bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Curse of Knowledge in Reasoning About False Beliefs
Authors: Birch Susan A.J. , Bloom Paul
Published: June 2007

Assessing what other people know and believe is critical for accurately understanding human action. Young children find it difficult to reason about false beliefs (i.e., beliefs that conflict with reality). The source of this difficulty is a matter of considerable debate. Here we show that if sensitive-enough measures are used, adults show deficits in a false-belief task similar to one used with young children. In particular, we show a curse-of-knowledge bias in false-belief reasoning. That is, adults' own knowledge of an event's outcome can compromise their ability to reason about another person's beliefs about that event. We also found that adults'perception of the plausibility of an event mediates the extent of this bias. These findings shed light on the factors involved in false-belief reasoning and are discussed in light of their implications for both adults' and children's social cognition.
Infant Rule Learning Facilitated by Speech
Authors: Marcus Gary F. , Fernandes Keith J. , Johnson Scott P.
Published: June 2007

Sequences of speech sounds play a central role in human cognitive life, and the principles that govern such sequences are crucial in determining the syntax and semantics of natural languages. Infants are capable of extracting both simple transitional probabilities and simple algebraic rules from sequences of speech, as demonstrated by studies using ABB grammars (la ta ta, gai mu mu, etc.). Here, we report a striking finding: Infants are better able to extract rules from sequences of nonspeech—such as sequences of musical tones, animal sounds, or varying timbres—if they first hear those rules instantiated in sequences of speech.
Lip-Read Me Now, Hear Me Better Later
Authors: Rosenblum Lawrence D. , Miller Rachel M. , Sanchez Kauyumari
Published: June 2007

There is evidence that for both auditory and visual speech perception, familiarity with the talker facilitates speech recognition. Explanations of these effects have concentrated on the retention of talker information specific to each of these modalities. It could be, however, that some amodal, talker-specific articulatory-style information facilitates speech perception in both modalities. If this is true, then experience with a talker in one modality should facilitate perception of speech from that talker in the other modality. In a test of this prediction, subjects were given about 1 hr of experience lipreading a talker and were then asked to recover speech in noise from either this same talker or a different talker. Results revealed that subjects who lip-read and heard speech from the same talker performed better on the speech-in-noise task than did subjects who lip-read from one talker and then heard speech from a different talker.
Conceptual Combination During Sentence Comprehension
Authors: Swinney David , Love Tracy , Walenski Matthew , Smith Edward E.
Published: June 2007

This experiment examined the time course of integration of modifier-noun (conceptual) combinations during auditory sentence comprehension using cross-modal lexical priming. The study revealed that during ongoing comprehension, there is initial activation of features of the noun prior to activation of (emergent) features of the entire conceptual combination. These results support compositionality in conceptual combination; that is, they indicate that features of the individual words constituting a conceptual combination are activated prior to combination of the words into a new concept.
The Neural Consequences of Semantic Richness
Authors: Pexman Penny M. , Hargreaves Ian S. , Edwards Jodi D. , Henry Luke C. , Goodyear Bradley G.
Published: June 2007

Some concepts have richer semantic representations than others. That is, when considering the meaning of concepts, subjects generate more information (more features, more associates) for some concepts than for others. This variability in semantic richness influences responses in speeded tasks that involve semantic processing, such as lexical decision and semantic categorization tasks. It has been suggested that concepts with richer semantic representations build stronger attractors in semantic space, allowing faster settling of activation patterns and thus faster responding. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined the neural activation associated with semantic richness by contrasting activation for words with high and low numbers of associates in a semantic categorization task. Results were consistent with faster semantic settling for words with richer representations: Words with a low number of semantic associates produced more activation than words with a high number of semantic associates in a number of regions, including left inferior frontal and inferior temporal gyri.
The Scars of Memory
Authors: Porter Stephen , Peace Kristine A.
Published: June 2007

We conducted a prospective study with individuals who first described their memories of both a recent traumatic and a highly positive emotional experience in 2001–2002. Of the 49 subjects interviewed after 3 months, 29 were re-interviewed after 3.45 to 5.0 years. Subjects answered questions from a 12-item consistency questionnaire (maximum possible score of 36), rated the qualities of their memories, and completed questionnaires concerning the impact of the trauma. Results indicated that traumatic memories (including memories for violence) were highly consistent (M = 28.04) over time relative to positive memories (M = 17.75). Ratings of vividness, overall quality, and sensory components declined markedly for positive memories but remained virtually unchanged for traumatic memories. The severity of traumatic symptoms diminished over time and was unrelated to memory consistency. These findings contribute to understanding of the impact of trauma on memory over long periods.
Human Brain Activity Time-Locked to Narrative Event Boundaries
Authors: Speer Nicole K. , Zacks Jeffrey M. , Reynolds Jeremy R.
Published: June 2007

Readers structure narrative text into a series of events in order to understand and remember the text. In this study, subjects read brief narratives describing everyday activities while brain activity was recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects later read the stories again to divide them into large and small events. During the initial reading, points later identified as boundaries between events were associated with transient increases in activity in a number of brain regions whose activity was mediated by changes in the narrated situation, such as changes in characters' goals. These results indicate that the segmentation of narrated activities into events is a spontaneous part of reading, and that this process of segmentation is likely dependent on neural responses to changes in the narrated situation.
Central Slowing During the Night
Authors: Bratzke Daniel , Rolke Bettina , Ulrich Rolf , Peters Maren
Published: June 2007

The present study determined whether central information processing is subject to a circadian rhythm and, therefore, contributes to the well-known time-of-day effect on reaction time (RT). To assess the duration of central processing chronometrically, we employed the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm. In this task, subjects make fast responses to two successive stimuli. RT to the second stimulus is usually prolonged as the interval between the two stimuli decreases. This PRP effect is commonly attributed to a central-processing bottleneck. Subjects performed the PRP task every 2 hr during 28 hr of constant wakefulness under controlled conditions. The PRP effect was most pronounced in the early morning. We conclude that central processing is subject to a circadian rhythm, exhibiting a slowing during the night and a nadir in the early morning.
Great Apes' Understanding of Other Individuals' Line of Sight
Authors: Okamoto-Barth Sanae , Call Josep , Tomasello Michael
Published: June 2007

Previous research has shown that many social animals follow the gaze of other individuals. However, knowledge about how this skill differs between species and whether it shows a relationship with genetic distance from humans is still fragmentary. In the present study of gaze following in great apes, we manipulated the nature of a visual obstruction and the presence/absence of a target. We found that bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas followed gaze significantly more often when the obstruction had a window than when it did not, just as human infants do. Additionally, bonobos and chimpanzees looked at the experimenter's side of a windowless obstruction more often than the other species. Moreover, bonobos produced more double looks when the barrier was opaque than when it had a window, indicating an understanding of what other individuals see. The most distant human relatives studied, orangutans, showed few signs of understanding what another individual saw. Instead, they were attracted to the target's location by the target's presence, but not by the experimenter's gaze. Great apes' perspective-taking skills seem to have increased in the evolutionary lineage leading to bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans.
Postdecisional Counterfactual Thinking by Actors and Readers
Authors: Girotto Vittorio , Ferrante Donatella , Pighin Stefania , Gonzalez Michel
Published: June 2007

How do individuals think counterfactually about the outcomes of their decisions? Most previous studies have investigated how readers think about fictional stories, rather than how actors think about events they have actually experienced. We assumed that differences in individuals' roles (actor vs. reader) can make different information available, which in turn can affect counter-factual thinking. Hence, we predicted an effect of role on postdecisional counterfactual thinking. Reporting the results of eight studies, we show that readers undo the negative outcome of a story by undoing the protagonist's choice to tackle a given problem, rather than the protagonist's unsuccessful attempt to solve it. But actors who make the same choice and experience the same negative outcome as the protagonist undo this outcome by altering features of the problem. We also show that this effect does not depend on motivational factors. These results contradict current accounts of counterfactual thinking and demonstrate the necessity of investigating the counterfactual thoughts of individuals in varied roles.
A Dynamic Model of Guilt
Authors: Amodio David M. , Devine Patricia G. , Harmon-Jones Eddie
Published: June 2007

Guilt is widely recognized as an important self-regulatory emotion, yet alternative theoretical accounts view guilt primarily as either a punishment cue or a pro-social motivator. Integrating these views, we propose that guilt functions dynamically to first provide a negative reinforcement cue associated with reduced approach motivation, which transforms into approach-motivated behavior when an opportunity for reparation presents itself. We tested this hypothesis in the context of racial prejudice. White subjects viewed a multiracial series of faces while cortical activity was recorded using electro-encephalography. Following bogus feedback indicating anti-Black responses, subjects reported elevated guilt, which was associated with changes in frontal cortical asymmetry indicating reduced approach motivation. When subjects were presented with an opportunity to engage in prejudice-reducing behavior, guilt predicted greater interest in prejudice reduction, which in turn was associated with an approach-related shift in frontal asymmetry. The results support a dynamic model in which guilt is associated with adaptive changes in motivation and behavior.
The Functional Form of Performance Improvements in Perceptual Learning
Authors: Dosher Barbara Anne , Lu Zhong-Lin
Published: June 2007

The functional form of performance improvements has been extensively studied in speeded cognitive and motor tasks; in such tasks, reductions in response times have been characterized by the ubiquitous power law of learning or by a simpler exponential form. Performance improvements in perceptual capacities are also important in expertise, but their functional form is unknown. This study investigated the functional form of perceptual learning. For individual observers, reductions in thresholds were best described by an exponential function, rather than a power or compound exponential and power (apex) function. Learning was specific to orientation, a result that supports the perceptual locus of the learning, and was decoupled in high and low external noise, a result that reflects separable learning mechanisms in the two conditions. The simple exponential form of learning implies a constant relative rate of learning throughout practice; there was no evidence supporting multilevel hypotheses, such as serial reverse hierarchical and parallel-learning models, that posit multiple processes of learning characterized by different rates.
Cognitive Control Under Stress
Authors: Steinhauser Marco , Maier Martin , Hübner Ronald
Published: June 2007

This study investigated the effect of stress on cognitive control in task shifting. Subjects shifted between two tasks in an explicit cuing paradigm. Shift costs (i.e., performance decrements on task shifts relative to task repetitions) were measured for a long and a short cue-stimulus interval (CSI). Stress was varied by administering low-stress and high-stress IQ scales to two groups of subjects. In the low-stress group, shift costs were reduced with an increased CSI, a result that typically indicates anticipatory and shift-specific task-set reconfiguration. In the high-stress group, however, shift costs were independent of the CSI. This result is consistent with the idea that stress induces a change in the reconfiguration strategy, possibly to adapt to depleted resources.
Inhibition Versus Switching Deficits in Different Forms of Rumination
Authors: Whitmer Anson J. , Banich Marie T.
Published: June 2007

Individuals who depressively ruminate about their current dysphoria tend to perseverate more than nonruminators. The goal of the current study was to determine whether such perseverative tendencies are associated with an inability to switch attention away from old to new information or with an inability to effectively inhibit the processing of previously relevant information. We used a task-switching paradigm that can distinguish between these two processes. Two experiments showed that depressive rumination is associated with a deficit in inhibiting prior mental sets. The second experiment also demonstrated that, in contrast to depressive rumination, angry and intellectual rumination are associated with difficulties in switching to a new task set, but not with inhibition of a prior task set. This study suggests that different forms of rumination are associated with different cognitive mechanisms and that both deficits may contribute to the perseveration that is associated with ruminative tendencies.
E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty‐first Century The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture
Authors: Putnam Robert D.
Published: June 2007

Ethnic diversity is increasing in most advanced countries, driven mostly by sharp increases in immigration. In the long run immigration and diversity are likely to have important cultural, economic, fiscal, and developmental benefits. In the short run, however, immigration and ethnic diversity tend to reduce social solidarity and social capital. New evidence from the US suggests that in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods residents of all races tend to ‘hunker down’. Trust (even of one's own race) is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friends fewer. In the long run, however, successful immigrant societies have overcome such fragmentation by creating new, cross‐cutting forms of social solidarity and more encompassing identities. Illustrations of becoming comfortable with diversity are drawn from the US military, religious institutions, and earlier waves of American immigration.
Democracy the Swedish Way? The Exclusion of ‘Immigrants’ in Swedish Politics
Authors: Dahlstedt Magnus , Hertzberg Fredrik
Published: June 2007

Official declarations state that Sweden is today a multicultural society. At the same time, ethnic hierarchies have become increasingly conspicuous in contemporary Sweden. Recently, a governmental inquiry on structural discrimination in Swedish society presented a report analysing the relationship between the multi‐ethnic composition of the Swedish population and participation in Swedish politics. This article discusses some of the main findings of the report. On the basis of a number of case studies, it illustrates how inequalities in terms of participation and influence in Swedish politics are (re)produced. One of the main conclusions drawn in the article is that all citizens that participate in Swedish politics are faced with a series of routines, conventions and idea(l)s categorising citizens according to their perceived closeness to a Swedish ‘normality’. Thus, democracy not only constitutes a formalised system of impartial procedures and conventions, routines and norms that regulate the political process in a way that guarantees freedom and equality to all participants. Rather, political participation also reflects exclusionary practices long well‐documented in, for example, the housing and labour markets. In order to understand these practices, it is necessary to examine the historical interconnections betweennationalismanddemocracy. By means of the recurrent characterisation of Swedish democracy as specifically Swedish, it becomes the job of Swedes to ‘enlighten’ the ‘immigrants’ to become ‘Swedish democrats’. This specific conceptualisation of democracy is founded on the ideal of an archaic national community, which in contemporary multi‐ethnic Sweden is not capable of including the whole population on equal terms.
Challenging the Leadership: The Party Conference as a Platform for Dissenting Membership Voice in British and Danish Parties of the Left
Authors: Pettitt Robin T.
Published: June 2007

According to A. O. Hirschman, party members who are dissatisfied with their party's policy have two options: they can either leave the party (exit) or try to change party policy (voice). Research has shown that leadership control over policy is extremely high, leaving membership influence virtually non‐existent. On that basis, exit seems the only viable membership reaction to dissatisfaction with party policy. Nevertheless, research has also shown that voice is of great importance to members; hence it is voice that will be the main focus of this article, which examines the circumstances under which party members are likely to opt for voice over exit and what factors are likely to hamper voice. Using a study of the Danish Socialist Peoples Party, the Danish Social Democrats and the British Labour Party, the article shows that despite the odds stacked against them, some party members do make use of the opportunities for voice offered by the party conference, but also that they often face significant obstacles in exercising it.
Does the ‘Monitorial Citizen’ Exist? An Empirical Investigation into the Occurrence of Postmodern Forms of Citizenship in the Nordic Countries
Authors: Hooghe Marc , Dejaeghere Yves
Published: June 2007

Various authors have claimed that in contemporary Western societies postmodern concepts of citizenship are becoming more prevalent. A new generation of ‘critical citizens’ are said to be more critical of the political system and less likely to participate in conventional politics, but they remain strongly interested in politics and social life. Michael Schudson has developed the concept of a ‘monitorial citizen’, who is interested in politics, has high levels of political efficacy and turns to political action if needed, but stays outside the traditional political organizations. Based on the European Social Survey (2004), this article investigates whether this type of citizenship actually occurs in Scandinavia. While the authors find that this form of citizenship is present in the Nordic countries, the characteristics of this group do not fit the theoretical expectations. In Scandinavia, ‘monitorial citizens’ do not have exceptionally high education levels and their trust in traditional political institutions remains quite elevated. The authors discuss the reasons why the concept of ‘monitorial citizens’ does not seem to flourish all that well in the Nordic countries, and what this implies for the theoretical debate about the political consequences of this postmodernization process.
Civic Decline? Trends in Political Involvement and Participation in Norway, 1965–2001
Authors: Listhaug Ola , Grønflaten Lars
Published: June 2007

Electoral turnout in Norway has been declining over a long period for local elections and, at the four most recent Storting elections, turnout has been at a lower level than in the preceding 25 years. This article investigates whether the fall in turnout generalises to other forms of political participation and political involvement. Data from the Norwegian Election Studies 1965–2001 and the Norwegian Values Studies 1982–1996 are analysed. In contrast to the decline of turnout, the authors find that the broader political activity of citizens has increased. The rise in political involvement and activism is quite widespread, covering dimensions like political interest, political discussion and political action. The increase includes forms of participation where political parties play a strong role and in direct action where parties are supposed to be less important. Education is strongly associated with most forms of civic participation and the rise in educational levels normally leads to an increase in participation rates. Data show that women are now as active as men in most dimensions of participation. In Norway, turnout at elections displays one pattern over time, while other indicators of political participation and involvement show different trajectories. There is no general civic decline. Using political involvement and participation as a criterion for judging the state of democracy, and taking into account the whole set of indicators studied in this article, one may reasonably conclude that Norwegian civic democracy is in better health than if one focused only on the fall in electoral turnout.
Learner‐Based Factors in L2 Reading Comprehension and Processing Grammatical Form: Topic Familiarity and Working Memory
Authors: Leeser Michael J.
Published: June 2007

This study examines how topic familiarity and working memory capacity affect beginning Spanish learners' reading comprehension and their processing of future tense morphology. Participants included 94 adult learners from an accelerated, beginning Spanish course. In addition to completing a computerized version of a reading span test as a measure of working memory capacity, all learners read texts about familiar or unfamiliar topics and completed recall protocols to measure passage comprehension. They also completed form recognition and tense identification tests to determine processing of future tense morphology. The results revealed consistent effects for topic familiarity on all tasks. Although differences in working memory capacity played some role in learners' comprehension and processing grammatical form, significant findings for working memory emerged depending on participants' previous knowledge about text topics.
Schema Theory and Knowledge‐Based Processes in Second Language Reading Comprehension: A Need for Alternative Perspectives
Authors: Nassaji Hossein
Published: June 2007

How is knowledge represented and organized in the mind? What role does it play in discourse comprehension and interpretation? What are the exact mechanisms whereby knowledge‐based processes are utilised in comprehension? These are questions that have puzzled psycholinguists and cognitive psychologists for years. Despite major developments in the field of second language (L2) reading over the last two decades, many attempts at explaining the role of knowledge in L2 comprehension have been made almost exclusively in the context of schema theory, a perspective that provides an expectation‐driven conception of the role of knowledge and considers that preexisting knowledge provides the main guiding context through which information is processed and interpreted. In this article, I first review and critically analyze the major assumptions underlying schema theory and the processes that it postulates underlie knowledge representation and comprehension. Then I consider an alternative perspective, a construction‐integration model of discourse comprehension, and discuss how this perspective, when applied to L2 reading comprehension, offers a fundamentally different and more detailed account of the role of knowledge and knowledge‐based processes that L2 researchers had previously tried to explain within schema‐theoretic principles.
The Relationship Between Text Comprehension and Second Language Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition: A Matter of Topic Familiarity?
Authors: Pulido Diana
Published: June 2007

The study reported in this article describes second language (L2) vocabulary learning outcomes associated with adult L2 reading comprehension processes, thus connecting L2 learning with the complex cognitive and linguistic processing involved in reading. The study aimed to determine whether background knowledge moderated the relationship between passage comprehension and lexical input processing outcomes, such as intake and receptive gain and retention of target‐word meanings. The primary theoretical contribution concerns the nature of the relationships that obtained between passage comprehension and lexical input processing. Overall, the results suggest that as learners become more efficient in engaging in the various processing activities required during L2 reading, they experience greater memory for linguistic elements encountered during reading, such as orthographic forms and semantic aspects of new lexical items. The results support connectionist models of L2 reading and conclusions concerning efficiency in lower level text processing (e.g., see Koda, 2005; Nassaji, 2002). Reading is a complex cognitive activity, involving simultaneous linguistic processing such as pattern recognition, letter identification, lexical access, concept activation, syntactic analysis, propositional encoding, sentence comprehension, and intersentence integration, as well as the activation of prior knowledge, information storage, and comprehension monitoring. The prior knowledge that is accessed is largely determined by the quality of the textbase that is constructed during reading, which is affected by the individual's efficiency in carrying out the various text‐processing operations listed above.

The finding that background knowledge did not moderate the relationship between comprehension and receptive retention of meaning provides further support for the robust role of text‐processing efficiency in bootstrapping processes, such as those involved in mapping new linguistic forms to familiar concepts already stored in memory. The secondary finding with regard to intake of the target words corroborates the main finding, demonstrating that efficient text processing skills are also essential to other aspects of lexical input processing, such as establishing and retrieving the connections between new linguistic forms and the specific contexts in which they were encountered. The study also expands upon previous reading and research in the area of methodological innovations applied to incidental learning research paradigms, for instance, by measuring intake and episodic memory and the relationships between text processing and language learning outcomes. In addition, through the concurrent investigation of the impact of several factors on lexical input processing, the study sets the stage for more complex modeling of the processes that contribute to L2 development.
Crude oil — end‐product linkages in the European petroleum markets
Authors: Wlazlowski Szymon
Published: June 2007

Crude oil prices were found to have a significant impact on retail petroleum product prices and were shown to affect inflation and other key economic indicators. This article analyses the former's link in the European Union (EU) within a multi‐national and multi‐product framework. The results indicate that the old EU countries from North‐West Europe are well integrated in the global petroleum markets, while the Mediterranean and Eastern European countries depend on the low‐quality Russian oils. Furthermore, while product prices in the North West Europe are driven by the world benchmark crudes, countries with easy access to Russian oil are in the bidirectional relationship with its prices.
Africa's oil: potential and implications
Authors: Bahgat Gawdat
Published: June 2007

On 1 January 2007, the Republic of Angola officially joined the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Luanda's accession is the first change in the organization's membership in more than three decades. This significant development demonstrates Africa's growing contribution to the overall global energy security. This study examines the oil outlook of the major producers in the continent: Nigeria, Angola and Sudan. It also analyses the growing interdependence between major oil consuming nations (the United States, China and the European Union) and African producers. The contention is that increasing production from Africa and consolidating partnership with OPEC Members will contribute to global energy security and further enhance cooperation between producers and consumers.
Gasoline demand, pricing policy and social welfare in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Authors: Ahmadian Majid , Chitnis Mona , Hunt Lester C.
Published: June 2007

This study estimates the gasoline demand function for the Islamic Republic of Iran, using the structural time series model over the period 1968‐2002, and uses it to estimate the change in social welfare for 2003 and 2004, of a higher gasoline price policy. It is found that short‐ and long‐run demand price elasticities are inelastic, although the response is greater in the long run. Hence, social welfare is estimated to fall because of the higher gasoline price (ceteris paribus). However, allowing all variables in the model to change, social welfare is estimated to increase since the changes in the other variables more than compensate for the negative effects of the policy.
THE BUSINESS OF RECONCILIATION: ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY IN POST‐CONFLICT RWANDA
Authors: Boudreaux Karol
Published: June 2007

In post‐conflict Rwanda trade and enterprise are leading to increased levels of co‐operation among former enemies. Economic interaction is providing a cost‐effective alternative to state‐led reconciliation programmes as a mechanism for justice and healing. Governments seeking to provide effective transitional justice and reconciliation should therefore facilitate private‐sector efforts by actively working to improve the institutional environment for doing business.
MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS AND MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Authors: Kimenyi Mwangi S.
Published: June 2007

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) may have noble objectives but there are concerns that the associated transfer of resources from wealthy to poor countries could be counter‐productive in terms of long‐term economic performance. Reforming the institutions of governance and removing barriers that hinder the efficient functioning of markets are the most effective ways for poor countries to achieve MDGs. Poor countries can also improve living standards by relying on market forces rather than monopolistic public agencies for the delivery of services.
DEVELOPMENT GOES WIRELESS
Authors: Urbach Jasson
Published: June 2007

This paper examines how the introduction of mobile phones has helped to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of the people of Botswana. Economic efficiency has been improved through lower communication costs, increased labour mobility, and wider access to both banking facilities and information on market prices. Liberalisation of the telecommunications market is needed to ensure that the sector remains responsive to end‐user needs.
EDUCATING AMARETCH: PRIVATE SCHOOLS FOR THE POOR AND THE NEW FRONTIER FOR INVESTORS
Authors: Tooley James
Published: June 2007

The accepted wisdom says that the poor need billions of dollars more in donor aid for state education. But this ignores the reality that poor parents are abandoning government schools to send their children to ‘budget’ private schools that charge very low fees, affordable to parents on minimum wages. Recent research shows that private schools for the poor are superior to government schools – teachers are more committed, the provision of inputs better and educational outcomes better – even after controlling for background variables. All this is accomplished for a fraction of the per‐pupil teacher cost of government schools. The development community could therefore assist the poor by extending access to private schools through targeted vouchers. There are also opportunities for investors to contribute through microfinance‐type loans, dedicated education investment funds and joint ventures with educational entrepreneurs, including the development of brands of budget private schools to help solve the information problem facing poor parents.
THE INTERNATIONAL CURRENT ACCOUNT IMBALANCES: A SCEPTICAL VIEW
Authors: Max Corden W.
Published: June 2007

The international current account imbalances, whereby the USA has a vast deficit and several countries, notably Japan, China, Germany and the oil exporters, have corresponding surpluses, are usually seen as problems. The argument here is that current account imbalances simply indicate intertemporal trade – the exchange of goods and services for financial claims. There are as likely to be gains from trade of that kind as from ordinary trade.
REGIONALISM AND FREE‐MARKET REFORM: THE CASE OF POLAND
Authors: Zientara Piotr
Published: June 2007

In Poland, there is a widening gap between well‐developed core regions and depressed peripheral ones. This article argues, on the one hand, that any EU‐ or government‐funded assistance to less developed areas should be accompanied by nationwide liberalisation and, on the other, that lack of reform and increasing regional disparities might fuel discontent in the worst‐off regions, which, in turn, might make politicians adopt a fully‐blown interventionist policy.
THE FUTURE OF THE NEWS IN THE DIGITAL ERA
Authors: Lambert Richard
Published: June 2007

Technical developments in the field of journalism and broadcasting are changing the shape of both media. Many of these developments are very welcome. However, there is a danger that the quality of journalism may fall and that part of society may disengage from news coverage. This may require a policy response but not necessarily the continued support of a single state‐funded public service broadcaster.
THE PATIENT AS CONSUMER: THE ADVERTISING OF PHARMACEUTICALS DIRECTLY TO CONSUMERS SHOULD BE ALLOWED AND ENCOURAGED
Authors: Auton Frank
Published: June 2007

The pharmaceutical industry, with few exceptions, is not permitted to advertise its products directly to consumers (DTCA). It is the author's opinion that DTCA should be allowed and encouraged and that it is only a matter of time before this happens. Support for this view comes from reviewing the substantial amount of research undertaken in this controversial area of health policy.
CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS, INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION: WHO NEEDS CAFTA?
Authors: Walecki Julius M.
Published: June 2007

Despite little progress in FTAA negotiations, other regional trade agreements are being considered by the US government. The recently signed CAFTA brings hope to smaller developing nations in Central America and it should offer new opportunities to US businesses. However, the new trade pact has not been free from controversy and criticism, and opposition to free trade has been stronger in the USA than in Latin America.
TRANSPORT PRIVATISATION: PRINCIPLES, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
Authors: Hibbs John
Published: June 2007

The common assumption that transport is a special case, an industry that is inherently proper for state intervention and control, if not ownership, is examined and questioned in the light of its history and contemporary legislation. An earlier version was presented at a meeting of the Edmund Burke Institute in Dublin in 1989.
Favouritism and Financial Incentives: A Natural Experiment
Authors: RICKMAN NEIL , WITT ROBERT
Published: June 2007

Principals who exercise favouritism towards certain agents may harm those who are not so favoured. We address this issue in the context of a natural experiment from English soccer. We study the effects of professional referees on a common measure of referee bias: length of injury time in close matches. We find that referees exercised a degree of favouritism prior to professionalism but not afterwards, having controlled for selection and soccer‐wide effects. We also discuss the suitability of the variable that we, and others, use to measure favouritism, noting that alternative interpretations may be possible.
Consumption Risk‐Sharing in China
Authors: XU XINPENG
Published: June 2007

This paper empirically examines the degree of regional consumption risk‐sharing in China. It finds that less risk‐sharing is taking place across Chinese provinces than across US states and Canadian provinces, although its extent across the latter is somewhat higher than across the national boundaries of industrial countries. Specifically, about half of the fitted annual variation in provincial consumption growth is common to all Chinese provinces, compared with more than two‐thirds (less than one‐third) in the case of US states and Canadian provinces (G‐7 countries). My estimates reveal that Chinese households would be willing to pay dearly to insure their consumption against idiosyncratic shocks.
Asset Market Perspectives on the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict
Authors: ZUSSMAN ASAF , ZUSSMAN NOAM , NIELSEN MORTEN ØRREGAARD
Published: June 2007

This paper locates turning points in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict since the late 1980s using asset market data from Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). We find that major escalations in violence, such as the outbreak of the Intifada in 2000, lead to significant declines in asset prices in both Israel and the PA. Conversely, major peace initiatives, such as the Oslo accords in 1993 and the Road Map plan in 2003, lead to substantial increases in asset prices on both sides of the conflict. An additional novel finding is that asset markets respond positively to the success of politicians who favour a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
Bread, Cheese and Genocide: Imagining the Destruction of Peoples in Medieval Western Europe
Authors: SCALES LEN
Published: June 2007

Western European society in the middle ages is generally perceived as lying, in its modes of thought and action, far remote from those acts of mass ethnic destruction which have been a recurrent element in world history since the early twentieth century. Yet medieval Europeans too were capable of envisaging the violent obliteration of peoples. Indeed, the view that such acts had occurred in times past and were liable to occur again was deeply embedded in medieval thought and assumption. For some commentators, the destruction of certain peoples was inseparable from the making of others, an essential motor of historical change, underpinned by biblical narratives of divine election and condemnation. Such notions constituted a matrix within which medieval writers interpreted real acts of social and political violence, the scale and the ethnic foundations of which they were thus naturally inclined to inflate. Nevertheless, their belief in the recurrent historical reality of ethnic destruction was, in their own terms, well founded – although medieval conceptions of what constituted the undoing of peoples were broader than most modern definitions of ‘genocide’. By the later middle ages, moreover, government was increasingly perceived – not without justification – as a powerful agent for remaking the ethnic map.
Michael Collins, General Commanding‐in‐Chief, as a Historiographical Problem
Authors: REGAN JOHN M.
Published: June 2007

This revisionist article argues the case for recognizing a short‐lived military dictatorship in 1922 in southern Ireland under the revolutionary leader Michael Collins. Central to understanding this situation, and how it came about, is the identification of a secret Irish Republican Brotherhood–Free State diarchy from February 1922 that evolved into a military government in July after the beginning of the civil war. This reinterpretation makes four claims. First, it challenges assumptions about the structure of power under Collins while he was commander‐in‐chief of the Free State army. Secondly, it re‐evaluates Collins's role as an icon of southern Irish nationalism associated with constitutionalism and democracy. Thirdly, it questions part of the foundation myth of the southern Irish state, which assumes independence was achieved in 1922 by an uninterrupted, constitutional process. Fourthly, it calls into question the methodologies applied by historians defending this constitutional interpretation. Since 1970 the historiographical context of a grand constitutional narrative of southern state formation has been war in Northern Ireland. In response to this event, it is suggested, historians have emphasized the Irish state's democratic origins so as to define southern experiences in 1922, against the Provisional IRA's unmandated attempt at violent state formation. This has contributed to distortions in both historical method and interpretation.
Turning of the Tide? A Case Study of the Liberal Party in Provincial Britain in the Late 1930s
Authors: TREGIDGA GARRY
Published: June 2007

Since the 1960s much has been written about the decline of the Liberal Party in British politics during the first half of the twentieth century. Yet there is a tendency for historians to focus on the reasons for the demise of the Liberals as a party of government in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. This article seeks to extend Liberal historiography by investigating issues of decline and survival in subsequent decades. It focuses on the political experience of Cornwall, a traditional Liberal stronghold, to highlight the need to consider electoral realignment from a provincial perspective. This was particularly the case in the late 1930s, which tends to be dismissed as a further period of decline for the Liberals culminating in the disastrous election result of 1945. In Cornwall, however, the pre‐war years held out the prospect of a recovery in the general election due by 1940. The possibility of a protest vote on the part of the farming community, combined with a local momentum in favour of a Popular Front with Labour, meant that the Liberals were now in a position to mount a serious challenge to the National government's supremacy at the local level.
Prisoners' Families and Resettlement: A Critical Analysis
Authors: CODD HELEN
Published: June 2007

Abstract:A number of recent research publications have reiterated the important role played by supportive family ties in facilitating the successful community re‐entry of ex‐prisoners and in preventing reoffending. This, in turn, has led to increased official recognition of the value of supporting the family ties of prisoners. However, although providing assistance to prisoners' families with reference to their role in preventing reoffending may be of value in pragmatically improving their often profoundly negative experiences, such an approach is problematic on a number of grounds. This article critically analyses the issues.
Prisoners' Rights since the Woolf Report: Progress or Procrastination?
Authors: EADY DENNIS
Published: June 2007

Abstract: The recommendations of the Woolf Report (Woolf and Tumin 1991) promoted the principles of justice and fairness in the running of prisons in England and Wales. This article examines how far a rights culture has developed in prisons since Woolf. This is done with reference to human rights legislation, the role of monitoring bodies and government policy and practice in relation to prisoners' rights and conditions. The article concludes that while some progress has been made through the courts and through pressure from monitoring bodies, government policy and practice has frequently resisted rather than promoted the development of a rights‐based culture.
Men Researching Men in Prison: The Challenges for Profeminist Research
Authors: COWBURN MALCOLM
Published: June 2007

Abstract: This article addresses epistemological and practical issues in conducting research in male prisons from a profeminist standpoint. It considers the role of the male researcher in engaging with prison masculinities and a sexist prison culture. It gives examples of difficulties in managing the profeminist research role in the wider prison and it highlights difficulties that may occur within in interviews. Adapting Goffman's (1970) strategies for inmate survival it concludes that the most appropriate researcher strategy for not compromising the standpoint of the study and yet sustaining a project in prison may be for the researcher to (reflectively) ‘play it cool’ (Goffman 1970, p.64).
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Professionally‐Facilitated Volunteerism in the Community‐Based Management of High‐Risk Sexual Offenders: Part One – Effects on Participants and Stakeholders
Authors: WILSON ROBIN J. , PICHECA JANICE E. , PRINZO MICHELLE
Published: June 2007

Abstract: This study presents evaluation data from the Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) pilot project in South‐Central Ontario, Canada – specifically regarding the effect that COSA has had on the community and those personally involved in the project. Results suggest that the COSA initiative has had a profound effect on all stakeholders: offenders, community volunteers, affiliated professionals, and the community‐at‐large. Being involved in a COSA appears to have greatly assisted many high‐risk sexual offenders released to the community in remaining crime‐free, with many reporting that they likely would have returned to offending without help from COSA. Community volunteers involved in the project reported a perceived increase in community safety as a result of COSA, as well as a belief that Core Members were motivated to succeed in the community. Professionals and agencies (for example, police officers, social services professionals, administrators, and other similar professionals) identified increased offender responsibility and accountability, as well as enhanced community safety. Survey results obtained from members of the community‐at‐large showed substantial increases in perceived community safety in knowing that high‐risk sexual offenders in the community were involved in the project. The results of this study are discussed within a framework of empowering communities to participate in the effective risk management of released sexual offenders.
Centralized Wage Bargaining and the “Celtic Tiger” Phenomenon
Authors: BACCARO LUCIO , SIMONI MARCO
Published: June 2007

Drawing on a variety of sources and research methods, this article argues that centralized wage bargaining contributed to the “Celtic Tiger” phenomenon by linking wage increases in the dynamic multinational companies sector to wage and productivity increases in the much more sluggish domestic sector of the economy and, in so doing, considerably increased the competitiveness of foreign multinational companies—a key driver of Irish growth. The article also argues that much‐received wisdom about the institutional and organizational preconditions for centralized wage regulation needs to be reconsidered in light of the Irish case. Public sector unions played a pivotal role in initiating and sustaining wage centralization, yet their leadership role did not undermine its effectiveness. Likewise, internal democratic procedures and the absence of wage compression policies, rather than centralized organizational structures, facilitated compliance with centralized wage policies.