bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Acquisition of Market Information, Returns to Scale and the Viability of Competitive Equilibrium
Authors: Eboli Mario
Published: March 2003

In this paper the economies of scale arising from the acquisition of costly information and their implications for the existence of a competitive equilibrium are investigated. As is known, the existence of economies in the scale of production undermines the possibility of a competitive equilibrium. This paper demonstrates that this kind of problem arises when firms face market uncertainty, i.e. in competitive markets, uncertainty about the price of production factors or about the price of output. It is shown that, under these circumstances, firms have incentives to purchase market information, i.e. information capable of reducing price uncertainty. In turn, the acquisition of costly information generates economies of scale that prevent the occurrence of a competitive equilibrium, unless such increasing returns to scale are tamed by the decreasing utility of uncertain returns due to risk aversion, or—in the short run—by increasing marginal costs of production.
International Co‐movements of Business Cycles in a ‘Phase‐locking’ Model
Authors: Brenner Thomas , Weidlich Wolfgang , Witt Ulrich
Published: March 2003

The possibility of co‐movements in the cyclical variations of aggregate output in different countries has received increasing attention in recent years. The present paper derives sufficient conditions for the occurrence of persistent co‐movements in the mean processes of aggregate economic variables of different countries, an effect called ‘phase‐locking’. The fact that the ‘phase‐locking’ effect results under fairly elementary assumptions may be taken to challenge the sophisticated theoretical speculations about the international transmission of business cycles. International co‐movements may simply be due to a ‘technical’ effect which is generic to interrelated cycling dynamic systems.
Two‐part Pricing, Public Discriminating Monopoly and Redistribution: A Note
Authors: Bernard Philippe , Wittwer Jerome
Published: March 2003

This note analyzes some properties of optional two‐part pricing in a two‐type economy. First, the optimal contracts along the Paretian frontier are described. Then, the duality relation between the Rawlsian program and the discriminating monopoly is demonstrated. Last, this property is used to build a mutualist mechanism implementing the constrained Pareto optima.
Life Course Health Development: An Integrated Framework for Developing Health, Policy, and Research
Authors: Halfon Neal , Hochstein Miles
Published: March 2003

This article describes theLifeCourseHealthDevelopment (LCHD) framework, which was created to explain how health trajectories develop over an individual's lifetime and how this knowledge can guide new approaches to policy and research. Using recent research from the fields of public health, medicine, human development, and social sciences, the LCHD framework shows that

Health is a consequence of multiple determinants operating in nested genetic, biological, behavioral, social, and economic contexts that change as a person develops.

Health development is an adaptive process composed of multiple transactions between these contexts and the biobehavioral regulatory systems that define human functions.

Different health trajectories are the product of cumulative risk and protective factors and other influences that are programmed into biobehavioral regulatory systems during critical and sensitive periods.

The timing and sequence of biological, psychological, cultural, and historical events and experiences influence the health and development of both individuals and populations.

The life course health development (LCHD) framework organizes research from several fields into a conceptual approach explaining how individual and population health develops and how developmental trajectories are determined by interactions between biological and environmental factors during the lifetime. This approach thus provides a construct for interpreting how people's experiences in the early years of life influence later health conditions and functional status. By focusing on the relationship between experiences and the biology of development, the LCHD framework offers a better understanding of how diseases occur. By suggesting new strategies for health measurement, service delivery, and research, as well as for improving health outcomes, this framework also supports health care‐purchasing strategies to develop health throughout life and to build human health capital.
Employer‐Sponsored Health Insurance and Mandated Benefit Laws
Authors: Jensen Gail A. , Morrisey Michael A.
Published: March 2003

Regulations for the content of private health plans, called mandated benefit laws, are widespread and growing in the United States, at both state and federal levels. Three aspects of these laws are examined: their current scope; some economic reasons for their existence; and the theory and empirical evidence for their effects in health insurance markets. A growing body of literature suggests that society is paying a high price for enhanced coverage via mandated benefits. These laws increase insurance premiums, cause declines in wages and other fringe benefits, and lead some employers and their workers to forgo health benefits altogether. The cost of mandated benefit laws falls disproportionately on workers in small firms.
Towards a New Science of the Mind: Wide Content and the Metaphysics of Organizational Properties in Non‐Linear Dynamical Models
Authors: Hooker C.A. , Christensen W.D.
Published: March 2003

Tim van Gelder, following Brandom, Collins and others, uses the so‐called wide content of capacities which support social, norm governed activities, such as language, to argue for their anti‐natural, abstract, but socially instituted nature and thence for the failure of the entire traditional mind‐body discussion as ill‐posed. We argue that his former conclusion is wrong, that such properties are naturalisable, complicated organisational properties of the complexly organised, non‐linearly interactive systems that human beings are. This analysis also provides principled support, but on other grounds, for van Gelder’s latter conclusion. We outline a new naturalist approach to the organisational capacities of such systems that is intended to ground their biological, cognitive and social characters.
Temporal Concepts and Episodic Memory: A Response to Hoerl
Authors: McCormack Teresa
Published: March 2003

Hoerl claims that episodic memory is necessary for a concept of the past, and that we should consider some severely amnesic patients as lacking such a concept. I question whether this description of such patients is plausible, and whether it helps us understand lack of insight in amnesia. I finish by arguing that Hoerl’s analysis of what constitutes a concept of the past raises interesting developmental issues.
The Best Test Theory of Extension: First Principle(s)
Authors: Rupert Robert D.
Published: March 2003

The Best Test Theory of Extension (BTT) offers a solution to the disjunction problem. According to BTT, the extension of a natural kind term t in a given subject S’s language of thought (LOT) consists of the members of the natural kind that has the highest success rate relative to t. We calculate the success rate of natural kind K relative to S’s term t by dividing the number of times members of K have caused S to token any LOT term whatsoever into the number of times members of K have caused S to token t.
Idiolectal Error
Authors: Barber Alex
Published: March 2003

A linguistic theory is correct exactly to the extent that it is the explicit statement of a body of knowledge possessed by a designated language‐user. This popular psychological conception of the goal of linguistic theorizing is commonly paired with a preference for idiolectal over social languages, where it seems to be in the nature of idiolects that the beliefs one holds about one's own are ipso facto correct. Unfortunately, it is also plausible that the correctness of a genuine belief cannot consist merely in that belief's being held. This paper considers how best to eliminate this tension.
The Orthodox Dogmatic Theology of Dumitru Stăniloae
Authors: Louth Andrew
Published: March 2003

The German translation of the Orthodox Dogmatics of the Romanian theologian, Fr Dumitru Staniloae (d. 1993), was completed in 1995. This article sets it in the context of Staniloae’s life and work: his unremitting labour in making the Fathers available in Romanian, and his devotion to the greatest Byzantine theologian, Maximos the Confessor. Maximos’ emphasis on the cosmic dimension of the human is given full expression in Staniloae, as is the hesychasts’ stress on experience as a fundamental mode of theology. It provides a comprehensive example of what the Orthodox hope of a ‘neo‐Patristic synthesis’ might amount to.
Pluralism, Otherness, and the Augustinian Tradition
Authors: Mathewes Charles T.
Published: March 2003

Recent work on religious pluralism profits from the systematic theological framework offered by the Augustinian tradition, which uses interrreligious dialogue in the service of its larger “conversionist” purposes. In so using dialogue, the tradition transforms our vision of the epistemic problem of pluralism into the theological problem of otherness; interreligious dialogue reflects the self's inescapable dialogue with God, and reveals the self as constituted by such dialogue. Thus, those more mundane forms of dialogue, which engage the self in conversation with others, offer opportunities for the further manifestation of the Divine love and the fulfillment of the divine purpose.
Ricoeur on Religious Selfhood: A Response to Mark Wallace
Authors: Whitehouse Glenn
Published: March 2003

This essay responds to Mark I. Wallace's claim that Paul Ricoeur's thought should be read ‘from scripture to phenomenology ’, given Ricoeur's respect for the specificity of religious traditions over against the pretension of phenomenology to ground philosophy in the certainty of the cogito. Although I agree that Ricoeur challenges the Cartesian tendencies of phenomenology, I argue against Wallace that the understanding of religious selfhood must for Ricoeur proceed ‘from phenomenology to scripture’, inasmuch as it is the general structure of selfhood as conscience that makes the appropriation of the Christ image possible to begin with.
From Phenomenology to Scripture: A General Response
Authors: Ochs Peter
Published: March 2003

In examining a move from phenomenology to scripture, this symposiumdoes not address all possible readers; it addresses a specific readership, fora specific reason, and within the framework of specific assumptions. By wayof response, I want first to identify a few features of what I take to be thesymposium's specific address or context. Then, I will comment on whatmessages I believe the authors have delivered to this context.
Creation and Construction: On the Theological Appropriation of Postmodern Theory
Authors: Henriksen Jan‐Olav
Published: March 2003

Postmodern theory can be appreciated by theological anthropology along the following lines: it interprets the cultural conditions that shape personal identity, including the elements of construction and contingency in identity‐formation. It emphasizes the necessity for a multifaceted approach to the question about what it means to be human, and for avoiding closure. This is expressed in the doctrine of the human as created, as sinner and as restored—as none of these perspectives captures the whole picture. Postmodern theory also focuses on the importance of otherness for establishing identity, thereby offering a new way of interpreting human beings as created in the image of God.
Is Berkeley's World a Divine Language?
Authors: Danaher James P.
Published: March 2003

George Berkeley (1685–1753) believed that the visible world was a series of signs that constituted a divine language through which God was speaking to us. Given the nature of language and the nature of the visual world, this paper examines to what extent the visual world could be a divine language and to what extent God could speak to us through it.
Computerising the Stock Exchange: a comparison of two information systems
Authors: Currie Wendy
Published: March 2003

Two large scale IS projects are examined using the differentiators of size, technology and structure. They serve to explain the very different outcomes of the Taurus project and Crest equity settlement system and may therefore provide a basis for understanding other IT applications development projects within the financial services sector.
Participative company management in Europe: the new role of middle management
Authors: Jaeger Dorit , Pekruhl Ulrich
Published: March 2003

A review of studies from different European countries reveals that research into the new role of middle management in new production systems is quite inconsistent. Referring to the example of the German ‘Industriemeister’ (master craftsman) it will be shown that these inconsistencies are due to different models of the future role of middle management.
A customer‐driven model of job design: towards a general theory
Authors: Conti Robert F. , Warner Malcolm
Published: March 2003

The considerable debate about the level of discretion that should be accorded workers in performing production tasks has often lacked effective conceptual support. The authors develop a job discretion model based on customer preferences. The model is empirically tested and used to resolve the discretion question and clarify relevant job design and human resource issues.
Long‐run and Short‐run Demand for Oil by Developing Countries: an Empirical Analysis
Authors: Moosa Imad A.
Published: March 2003

This paper presents some evidence against the log‐linear specification of the demand‐for‐oil function, as applied to aggregate data on developing countries. It is shown that the price of oil has a significant effect on demand in the short run but not in the long run. It is also shown that economic activity, as proxied by output or income, is the most important determinant of the demand for oil and that the elasticity of substitution vis‐à‐vis coal is extremely low.
Oil and Energy Outlook to 2020: Implications of the Kyoto Protocol
Authors: Ghanem Shokri , Lounnas Rezki , Ghasemzadeh Davoud , Brennand Garry
Published: March 2003

The Kyoto Protocol legally binds industrialised countries to reducing their collective emissions of six greenhouse gases to 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008–12. OPEC’s World Energy Model (OWEM) has been used to assess the implications of the introduction of carbon taxes to achieve this target. With oil prices remaining firm, world oil demand is 9 mb/d lower by 2010, compared with the reference case. This reduction in demand growth translates into an expected loss in OPEC export revenue of an average of almost $16 billion each year up to 2010. A second scenario considers the impact of OPEC only partially absorbing the demand loss, leading to softer oil prices. Export revenue up to 2010 falls by an additional $7 bn each year on average. By 2010, the former Soviet Union’s emissions in the reference case are projected to be below the target stipulated in the protocol, giving rise to the possibility of "hot air" trading. The paper concludes that the Kyoto Protocol effectively puts a cap on the maximum sustainable oil price at about $24/b, at 1997 prices.
Basis risk: an expository note
Authors: Banks Ferdinand E.
Published: March 2003

More attention needs to be paid to the mechanics of basis risk. The Metallgesellschaft debacle was mainly due to very large margin calls in conjunction with unfavourable changes in the basis, although this easily verifiable fact does not seem to be widely appreciated. One of the claims of this short paper is that futures markets are, at the present time at least, unsatisfactory for the hedging of price risk in the markets for electricity. Basis risk is also a well‐known problem in the United States of America, where natural gas futures are concerned. The discussion in this note is mostly non‐technical, and should be accessible to all readers with an elementary knowledge of futures markets.
Evidence that the terms of petroleum contracts influence the rate of development of oil fields
Authors: Mahmud Mustafa Bakar , Russell Alex
Published: March 2003

This paper presents evidence that the main determinant of the rate of development of Libya's crude oil upstream activities, from 1961 to 1999, was the terms of the petroleum contractual agreements, which existed between the state and the international oil industry during that period, and that US sanctions against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya failed to affect this rate of development. In keeping with other Members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Libya has, over three decades, been a key player in helping to regulate global production levels of oil and gas. However, the economic and political strengths and weaknesses of individual Members of OPEC vary widely and it is inevitable that the stresses arising from adherence to OPEC policies will vary proportionately to these strengths and weaknesses. It is instructive, therefore, to analyse how successfully Libya has exploited its own petroleum resources. The results are thought‐provoking and send signals to the superpowers of the futility of economic sanctions against countries whose political policies they find distasteful. Further, the analysis highlights the need for OPEC Members to be fully informed of the significance of the terms of the petroleum agreements they employ in their countries.
Short–term forecasting of non–OPEC supply — a statistical analysis
Authors: Jazayeri S.M.R. Tayyebi , Yahyai A.
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this study is to find an efficient method of forecasting average annual non–OPEC supply. Adopting a bottom–up approach, it attempts to identify the most suitable forecasting method for each of the world’ eight major non–OPEC producers separately. Assuming a short–term forecasting horizon, the study considers supply as an independent variable capable of being forecast fairly accurately, on the basis of historical data. Therefore, the individual countries' average annual production figures for the period 1970–2001 form the basis of the analysis.

The eight major non–OPEC producers are classified into three groups, based on the difference between actual production and its five–year moving average during the period 1970–2001. Two different moving average (MA) methods, along with the autoregressive moving average (ARIMA) method, are applied to historical data, to draw forecasts of the average supply for each country for 2000 and 2001. The smoothed absolute percentage error (SAPE) is used as the basis for evaluating and comparing the accuracy of various forecasts, and then the most efficient forecasting method is identified.

Finally, it is shown that the MA and ARIMA methods are capable of producing remarkably close forecasts for supply by major non–OPEC producers. It is also noted that, in view of the numeracy of factors affecting supply, the best forecasting method for each country does not necessarily remain the same from one year to the next, and that further research, covering a longer period, could end up identifying the single best method.
A simple economic analysis of electricity deregulation failure
Authors: Banks Ferdinand E.
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this paper is to clarify some of the confusion that still exists around the rather sensitive subject of deregulation. The simple truth is that — in one sense or another — electricity deregulation has failed everywhere, and its failure is fully in line with mainstream economic theory. There are some activities in which deregulation makes a great deal of economic sense, and this should be immediately clear to observers who are familiar with the electricity deregulation ‘meltdowns’ in California, Alberta (Canada) and Brazil.
Profit Margins, Adjustment Costs and the Business Cycle: An Application to Spanish Manufacturing Firms*
Authors: Fariñas José C. , Huergo Elena
Published: March 2003

The objective of this paper is to investigate the cyclical behaviour of mark‐ups, using a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 1990–1998. Margins are estimated from the optimal conditions derived from the firm's optimisation problem, which assumes that labour inputs are subject to adjustment costs. A number of results emerge from the estimations. First, we find positive and asymmetric adjustment costs for permanent labour inputs. Second, price‐cost margins are markedly procyclical. Our estimates suggest that labour adjustment costs more than double the variability of average margins with respect to Lerner indexes. Third, we find differences in the parameters of the adjustment technology across industries which make markups of intermediate and production good industries more cyclical than consumer good industries. Finally, industry‐specific price‐cost margins are higher in more concentrated industries.
Heteroskedasticity and Neglected Parameter Heterogeneity
Authors: Zietz Joachim
Published: March 2003

The paper studies the consequences of neglecting parameter heterogeneity for the linear regression model and cross‐sectional data. Monte‐Carlo experiments are used to illustrate that neglected parameter heterogeneity typically leads to (a) regression coefficients that are economically meaningless and (b)significant test statistics for heteroskedasticity and, possibly non‐normality. The paper concludes that evidence for heteroskedasticity should not routinely lead to the use of White's well‐known heteroskedasticity‐consistent variance covariance matrix estimator. If heteroskedasticity is caused by neglected parameter heterogeneity or other causes of heteroskedasticity, such as wrong functional form, White's estimator will not serve any useful purpose.
The Pictish Mirror Symbol and archaeological evidence for mirrors in Scotland
Authors: Cessford C.
Published: March 2003

The archaeological evidence for mirrors in Iron Age, Roman and Early Historic Scotland is examined and compared with the depiction of Mirror Symbols on Pictish sculpture. Bar‐, shaped‐ and triangular‐handled mirrors which occur in the archaeological record are all represented on Pictish sculpture, and other types of mirror unknown archaeologically from Scotland also occur on Pictish sculpture. The Pictish Mirror symbol, either alone or in conjunction with the Comb symbol, is usually thought to have acted as a qualifier for other pairs of symbols and to be feminine; but the evidence does not support this and it probably acted as a status qualifier for particular individuals rather than for other symbols, and may be linked to royalty.
Region, culture and society: understanding antiquity from the field
Authors: Randsborg Klavs
Published: March 2003

Approaches to the finds, monuments and settlements of past and present landscapes in different parts of Europe, and the contributions of their regional archaeological traditions, are briefly evaluated from a historical perspective. The point of departure is the work of the Dane, Ole Worm, in the early seventeenth century, on the whole of Denmark and Norway. Worm pioneered systematic large‐scale topographical recording of monuments, and so provided data for the earliest archaeological distribution maps. Another Dane, N.F.S. Sehested, in the mid‐eighteenth century, led the development of intensive small‐scale regional studies. In conclusion, the methods of large scale active survey (e.g. in the Mediterranean) are reconsidered, and the particular role of Communist Eastern Europe in pioneering early large‐scale excavation is emphasized.
Early Helladic Sealings from Geraki in Lakonia, Greece
Authors: Weingarten J. , Crouwel J.H. , Prent M. , Vogelang‐Eastwood G.
Published: March 2003

In 1997, excavations conducted by the University of Amsterdam at Geraki (Lakonia) led to the discovery of a group of clay sealings amid burnt debris dating to Early Helladic IIB. The unexpectedness of finding clay sealings of such early date at this relatively unknown, inland site has prompted this preliminary report.
Southern Iberia and the Mediterranean Trade‐routes
Authors: Morgenroth Ulrich
Published: March 2003

The early Iron Age sites of southern Iberia (8th century to c. 600 BC) have produced large numbers of imports from the eastern Mediterranean, while only a very small number of southern Iberian objects found their way to other parts of the Mediterranean. Despite their scarcity these items can provide valuable information about the shift of trade routes in the Mediterranean at around 600 BC.
A New Star Shining over Bath
Authors: Henig Martin
Published: March 2003

The paper is concerned with some previously neglected features of the pediment of the temple of Sulis Minerva. It is argued that the star (related to the sidus Iulium), oak‐wreath (corona civica) and armillary globe as well as the victories and tritons were all well‐established aspects of Imperial iconography and consequently the work can be regarded as a sort of ‘State relief’. The Bath temple appears to be the only major surviving monument concerned with the events of AD 43 and may have been dedicated in the time of the emperor Vespasian by the Great King, Togidubnus, at the western limit of his realm to mark the victory of the Atrebates/Regni and the Romans over a common foe. As such it should be viewed alongside other evidence from Chichester, including a sculptured base, as an indication of his vigorous attachment to the Imperial family and to Roman culture.
A New Megalithic Dolmen from the Balearic Island of Mallorca: Its Radiocarbon Dating amd Artefacts
Authors: Waldren W.
Published: March 2003

This paper examines and discusses a ‘dolmenic‘ structure recently discovered on the Spanish Balearic Island of Mallorca. This form of megalithic tomb architecture is the least studied of the many different types of local prehistoric monuments. Only seven dolmens are known in the Balearics (Mallorca and Menorca) and the Pityoussa Group (Ibiza and Formenterra) and only two of these have radiocarbon dating, circa 1750 cal BC to 1550 cal BC. The new structure, the Dolmen of Son Oleza, according to recent findings is the oldest example so far dated. A recent series of nine radiocarbon dates and two earlier analyses cover a period of circa 2200 cal BC to circa 1800 cal BC. The Olezian Dolmen is also the first to have yielded abundant Bell Beaker pottery and associated artefacts. It also reveals geological and architectural characteristics that are unlike other local dolmens, characteristics that by dating and artefact evidence identify it as a possible Balearic prototype. Furthermore, the Olezian Dolmen’s location close to the Chalcolithic Old Settlement of Son Oleza, where identical dates and artefacts have been found, strongly suggests this settlement’s contemporaneity and direct association with the Dolmen. This aspect, along with the other emerging evidence, is completely new to the question of Balearic dolmens, giving us fresh insight as to their chronology, function and socio‐religious importance and significance.
An East Cretan LM IA Vase at Knossos
Authors: Popham Mervyn
Published: March 2003

A fragment of a jug published from recent excavations at Palaikastro in E. Crete resembles very closely, in its decoration of double‐axes and in its size and shape, a bridge‐spouted jug from Evans’s excavation in the House of the Frescoes at Knossos. The excavators, who noted the resemblance, were concerned about the date of the vase, LM IA: but implications go beyond this chronological aspect. Stylistically, the lavish use of subsidiary white paint for details of the decoration is without parallel at Knossos. This is, however, a feature of the E. Cretan style where it was practised extensively. These provide firm grounds for believing that the vase found at Knossos is an import from the area of Palaikastro. As such, it is not unique, since similar imports (though few) have been identified in Central Crete, and some others can be added to them. This evidence testifies to hitherto undocumented interrelations between the two regions of the Island at the LM IA stage.
Some Remarks on the Origin and Chronology of Halberds in Europe
Authors: Schuhmacher Thomas X.
Published: March 2003

The present article examines the chronology of the various types of halberd in Europe with particular attention to those from the Iberian Peninsula. An older substrate of halberds is identified which originates in Ireland and Great Britain. From there the design of the Breaghwy type was distributed to the Continent, where the idea and the design were soon imitated in the form of the Rouans, Carrapatas and Variant 6 Continental types. The success of the idea of the halberd is explained by its high prestige character.
Why the Tigers Roared: Capital Accumulation and the East Asian Miracle
Authors: Robertson Peter E.
Published: March 2003

Recent growth accounting studies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have found that the Solow residuals in these economies were relatively small. Given the high capital contributions, these results are often interpreted as evidence that factor accumulation, savings and investment were the principal cause of the East Asian miracle. This paper develops an alternative method of analysing these data, combining growth accounting methods with the linearized neoclassical growth model of Mankiw et al. (1992). The method explicitly quantifies the extent to which increases in productivity, as measured by the Solow residual, induced capital accumulation in these economies. It shows that in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, productivity growth contributed between half and two‐thirds of the growth in GDP per worker over a 20‐year period.
Currency Crises and the Modified Currency Board System in Singapore
Authors: Chan Kenneth S. , Ngiam Kee‐jin
Published: March 2003

This paper argues that the currency board system, while ideal for developing countries, will need to be modified for the more advanced developing countries like Singapore. Serious conflicts between internal and external targets could be minimized if it is modified by allowing some flexibility in the exchange rate. Lessons from Singapore on controlling inflation and warding off currency attacks were drawn to support the argument.
The Case for Adopting the Convertible Reserves System in Hong Kong
Authors: Shu‐ki Tsang
Published: March 2003

The East Asian currency crisis spread to Hong Kong in October 1997, touching off worldwide repercussions. Weaknesses were revealed in the operational mechanism of Hong Kong's linked exchange rate system (the link). This paper casts the link as a peculiar currency board system in the proper historical and comparative contexts. After examining the conflict between the classical currency board (which relies on the two “automatic” stabilizers of specie‐flow and cash arbitrage) and modern financial developments, it is pointed out that Hong Kong should move forward to the convertible reserves system of Argentina, Estonia and Lithuania (the AEL model), and adopt its cashless/electronic arbitrage arrangement to defend the link. Moreover, it is necessary to balance the need for short‐term stability and the consideration of long‐term flexibility. Any measure that increases the ultimate exit cost from the link must be assessed carefully.
Are Parental Characteristics Important for Child Survival? The Case of Vietnam
Authors: Nguyen‐Dinh Shuan , Feeny David H.
Published: March 2003

While remaining one of the poorest countries in the world, Vietnam's infant and child mortality rates have been much lower than those observed for countries with similar or even higher levels of real income per capita. The paper investigates the role of parents' characteristics in affecting survival of their children, using a logistic discrete‐time model and data from the Vietnam Demographic and Health Survey 1988. It is found that infant mortality is significantly higher for children of mothers with no formal education. However, parents' other socioeconomic characteristics, including mothers attaining levels of education higher than the primary level, are not important for explaining differences in child survival. There is some evidence that children of higher orders of birth face higher risk. Results on the effects of maternal education diverge from findings for other countries, but can perhaps be explained by the country's distinctive features.
Distributional Effects of Tariff Reduction in the Transforming Chinese Economy
Authors: Chow Lap‐kei , Fung Michael Ka‐yiu , Zhu Lijing
Published: March 2003

A general equilibrium trade model is constructed to study the issue of income redistribution between the state sector and the private sector induced by a tariff reduction in the transforming Chinese economy. The analysis is conducted in the presence of price control, tariff protection, and the coexistence of state and private sectors. It is shown that the way in which income levels of the two sectors are affected by the tariff reduction depends on (i) the way in which the price of nontradables is affected, (ii) the degree of privatization, and (iii) the extent of price control.
Empirical Indicators of Currency Crises in East Asia
Authors: Wirjanto Tony S.
Published: March 2003

The paper is concerned with identifying useful indicators of the probability of currency crises in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand over a period of 22 years, where a currency crisis is defined as a large and infrequent devaluation of a local currency. The leading crisis indicators include international and domestic factors; but they are dominated by the leading indicators from the financial sector, such as the ratio of short‐term debt to foreign reserves, the ratio of M2 to foreign reserves, and the indicator representing a regional contagion effect. This result is interpreted as pointing to external illiquidity together with adverse shifts in the market sentiment as the likely catalyst for the 1997–98 East Asia crisis.
An Intertemporal Currency Board
Authors: Chan Alex , Chen Nai‐fu
Published: March 2003

The paper shows that the traditional wisdom of raising interest rates to defend a currency enriches rather than punishes the speculators. Furthermore, using high interest rates as a currency defense tool often produces the opposite effect in times of crisis. A new approach is proposed of using Hong Kong dollar “put” options as an explicit commitment by the government. The put option itself acts like an intertemporal currency board in keeping the linked exchange rate over time. This costly signaling produces a separating equilibrium that distinguishes the strength of the Hong Kong dollar from the other Asian currencies that were under pressure in 1997.
On Measuring the Growth‐maximizing Tax Rate
Authors: Kennedy Peter E.
Published: March 2003

A recent suggestion for estimating a country’s growth‐maximizing tax rate is shown not to be suited to that task.
The Catching‐up of Japanese with German Industries: Production Organization, Infrastructure, and R&D
Authors: Conrad Klaus , Wastl Dieter
Published: March 2003

This paper presents an empirical productivity comparison between Japan and Germany, focusing on organization, R&D and infrastructure. Time‐series datasets from the auto vehicle and electronic engineering industries are used to demonstrate the reversal in productivity advantage from Germany to Japan at around 1980. It is argued that Japanese productivity gains arose from a better infrastructure and from cost‐reducing innovations such as lean production methods. An econometric model determines the causes for the observed differences in the quantities of inputs used. It shows that frequent external procurement in Japanese manufacturing has shifted the factor inputs from labor and capital to materials, a result in line with the philosophy of lean production.
Output/Endowment and Commodity/Factor Price Relationships and Welfare in a Multilateral Trade Model with Partial Factor Mobility
Authors: Hazari Bharat R. , Fluckiger Yves
Published: March 2003

A multilateral model of trade with both commodity flows and partial mobility of factor flows is set up. This model is used to develop factor endowment/output relationships as well as commodity/factor price relationships. Welfare consequences of these parametric shifts are examined. The model is built on the customs union framework which involves three countries and both commodity and factor flows. Owing to spillover effects in multilateral trade models, many nontraditional results are obtained. Many developed countries accept skilled and unskilled migrants from other countries. These migrants are generally accepted on a quota system. Moreover, it has been established that an increase in the migrant quota in the presence of factor mobility may raise or lower the output and welfare in the country not receiving migrants. In fact it is shown that the non‐migrant receiving country could be immiserized due to loss of capital. The main message of this paper is that in a multilateral trade framework there exist international spillover effects which must be taken into consideration in national policymaking.
From equality to inequality: The Diamond–Sen criticism of Harsanyi’s criterion of social justice
Authors: Nzitat Henri Patrice
Published: March 2003

It is difficult to resolve conflicts of interests even in a society consisting of identical persons. Such an issue has been perceived as a serious difficulty posed to Harsanyi’s axiomatic utilitarianism by Diamond’s critique which Sen seemed to approve. Recent treatments tried to resolve this criticism by modifying Harsanyi’s analytical framework so as to render it immune to Diamond’s view about fairness. This paper shows that Diamond’s view of fairness may be read as a “simple form” of Rawls’ justice as fairness; and hence its clash with Harsanyi’s social welfare criterion reflects the Harsanyi–Rawls debate about social justice. Sen’s position on the debate is also discussed. In the case where individual preferences share some common characteristics in the manner described in Harsanyi’s 1955 axiomatization of utilitarianism, various conceptions of equal treatment of equals are possible. To each of these conceptions corresponds a specific social welfare function, and there is no way to find which one is the best, from the scientific or ethical points of view.
Kyou‐sou in the Nippon baseball leagues
Authors: Horowitz Ira
Published: March 2003

There is a well‐established long‐term trend towards increased competitive balance in US major‐league baseball. Kyou‐sou (competing) in the Nippon leagues has been on a similar upward trend. Nippon baseball, however, has not undergone the substantive institutional changes that mark the major leagues. After accounting for some of the factors that might explain this upward trend and eliminating some other plausible explanations, it is concluded that the greater competitive balance that currently exists may be the outgrowth of management policies that work to the benefit of fans as well as owners.
Pragmatism, Internalism and the Authority of Claims
Authors: Crawford Dan D.
Published: March 2003

This paper develops and defends an internalist account of having authority for one's claim. It begins with Robert Brandom's pragmatist account of thinking which locates the root notion of reasoning in a primitive language game of asking for and giving reasons. The idea is that the authority of a claim can be spelled out pragmatically in terms of the social practice of undertaking commitments and attributing entitlements. It is argued that this account fails to acknowledge the role of the subject's grasp of the higher‐order concept of the evidence on which I base my claim.
Locke, McCann, and Voluntarism
Authors: Jacobs Struan , McNeish Allan
Published: March 2003

Abstract: Locke scholars continue to disagree over how he analyzed natural laws, real essence‐power relations in physical substances. Some say he regarded them as emanations, necessitated by the corpuscular structure of real essences; for others his laws are adventitious, imposed on substances by God and contingent on divine alterable will. The second view has been increasingly favored in recent years, assisted no doubt by Edwin McCann’s potent case for it in ”Lockean Mechanism“ (1985). The present article, whose authors are sympathetic to the necessitarian reading of Locke, argues against McCann’s exegesis.
Consequentialism and Commitment
Authors: Norcross Alastair
Published: March 2003

Abstract: It is sometimes claimed that a consequentialist theory such as utilitarianism has problems accommodating the importance of personal commitments to other people. However, by emphasizing the distinction between criteria of rightness and decision procedures, a consequentialist can allow for non‐consequentialist decision procedures, such as acting directly on the promptings of natural affection. Furthermore, such non‐consequentialist motivational structures can co‐exist happily with a commitment to consequentialism. It is possible to be a self‐reflective consequentialist who has genuine commitments to individuals and to moral principles, without engaging in self‐deception.
Reference and Natural Kind Termas: The Real Essence of Locke's View
Authors: Stanford P Kyle
Published: March 2003

J. L. Mackie's famous claim that Locke ‘anticipates’ Kripke's Causal Theory of Reference (CTR) rests, I suggest, upon a pair of important misunderstandings. Contra Mackie, as well as the more recent accounts of Paul Guyer and Michael Ayers, Lockean Real Essences consist of those features of an entity from which all of its experienceable properties can be logically deduced; thus a substantival Real Essence consists of features of a Real Constitution plus logically necessary objective connections between them and features of some particular Nominal Essence. Furthermore, what Locke actually anticipates is the most significant contemporary challenge to the CTR: the qua‐problem.
Method and the Structure of Knowledge in Spinoza
Authors: Steinberg Diane
Published: March 2003

It is argued, first, that although Spinoza's early Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect does show evidence of a foundationalist approach to the justification of knowledge, there are good reasons to think he came to find such an approach unsatisfactory; and second, that the Ethics notion of certainty as adequate knowledge of one's knowledge is a justificational concept which is holistic in that any instance of such certainty depends on knowledge of the entire basic metaphysical system. Finally it is shown that Spinoza's having come to hold a nonlinear view regarding the justificational structure of knowledge explains why he chose to present his philosophy in the geometric form, and why he never succeeded in formulating a method of discovery.
Descartes’ Quantity of Motion: ‘New Age’ Holism Meets the Cartesian Conservation Principle
Authors: Slowik Edward
Published: March 2003

This essay explores various problematical aspects of Descartes’ conservation principle for the quantity of motion (size 3 speed), particularly its largely neglected “dual role” as a measure of both durational motion and instantaneous “tendencies towards motion.” Overall, an underlying non‐local, or “holistic,” element of quantity of motion (largely derived from his statics) will be revealed as central to a full understanding of the conservation principle’s conceptual development and intended operation; and this insight can be of use in responding to some of the recent and traditional criticisms of Descartes’ physics.
Pleasure, Pain, and Moral Character and Development
Authors: Wielenberg Erik J.
Published: March 2003

I distinguish two kinds of pleasures – value–based pleasures, which can be explained in terms of the values of those who experience them, and brute pleasures, which cannot be so explained. I apply this distinction to three related projects. First, I critically examine a recent discussion of moral character by Colin McGinn, arguing that McGinn offers a distorted view of good character. Second, I try to elucidate certain remarks Aristotle makes about the relationships between pleasure and courage and pleasure and temperance. Third, I appeal to the distinction to elucidate the topic of moral improvement.
The Paradox of Self–Consciousness Revisited
Authors: Robbins Philip
Published: March 2003

The so–called paradox of self–consciousness suggests that self–consciousness, understood as the capacity to think about oneself in a first–person way, cannot be explained. The author of the paradox contends that the only way to avert this result is by invoking the notion of nonconceptual first–person thought. This contention is rooted in adherence to the Linguistic Priority Principle, which dictates that pre–and nonlinguistic creatures lack concepts. I argue that the latter claim is dubious, and that the paradox of self–consciousness can be better disarmed by denying the dependence of first–person conceptual thought on first–person language.
A Student‐ and Staff‐developed Anti‐bullying Initiative
Authors: Knights Laura
Published: March 2003

This paper on a successful anti‐bullying initiative in a Cambridgeshire village college has the added interest that it is written by one of the pupils involved in its development. We learn not only about the scheme but how involvement in it felt from a pupil's point of view. The fact that the pupils directly involved saw the initiative as successful gives an added indication of its value.
Multicultural Education through Meditation
Authors: Viarengo Teresa
Published: March 2003

This paper is based on the outcomes of a 6‐month study in a multicultural inner‐city primary school and involved twenty‐four pupils representing seventeen nationalities. The object of the study was to explore how imagination and concentration might promote language awareness and cultural pluralism. Among other techniques, the children used meditation as a way of exploring themselves and others. The study suggested that the children were open to new ways of learning, imagination being for them a meaningful medium for making sense of their world. The results supported the idea that for these children meditation could be an instrument of self‐knowledge and knowledge of others.
Misbehaviour in British and Turkish Primary Classrooms
Authors: Atici Meral , Merry Roger
Published: March 2003

This article opens with a general discussion of misbehaviour in classrooms. This is part of the theoretical framework for the research, which was a study of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ in primary classrooms in Turkey and Britain. The study used systematic observation and studied six classrooms in England and six in Turkey. The findings show the cultural differences in expectations of pupils and how this impacts on perceptions of misbehaviour. There were also gender differences in both countries. Teachers’ attributions regarding the reasons for misbehaviour are also discussed.
Towards Inclusion: A Whole School Approach that Incorporates the Principles of ‘Discipline for Learning’ and its Effect on Three Year Ten Pupils
Authors: Down Helen
Published: March 2003

This paper describes how a school has sought to create a more inclusive ethos and improve standards of behaviour through the introduction of a structured programme, ‘Discipline for Learning’. The writer sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme through case studies of three specific pupils. These did not provide a full evaluation of the programme but threw considerable light on a range of issues that related to it and suggested that, given the full commitment of staff, the programme could make a positive contribution. Equally the case studies identified a number of failures in the way that the programme had been implemented and was operating.