rugged nature of the land, the diversity of languages, the strengths of the traditions of local self‐government, the variety of political institutions, and the multiplicity of elections make Switzerland a unique place for political experiments” (Gosnell 1930: 426).     

Establishing Legitimacy in Emerging Markets: An Empirical Comparison of the Warsaw, Budapest, and Prague Stock Exchanges

The purpose of this analysis is to investigate the influence of economic and sociological institutional constraints in determining the legitimacy of firms. This study specifically looks at the importance of regulatory and transnational institutional constraints for firms traded on the Warsaw, Budapest, and Prague stock exchanges. The results indicate that a well-regulated securities environment has a direct impact on the ability of firms to establish organizational legitimacy. We also find that, lacking local regulation, firms can increase their legitimacy by adopting international accounting standards. Thus, we find support for the assertion that both economic and sociological solutions to the problem of legitimacy are appropriate for firms operating in an emerging market.     

Characterization of the Caucasian haplogroups present in the SWGDAM forensic mtDNA dataset for 1771 human control region sequences. Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods

Currently, the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) mtDNA dataset is used to infer the relative rarity of mtDNA profiles (i.e., haplotypes) obtained from evidence samples and for identification of missing persons. The Caucasian haplogroup patterns in this forensic dataset have been characterized using phylogenetic methods. The assessment reveals that the dataset is relevant and representative of U.S. and European Caucasians. The comparisons carried out were both the observation of variable sites within the control region (CR) and the selection of a subset of these sites, which partition the variation within human mtDNA control region sequences into clusters (i.e., haplogroups). The aligned sequence matrix was analyzed to determine both single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a phylogenetic context, as well as to check and standardize haplogroup designations with a focus on determining the characters that define these groups. To evaluate the dataset for forensic utility, the haplogroup identifications and frequencies were compared with those reported from other published studies.     

Adolescent-Mother Agreement about Adolescent Problem Behaviors: Direction and Predictors of Disagreement

Correlations between adolescent and parent reports of adolescent problems are low in magnitude. In community samples adolescents tend to report more problems than parents and in clinical samples adolescents tend to report fewer problems than parents. Indices of agreement may be biased if some adolescents in a given sample report more problems and others report fewer problems than parents. In the current study, order and mean agreement between adolescent and maternal reports of adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, taking into account the direction of disagreement, was examined in a community sample of 133 young adolescents and their mothers. Two-thirds to three-quarters of adolescents reported more problems than mothers. Accounting for the direction of discrepancies resulted in improved agreement between adolescents and mothers and differing patterns of predictors of discrepancies. Additionally, the results demonstrate the need to control for relations between adolescent-reported problems and discrepancies when exploring predictors of discrepancies. Erin T. Barker received her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Alberta. Her research interests include internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Marc H. Bornstein received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University. He has contributed scientific papers in the areas of human experimental, methodological, comparative, developmental, cross-cultural, neuroscientific, pediatric, and aesthetic psychology. Diane L. Putnick received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from George Washington University. Her research interests include child and family processes across cultures. Charlene Hendricks received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from George Mason University. Her research interests are in the areas of early adolescent development and adjustment and families by adoption. Joan T. D. Suwalsky received her M.S. degree in Human Development from Cornell University. Her research interests include parent-child interaction and child development in at-risk populations, including families by adoption.     

Der andere „amerikanische“ Max Weber: Hans H. Gerths und C. Wright Mills’ <Emphasis Type="Italic">From Max Weber</Emphasis>, dessen deutsche Rezeption und das Konzept der „public sociology“

The reader From Max Weber, published by Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills in 1946, has a strong international impact. Its ideas influenced Mills?s later work The sociological imagination in which he makes it clear that the “sociological imagination” can best be found in the works of classical social analysts like Max Weber. Michael Burawoy, who uses the term “public sociology”, based on Mills, therefore also calls Weber an early “public sociologist”. In addition to that he describes the volume by Gerth and Mills as the outstanding collection of Weber?s writings in which the authors offer an interpretation different from that of Talcott Parsons. In Germany Gerth?s and Mills?s book on Weber is almost completely unknown, although it is still mentioned in works by German sociologists published shortly after the Second World War. This is one reason why in Germany Burawoy?s concept of “public sociology” is seen in contrast to the views of Weber. First, the article shows the differences in the interpretation of Weber by Gerth and Mills and by Parsons. Than it describes the early German reception of From Max Weber and looks into the reasons why it was not of greater influence. It will be stressed that the importance of this book lies in the fact, that it can be used to legitimize “public sociology”.     

The Great Disconnect: Global Governance and Localised Conflict in the Cases of India and the EU

Academic scholarship displays a curious disconnect between two trends, connecting peace and governance issues. At the same time when conflicts tended to shift inwards (from inter-state to civil wars), global governance approaches seemed to decentre the management of peace and conflict outwards (from the nation state to international forums). This paper investigates this disjuncture by examining the European Union and India's governance strategies in different conflict contexts. It studies whether their strategies operate close to the global governance model and/or whether they are able to connect with and effectively support local peace initiatives in conflict-ridden areas.