bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Conjectural Variations, Market Power, and Optimal Trade Policy in a Vertically Related Industry
Authors: Chang Winston W. , Sugeta Hajime 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe paper introduces the conjectural variations and bargaining approaches into a vertical model wherein a foreign upstream firm supplies one input to two downstream firms that produce differentiated products for the export market. Various downstream firms’ competition modes and upstream's pricing schemes emerge as special cases of this formulation. The authors show that the optimal export policy of a downstream country depends crucially on the downstream firms’ conjectures of rivals’ responses, the upstream firm's pricing schemes, their relative bargaining powers, and the degree of product differentiation. If the upstream's pricing or bargaining power is strong (weak) and if the downstream's degree of competition is high (low), a tax (subsidy) is optimal owing to a strong (weak) vertical profit‐shifting effect and a weak (strong) horizontal effect.
The Political Economy of the “Minimum‐Wage Institution” in an Internationally Integrated Market
Authors: Petrakis Emmanuel , Vlassis Minas 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe paper explores the political economy of the “minimum‐wage institution (MWI)” in an internationally integrated product market. The authors consider a two‐sector Economic Union (EU) with a perfectly competitive agricultural sector and a unionized oligopolistic manufacturing sector in which there exist productivity asymmetries across firms. It is shown that efficient firms have an incentive to strategically opt for intercountry minimum‐wage agreements high enough to raise their inefficient rivals’ costs and thus gain business in equilibrium. The unions of workers in all countries also find these agreements in their best interest. As a consequence, the MWI may emerge as the equilibrium institutional resolution of alternative political processes (i.e., an EU‐wide referendum or special‐interest politics), despite its negative effect on aggregate employment.
International Borrowing, Specialization, and Unemployment in a Small Open Economy
Authors: Osakwe Patrick N. , Shi Shouyong 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe authors show that an increase in international borrowing increases specialization and unemployment in a small open economy that is subject to terms‐of‐trade risks. The economy has a production advantage in the export sector. However, the size of the export sector is limited by the available funds. To insure workers against income fluctuations arising from terms‐of‐trade risks, firms in the export sector offer workers a stable wage rate with the possibility of unemployment. An increase in international borrowing increases specialization in the export sector, which leads to higher unemployment when the terms‐of‐trade shock is bad. A state‐contingent price subsidy can reduce unemployment without inefficiently reducing specialization. The results are robust to the introduction of risk‐averse firms.
Domestic and Foreign Price/Marginal‐cost Margins: an Application to Spanish Manufacturing Firms
Authors: Moreno Lourdes , Rodríguez Diego 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe authors investigate the differences in margins of export and domestic markets for Spanish manufacturing firms in the period 1990 to 1997. They estimate jointly a multiproduct cost function, a variable factor share equation, and two price/marginal‐cost margin equations. The results indicate that the marginal cost of production sold in export markets is slightly greater than in domestic markets. At the same time, the price/marginal‐cost margins in export markets are smaller than in domestic markets. There is also strong evidence that margins are procyclical in domestic markets, but this evidence is less clear in foreign markets.
Protection for Sale and Trade Liberalization: an Empirical Investigation
Authors: McCalman Phillip 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe paper uses Grossman and Helpman's “protection for sale” model (1994) to analyze the process of trade liberalization that has occurred in Australia. First, this paper verifies that the predictions of the “protection for sale” model are consistent with the data. Then, it analyzes the endogenous dimension of the Australian experience of trade liberalization. The estimated structural parameters imply that the process of trade liberalization has been driven by increases in both the fraction of the voting population represented by lobbies, and the government's relative valuation of welfare (the former playing the more prominent role).
Tariff Rate as a Public Good
Authors: Yamazaki Takeshi 
Published: February 2004

AbstractIf domestic firms lobby for protection, the tariff rate is a public good to all domestic firms, whether they engage in lobbying or not. This paper analyzes how the endogenous tariff rate as a public good depends on the group size in two‐stage lobbying models. The result depends not only on whether domestic firms lobby cooperatively or not, but also on whether domestic firms incur indirect lobbying costs or not. This paper shows that if free riding is not very serious and if the number of domestic firms is small compared to the number of foreign firms, entry of a domestic firm is likely to increase the equilibrium tariff rate.
Trade Performances, Product Quality Perceptions, and the Estimation of Trade Price Elasticities
Authors: Crozet Matthieu , Erkel‐Rousse Hélène 
Published: February 2004

AbstractTraditional trade models ignoring the dimension of product quality generally lead to excessively low trade price elasticities. This paper estimates import market share equations including a quality image proxy derived from survey data. The estimation results, based on panel data for the four main EU member states, confirm the part played by product quality perceptions in the estimation of trade price elasticities, at least for highly differentiated products. Introducing the quality image proxy into the models leads to a significant increase in the price elasticities, which thus become superior to unity, in conformity with theoretical elasticities of substitution.
The Nonequivalence of Import and Export Quotas in Strategic Equilibrium
Authors: Lapan Harvey , Gervais Jean‐Philippe 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe authors use a standard general‐equilibrium trade model to show that export and import policies are not symmetric in the equilibrium of a strategic game with quotas. It is assumed that N (identical) large countries, without cooperation, set their import (or export) quotas to maximize domestic welfare. It is shown that the equilibrium in which all countries use import quotas differs from, and is superior to, the equilibrium in which countries use export quotas. The difference arises because the elasticity of the residual foreign export supply schedule differs between the two equilibria. The authors also study the properties of the sequential equilibrium of the game. In a simultaneous‐move game, each country is indifferent as to whether it uses an import or export quota, given the policy of the other country. However, in a sequential‐move game, the first mover will prefer to use an import quota rather than an export quota.
Voluntary Export Restraints under Imperfect Competition
Authors: Okawa Masayuki 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe paper studies the effects of a change in the level of voluntary export restraints (VERs) on the behavior of the domestic firm and on the welfare of the importing country. The author constructs a simple two‐country Cournot duopoly model in which each firm produces a homogeneous good at constant marginal cost. It is shown that the results obtained by predecessors based on linear demand, constant‐elasticity demand, strategic substitutes and so forth all emerge as special cases.
Logic of Aid in an Intertemporal Setting
Authors: Djajić Slobodan , Lahiri Sajal , Raimondos‐Møller Pascalis 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe paper studies the welfare implications of temporary foreign aid in the context of a simple two‐country model of trade. In addition to its usual effects, a transfer of income in one period is assumed to influence the preferences of the recipient country in the following period. The implied changes in the terms of trade over the two periods are consistent with a number of possible outcomes with respect to the intertemporal welfare of the donor, the recipient, and the world as a whole. Particular attention is devoted to the conditions for strict Pareto improvement and the circumstances under which temporary aid transactions are likely to occur.
Half‐lives of Deviations from PPP: Contrasting Traded and Nontraded Components of Consumption Baskets
Authors: Kim Jaebeom 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe paper examines the convergence question by contrasting the half‐lives of deviations from purchasing power parity (PPP) across traded and nontraded goods in an exchange rate model with sticky prices. In particular, empirical results show that in most cases the half‐lives of PPP deviations for traded goods are shorter than those for total consumption and for nontraded goods.
Shareholder Value Creation in European M&As
Authors: Campa José Manuel , Hernando Ignacio 
Published: February 2004

Abstract This paper looks at the value generated to shareholders by the announcement of mergers and acquisitions involving firms in the European Union over the period 1998–2000. Cumulative abnormal shareholder returns due to the announcement of a merger reflect a revision of the expected value resulting from future synergies or wealth redistribution among stakeholders. Target firm shareholders receive on average a statistically significant cumulative abnormal return of 9% in a one‐month window centred on the announcement date. Acquirers’ cumulative abnormal returns are null on average. When distinguishing in terms of the geographical and sectoral dimensions of the merger deals, our main finding is that mergers in industries that had previously been under government control or that are still heavily regulated generate lower value than M&A announcements in unregulated industries. This low value creation in regulated industries becomes significantly negative when the merger involves two firms from different countries and is primarily due to the lower positive return that shareholders of the target firm enjoy upon the announcement of the merger. This evidence is consistent with the existence of obstacles (such as cultural, legal, or transaction barriers) to the successful conclusion of this type of transaction, which lessen the probability of the merger actually being completed as announced and, therefore, reduce its expected value.
Target Company Cross‐border Effects in Acquisitions into the UK
Authors: Danbolt Jo 
Published: February 2004

Abstract We analyse the abnormal returns to target shareholders in cross‐border and domestic acquisitions of UK companies. The cross‐border effect during the bid month is small (0.84%), although cross‐border targets gain significantly more than domestic targets during the months surrounding the bid. We find no evidence for the level of abnormal returns in cross‐border acquisitions to be associated with market access or exchange rate effects, and only limited support for an international diversification effect. However, the cross‐border effect appears to be associated with significant payment effects, and there is no significant residual cross‐border effect once various bid characteristics are controlled for.
Explaining M&A Success in European Banks
Authors: Beitel Patrick , Schiereck Dirk , Wahrenburg Mark 
Published: February 2004

Abstract We study 98 large M&As of European bidding banks from 1985 to 2000 in order to investigate drivers of excess returns to the shareholders of the targets, the bidders, and to the combined entity of the bidder and the target. Our findings show that many of 13 drivers identified mostly from prior, US‐focused research have significant explanatory power, indicating that the stock market reaction to M&A announcements of European bidding banks can be at least partly forecast. Our results are largely consistent with the US‐experience and confirm the preference of stock markets for focused transactions and against diversification. Moreover, we find that less active bidders create more value than more active/experienced bidders. This stands in contrast to some US research and may indicate that managers of frequent European bidding banks may be motivated by other objectives than creating shareholder value.
Dynamics in Ownership and Firm Survival: Evidence from Corporate Germany
Authors: Heiss Florian , Köke Jens 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThis study investigates the determinants of changes in corporate ownership and firm failure for German firms. We find that many of the determinants of failure also affect ownership changes in this bank‐based economy. They include poor performance, weak corporate governance, high leverage, and small firm size. The ownership structure also plays a role for both events. Separate analyses of one of these events are therefore likely to miss important effects. The implications for the German corporate governance system are that the differences to countries with more market‐based systems are not as pronounced as previously speculated.
‘Why are my friends changing?’ Explaining dementia to people with learning disabilities
Authors: Lynggaard Henrik , Alexander Natasha 
Published: February 2004

SummaryThere are many publications that seek to explain the causes and effects of dementia for the non‐learning disabled population and there is evidence of the benefit of supporting carers and of establishing support groups. However, there is much less published material aimed at people with learning disabilities, and little focus on the specific needs of people who share their homes and lives with other people with learning disabilities who develop dementia. This article is based on group work with residents who had expressed bewilderment at the gradual changes they were witnessing in two of their housemates with dementia with whom they had shared a home and friendships over many years. Employing a wide range of visual aids, equipment, role plays and exercises, we sought to make the explanation of dementia as accessible and concrete as possible. The group also provided a forum for the residents to talk about the effects of living with others who develop dementia. Evaluation showed how a relatively short intervention can result in positive changes for both the people with learning disabilities who develop dementia and their peers.
Communicating with the uncommunicative: music therapy with pre‐verbal adults
Authors: Graham Janet 
Published: February 2004

SummaryThis paper is based on a qualitative research project on clinical work carried out at a residential unit for adults with learning disability. Most pre‐verbal and nonverbal adults appear able to express emotions such as pain and anger with sounds such as crying, screaming or shouting. These sounds, however, are not always received as communication by care staff and can sometimes lead to further isolation. In addition, some clients make sounds, which seem intended to be self‐reassuring or comforting and have become habitual and used as a barrier against others. This study centres on two examples of music therapy with pre‐verbal clients where vocalization is used to establish an interactive relationship. In both examples, parallels are drawn with the spontaneous and instinctive strategies used in early parent–infant communication.
Dog Gone Good: managing dog phobia in a teenage boy with a learning disability
Authors: Newman Craig , Adams Katie 
Published: February 2004

SummaryThis is a case study of a 17‐year‐old boy with a moderate learning disability who had a severe phobia of dogs. A systematic desensitization approach with relaxation and modelling was used to manage his phobic response to dogs. A hierarchy of fear was identified, and progress was made by increasing the level of exposure to dogs whilst controlling for anxiety levels. Results showed that after 28 sessions (980 min), M.V. (the client) was able to manage his both behaviour and anxiety level when in contact with unfamiliar loose dogs. The study highlighted the importance of selecting an appropriate model and brought into light some ethical concerns in working with young people who have fears of possibly dangerous animals such as dogs.
Developmental psychiatry and intellectual disabilities: an American perspective
Authors: Hassiotis Angela , Munir Kerim M. 
Published: February 2004

SummaryThe Natalie Cobbing Travelling Fellowship gives the opportunity to medical professionals trained in the Psychiatry of Intellectual Disabilities to gain experience in their field from centres overseas. This article concentrates on specialist work settings and the practice in developmental disabilities in Boston, USA. The authors conclude that such training opportunities not only are important educational milestones but also help in creating a network of professionals who can work together to improve standards of research and clinical practice across different cultural and ethnic divides.
A family at risk: multiple perspectives on parenting and child protection
Authors: Booth Wendy , Booth Tim 
Published: February 2004

SummaryParents with learning difficulties face a high risk of losing their children. This fact holds in all countries with a well‐developed child protection system. International research shows rates for the removal of children from such families varying from study to study and country to country in a range between 30 and 80%. In the UK, the evidence suggests that 40–60% of children are taken into alternative care. These bare facts reveal nothing of the process that generates them. This paper looks at how one family came to be counted among these statistics. Using material drawn from court files, social worker statements, expert reports and personal interviews, collected as part of an ongoing research study funded by the Nuffield Foundation,1 it documents the conflicting accounts from which a dominant story of parenting failure was finally translated into one of success.
Reduced Alpha power associated with the recall of mentation from Stage 2 and Stage REM sleep
Authors: Esposito Maria Josè , Nielsen Tore A. , Paquette Tyna 
Published: February 2004

AbstractRelationships between Alpha (8–12 Hz) activity and cognitive processes during wakefulness raise the possibility of similar relationships between Alpha and cognitive activity during sleep. We hypothesized that Alpha power decreases during both Stage 2 and REM sleep would index the presence of sleep mentation in these stages. Absolute power for six classical EEG bands and three Alpha subbands was calculated for Stage 2 and REM sleep awakenings both with and without mentation recall. In both stages, recall was associated with lower Alpha power, especially with middle Alpha power (9.5–11.5 Hz). Unexpectedly, a similar effect for Delta power (0.5–4.0 Hz) was also observed. The Alpha effect may reflect cognitive elaboration active in the minutes preceding awakening; however, attention and memory processes cannot be excluded. The Delta effect is consistent with prior observations of regular linkages between Alpha and Delta power during sleep.
Event‐related brain potentials to irrelevant auditory stimuli during selective listening: Effects of channel probability
Authors: Akai Toshiyuki 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to identify the cognitive process reflected by a positive deflection to irrelevant auditory stimuli (Pdi) during selective listening. Event‐related brain potentials were recorded from 9 participants in a two‐channel (left/right ears) selective listening task. Relative event probabilities of the relevant/irrelevant channels were 25%/75%, 50%/50%, and 75%/25%. With increasing probability of the relevant channel, behavioral performances (the reaction time and hit rate) for the targets within the relevant channel improved, reflecting development of a more robust attentional trace. At the same time, the amplitude of the early Pdi (200–300 ms after stimulus onset) elicited by the stimuli in the irrelevant channel with a decreased probability was enhanced in the central region. This positive relation between the strength of the attentional trace and the amplitude of the early Pdi suggests that the early Pdi is elicited by a mismatching between an incoming irrelevant stimulus and an attentional trace.
Automatic removal of eye movement and blink artifacts from EEG data using blind component separation
Authors: Joyce Carrie A. , Gorodnitsky Irina F. , Kutas Marta 
Published: February 2004

AbstractSignals from eye movements and blinks can be orders of magnitude larger than brain‐generated electrical potentials and are one of the main sources of artifacts in electroencephalographic (EEG) data. Rejecting contaminated trials causes substantial data loss, and restricting eye movements/blinks limits the experimental designs possible and may impact the cognitive processes under investigation. This article presents a method based on blind source separation (BSS) for automatic removal of electroocular artifacts from EEG data. BBS is a signal‐processing methodology that includes independent component analysis (ICA). In contrast to previously explored ICA‐based methods for artifact removal, this method is automated. Moreover, the BSS algorithm described herein can isolate correlated electroocular components with a high degree of accuracy. Although the focus is on eliminating ocular artifacts in EEG data, the approach can be extended to other sources of EEG contamination such as cardiac signals, environmental noise, and electrode drift, and adapted for use with magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data, a magnetic correlate of EEG.
Recognition of affective prosody: Continuous wavelet measures of event‐related brain potentials to emotional exclamations
Authors: Bostanov Vladimir , Kotchoubey Boris 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe affective state of a speaker can be identified from the prosody of his or her speech. Voice quality is the most important prosodic cue for emotion recognition from short verbal utterances and nonverbal exclamations, the latter conveying pure emotion, void of all semantic meaning. We adopted two context violation paradigms—oddball and priming—to study the event‐related brain potentials (ERP) reflecting this recognition process. We found a negative wave, the N300, in the ERPs to contextually incongruous exclamations, and interpreted this component as analogous to the well‐known N400 response to semantically inappropriate words. The N300 appears to be a real‐time psychophysiological measure of spontaneous emotion recognition from vocal cues, which could prove a useful tool for the examination of affective‐prosody comprehension. In addition, we developed a new ERP component detection and estimation method that is based on the continuous wavelet transform (CWT), does not rely on visual inspection of the waveforms, and yields larger statistical difference effects than classical methods.