Does an effective bankruptcy reform impact the selling cost behavior of firms? Evidence from India

This study examined whether strengthening of creditors' rights impacts the selling cost behavior of firms or not? To investigate this question, the author exploited implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in 2016 in India as an exogenous policy shock. The author found that selling cost of firms in India in the pre-implementation period were not “sticky”. Further, implementation of the IBC produced no impact on the selling cost behavior of Indian firms in the post-implementation period. Nonetheless, legislation of the IBC was found to have lowered financial resources that firms devoted to their selling activities. In addition, firms that faced a higher risk of bankruptcy because of more leverage in the pre-IBC period demonstrated greater response to promulgation of the IBC. Thus, it can be inferred that an effective bankruptcy reform has little impact on the selling cost behavior of firms but incentivizes them to devote lesser financial resources to their selling activities in order to lower their bankruptcy risk.     

The dynamics of candidate evaluations and vote choice in 2008: looking to the past or future?

In this paper, we leverage a 10-wave election panel to examine the relative and dynamic effects of voter evaluations of Bush, Palin, Biden, McCain, and Obama in the 2008 presidential election. We show that the effects of these political figures on vote choice evolves through the campaign, with the predictive effects of President Bush declining after the nominees are known, and the effects of the candidates (and Palin), increasing towards Election Day. In evaluating the relative effects of these political figures on individual-level changes in vote choice during the fall campaign, we also find that evaluations of the candidates and Sarah Palin dwarf that of President Bush. Our results suggest a Bayesian model of voter decision making in which retrospective evaluations of the previous administration might provide a starting point for assessing the candidates, but prospective evaluations based on information learned during the campaign helps voters to update their candidate preference. Finally, we estimate the “Palin effect,” based on individual-level changes in favorability towards the vice-presidential nominee, and conclude that her campaign performance cost McCain just under 2% of the final vote share.     

Economic globalization and voter turnout in established democracies

This paper asks whether international economic integration negatively affects electoral turnout. The theoretical model builds on the premise that economic integration constrains the ability of national governments to shape outcomes. Citizens are conscious of such constraints and take them into account when considering the costs and benefits of casting a vote in national elections. The result is a lower inclination to vote under conditions of high economic integration. Consequently, aggregate turnout is lower the more internationally integrated a national economy is. Analysis of aggregate data for parliamentary elections in 23 OECD democracies over the period 1965–2006 robustly supports this hypothesis. The empirical estimates suggest economic globalization as a central cause of the general decline in turnout within established democracies.     

Empirical study of investment activity＇s drivers in capital-intensive Russian firms

In this paper we present the research results of key factors that determine the investment behavior of Russian companies during 2004-2008. The emphasis is made on the policy of capital expenditures. In the analysis, it included maeroeconomic, some industry factors （growth rate, spread of efficiency （ROIC-WACC）, market and industry risks） as well as some internal factors related to the equity structure and the quality of corporate governance.     

The local party voter: A localist anti-establishment voter?

In several countries, local parties have increased their share of votes in local elections. This development has received limited scholarly attention compared to the immense interest paid to the fates of national level anti-establishment parties. Against this backdrop, we ask if something distinct characterizes those who choose to vote for genuinely local alternatives compared to other anti-establishment voters. Sweden is taken as the case in focus, a country where local parties have grown in numbers and strength throughout the past three decades. We view local parties as a part of a broader ‘anti-establishment’ family, and we explore if their voters a) are similar to those who vote for the most pronounced anti-establishment party in Sweden (Sweden Democrats), or b) if local party voters are a distinct anti-establishment category in their own right. Drawing on a survey data from 49 Swedish municipalities, we find that local party voters indeed distinguish themselves from both Sweden Democrat's voters and voters for the old and established parties, thus making them a distinct anti-establishment voter category of their own. These voters distrust their local politicians but at the same time are civically engaged.     

转变经济发展方式的发展经济学考察

当前,世界经济处于脆弱的复苏期,这对于经济处于工业化中期阶段的中国来说既是挑战,也是进行结构调整,加速转变经济发展方式的战略机遇。要实现经济发展方式的良性转变,实现经济平稳增长,需要重新检视有关经济增长与发展的观念、政策,科学有效地推动经济发展方式的转变。     

The Moderating Effect of Criminal Thinking on Certainty of Apprehension in Decisions to Engage in Antisocial Behavior: Replication and Extension

This study explored whether the rational (certainty of punishment) and nonrational (criminal thinking) aspects of antisocial decision‐making interact. A convenience sample of 319 undergraduates (106 men, 213 women) completed a measure of criminal thinking and responded to three fictional vignettes (i.e., cheating on a final examination in a class they were in jeopardy of failing, stealing $50 off a table in a dorm room, and selling marijuana for a friend) at three different levels of risk or certainty of apprehension (50%, 10%, and 1%). Results indicated that participants reported that they would be more likely to engage in antisocial behavior when the certainty of getting caught was low and the level of proactive (P) or reactive (R) criminal thinking was high. An interaction between certainty and criminal thinking was also observed in which the gap between lower and higher criminal thinking respondents grew as the probability of getting caught fell.     

Geographic Representation in Party‐Dominated Legislatures: A Quantitative Text Analysis of Parliamentary Questions in the German Bundestag

Political representation in European democracies is widely considered partisan and collectivist. This article, however, stresses that there is more to the representative process in European democracies than just its textbook version. It emphasizes the role of geographic representation as a complementary strategy in party‐dominated legislatures that is characterized by two distinct features. First, legislators employ distinct opportunities to participate in legislative contexts to signal attention to geographic constituents without disrupting party unity. Second, these activities are motivated by individual‐ and district‐level characteristics that supplement electoral‐system‐level sources of geographic representation. We empirically test and corroborate this argument for the German case on the basis of a content analysis of parliamentary questions in the 17th German Bundestag (2009–13). In this analysis, we show that higher levels of localness among legislators and higher levels of electoral volatility in districts result in increased geographic representation.     

The consumption of patriarchy: commodification to facilitation and reification

There is an abundance of research from cultural, critical and feminist criminology that has recognized media as a vehicle to propagate various forms of gender inequality and violence against women. Likewise, there has been extensive research on how childhood products and toys replicate the patriarchal construction of gender. However, these bodies of research have been relatively silent on how the commodification of culture is consumed and reified by the very population it oppresses (i.e. women). Here, we argue that violence against women is commodified and eagerly consumed in an age of neo-liberalism, legitimizing the patriarchal power structures that subordinate women. Our goal is to begin a discussion of female consumption of the commodification that gives consent and facilitates the patriarchal perpetual power system. Using examples from media and the consumer market, we hope to begin a broader discussion of how patriarchy, gender roles and inequality are reinforced through everyday banal consumption by both sexes. However, this banal consumption by females not only lends to the legitimization of the heteronormative patriarchal status quo but also makes them active participants in the continuation of inequality and power structures inherent within this patriarchal society.     

精神分裂症者凶杀行为特征与其刑事责任能力相关性

目的探讨精神分裂症者凶杀行为特征及影响刑事责任能力评定的因素。方法自制调查表收集并比较经司法鉴定为具有凶杀行为的精神分裂症嫌疑人(n=110)与具有凶杀行为的无精神病者(n=70)的一般人口学资料、临床资料、作案行为特征、刑事责任能力等指标,并采用Logistic回归分析法探讨影响精神分裂症嫌疑人刑事责任能力的相关因素。结果精神分裂症组和无精神病组在年龄、性别、文化程度、婚姻状态方面差异无统计学意义(P0.05),两组在案发前思维障碍、情绪状态、社会功能等疾病相关因素方面差异均存在统计学意义(P0.05),并在攻击行为史、作案先兆、诱因、预谋、作案动机、作案对象、环境辨认、自我保护等一些与案情有关的特点上存在差异(均P0.05)。多因素Logistic回归分析显示,精神分裂症组的刑事责任能力与案发前思维障碍、情绪状态、社会功能、动机、预谋、自我保护性等因素有关(P0.05)。结论为提高对具有凶杀行为的精神分裂症嫌疑人刑事责任能力评定的准确性,应综合考虑相关精神病理因素及作案特征的影响。