Beyond the Z-score: A novel measure of bank stability for effective policymaking

This article looks beyond Z-score and proposes a novel methodological framework to build an all-encompassing indicator of bank stability for individual banks using the optimisation-based ‘benefit-of-the-doubt (BoD)’ approach. Unlike other available approaches, this approach is totally data-driven and generates endogenous weights to aggregate sub-indicators of bank stability and dimensions. Further, the final outcomes are not limited to a scalar measure of bank stability. The unique optimal weights offer valuable policy-relevant insights and highlight the most precarious areas of stability, which demand the immediate attention of the bank's management and the industry regulators for both micro-and macro-level policymaking. Using the data of Indian public sector banks operating in the year 2018, the study illustrates the proposed framework to obtain a holistic indicator of bank stability, defined on 14 ratio sub-indicators and 5 broad dimensions (soundness, asset quality, profitability, management efficiency, and liquidity) of bank stability.     

农村土地流转：特征、问题与对策——以陕西“高陵模式”为例

近年来,我国农村土地流转呈加速发展趋势,但还存在不少问题。陕西省高陵县从本地实际出发,通过探索土地流转的多种有效途径,形成了富有特色的＂高陵模式＂。当前,应借鉴＂高陵模式＂,推动农村土地流转的健康发展：充分尊重农民意愿,保护农民利益;政府要注重政策创新,规范管理土地流转活动;探索适合本地发展的模式;充分发挥中介组织的作用。     

Effect of financial sector development and FDI inflow on employment rate in South Asia: New empirical evidence from ARDL approach

The current analysis aims to explore the empirical nexus between financial development, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow, and employment rate. To attain this aim, we collect 30 years of annual data over the period 1990 to 2019 from South Asian economies and employ the autoregressive dynamic least square (ARDL) model for regression analysis. The implication of the ARDL model was subject to the mixed stationarity status of the series as assessed by unit root testing. The robustness of the analysis was checked by employing the fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) models. The statistical analysis infers that both financial development and FDI inflow enhance the employment rate in the South Asia region. In addition, the empirical analysis infers that the gross capital formation, economic growth, and export volume have a positive while the population growth rate has a negative effect on the employment rate. The impact of underlying explanatory variables was found significant only in long run. The estimated coefficient values in the case of FMOLS and DOLS models support the direction of the relationship between explanatory variables and employment rate, implying the robustness of the analysis. The findings of the current analysis can be used to devise efficient economic policies to cope with the encroaching issue of unemployment in the South Asia region. This study offers the robustness to existing literature and complements the literature by exploring the underlying arrangement of study to the whole South Asia group.     

Does gang membership pay? Illegal and legal earnings through emerging adulthood*

Gang membership is believed to impede success in the legitimate economic market while simultaneously supporting success in the illegal market. We extend the study of the economic effects of gang membership by using a within‐ and between‐individual analytic design, decomposing gang membership into multiple statuses (i.e., entering a gang, continuously in a gang, leaving a gang, and inactive gang membership), examining legal and illegal earnings simultaneously, and accounting for factors endogenous to gang membership that may contribute to economic achievement. By using panel data from 1,213 individuals who participated in the Pathways to Desistance Study to conduct a multilevel path analysis, we find that active gang membership status is unrelated to legal earnings. Alternatively, entering a gang is associated with increased illegal earnings, attributable to changes in delinquent peers and drug use, whereas leaving a gang has a direct relationship with decreased illegal earnings. Our results indicate that the positive economic effect of gang membership (i.e., illegal earnings and total earnings) is short‐lived and that, on balance, the sum of the gang membership experience does not “pay” in terms of overall earnings.     

Application of MALDI‐TOF MS for Estimating the Postmortem Interval in Rat Muscle Samples

Estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) is very important in the forensic sciences. Although many approaches have been used for estimating the PMI, accurate PMI calculations are still difficult. In this study, four Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were sacrificed by suffocation, and muscle samples were collected by dissection at various time intervals (0, 48, 96, and 144 h) after death. All samples were probed using matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOFMS) to obtain molecular images and data for principal component analysis (PCA). The results showed that the peaks at m/z 1511, 1543, 1564, 1586 clearly decreased in intensity from 0 to 144 h postmortem and that the time groups were separated from each other on the PCA score plot. The prediction model showed high recognition capability (95.93%) and cross‐validation (83.72%). Our work suggests that MALDI‐TOF MS can be used to determine the PMI.     

The Impact of Negative Publicity on Police Self-legitimacy

High-profile events involving police use of force in various cities throughout the US and internationally have garnered enormous media coverage and demonstrated the importance of police-community relations. To date little empirical attention has focused on how such events may negatively impact police officers. Using survey data from 567 officers, this study considers whether perceptions of negative publicity are adversely related to officers’ sense of self-legitimacy (i.e. the confidence they have in their authority). Findings revealed officers who felt less motivated as a result of negative publicity expressed less self-legitimacy. However, the degree to which officers felt their job had become more dangerous as a result of negative publicity was not significantly related to self-legitimacy. These findings increase our understanding of the sources of self-legitimacy and reveal that negative publicity surrounding law enforcement presents a unique challenge to officers’ confidence in their authority, which can have important implications for the community.     

The talk–listen–respond (TLR) model of representatives on Twitter

Despite the existing research on how elected representatives use Twitter, there are few comparative studies and none that considers Israel, a country that differs from most democracies in its electoral system. This study has two levels of analysis. The first is the country level, in which the author compares and explains how representatives in four countries – the US, Canada, Australia and Israel – use the talk, listen and respond model to achieve their goals. The second is the individual level, in which the author analyses how personal characteristics such as gender and age, and political characteristics such as seniority and membership in the opposition or coalition affect the frequency of use of Twitter. Using quantitative data, it is demonstrated that representatives vary in the frequency of their use of Twitter. On the country level, Australian representatives use Twitter more often than their counterparts in other countries. On the individual level, first-term members, members of the opposition, and older representatives use Twitter more often than those with more seniority, coalition members, and younger legislators.     

行政的变迁与行政法学范式转换 --《论公共行政与行政法学范式转换》述评

石佑启教授的专著<论公共行政与行政法学范式转换>从现代公共行政改革与发展着眼,从范式转换的高度全面而系统地梳理了行政法与公共行政的演进关系,概括了传统的行政法学范式及其面临的挑战,进而提出必须突破传统的理论框架进行范式转换,从而勾勒了在现代公共行政背景下的新的行政法学图景,为进一步完善行政法学理论体系,促进行政法治制度创新,更好地解决公共行政变革中产生的法律问题,提出了诸多富有创建性的观点,填补了行政法学研究上的一些空白.     

温病湿热证湿重于热动物模型舌的病理观察

目的：观察温病湿热证湿重于热动物模型舌的病理改变。方法：复制温病湿热证湿重于热动物模型,观察大鼠舌的病理改变,并设湿热组、脾虚组、正常组进行比较。结果：湿重于热组、湿热组固有层乳头密度及核分裂相频数显著增多,与正常组及脾虚组比较差异有显著性;湿重于热组和湿热组固有层均出现炎症、充血及水肿,前者水肿更甚,后者则充血明显。结论：舌的病理改变,可能是湿热证型中舌苔变化的病理基础,并可作为判定湿热轻重的指标之一。