Random timing of elections and the political business cycle

In his 1975 paper, Nordhaus formally proves that governments whose aim is to be reelected, will generate ‘political’ business cycles. Empirical results do not confirm this proposition, especially in countries used to early elections. We show that if there is a non-zero probability for elections to be called before the legal term, the political business cycle will be less pronounced, even if no early election actually takes place; moreover, if the normal electoral cycle is interrupted before the legal term, one might observe an inversion of the business cycle, or no cycle at all.     

A theory of the spoils system

In a spoils system, it is axiomatic that ‘to the winners go the spoils.’ This essay formalizes spoils systems as cooperative games, with winners given by a simple game structure, and represented by a fixed number of political appointments. We analyze the resulting spoils games by means of the non-transferable utility value, and we offer two practical applications of the results.     

Frequency of laryngeal and hyoid bone trauma in nonhomicidal cases who died after a fall from a height

A retrospective study was carried out on 93 autopsy cases who died after a fall from a height. For each case, following parameters were reported: age, sex, manner of death, estimated height of fall, ground type, estimated site of primary impact, type of laryngeal and hyoid bone trauma, presence of associated local trauma in the neck and cephalic region. Mean age of the studied population was about 33 years. Sex ratio (men/women) was 1.8. Mean height of fall was about 15 m. Manner of death was, respectively, suicide and accident in 70 and 23 cases. The type of ground was concrete in 94% of the cases. The site of primary impact was, respectively, head, front of the body, back of the body, feet/lower limbs, and lateral body in 31, 26, 19, 12, and 5 cases. Cervical soft tissue bruising without laryngohyoid fractures was found in 5 cases. Laryngohyoid fractures were found in 5 cases. These fractures could be explained by direct impact of the neck structures against the ground. The mechanism of these fractures could also be indirect fractures due to high muscle strains on the hyoid bone or thyroid cartilage due to cervical hyperflexion or hyperextension or secondary to mandible or cervical vertebral column fractures.     

John R. Commons and Max Weber: The Foundations of an Economic Sociology of Law

This article underlines contemporary economic sociology's lack of interest – until recently – in legal phenomena, unlike the close attention paid by two historic figures in ‘economic sociology’, Max Weber and John R. Commons, to the relationships between law and economy. It argues that to grasp fully the importance of the legal dimension in socio‐economic analysis, we must return to their foundational insights. However, they particularly stress differences between Weber and Commons as to the unity or heterogeneity of law and the economy, the role of ethics, the search for an all‐encompassing approach in the construction of ideal‐types, the various forms of constraint that characterize law (whether psychological, economic, or physical), and the distinction between state law and non‐state law. The latter element is why the authors argue that due consideration for legal plurality should be a central thread in any sociological analysis of the interplay between law and the economy.     

Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidal Risk

This study probes the differentiating characteristics (family relationships, social–psychological attitudes, drug use, and suicidal risk) of youth who prefer heavy metal (HM) music, worship music, and use music for vicarious release. Data analysis was based on a sample of 275 secondary school students between the ages of 14 and 18. Logistic regressions revealed that HM music preference and worshipping is not significantly related to suicidal risk when controlling for other risk factors. These findings were found for both boys and girls. Surprisingly, the use of music for vicarious release was inversely related to suicidal risk for girls. These findings are discussed within the framework of Arnett's alienation theory (Arnett, J. (1991). J. Youth Adolesc. 20(6): 573–592) and Roe's uses-gratification theory (Roe, K. (1995). J. Youth Adolesc. 24(5): 617–631) regarding adolescent socialization and media purposes.