bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Changing the Financing of the Lithuanian Pensions System
Authors: Medaiskis Teodoras
Published: March 2003

After the first pension reform in Lithuania, in 1995, the reforming process must continue. Important changes are needed, based on principles of old age security financing. A three‐tier system has been drafted and approved by the government as a Concept of the reform. The main change proposed as a first tier is the introduction of a national pension based on the residence principle, instead of the existing basic pension based on the insurance principle. It is expected that in this way the problem will be solved of providing protection against poverty for the increasing number of people who do not have the necessary insurance record. The second tier should be a compulsory funded system based on privately managed pension funds. Several important goals would thus be achieved: diversifying the old age security risk between pay‐as‐you‐go and funded schemes; boosting investment opportunities and encouraging financial markets to develop; offering improved incentives for the working population to contribute; and so on. The main obstacle to the introduction of the second tier is the high transition cost. The third tier would comprise voluntary pension funds: their activities should be liberated and the severe constraints on investment return removed.
Curing The Dutch Disease? Sickness Absence and Work Disability in The Netherlands
Authors: Geurts Sabine , Kompier Michiel , Gründemann Robert
Published: March 2003

The purpose of the current paper is to provide an overview and evaluation, covering the past decade, of developments and experiences in the Netherlands with respect to the prevention and reduction of sickness absence and work disability. The government has made various attempts to restrict expenditure in this area by increasing the (financial) responsibility of employers. It is concluded that the legislative changes do not seem to have long‐lasting effects on sickness absence and work disability rates and have not worked out in practice as well as was foreseen. Employers — particularly small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)— often buy minimum service packages from occupational health services (OHSs), show risk‐avoiding behaviour, and primarily undertake procedural and person‐oriented measures. Some lessons may be learned from the Netherlands' approach, concerning (1) the principle of self‐regulation; (2) the position of SMEs; (3) the privatizing of OHSs; (4) examples of good practice.
Wirtschaftliche Auswirkungen der direkten Demokratie
Authors: Kirchgässner Gebhard
Published: March 2003

First the transmission of information in direct and representative democracies is investigated. Because there is more supply and demand of information, citizens are better informed in direct democracies than in purely representative systems. Then, a survey is given about empirical studies of the economic consequences of direct democracy which show that these consequences are mostly positive. Finally we discuss some of the arguments which are often raised in Germany against the introduction of direct democratic rights on the federal level, especially the reference to `bad experiences' in the Weimar republic. It is shown that these arguments are not valid.
Shift of attention in depth in a semi‐realistic setting
Authors: Miura Toshiaki , Shinohara Kazumitsu , Kanda Koji
Published: March 2003

This research was based on previous research on the useful field of view in real driving, however shift of attention was examined in depth by the use of an improved tunnel simulator. Despite of the importance of this area of research, nothing like this has been performed previously. The subjects’ task was judgment of the relative distance of targets (farther, nearer, or the same), in comparison with a fixation point. Reaction times were measured. There were two variables. One was three observing conditions. Subjects moved at apparent speeds of 40 km/h or 80 km/h or were stationary. The second variable was the validity of the precue concerning the location of the appearance of the target relative to the fixation point. There were three conditions, valid, invalid and or neutral. The results clearly showed that reaction times for nearer targets were shorter than those for farther targets in all conditions. This supports a viewer‐centered representation of three‐dimensional space. Concerning the direction of shift of attention, reaction time for shift of attention from far locations to near locations was shorter than for the opposite. This difference was more remarkable in the moving condition than in the stationary condition. This was called the rubber band metaphor of attention in locomotion (asymmetrical viewer‐centered mode of shift of attention in depth). These results are ecologically valid. Possible underlying mechanisms are discussed from the viewpoint of distribution of attention resource.
The Effect of Intra‐ and Intergroup Leadership on Group Goal Attainment in a North‐South Gaming Simulation
Authors: Lwin Myint , Hirose Yukio
Published: March 2003

This research investigated the role of leadership functions in a context of intergroup negotiation by using a simulation game of inter‐regional conflict and cooperation (SIRC2). As a part of their social psychology course, 151 undergraduate students participated. It was hypothesized that there are four leadership factors in an intergroup context: in‐group performance, in‐group maintenance, out‐group negotiation performance, and out‐group relation maintenance. According to a factor analysis, however, the functions of in‐group performance and out‐group performance merged into the same category and could not be differentiated independently. Moreover, this research provided evidence that opportunities for intergroup communication and the amount of resources available to each group can facilitate these leadership functions. This study also found links between leadership functions and group outcomes. In a group with members who were homogeneous and facing common survival problems, the in‐group/out‐group performance function facilitated the achievement of the group goal. On the other hand, in a group with members with different roles, and who were self‐sufficient for survival, the in‐group maintenance function facilitated the achievement of the group goal. Moreover, in the intergroup context, the out‐group relationship maintenance function was also important for group goal attainment. These results were interpreted using the path–goal theory and Fiedler's contingency theory.
Emergence of representational activity during the early drawing stage: process analysis
Authors: Yamagata Kyoko
Published: March 2003

This study analyzed the process underlying the emergence of representational drawing. Eighty‐seven children aged 1–3 years were asked to color or draw either a simple picture (P) or a contour for an object (DC) in a shared task. After that, they were asked to draw their mother on a blank sheet of paper in a no drawn contour task (NC). Whereas 1½‐ and 2‐year‐olds were more successful in the P task than in the DC task, the 2½‐ and 3‐year‐olds were successful in both. The 2‐year‐olds were better in the DC than the NC task. The results show that 1½‐ and 2‐year‐olds can extract the component parts of a drawing even though they cannot produce them and children over 2½ years old can organize these components into a drawing by themselves. These findings indicate that representational drawing is based on the extraction of the component parts and the acquisition of the drawing ability to combine the parts into a drawing and that the beginnings of representational drawing are found in 1½‐ and 2‐year‐old children.
The Perceived Benefits of Religious and Spiritual Coping Among Older Adults Living with HIV/AIDS
Authors: Siegel Karolynn , Schrimshaw Eric W.
Published: March 2003

Although religious and spiritual beliefs and practices have been frequently associated with greater psychological well‐being among illness populations, little is known about the specific benefits individuals perceive they receive from these beliefs and practices. This issue was examined in interviews with 63 older HIV‐infected adults. Participants reported a variety of benefits from their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, including: (1) evokes comforting emotions and feelings; (2) offers strength, empowerment, and control; (3) eases the emotional burden of the illness; (4) offers social support and a sense of belonging; (5) offers spiritual support through a personal relationship with God; (6) facilitates meaning and acceptance of the illness; (7) helps preserve health; (8) relieves the fear and uncertainty of death; (9) facilitates self‐acceptance and reduces self‐blame. These perceived benefits suggest potential mechanisms by which religion/spirituality may affect psychological adjustment.
Organizational Revivalism: Explaining Metamorphosis of China’s Catholic Church
Authors: Liu William T. , Leung Beatrice
Published: March 2003

The classical works of Troelsch and Niebuhr suggested that sect movements had been the origin of reform and revitalization of the church. More recently, Finke and Wittberg supplemented that thesis by suggesting that the Catholic Church was able to reform itself not through the sect development, but through the establishment of religious orders within the Catholic Church itself. This article suggests, from historical and contemporary archival sources, that the revitalization of the Catholic Church in China was through indigenization of the Church. The vitalization has been achieved despite tensions between the underground church committed to Rome and the national church, which advocated self‐government without political and financial ties to the Catholic hierarchies outside China. Both the Chinese government’s accommodation of the ecclesiastical authority of the papacy, and the Vatican’s silence in response to the underground church’s pleas to disregard the national church, had helped the indigenization process and the growth of the church without a possible schism.
The Influence of Early Life Course Religious Exposure on Young Adults’ Dispositions Toward Childbearing
Authors: Pearce Lisa D.
Published: March 2003

Previous research about religion and childbearing focuses on childbearing behavior, yet is motivated by the idea that behavioral outcomes result from the influence of religion on individuals’ childbearing dispositions. This article describes how early life religious exposure may influence young adults’ childbearing attitudes and preferences as they transition to adulthood. Analyses of intergenerational panel data suggest that, compared with others, young adults with Catholic mothers, or mothers who frequently attend religious services, are more likely to object to voluntary childlessness, to feel the average American family should have more children, and to desire many children for themselves. The effect of having a Catholic mother appears to operate through the mother’s own dispositions and behaviors. The effect of their mothers’ religious service attendance operates through the young adults’ own religious participation and the importance they place on religion. The consistent effects of early life religious exposure on subsequent child‐bearing dispositions outweigh the effects of socioeconomic factors and point to religion as an influential institution in the formation of child‐bearing preferences.
The Spiritual Assessment Inventory: A Theistic Model and Measure for Assessing Spiritual Development
Authors: Hall Todd W. , Edwards Keith J.
Published: March 2003

The Spiritual Assessment Inventory (SAI) is a relationally‐based measure designed to assess two dimensions of spiritual development: Awareness of God and Quality of Relationship with God. The present article reports the results of two studies: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of a revised SAI, which replicated five factors, and a factor analysis of a revised SAI with a new Impression Management (IM) subscale. Results supported the factor structure of the SAI and the homogeneity of the IM scale. Correlations of the SAI subscales with the Spiritual Well‐Being Scale, the Intrinsic/Extrinsic‐Revised, the Bell Object Relations Inventory, the Defense Styles Questionnaire, and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory also supported the construct validity of the SAI. Two‐step multiple regressions supported the incremental validity of the SAI. Suggestions for future research and implications for clinical use of the instrument are discussed.
Two Dimensions of Attachment to God and Their Relation to Affect, Religiosity, and Personality Constructs
Authors: Rowatt Wade , Kirkpatrick Lee A.
Published: March 2003

In this study we sought to address several limitations of previous research on attachment theory and religion by (1) developing a dimensional attachment to God scale, and (2) demonstrating that dimensions of attachment to God are predictive of measures of affect and personality after controlling for social desirability and other related dimensions of religiosity. Questionnaire measures of these constructs were completed by a sample of university students and community adults (total n= 374). Consistent with prior research on adult romantic attachment, two dimensions of attachment to God were identified: avoidance and anxiety. After statistically controlling for social desirability, intrinsic religiousness, doctrinal orthodoxy, and loving God image, anxious attachment to God remained a significant predictor of neuroticism, negative affect, and (inversely) positive affect; avoidant attachment to God remained a significant inverse predictor of religious symbolic immortality and agreeableness. These findings are evidence that correlations between attachment to God and measures of personality and affect are not merely byproducts of confounding effects of socially desirable responding or other dimensions of religiosity.
Perceptions of Anti‐Catholic Bias and Political Party Identification Among U.S. Catholics
Authors: Perl Paul , Bendyna Mary E.
Published: March 2003

Recent controversies in the news over anti‐Catholicism alleged by elites on both the left and the right raise the question of how perceptions of religious prejudice relate to political preferences among Catholics. Using survey data on 746 self‐identified adult Catholics, we examine the extent to which they perceive anti‐Catholic bias and how those perceptions are related to political party identification. Catholics were asked whether they think there is a general anti‐Catholic bias in the United States and whether each of seven sociopolitical groups is “hostile,”“friendly,” or “neutral” toward Catholics. The likelihood of perceiving a general anti‐Catholic bias in the United States and anti‐Catholic hostility from liberal sociopolitical groups increases with more frequent Mass attendance. The likelihood of perceiving hostility from conservative groups is unrelated to attendance. While the perception of a general anti‐Catholic bias in the United States does not predict political party identification, perceptions of hostility from liberal groups tend to predict Republican identification, and perceptions of hostility from conservative groups tend to predict Democratic identification. Though perceived hostility from liberal groups has a stronger effect on party identification, we conclude that perceptions of anti‐Catholic prejudice are related to the politics of some Catholics on both the left and the right.
Religiosity and Swedish Opinion on the European Union
Authors: Hagevi Magnus
Published: March 2003

This article examines whether religiosity affects Swedish opinion on the European Union (EU) using survey data from 1998 conducted by the SOM Institute, Göteborg University. The findings support the notion that religiosity affects Swedish EU opinion. Members of the free churches (nonconformist Protestants) tend to oppose Swedish EU membership, whereas no such tendency is visible among active members of the Evangelical‐Lutheran Church of Sweden (the traditional state church). Members of immigrant churches and adherents to non‐Christian religions tend to support Swedish EU membership. The difference between the Church of Sweden and the free churches is explained by the uneven distribution of evangelical values. Support for Swedish EU membership is on the same low level among evangelicals and equally high among mainline Protestants in both religious orientations. Controlling for demographic factors does not change the conclusions.
Experimental Psychology and Duhem's Problem
Authors: Rakover Sam S.
Published: March 2003

Sam S. Rakover, Experimental Psychology and Duhem's Problem, pp. 45–66.

The paper proposes a practical answer to Duhem's problem within the framework of experimental psychology. First, this problem is briefly discussed; second, two studies in psychology are presented illustrating how theories are tested. Thirdly, based on the foregoing, an approach called the “Empirical Reasoning” (ER) is developed and justified. It is shown that the ER approach can successfully cope with Duhem's problem. Finally, the ER approach and the Error Statistics approach of Mayo are critically compared with regard to Duhem's problem.
Filial Responsibility and the Care of the Aged
Authors: Collingridge Michael , Miller Seumas
Published: March 2003

What obligations and responsibilities, if any, do adult children have with respect to their aged parents? This paper briefly considers the socio‐historical and legal bases for filial obligations and suggests there is a mismatch between perceptions in the community over what they see as their obligations, what policy makers would like to impose and how philosophers identify and ground these obligations. Examining four philosophical models of filial obligation, we conclude that no one account provides an adequate justification for the types of responsibility that might be assumed in a family relationship.
Work, Well–being and Vocational Education: The Ethical Significance of Work and Preparation for Work
Authors: Winch Christopher
Published: March 2003

David Carr's account of the nature of professional work is described and examined. It is argued that Carr's criteria for distinguishing between professional and non–professional work are not adequate. The criteria are as follows: the professions’ essential role in promoting human flourishing; their contestability; their direct concern for the well–being of clients; their provision of a high degree of autonomy for practitioners. They do not mark out a qualitative difference between professions and other occupations. Carr's notion of civic necessities applies to what he describes as non–professional as well as to professional work. The role of commercial considerations in the usefulness of some kinds of work is considered and a distinction is made between technical and occupational virtues. Carr treats professional virtues as occupational virtues without appreciating that nearly all occupations have both occupational and technical virtues. A significant part of the wouthwhileness of work is bound up with practice of the relevant occupational virtues.
A Critical Reading of the National Curriculum for Art in the Light of Contemporary Theories of Subjectivity
Authors: Atkinson Dennis
Published: March 2003

In this paper I show how pupils become visible as pedagogic subjects in the art curriculum. With reference to the work of Foucault and Lacan I theorise how pupils’ subjectivities, or identities, are formed within discursive practices which constitute the art curriculum. A critical reading of practice is presented as it is conceived in the English National Curriculum for Art orders and the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s document, Exemplification of Standards, in order to show how pupils’ abilities are constructed and regulated. I argue that these documents are underpinned by an inadequate understanding of practice and assessment, which fails to acknowledge the difference and legitimacy of pupils’ semiotic/representational strategies. I proceed to offer some thoughts for reconceptualising the art curriculum by employing the term ‘difference’. My purpose is to highlight the need to develop a curriculum which offers a more inclusive space for practice, a space which is not driven by normative assessment frameworks, but which celebrates difference in practice and vigorous enquiry.
A Framework for the Design Studio in Web‐Based Education
Authors: Sagun Aysu , Demirkan Halime , Goktepe Mesut
Published: March 2003

Design education should integrate design concepts and skills with practical and theoretical knowledge through collaborative learning. Computer‐mediated communication systems used in web‐based education systems are quite appropriate for this principle by enabling global access to course material as well as allowing interaction of participants at distributed learning environments at anytime. Course design broadly requires the organization of time, space and activities considering the tools and methods used. Based on these issues, this study proposes a framework for the design of a web‐based studio course with respect to the nature of the design process. An implementation of a sample web‐based course design is included to support the idea. Considering the benefits and limitations, the nature of web‐based design courses is explored first. Then, the sociological, ideological, epistemological and pedagogical aspects of a design studio are examined within the framework of objectives (why), objects (what), methodology (how) and management (who) with special emphasis given to synchronous and asynchronous communication.
Children’s Drawing, Self Expression, Identity and the Imagination
Authors: Hawkins Bryan
Published: March 2003

Directions, Volume 18 Number 1 [1] suggests that postmodern theory is beginning to have a significant effect upon educational practice. Atkinson [2] has directed attention towards the effects of both the construction of the subject and the real within art teaching. Much postmodern theory challenges the unitary, pre–existing subject. This paper will argue that the persistence of an ideology of self–expression which asserts that all representation is in connection with (should be read in relation to) a singular, pure, pre–existing self acts to limit our understandings of the complexity of children’s representations and is in conflict with many contemporary positions.

Research has centred on the development of ‘out of school’ sketchbooks. Large sketchbooks were given out to nursery and reception children paired with older siblings in primary education. Possible drawing activities and interests were discussed and children were left to develop the sketchbooks at home. Two weeks later (including a half term holiday) the children were interviewed in relation to the drawings developed. The drawings have been considered in relation to contemporary approaches to self and identity.

The conclusions of this paper revolve around the possibilities of reading children’s drawing in relation to self and identity through the interaction of social context, discursive practice and agency in a manner which is suggested by Ricouer’s formulation of the social imaginary. Additionally, the substitution of tenacious notions of expression with concepts of agency and contingency grounded in the characteristics of ‘citationality’, articulation and narrative are suggested as a basis for developing the educational potential of drawing.
Ethical Unit Trust Financial Performance: Small Company Effects and Fund Size Effects
Authors: Gregory Alan , Matatko John , Luther Robert
Published: March 2003

Recent papers which have examined unit trusts have controlled either for a ‘fund size effect’ or for the ‘small firms effect’ in the investment portfolio. The contribution of this paper is an analysis of the ‘small firms effect’ whilst simultaneously controlling for the ‘fund size effect’. We show that the ethical unit trusts have significantly greater exposure than general unit trusts to the ‘small firms effect’, and that net of this there is no significant evidence of over or under performance by ethical trusts using an adjusted Jensen measure. Using two cross‐sectional approaches, we demonstrate that whilst a ‘small firms effect’ has a role to play in explaining unit trust performance, fund size is not correlated with the financial performance of unit trusts. This cross‐sectional analysis also provides some evidence that ethical unit trusts may perform less well than general unit trusts.
Models of Capital Investments with Private Information and Incentives: a Selective Review
Authors: Antle Rick , Fellingham John
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this paper is to selectively review research that addresses capital budgeting decisions in settings characterized by dispersed information and incentive problems. The papers are theoretical; they formulate and analyze models that vary in the number of periods considered, the number of economic actors involved, and the number of alternative projects available. The aims of the review are to describe some of the formulations that have been studied, to highlight their key economic and mathematical properties, to reveal their common economic forces, and to collect and organize their basic results.
Microstructure and Seasonality in the UK Equity Market
Authors: Draper Paul , Paudyal Krishna
Published: March 2003

This paper explores seasonality in the UK stock market. It examines the impact of alternative company year‐ends on returns as well as seasonality in bid‐ask spreads and trading activity variables including volume, number and size of trades. Consistent with the evidence elsewhere, seasonal variation in stock returns and trading activity is established although there is little evidence of a seasonal pattern in relative bid‐ask spreads. Trading rules based on the seasonal patterns do not suggest that seasonality can be exploited to earn excess profits.
Auditor Quality, Signalling, and the Valuation of Initial Public Offerings
Authors: Firth Michael , Liau‐Tan Chee Keng
Published: March 2003

The initial public offering (IPO) market represents a classic example of information asymmetries where the incumbent owners have good information about the value of the business but potential investors have little data to guide them on the attractiveness of the new issue. In order to mitigate these information asymmetry problems, the sponsors of the IPO will try to enhance the credibility of the share offer through various signalling mechanisms. Of interest to this study is the role that auditing firms play in adding credibility to the new issue. In particular we test some recent theoretical models of auditor choice by examining the initial public offering market in Singapore. Our empirical results show that high risk IPOs are associated with high quality auditors. Further, high quality auditors are associated with higher IPO market valuations and they allow entrepreneurs to retain lower ownership stakes in the IPO while maintaining market valuation.
Market Reactions, Characteristics, and the Effectiveness of Corporate Layoffs
Authors: Elayan Fayez A. , Swales George S. , Maris Brian A. , Scott James R.
Published: March 2003

Two hypotheses are considered to explain employee layoffs by corporations: (1) the declining investment opportunities hypothesis; and (2) the efficiency hypothesis. The stock market response to employee layoff announcements is estimated to be negative, which is consistent with the declining investment opportunities hypothesis as opposed to the efficiency hypothesis. Large, permanent, and unanticipated layoffs are associated with higher market reaction relative to small, temporary, and anticipated layoffs. A significant difference exists between industry type and for the stated reason of the layoff. Corporate layoffs per se increased the efficiency of the firm, as evidenced by a significant increase in return on equity and net income to employee in the post‐announcement relative to the pre‐announcement period.
Determinants of Corporate Dividend Capture
Authors: Siddiqi Mazhar A.
Published: March 2003

This paper uses ex‐dividend day returns to show that corporate dividend capture in utility stocks depends upon transaction costs, the three month treasury bill rate, unsystematic risk and dividend yield. The paper finds that the data do not support the same determinants for dividend capture in non‐utility stocks. Tests on data from before and after the Tax Reform Act of 1986 do not show conclusively that the Tax Reform Act reduced the prevalence of dividend capture.
Market Reactions to the Hong Kong Trading Suspensions: Mandatory versus Voluntary
Authors: Wu Lifan
Published: March 2003

This paper investigates the market reactions to regulator‐initiated (mandatory) suspension and issuer‐initiated (voluntary) suspension on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. It is found that there is substantial devaluation of the stocks during either suspension, and both the variance and trading volume are higher in the post‐suspension period than in the pre‐suspension period. However, the changes in value and variance are sensitive to the reason for the suspension. The evidence shows that mandatory suspensions are more effective than voluntary suspensions in disseminating information, although both suspensions may not effectively ease unusual volatility immediately.
Hungarian Privatisation Strategy and Financial Performance of Privatised Companies
Authors: Jelic Ranko , Briston Richard
Published: March 2003

This paper examines Hungarian privatisation strategy and the financial performance of privatised enterprises. The results suggest that Hungary has preferred privatisation by direct sales by a considerable margin, but has recently shifted towards share issues. Both types of sale have predominantly been gradual. Subsequent sales, however, confirm the government's intention to sell previously retained shares. An analysis of IPOs during 1990–1998 shows positive initial returns on Privatisation Initial Public Offers (PIPOs) and greater underpricing than for other IPOs. The long term returns of PIPOs are positive and they outperform other IPOs in all periods after the listing.
Acquisition‐Related Provision‐Taking and Post‐Acquisition Performance in the UK Prior to FRS 7
Authors: Brown Stephen , Finn Mark , Hope Ole‐Kristian
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the association between acquisiton‐related provision‐taking behaviour and post‐acquisition performance for a sample of UK firms that undertook large acquisitions between 1989 and 1995. We find evidence that provision‐taking was associated with declining accounting and market‐adjusted stock price performance over the three‐year period following the fiscal year of the acquisition. This relationship exists after controlling for a variety of factors, including method of payment in the acquisition and post‐acquisition cash flow performance. By implication, post‐acquisition abnormal returns appear to have been predictable based on publicly available information about the magnitude of the provisions. These findings are consistent with the following scenario: The management of the high provisioners used the provisions to insulate accounting earnings from the effects of declining cash flows. The market belatedly reacted to these firms' declining fortunes when net income was no longer inflated by provision reversals.
Social and Environmental Disclosure and Corporate Characteristics: A Research Note and Extension
Authors: Gray Rob , Javad Mohammed , Power David M. , Sinclair C. Donald
Published: March 2003

This paper is concerned with the attempts to explain the disclosure of social and environmental information in the annual reports of large companies by reference to observable characteristics of those companies. An extensive literature has sought to establish whether variables such as corporate size, profit and industry segments can explain corporations' disclosure practices. The results from that predominantly North American and Australasian literature are largely inconclusive. This paper provides an extension of that literature by considering a more disaggregated specification of social and environmental disclosure and by employing a detailed time‐series data set. By so doing, the paper tests two possible explanations for the inconclusiveness of prior research: namely that any relationships between corporate characteristics and disclosure are dependent upon the type of disclosure and that any such relationships are not stable through time. The results provide support for these explanations as sufficient, if not necessary, conditions for explaining the inconsistency in prior results.
LDC Credit‐risk Forecasting and Banker Judgement
Authors: Somerville R. A. , Taffler R. J.
Published: March 2003

This paper uses Institutional Investor credit ratings of less‐developed countries (LDCs) as indicators of banker judgement. We estimate a linear econometric model of the rating, and examine its predictive performance up to nine years out‐of‐sample. We conclude that the country‐risk assessments of international banks can be validly replicated by a parsimonious econometric model, reflecting a simple combination of a small amount of data.
The Earnings Information Content of Dividend Initiations and Omissions
Authors: Ho Shih‐Jen Kathy , Wu Chunchi
Published: March 2003

Previous studies have found that dividend initiations and omissions convey important information about subsequent earnings changes. However, this finding may be subject to a sample survival bias. We find that survivorship does not affect the positive relation between dividend changes and past earnings changes. Also, we find dividend omitting firms are able to generate significantly positive earnings one to two years after the omission. However, contrary to previous findings, firms' earnings are not significantly increased following the dividend initiation. The results suggest that survivorship tends to bias inference toward finding that dividends signal future earnings.
PO Lock‐in Agreements in the UK
Authors: Espenlaub Susanne , Goergen Marc , Khurshed Arif
Published: March 2003

When a company offers shares in an initial public offering (IPO), existing owners often enter into lock‐in agreements prohibiting them from selling shares for a specified period after the IPO. There is some recent US evidence of predictable share‐price movements at the time of expiry of these lock‐in agreements. Using a sample of 188 firms, 83 classified as high‐tech and 105 others, that went public on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) during 1992–1998, we focus on the characteristics of lock‐in agreements in the UK and on the behaviour of stocks returns around the lock‐in expiry date. We find that the lock‐in contracts of LSE‐listed firms are much more complex, varied and diverse than US contracts, which usually standardise the lock‐in period at 180 days after the IPO. We also find evidence of negative abnormal stock returns at and around lock‐in expiry of similar magnitude to those reported in US studies. However, these abnormal returns are typically not statistically significant. While the deterioration in stock returns immediately around the expiry date appears to be particularly much more pronounced for high‐tech stocks than for others, the differences in performance are not statistically significant.
Uncertainty Associated with Future Environmental Costs and the Market’s Differential Response to Earnings Information
Authors: Hughes II K.E. , Reynolds J. Kenneth
Published: March 2003

This study examines whether the uncertainty arising from a firm’s exposure to future environmental costs (environmental uncertainty) affects the market’s price sensitivity to reported earnings. Specifically, when environmental uncertainty is significantly high, are investors more responsive to reported earnings released by ‘high‐polluting’ firms than reported earnings announced by ‘low‐polluting’ firms within the same industry? The initial impact of Title IV (the acid rain provisions) of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (1990 CAAA) on the US electric utility industry provides the research setting required to isolate the effects of environmental uncertainty while addressing this question. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that the earnings response coefficients (ERCs) of high‐polluting electric utilities are significantly greater than those of their low‐polluting counterparts during a predicted period of elevated environmental uncertainty. In adjoining sample years associated with lower environmental uncertainty, we observe no statistical difference in the magnitude of the ERCs between these two groups. In addition, the study’s findings suggest that the magnitude of the ERC is increasing in the firm’s exposure to future environmental costs, after controlling for other factors that potentially affect ERCs.
The Impact of Acquisitions on Operating Performance: Some Australian Evidence
Authors: Sharma Divesh S. , Ho Jonathan
Published: March 2003

This study investigates the impact of acquisitions on the operating performance of Australian firms. For a sample of 36 Australian acquisitions occurring between 1986 to 1991 inclusive, and using matched firms to control for industry and economy‐wide factors, the results based on four accrual and four cash flow performance measures show that corporate acquisitions do not lead to significant improvements in post‐acquisition operating performance. The consistency of the results with the agency, the hubris and the financial motivation hypotheses suggests that corporate acquisitions in Australia may be undertaken for other than synergistic reasons. The results assist in explaining inconsistent findings reported in the literature.
Internal and External Governance Mechanisms: Their Impact on the Performance of Large UK Public Companies
Authors: Weir Charlie , Laing David , McKnight Phillip J.
Published: March 2003

This paper analyses the relationship between internal and external corporate governance mechanisms and the performance of UK companies within the context of the Cadbury Committee’s Code of Best Practice. The results show, first, that the market for corporate control is an effective governance mechanism that may be regarded as a substitute for the other mechanisms. Second, there is a weak relationship between the internal governance mechanisms and performance. Third, there is also little evidence that with firms in the top and bottom performance deciles have different internal governance characteristics. The results therefore raise questions about the efficacy of imposing prescriptive internal governance mechanisms on companies, particularly given that the market for corporate control has been shown to be an effective means of reducing agency costs.
Constitution‐making and Citizenship Practice – Bridging the Democracy Gap in the EU?
Authors: Wiener Antje , Della Sala Vincent
Published: March 2003

The article identifies the democracy gap as the tension in the European Union (EU) between demands for participatory constitutionalism and the limited capacity of constitutional engineering to meet them. It works with the concept of citizenship practice as the process that establishes the institutionalized terms of citizenship within a polity. The article argues that conventional views of constitutionalism have not accounted for a process that will bridge this gap; and uses the case of citizenship and constitutionalism to illustrate the paradox that, while there is a widespread consensus in favour of liberal democratic constitutional objectives and principles, constitutional agreements have faced significant opposition.
Is Maastricht a Good Contract?
Authors: Winkler Bernhard
Published: March 2003

The Maastricht Treaty calls for the creation of European Monetary Union (EMU) by 1999 but makes accession of individual countries conditional on the fulfilment of specific convergence criteria. The Maastricht transaction trades the replacement of the Bundesbank by a European Central Bank at the centre of European monetary affairs as a reward for prior convergence. This article interprets the Maastricht Treaty provisions as a contract device that organizes a difficult transition to EMU by providing convergence incentives, co‐ordinating conflicting national interests and extracting information about candidate countries’‘stability culture’.
The Politics of the Single Currency: Learning the Lessons of Maastricht
Authors: Youngs Richard
Published: March 2003

Integration theorists have increasingly called for a more comprehensive assessment of the evolving relationship between domestic politics and the process of European integration. Responding to this challenge, the article analyses the politicization of debate over EMU in the period following the Maastricht summit. It contrasts the limited engagement of domestic actors prior to 1991 with their increasingly influential reaction against convergence‐driven reforms over recent years. While acknowledging that domestic politics have consequently become integral to explaining the nature of economic and monetary integration, the article enumerates a number of ways in which their influence is still limited.
Institutionalism, Intergovernmentalism and European Integration: A Review Article
Authors: Puchala Donald J.
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

W. Sandholtz and A. Stone Sweet (eds), European Integration and Supranational Governance

K. Armstrong and S. Bulmer, The Governance of the Single European Market

A. Moravcsik, The Choice For Europe: Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to Maastricht
Small State Influence Within the EU: The Case of Finland's ‘Northern Dimension Initiative’
Authors: Arter David
Published: March 2003

This article deals with regionalization in Northern Europe, focusing in particular on the Northern Dimension Initiative (NDI) which, launched in 1997, was Finland's first political initiative as an EU member. The NDI was ostensibly designed to enhance the influence of Northern Europe as a political actor by co‐ordinating the work of the various cross‐national initiatives that emerged there in the 1990s. The NDI was far from a routine initiative. It urged the need to improve co‐operation between the EU and such outside organizations as the Barents EuroArctic Regional Council and the Council of Baltic Sea States on the one hand, and to increase co‐ordination between different programmes and pillars within the EU on the other. The central question posed in this article is: ‘What does the NDI indicate about the ability of small states to influence EU policy? Have small states become more influential in the post‐Cold War era? Is ‘small’ synonymous with ‘smart’ in Joenniemi's terms?
The Right and the Righteous? European Norms, Domestic Politics and the Sanctions Against Austria
Authors: Merlingen Michael , Mudde Cas , Sedelmeier Ulrich
Published: March 2003

In February 2000, 14 EU Member States collectively took the unprecedented step of imposing bilateral sanctions on their Austrian EU partner. How can this be explained? Was it, as the 14 governments argued, because the inclusion in the Austrian government of Jörg Haider's extreme right FPö opposes many of the ideas making up the common identity of the EU? Or, were the sanctions motivated, as the Austrian government argued, by narrow‐minded party political interests that lurked beneath the rhetoric of shared European norms and values? Our analysis suggests that, without the particular concerns about domestic politics of certain politicians, it is unlikely that the sanctions against Austria would have been adopted in this form. On the other hand, without the recent establishment of concerns about human rights and democratic principles as an EU norm, it is unlikely that these particular sanctions would have been adopted collectively by all member governments. Thus, while norms might have been used instrumentally, such instrumental use only works, in the sense of inducing compliant behaviour, if the norms have acquired a certain degree of taken‐for‐grantedness within the relevant group of actors or institution.
The Institutional Implications of EMU
Authors: Crowley Patrick M.
Published: March 2003

The third stage of EMU was successfully launched at the beginning of 1999. There are likely to be institutional implications of EMU, particularly if the process is successfully completed. This article uses the optimal currency area literature to establish scenarios for EMU and then evaluates the possible institutional implications which stem from each scenario. Obviously there are ramifications which stem from the institutional development of EMU for Member States, in terms of regaining or losing autonomy over further policy instruments, or the requirement that certain policies be harmonized. In addition, there are clear implications for the development of EU institutions.

EMU will also have implications for the development of EU institutions, and their counterparts in Member States......recognizing that EMU will give rise to a new round of institutional development does not require a great leap of imagination.

Begg and Peterson (1999, p. 6)
Governance ‘to Go’: Domestic Actors, Institutions and the Boundaries of the Possible
Authors: Cram Laura
Published: March 2003

How to ‘bring Europe closer to the people’ has long been a preoccupation of the policy‐maker at the EU level and has recently been restated as a goal of the member governments in the Treaty of Nice. Currently, the Commission is addressing this issue through the White Paper on European Governance. Here, it is argued that the focus on ‘governance’ as a strategy for inclusion was ill founded and underestimated the likely conflict with existing ‘governance’ regimes at the domestic level. Moreover, the pursuit of ‘heroic’ Europeanism with a concomitant emergence of a sense of ‘Europeanness’ or a European ‘identity’ as advocated in the Commission's work programme for the White Paper on European Governance was misguided. Drawing on empirical research into the activities of women's organizations in Greece, Ireland and the UK, it is argued that the extent to which EU level action may
Crisis and Disorder in British Local Economic Governance: Business Link and the Single Regeneration Budget
Authors: Jones Martin R. , Ward Kevin G.
Published: March 2003

This paper explores the rise of local economic governance in Britain. It argues that local economic governance is associated with the rise of non‐elected state forms and a multitude of partnership arrangements involving the public and private sector. This modus operandi is to be contrasted with economic government — the traditional method of managing the local state through the organisational forms of local government. Using the analytical tools of regulation theory, the paper unravels some of the problems caused by the implementation of local economic governance — namely public accountability (resulting from implementation confusion and leading to a democratic deficit), and funding (resulting from performance‐based management and fostering short‐termism, leading to partnership friction). The paper illustrates these issues by way of a discussion on two contemporary, local economic policy experiments — Business Link and the Single Regeneration Budget.