Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of the Source of Inheritance on Bequest Attitudes: Evidence from Japan

A better understanding of the reasons for bequests can be pivotal for the effectiveness of fiscal policy and wealth inequality management as the different bequest motives underlying bequest behavior have different implications. This study examines community-based indirect reciprocity in bequest attitudes over three generations. The theoretical model, called community-based family tradition, suggests that the source of the inheritance impacts the amount of the bequest left to one's children or one's spouse. The study empirically analyzes survey data from the 2009 wave of the Preference Parameters Study for Japan. The results suggest that with some socio-economics characteristics controlled, those who have received an inheritance from their parents are more likely to intend to bequest as much as possible to their children, while those who have received an inheritance from their spouse's parents are more likely to intend to bequest as much as possible to both their children and their spouse. Hence, the source of inheritance does affect bequest attitudes, which suggests that there is community-based indirect reciprocity in bequest attitudes. The empirical results from gender comparison suggest that the taxation on inheritance is less functional for females than for males.
Policy design dynamics: fitting goals and instruments in transport infrastructure planning in the Netherlands

Abstract A policy design is a dynamic mix of goals and instruments that develop over time through processes of layering, drift, conversion, replacement and exhaustion. In the face of these dynamics, it is a key concern for policy designers to maintain fit between policy design elements by sustaining goal coherence, instrument consistency and the congruence of goals and instruments. Even though the temporal aspect is fundamental to new policy design thinking, few studies have dealt with the interrelation between policy dynamics and fit. With a longitudinal case study of Dutch transport planning, this research aims to provide insight into this interrelation and to highlight practical implications. This study reveals an intricate and ongoing fitting process between goals and instruments, in which any moment of coherence, consistency and congruence is temporary. During this fitting process, goals and instruments developed in different and largely separate trajectories. In this case, layering successfully improved congruence, but at the same time created inconsistencies between old and new instruments. To resolve some of these inconsistencies, conversion was used. These findings show that policy design is an ongoing process. The main practical implications of this study are that integrating the design of goals and instruments is an essential first practical step, that the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of policy design performance should be a central component in the ongoing process of policy design, and that a combination of layering and conversion can be a successful design approach to adjust instrument mixes to changing goals.
Earning dynamics in Sweden: The recent evolution of permanent inequality and earnings volatility

This paper analyzes the dynamics of earnings over the life-cycle, based on Swedish data, and the evolution of permanent and transitory earnings inequality for 2002-2015. We use data on earnings from administrative records gathered in the ASTRID database. We find that features of the data does not match the predictions of the heterogeneous or restricted income profile models commonly applied in the earning dynamics literature and estimate an alternative permanent- transitory (PT) error components model. Analyzing the covariance structure of both male and female earnings, controlling for educational background, we find that the upward trend in permanent earnings inequality observed in Sweden during the 1990s does not seem to continue during the 2000s, and the financial crisis of 2008 did not have any major impact on the variability of earnings. We further simulate the accumulation of income pension entitlements and find that variations in pension entitlements is smaller among college educated workers.
OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE AND FIRM EXIT ROUTES

ABSTRACT Our study presents empirical evidence about the role of ownership structure for firm exit probability by explicitly differentiating between distinct exit routes (bankruptcy and forced liquidation, voluntary liquidation, mergers and acquisitions – M&A, and removal from the court register). Based on the population of Slovenian firms in the 2006–2012 period and using multinomial probit, our findings support the predictions of agency theory. Ownership concentration, share of the largest owner, and the difference in shares between two largest owners all decrease the likelihood of exit for all studied exit routes but M&A. The magnitude of their impact is largest for exits, in which owners play a decisive role, i.e. voluntary liquidation and removal. The link between the number of primary owners and exit likelihood is U-shaped with the lowest exit probability for firms with around two owners.
The Impact of Globalization on Quality of Life: An Empirical Investigation for Asian Countries

The main objective of the study is to investigate the impact of globalization on the quality of life in the Asian countries. The panel data for Asian countries was analized for the period from 1995 to 2015. The Human Development Index (Proxy variable of quality of life) was used as dependent variable, and political, economic and social globalization were used as independent variables. The stationarity of variables was checked and we found that all variables (LPG, LEG, LSG, HDI, KOF, LGDP, and PR) were not stationary at level but at first difference all variables were stationary. Pedroni and Johansan co-integration tests were used to find the long-run relationship among the variables. Fully Modified OLS shows that there is a positive impact of political, economic and social globalization on the quality of life in the Asian countries in the long run. The results of this study show that globalization enhances the quality of life of their residents by improving Human Development Index of Asian countries. Not only KOF Index but its main aspects (political, economic and social globalization) also play a role in improving quality of life in the Asian countries.
Why Do Firms Disagree With Short Sellers? Managerial Myopia versus Private Information

Though short sellers on average succeed at identifying overvalued equity, firms often signal disagreement with short sellers by repurchasing stock when short interest increases. We investigate whether this disagreement reflects a myopic defense of inflated prices, or positive private information. These repurchases appear motivated by managers’ private information, not agency issues, even when managerial benefits to short-termism are enhanced or monitoring is weaker. Managers’ informational advantage relates to subsequent news, earnings, and risk, but is attenuated if activists target management or insiders sell. A trading strategy based on our findings earns 7.5% annually.
HYPOHIDROTIC ECTODERMAL DYSPLASIA - A CASE STUDY

Hereditary Ectodermal Dysplasia is an inherited disorder involving skin, teeth, hair and nails. Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia or Anhydrotic ectodermal dysplasia is the most common syndrome among this large group of heriditory disorders. Hypohidrosis, hypotrichosis and hypodontia constitute the main symptoms of the syndrome. The case study of a 17 year old boy, a vibrant youngster with no positive family history is presented. The pattern of genetic inheritance is also discussed.
Measuring the Impact of Gun Theft on City-Level Gun Crime Rates

The history of gun culture in the United States is complicated. Guns are an integral part of American history and attempts to control them through policy are often contentious. However, research suggests that gun crime occurs in areas where there are more guns (Braga, 2017; Braga & Pierce, 2005; Cook, Harris, Ludwig, & Pollack, 2015; Kennedy, 2011; Koper, 2013; Pierce, Braga, Hyatt, & Koper, 2004). Consequently, as gun accessibility increases within cities, the likelihood of gun crime also increases. When researching gun accessibility, it is important to note how guns are accessed. Often, guns are accessible in three ways: (1) legal transactions, (2) straw purchases, or (3) theft (Braga, 2017; Cook et al, 2015; Koper, 2013). Most contemporary gun accessibility research measures the impact of legal gun ownership and straw market transactions on gun crime rates within cities (Braga, 2017, Cook et al., 2015; Koper, 2013). Breaking from conventional research, this study will explore the relationship between city-level gun theft and gun crime to determine if cities experiencing higher rates of gun theft also experience higher rates of gun crime. Environmental criminology suggests that opportunities to acquire guns vary depending on physical and social features of places (Bratingham & Bratingham, 1984; Cohen & Felson, 1979; Meier & Miethe, 1993). Therefore, using environmental criminology as a framework, it is likely that if a stolen gun is used in a crime, it will be used close to where it was stolen. As follows, if gun theft increases in a city – increasing illicit gun availability – so too will gun crime.
Brand strategy scope and advertising spending: The more the better?

Given the need to justify business management expenses, firms are very interested in measuring marketing performance. The objective of this article is to analyze mass media advertising investment from an efficient point of view in hotel chains. To accomplish the objective, this article applies a two-stage double bootstrap data envelopment analysis to the monetary resources allocated to the different advertising media by the main companies in the Spanish hotel sector. The authors further investigate the determinants of hotel advertising efficiency in terms of the number of brands in the hotel portfolio and the combination of advertising media used (i.e. Internet advertising). The results show a certain level of waste of advertising spending by hotel chains and that both brand portfolio scope and Internet advertising positively affect efficiency.
“Working towards a better future for ourselves”: Neighborhood choice of middle-class Latino and Asian homeowners in Los Angeles

ABSTRACT Homeownership remains the largest asset for families of color and a pathway for socioeconomic opportunities. Latinos and Asian Americans are also the fastest growing groups in the U.S. Yet, little is known about their neighborhood selection and homebuying process. This pilot study examines differences between middle-class Latino and Asian neighborhood selection into Latino, Asian, and White neighborhoods using 36 interviews. The findings demonstrate how neighborhood preferences are tied to homeowner desire to translate socioeconomic advancement into neighborhood amenities. However, this preference is shaped by their explicit and implicit racial biases connected to neighborhood selection. Both groups of homeowners developed racialized viewpoints about neighborhood composition and their preferred amenities before the homebuying process. This study advances knowledge on the social structural sorting perspective and how passive and indirect socialization influences the perception of racial hierarchies and place.
Measuring social equity in flood recovery funding

ABSTRACT Deconstructing causal linkages between place attributes and disaster outcomes at coarse scales like zip codes and counties is difficult because heterogeneous socio-economic characteristics operating at finer scales are masked. However, capturing detailed disaster outcomes about individuals and households for large areas can be equally complicated. This dichotomy highlights the need for a more nuanced and empirically-driven approach to understanding financial disaster recovery support. This study assessed how social characteristics influenced federal disaster recovery support following the 2015 South Carolina floods. Ordinary linear and spatial regression models provided a mechanism for pinpointing statistically significant links between individual/compound vulnerabilities and resource distribution from four federal disaster response and recovery programmes. The study makes two unique contributions. First, exploration of how social characteristics influence recovery support is a critical, yet understudied path toward fair and equitable disaster recovery. Second, finer scale inquiry across a large impact area is rare in quantitative case studies of US disasters. While we found flood recovery assistance to be strongly associated with physical damage overall the relationship was more tenuous in places with higher social vulnerability. Results indicate that future disaster recovery programs focusing on both physical damage and social vulnerable would lead to a more equitable disaster recoveries. Findings provide new understanding of equity at the intersection of social vulnerability, impacts, and disaster recovery and showcase both best-practices and areas for programme improvements for future disasters.
Political elites and immigration in Italy: party competition, polarization and new cleavages

ABSTRACT The massive wave of migration that has affected Europe since 2015 has placed European and national institutions under considerable strain, with significant implications for both EU integration and for politics within the member states. Italy, one of the first points of access for immigrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, provides the basis for a case study showing how and why the immigration crisis has affected elitesʼ and partiesʼ positions on the issue. Our findings show that, as far as instrumental/economic positions are concerned, party competition and polarization significantly changed during the acute phase of the refugee crisis. On the other hand, left-right ideology continues to explain more of the variation in elitesʼ and partiesʼ positioning on the immigration issue than does the transnational cleavage.
Family directors, independent directors, remuneration committee and executive remuneration in Malaysian listed family firms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of family directors and independent directors on executive remuneration of listed family firms in Malaysia, and their involvement in remuneration committee on executive remuneration.Design/methodology/approachFixed effect estimation is employed to examine 1,395 firm-year observations from 2010 to 2014.FindingsFamily and independent directors do not have statistically significant influence on executive remuneration. Rather, family ownership exerts a significant positive influence on executive remuneration. This study also reveals that the interaction of family CEOs with the family directors on remuneration committee exerts a significant positive influence on executive remuneration.Research limitations/implicationsThe measurement of executive remuneration excludes the share options due to the non-disclosure of this information in the annual reports.Practical implicationsThe findings would be useful to the policy-makers and regulators in appraising the governance measures of remuneration arrangement.Originality/valueThis study premises on the Type II agency conflict between controlling shareholders and minority shareholders. Independent directors could not mitigate the Type II agency conflict via the governance of executive remuneration. They are not the effective governance mechanism that the minority shareholders can rely on. The additional analyses provide theoretical implication that the pervasive Type II agency conflict is ameliorated when the CEOs do not have family relationships with the controlling family shareholders.
The digital, quaternary or 4.0 web economy: aspects, effects and implications

The world economy is changing dynamically with the expansion of information technology (IT). The change is not only happening at the technology industry level itself; other industries are also being disrupted with the appearance of smart factories, autonomous cars, smart e-commerce, and the like. This paper preliminarily analyses the economic effects and concrete aspects of the quaternary economy, the knowledge-based part of the economy, which typically includes services such as information technology, information generation and sharing, media, research and development, as well as knowledge-based services. First, it analyses the economic effect of the quaternary economy on the USA, UK, and Israel in addition to the technological base of the quaternary such as Internet of Everything and financialisation effects. Second, it investigates the concrete aspects of the quaternary economy in five main areas including interactive or crossover innovation in artificial intelligence, appearance of cybersecurity from firewalls to cyber warfare, precision agriculture and smart farming, smart grid, electric vehicles and pilotless planes, and precision medicine. Third, the paper discusses the governance of the quaternary economy along with thin globalisation and relevant regulatory issues of the digital culture of our time.
Leveraging Size: Congressional Simulations in a Large Lecture Course

Abstract The large introductory classes at many universities present a particular challenge for instructors wishing to guarantee participation opportunities for their students. Yet, large courses can actually afford advantages for instructors looking to replicate many features of the U.S. Congress. We describe two separate Congressional simulations in an Introduction to American Politics class of more than 300 students, including simulated committee hearings and markup, as well as a floor debate. We demonstrate how simulations can be scaled to classes of almost any size, regardless of whether they include teaching assistants.
Finding Our Way to Food Democracy: Lessons from US Food Policy Council Governance

Food policy councils (FPCs) are an embodiment of food democracy, providing a space for community members, professionals, and government to learn together, deliberate, and collectively devise place-based strategies to address complex food systems issues. These collaborative governance networks can be considered a transitional stage in the democratic process, an intermediary institution that coordinates interests not typically present in food policymaking. In practice, FPCs are complex and varied. Due to this variety, it is not entirely clear how the structure, membership, and relationship to government of an FPC influence its policy priorities. This article will examine the relationship between an FPC’s organizational structure, relationship to government, and membership and its policy priorities. Using data from a 2018 survey of FPCs in the United States by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future paired with illustrative cases, we find that an FPC’s relationship to government and membership have more bearing on its policy priorities than the organizational structure. Further, the cases illustrate how membership is determined and deliberation occurs, highlighting the difficulty of including underrepresented voices in the process.
Dividend Policy and Value of Quoted Firms in Nigeria: A Test of Miller and Modigliani Irrelevant Hypothesis

This study tested Miller and Modigliani dividend policy irrelevant hypothesis in Nigeria. The objective was to examine the validity of the irrelevant hypothesis. Tobins Q measure of market value was modeled as the function of dividend payout ratio, retention ratio, dividend per share and dividend yield. 20 firms were selected on the basis of availability of information necessary for conducting the study and the readiness of annual financial reports for the period of 10 years from 2008-2017. Cross sectional data was sourced from financial statement and annual reports of the firms. Based on the analysis of fixed and random effect results, random effect was used. The study revealed that 75 percent variation on the market value can be predicted by variation on independent variables in the regression model. The beta coefficient of the variables found that all the independent variables have positive and significant relationship with market value of the selected quoted firms. The study concludes that dividend policy is relevant as oppose to the irrelevant hypothesis of Miller and Modigliani. Its therefore recommend that managers should manage their dividend policies effectively since it is relevant and has significant effect on market value and optimal dividend policy which implies policy of trade-off between dividend payout and retain earnings should be well managed and investors should have adequate knowledge of dividend policy of quoted firms that will correspond with their investment objectives of avoid conflict in dividend policy.
An empirical study on the determinants of retirement savings attitude in Malaysia!

The awareness among working individuals in Malaysia to do extra savings for older life is still minimal. This situation involved the younger generation. They think that retirement planning is a burden for them because it involves long-term planning. Nevertheless, the uncertainty and unaware about future risks (inflation, critical illness, etc) may lead to this behavior. Due to such problems, this study aims in discussing the behavior among working individuals on retirement savings at different age of group, education levels, income levels, factors affecting this behavior a and the relationship of these factors towards retirement savings attitude. This study will use survey strategy through questionnaire to collect the primary data (qualitative study). More than 200 individuals participate in this study and each of them is asked to response the questionnaire form to represent population in Malaysia. As such, this study employs several statistical procedures such as factor analysis, t-test, analysis of variance and regression models. The findings of this study reveal that income levels, attitudes towards retirement and future expectation provide significant impact on the retirement savings behavior among adults in Malaysia.
Exchange Rate Volatility and Tourism Demand in India: Unraveling the Asymmetric Relationship

This study explores the asymmetric effect of exchange rate volatility on tourism demand in India from January 2006 to April 2018. Tourism demand is captured from a twin perspective—quantity and value. While quantity is represented by foreign tourist arrival in India, earnings from foreign tourists are used to represent value. The study is unique from a methodological point of view as it makes the first ever application of the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model of Shin, Yu, and Greenwood-Nimmo (2014), in the tourism demand literature to capture nonlinearity simultaneously in the short- as well as long-run. Results of our analysis show that tourism demand in India responds asymmetrically to both nominal and real exchange rate volatility. Also, the long-run effects of exchange rate uncertainty are shown to be more damaging than the short-run effects. Our findings are fairly robust to alternative specifications.