cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Do education and income affect support for democracy in Muslim countries? Evidence from the Pew Global Attitudes Project

Using micro-level public opinion data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project 2005, this study investigates the effect of educational attainment and income on support for democracy in five predominantly Muslim countries: Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Turkey. Holding all else constant and compared to not finishing primary education, this study finds that secondary education and higher education encourage support for democracy in Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan. The results therefore suggest that support for democracy is a social benefit of education in Jordan, Lebanon, and Pakistan. Regarding income, the results indicate that relative to the poor, those belonging to middle-income groups are more supportive of democracy in Lebanon and Turkey. Curiously, there is no statistical relationship between belonging to the richest groups and supporting democracy.
Unobserved Investment, Endogenous Quality, and Trade

A seller can make investments that affect a tradable asset’s future returns. The potential buyer of the asset cannot observe the seller’s investment prior to trade, nor does he receive any signal of it, nor can he verify it in anyway after trade. Despite this severe moral hazard problem, this paper shows the seller will invest with positive probability in equilibrium and that trade will occur with positive probability. The outcome of the game is sensitive to the distribution of bargaining power between the parties, with a holdup problem existing if the buyer has the bargaining power. A consequence of the holdup problem is surplus-reducing distortions in investment level. Perhaps counterintuitively, in many situations, this distortion involves an increase in the expected amount invested vis-`a-vis the situation without holdup.
Environmental Perceptions and Environmental Reality: When More Is Less

There is increasing recognition of an apparent paradox with respect to certain dimensions of environmental quality. Some measures of environmental quality, with US air quality being the focus here, have clearly improved over time. However, at the same time that this improvement has occurred, surveys of individuals indicate that they believe that air quality is not improving, but rather is worsening.(1) Although the specific case of US air quality is emphasized here, the paradox is more general many people throughout the developed world believe that specific, measurable dimensions of environmental quality are deteriorating when the facts argue otherwise. The public policy implications of this will be seen, however, to be far from clear.
MORTGAGE TERMINATIONS, HETEROGENEITY AND THE EXERCISE OF MORTGAGE OPTIONS

As applied to the behavior of homeowners with mortgages, option theory predicts that mortgage prepayment or default will be exercised if the call or put option in in the money by some specific amount. Our analysis: tests the extent to which the option approach can explain default and prepayment behavior; evaluates the practical importance of modeling both options simultaneously; and models the unobserved herterogeneity of borrowers in the home mortgage market. The paper presents a unified model of the competing risks of mortgage termination by prepayment and default, considering the two hazards as dependent competing risks which are estimated jointly. It also accounts for the unobserved heterogeneity among borrowers, and estimates the unobserved heterogeneity simultaneously with the parameters and baseline hazards associated with prepayment and default functions. Our results show that the option model, in its most straightforward version, does a good job of explaining default and prepayment; but it is not enough by itself. The simultaneity of the options is very important empirically in explaining behavior. The results also show that there exists significant heterogeneity among mortgage borrowers. Ignoring this heterogeneity results in serious errors in estimating the prepayment behavior of homeowners.
The Entrepreneurial Theory of the Firm and the Theory of the Entrepreneurial Firm

Abstract The entrepreneurial theory of the ﬁrm argues that entrepreneurship, properlyunderstood, is a crucial but neglected element in explaining the nature and bound-aries of the ﬁrm. By contrast, the theory of the entrepreneurial ﬁrm presumablyseeks not to understand the nature and boundaries of the ﬁrm in general but ratherto understand a particular type of ﬁrm: one that is entrepreneurial. This paperis an attempt to reconcile the two. After brieﬂy delving for the concept of en-trepreneurship in the work of Schumpeter, Kirzner, and (especially) Knight, thepaper makes the case for the entrepreneurial theory of the ﬁrm. In such a theory,the ﬁrm exists as the solution to a coordination problem in a world of change anduncertainty, including Knightian or structural uncertainty. Taking a historical ordevelopmental perspective, the paper then examines the changing nature of theentrepreneurial coordination problem over the life-cycle. In this formulation, theentrepreneurial ﬁrm is a nascent ﬁrm or proto-ﬁrm facing a problem of coordinat-ing systemic change in economic capabilities. Lacking (by deﬁnition) adequateguidance from existing systems of rules of conduct embedded in markets or orga-nizations, the entrepreneurial ﬁrm typically relies on a form of organization MaxWeber called charismatic authority. In the end, although there is no such thing as anon-entrepreneurial ﬁrm, ﬁrms that must solve coordination problems in a worldofnoveltyandsystemicchange("entrepreneurialﬁrms")areperhapsthepurestcase of the entrepreneurial theory of the ﬁrm.Journal of Economic Literature Classiﬁcation: B25, L22, M13Keywords: entrepreneurship, transaction costs, coordination, Coase, Knight,Schumpeter, Weber.
Salvation as a selective incentive

As club goods, religions face the problem of free riding. Smaller religious clubs, such as cults or sects, can often surmount this problem through communal pressures or by requiring their members to provide easily monitored signals. Generally, however, such tactics will be unavailable or too costly for large denominations, and, as such, these denominations must look for other techniques to avoid free riding. This paper argues that the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification by faith and works serves as an Olsonian selective incentive and presents empirical evidence in support of this claim. Specifically, I show that Catholics contribute significantly more to their churches as they approach death than do members of Protestant denominations. More generally, this paper suggests that church doctrines influence behavioral incentives, and religious leaders may be able to capitalize on these behavioral effects for the benefit of their church.
When the Going Gets Tough... Financial Incentives, Duration of Unemployment and Job-Match Quality

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the Spanish government reduced the replacement rate (RR) from 60 percent to 50 percent after 180 days of unemployment for all spells beginning on or after July 15, 2012. Using Social Security data and a differences-in-differences approach, we find that reducing the RR by ten percentage points (or 17 percent) increases workers’ odds of finding a job by 41 percent relative to similar workers not affected by the reform. To put it differently, the reform reduced the mean expected unemployment duration by 5.7 weeks (or 14 percent), implying an elasticity of 0.86. A regression discontinuity approach indicates that the reform increased the job-finding rate by 26 percent. We find strong behavioral effects as the reform reduced the expected unemployment duration right from the beginning of the unemployment spell. While the reform had no effect on wages, it did not decrease other measures of post-displacement job-match quality. After 15 months, the reform decreased unemployment insurance expenditures by 16 percent, about one-half of which are explained by job seekers’ behavioral changes.
Saving government failure theory from itself: recasting political economy from an Austrian perspective

The economic approach to politics revolutionized the way scholars in economics and political science approached the study of political decision-making by introducing the possibility of government failure. However, the persistent and consistent application of neoclassical models of economics also seemed to suggest that once the full costs were accounted for, this failure was an illusion. This paper counters these arguments, typically associated with George Stigler, Gary Becker and Donald Wittman, by focusing on the underlying economic theory. We develop an alternative model of political economy grounded in the Austrian conception of the dynamic market process.
Organic Poise: Capitalism as Law

The “and” that has characterized multi- and inter-disciplinary legal scholarship over the last half century identifies law as, to some determinable extent, a system, structure, discourse, and/or field of its own, coupled with, hence cognitively open to, other such systems – economy, polity, society – but like them manifesting operative closure. Applying the conjunction to law and capitalism represents the two elements under inspection as phenomenally distinct. The application of systems theory seems quite appropriate to the determination of relations among different operative categories of action in any given society – law, economy, and so forth. But “capitalism” is not an operative category of action. It is an encompassing, holistic characterization of a particular type of society that is is both institutionally and ideationally specific. So, although the critique of functionalism is correct to disparage theories of lock-step operative responsiveness between one system (law) and another (economy), it is worth investigating to what extent, just as “‘medieval law looked, smelled, and acted medieval’ … capitalist law looks, smells, and acts capitalist.” Accepting this as a task for legal history, this paper offers preliminary thoughts on how that task might be conceptualized.
Financial Frictions and Risky Corporate Debt

By stating a coherent set of conditions under which financing decisions do not affect the value of the firm, Modigliani and Miller’s (1958) work represents a crucial step in the development of a scientific understanding of corporate finance. Cooley and Quadrini’s paper ‘Financial Markets and Firm Dynamics’ (2001) has played an important role in generating renewed research interest among macroeconomists in the effects of departures from the world of Modigliani and Miller on firm and industry dynamics. As such, their paper has proven to be an extremely valuable contribution to the research community. In this note we concentrate on Cooley and Quadrini’s treatment of risky corporate debt pricing and, by making use of Merton’s (1974) model, we demonstrate that their model allows for arbitrage opportunities to arise in financial markets. Finally, re-establishing no-arbitrage, firm dynamics in relation to firm size and age move in the opposite direction to Cooley and Quadrini’s.
The Fit Dimension

Most constitutional interpretation claims to depend on fit plus justification, and the fit dimension is, substantially, about adherence to constitutional law precedent. This piece, beginning with commentary on recent books by Jim Fleming and Cass Sunstein and then branching out from there, explores in detail the dimension of fit. It argues that none of the standard arguments for treating constitutional law precedent as binding - stability, avoid fights over fundamentals, integrity and the rule of law, equality, and Burkean - can suffice. The core of the piece explains why these arguments leave us short of the case for precedent as obligating, rather than as merely material that should be accounted for. The article also shows how justification overhangs fit; argues that if we accept a gap between the adjudicated Constitution and the Constitution itself, then we don't also need a gap between the Constitution itself and political justice; and explains what room is left for fit, if we don't view it as obligating.
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins: A Personal Account of a Sexual Discrimination Plaintiff

Former Supreme Court plaintiff Ann Hopkins ruminates on the circumstances that led to the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. She writes about why the case succeeded, what happened after she returned to Price Waterhouse, and what changed for her after the litigation. A fascinating account, she ends her piece by offering advice to those who seek to combat workplace discrimination.
Using Dispute System Design Methods to Promote Good-Faith Participation in Court-Connected Mediation Programs

This simulation provides a good way to see how different groups perceive courtconnected mediation programs and mediation more generally. It is designed to analyze issues about good-faith conduct in mediation and for designing court-connected mediation programs. It focuses on a dispute over whether a court-connected mediation program should retain a good-faith requirement. It includes roles for one or more judge, plaintiff attorney, defense attorney, facilitative mediator, evaluative mediator, business executive, social scientist, and system design consultant. This simulation could be used in a variety of dispute resolution courses including mediation, dispute resolution survey, dispute system design, or group facilitation courses or modules, among others.
Factor mobility and fiscal policy in the EU: policy issues and analytical approaches

This paper outlines some of the implications of factor market integration for fiscal policy in the countries of the EU and for the EU itself. It draws particular attention to the dynamic dimensions of factor market integration, and identifies some of the many issues for further research on these topics. The past century has seen dramatic growth in the role of the public sector in the countries of Western Europe, both by extensive regulatory as well as fiscal interventions. By far the most important reason for the growth of public spending has been the increase in the level of redistributive (or social insurance) activities of governments. These include public pension systems and health care programs as well as a host of other policies. Tax policies also have the effect of redistributing income among different groups. European economic integration, including prospective enlargement of the EU, contributes to the freer movement of factors of production, such as labor and capital, both within the EU and between the EU and neighboring regions. Integration of factor markets affects the distribution of income and factor movements depend on fiscal incentives, affecting the benefits and costs of redistributive policies.
The Efficacy of Choice Threats Within School Accountability Systems: Results from Legislatively Induced Experiments

Targeted stigma and school voucher threats under a revised 2002 Florida accountability law have positive impacts on school performance as measured by the test score gains of their students. In contrast, stigma and public school choice threats under the US federal accountability law, No Child Left Behind, do not have similar effects in Florida. Estimation relies upon individual-level data and is based upon regression analyses that exploit discontinuities within the accountability regimes. Choice threats embedded within accountability regimes can moderate educational inequalities by boosting achievement at the lowest-performing schools, but policy design is crucial.
Improving Parole Release in America

This article lays out a ten-point program for the improvement of discretionary parole-release systems in America. Taken together, our recommendations coalesce into an ambitious model that has never before existed in the United States. Even if adopted separately, our recommendations would achieve substantial incremental improvements in the current practices of all paroling systems.
Bundled Procurement for Technology Acquisition and Future Competition

Consider a buyer who would like to procure certain products for the current period and the underlying technologies so that he can become a supplier and compete with current suppliers in the future market. One potential procurement mechanism for such a buyer is to bundle the procurement project with technology acquisition. We propose a dynamic stochastic game-theoretic model that analyzes the optimal technology offer strategies of the asymmetric suppliers and highlights how the size of the current project, relative to the size of the future market, and supplier competition determine the effectiveness of the bundled procurement mechanism for the buyer. For the two-supplier case, we find that each supplier has a dominant technology offer strategy that is independent of the opponent's strategy. When the relative size of the project is small, suppliers only offer obsolete technologies even if their technologies are perfect substitutes. While suppliers offer better technologies as the project size increases, their responses in technology offers are not continuous with respect to the project size-once the project size reaches some threshold, suppliers' optimal responses jump to their best technologies. We also observe that the premium needed for technology acquisition under the bundled procurement mechanism can be negligible compared to the expected profit from the future market.
Legislative Veto Players and the Effects of International Human Rights Agreements

Do national legislatures constitute a mechanism by which commitments to international human rights treaties can be made credible? Treaty ratification can activate domestic mechanisms that make repression more costly, and the legislative opposition can enhance these mechanisms. Legislative veto players raise the cost of formalistic repressive strategies by declining to consent to legislation. Executives can still choose to rely on more costly, extralegal strategies, but these could result in severe penalties for the leader and require the leader to expend resources to hide. Especially in treaty member-states, legislatures can use other powers to also increase the cost of extralegal violations, which can further reduce repression. By using an empirical strategy that attempts to address the selection effects in treaty commitment decisions, I show that positive effects of human rights treaties increase when there are more legislative veto players
Stable Coalition Structures with Externalities

This paper argues that the sign of external effects of coalition formation provides a useful organizing principle in examining economic coalitions. In many interesting economic games, coalition formation creates either negatie externalities or posi- tie externalities for nonmembers. Examples of negative externalities are research coalitions and customs unions. Examples of positive externalities include output cartels and public goods coalitions. I characterize and compare stable coalition structures under the following three rules of coalition formation: the Open
The Trials and Tribulations of Counting "Trials"

This paper was prepared for the 2012 Clifford Symposium honoring Marc Galanter which was held at DePaul Law School. One aspect of Galanter’s recent work is on the phenomenon he labeled the “vanishing trial.” In this paper I examine the problems that arise when one seeks to count the number of trials. I show that the definition of a trial, other than a jury trial, is highly ambiguous. There are many trial-like events taking place in venues we do not label “courts.” Even in the court setting, and even for jury trials, there are vast differences in when a trial is counted. I show that there are at least several million trial-like events taking place in the United States annually, although the number of jury trials is small and has been declining in recent years. I conclude with a discussion of why we might care about how many trials occur and why the decline in the number of trials might reflect at least in part positive developments such as the professionalization of policing and the provision of legal counsel to criminal defendants in criminal cases and more economically rational behavior by litigants in civil cases.
Contracting with Word-of-Mouth Management

We propose a model for word-of-mouth (WoM) management where a firm has two tools at hand: offering referral rewards and offering a free contract. Current customers’ incentives to engage in WoM can ...
Does Geoengineering Present a Moral Hazard

Geoengineering, a set of unconventional, untested, and risky proposals for responding to climate change, has attracted growing attention in the wake of our collective failure so far to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Geoengineering research and deployment remain highly controversial, however, not only because of the risks involved, but also because of concern that geoengineering might undermine climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. The latter concern, often described as a moral hazard, has been questioned by some but not carefully explored. This Article examines the critical question of whether geoengineering presents a moral hazard by drawing on empirical studies of moral hazard and risk compensation and on the psychology literature of heuristics and cultural cognition. The Article finds it likely that geoengineering efforts will undermine mainstream strategies to combat climate change and suggests potential measures for ameliorating this moral hazard.
Shopping for Information? Diversification and the Network of Industries

We propose and test a view of corporate diversification as a strategy that exploits internal information markets, by bringing together information that is scattered across the economy. First, we construct an interindustry network using input-output data, to proxy for the economy's information structure. Second, we introduce a new measure of conglomerate informational advantage, named "excess centrality," which captures how much more central conglomerates are relative to specialized firms operating in the same industries. We find that high-excess-centrality conglomerates have greater value, and produce more and better patents. Consistent with the internal-information-markets view, we also show that excess centrality has a greater effect in industries covered by fewer analysts and in industries where soft information is important. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.
The Future of Teague Retroactivity, or "Redressability," after Danforth V. Minnesota: Why Lower Courts Should Give Retroactive Effect to New Constitutional Rules of Criminal Procedure in Postconviction Proceedings

Although the Supreme Court’s 1989 decision in Teague v. Lane generally prohibits the application of new constitutional rules of criminal procedure in federal habeas review of state-court judgments, the Court’s 2008 decision in Danforth v. Minnesota frees state courts from Teague’s strictures. Danforth explicitly permits state courts to fashion their own rules governing the retroactive application of new federal constitutional rules in postconviction proceedings, and leaves open the question whether lower federal courts are bound by Teague in postconviction review of federal criminal convictions. In this Article, I examine the doctrinal underpinnings of the Court’s retroactivity jurisprudence, and propose that state courts and the lower federal courts abandon the Supreme Court’s experiment with nonretroactivity. Affording retroactive application to new constitutional rules in state and federal postconviction proceedings promotes fairness to litigants and uniformity in the development of federal constitutional criminal doctrine. Perhaps most importantly, a rule of retroactivity permits the lower state and federal courts to regain a role in the development of constitutional doctrine that had previously been constricted, first by Teague and then by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty
Strong brands and corporate brands

Purpose – This paper aims to review the development of branding theory, particularly from the organizational context of building an effective corporate brand.Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the literature on “strong brands” and the experience of several established brands.Findings – The study finds that no coherent theory defines brand management tasks. Instead, paradigmatic cases of successful brands have come to define branding processes – the logic of the “strong brand” has shaped management branding practices. “Difference” and “consistency” are identified as the primary means of bringing about strong brands, yet these can be difficult to apply, particularly to corporate brands.Originality/value – A new perspective of the social co‐production of brands as meaningful representations, each with its own logic, is proposed as a managerially useful framework to research and frame brand development tasks. Given the development of anti‐branding attacks, managers need to pay close attention t...
Welfare reform and changes in the economic well-being of children*

Since the implementation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in late-1996, welfare rolls have declined by more than half. This paper explores whether improvements in the economic well-being of children have accompanied this dramatic reduction in welfare participation. Further, we examine the degree to which the success or failure of welfare reform has been shared equally among families of varying educational background. We analyze data from the March Current Population Surveys (CPS) over the years 1988 through 2001. Specifically, we link data for families with children who are interviewed in adjacent years and determine whether their economic circumstances either improved or deteriorated. We use two alternative approaches to address this general issue: a variety of regression models and a difference-in-differences methodology. These approaches provide consistent answers. In a bivariate framework TANF is associated with higher incomes; but this association becomes insignificant in the presence of business cycle controls. We also determine that children who were poor at an initial time period benefit differently, depending on their parents' educational attainment level. Poor children with parents who do not have a high school degree are significantly worse off in the TANF era, relative to the era prior to welfare reform, than are poor children of more educated parents.
How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression

We offer the first large scale, multiple source analysis of the outcome of what may be the most extensive effort to selectively censor human expression ever implemented. To do this, we have devised a system to locate, download, and analyze the content of millions of social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 different social media services all over China before the Chinese government is able to find, evaluate, and censor (i.e., remove from the Internet) the subset they deem objectionable. Using modern computer-assisted text analytic methods that we adapt to and validate in the Chinese language, we compare the substantive content of posts censored to those not censored over time in each of 85 topic areas. Contrary to previous understandings, posts with negative, even vitriolic, criticism of the state, its leaders, and its policies are not more likely to be censored. Instead, we show that the censorship program is aimed at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce, or spur social mobilization, regardless of content. Censorship is oriented toward attempting to forestall collective activities that are occurring now or may occur in the future—and, as such, seem to clearly expose government intent.
Cooption and Repression in the Soviet Union

The Soviet ruling elite, the nomenklatura, used both cooption and political repression to encourage loyalty to the communist regime. Loyalty was critical both in defusing internal opposition to the rule of the nomenklatura and in either deterring or defeating foreign enemies of the Soviet Union. The cost of coopting people into the communist party was a decrease in the standard of living of members of the nomenklatura, whereas the cost of political repression was the danger that members of the nomenklatura would themselves be victimized. We assume that the nomenklatura determined the extent of cooption and the intensity of political repression by equating perceived marginal beneÞts and marginal costs. We use this assumption to construct an account of the historical evolution of policies of cooption and political repression in the Soviet Union.
Elections vs. political competition: The case of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

In models of political economy, institutionalization of free and open elections is presented as infusing competition into a monopolized regime. Due to elections, representative democracies are thought to reflect the will of the majority as opposed to the will of the elites. I challenge the idea that elections are a necessary condition of a well-functioning democratic system. In the liberal system of nobles’ democracy in the Kingdom in Poland, noble masses were able to shape political outcomes despite the absence of elections. In fact, it was the adoption of free royal elections in 1573 that undermined the democratic regime and contributed to the demise of the country. I argue that nobles’ democracy emerged from competition between the king and the regional rulers for the loyalty of nobles and that the system collapsed when royal elections disincentivized kings from seeking the nobles’ support.
Antecedents of New Entrant's Product Scope Strategy: Evidence from the U.S. Hospital Industry

A firm's product scope strategy within its industry is one of the most fundamental concepts in strategic management and entrepreneurship and is particularly important for new entrants. Although the...
Conflict and Trade in a Predator/Prey Economy

Predatory possibilities are integrated with production and trade in a hawk/dove model. The model shows how mutually beneficial exchange can subdue hawk playing. It also identifies conditions under which predatory possibilities are so large that hawks dominate the economy. One of the unusual results of the model is nullifying productivity growth, whereby increases in the productivity of each agent, in its area of comparative advantage, causes production and per capita welfare to fall under certain conditions. Productivity increases that lead to nullifying growth occur just before a transition cusp that, if reached, vaults the economy to a dramatically improved state.
Quantifying the Effects of Patent Protection on Innovation, Imitation, Growth, and Aggregate Productivity

I develop a general equilibrium model in which patent protection affects sequential innovation, original innovation, and imitation. Protection increases the cost of working around existing patents, but imposes costs disproportionately for innovators and imitators. Depending on these relative costs, protection can in theory increase or decrease markups, imitation, long-run growth, and aggregate productivity. Using data from several different sources, I calibrate the model and quantitatively assess the effects of patent protection in practice. I find that weakening protection in the U.S. would lead to no change in markups and imitation, no change in long-run growth, a more than doubling of the number of firms, and an increase in aggregate productivity of 11 percent.
Human Rights as Part of Customary International Law: A Plea for Change of Paradigms

The question for us international lawyers is how, and how much of, public sentiment for human rights has been transformed into binding international law. Tags: International human rights norms, Customary international law, Sovereignty Paradigm, jus cogens, Neutral Paradigm, Contract Paradigm [pg47]** I. THE NEED FOR OBJECTIVE VERIFICATION We can all agree that we are experiencing a rather exhilarating elevation of consciousness about human rights throughout the world. The question for us international lawyers is how, and how much of, this public sentiment for human rights has been transformed into binding international law. There is no question that some of it has. Prior to 1945 a government would not be deemed to have violated international law by the mass murder of its own citizens in its own territory. Josef Stalin's purges of the 1930s resulted in the deaths of over twenty million Russian citizens—history's worst genocide. The international community hardly noticed that it was happening. International lawyers of the time believed that what Stalin did was within the sovereignty of the Soviet Union, it was a matter of "domestic jurisdiction," it was "their business." The legally significant breakthrough events for human rights were the Nuremberg trials following the Second World War (establishing that genocide was a war crime) and the Genocide Convention of 1948FN1 (establishing genocide as a crime under international law whether committed in time of war or peace.) These events ripped open the veil of sovereignty, destroying the claim of governments that they were not internationally accountable for what they did to their own citizens in their own territory. Other international law prohibitions upon governmental acts within what was previously "domestic jurisdiction" followed upon the initial breakthrough for genocide. These other prohibitions include those listed by Louis Henkin, the keynote speaker in the Colloquium of which the present essay is a part: genocide, apartheid ("systematic racial discrimination"), slavery, extra-judicial killing [pg48] or disappearances, and torture or inhuman treatment.FN2 When the world from time to time learns of egregious instances of these prohibitions hardly anyone disputes the proposition that they violate international law. It is not difficult for professional international lawyers and scholars to identify the easy, egregious cases. The easy case by definition is uncontroversial. But for every easy case, there are hundreds of peripheral cases that might or might not fall within the broad prohibitions. How should international scholars define the vague norms listed by Professor Henkin in order to present a clearer picture of what kinds of cases they include and what kinds of cases they exclude? Is human abortion, for example, an instance of genocide, as many right-to-lifers claim? What
Macroeconomic Shocks and Trade Flows within Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Optimum Currency Arrangements

Africa has more countries than any other continent, and hence the largest number of potential monetary and exchange rate arrangements. This paper looks at whether the existing highly fractured monetary arrangements in Sub-Saharan Africa correspond to what might be expected from the theory of optimum currency areas. This is done by analysing both the size and correlation of real disturbances across countries and the level of intra-regional trade. The results indicate little evidence that Sub-Saharan African countries would benefit in the near future from larger currency unions. Copyright 1997 by Oxford University Press.
Basic skills and the earnings of dropouts

Abstract This paper tests the extent to which the accumulation of basic cognitive skills, as measured by a post-schooling math test, matter for young dropouts entering today’s labor market. Based on a sample of dropouts who were age 16–18 when administered a math test in the late 1990s, estimates indicate that a standard deviation increase in the test score is associated with 6.5% higher average earnings over the first 3 years in the labor market. These results are the first direct evidence that young dropouts in today’s economy are not relegated to jobs where basic cognitive skills are not rewarded, and they stress the importance of skill acquisition for students who may eventually drop out.
The Changing Pecking Order of Consumer Defaults

In the wake of the recent housing and financial crisis, many have argued that consumers are defaulting on their mortgage for strategic reasons, either because they are “underwater” or to preserve access to credit from other types of debt products, in order to maintain their consumption of other essential goods. In this paper, we examine the extent to which nonprime mortgage borrowers prioritize payments on their monthly mortgage over credit card debt obligations over a 9-year period (2001–09). Before the recent financial crisis, our default order data suggest that consumers were eight times more likely to prioritize payments on mortgage debt over credit card payments. As of late 2008, in contrast, the similar consumers were just as likely to default on mortgage debt as on credit card debt. Our results reveal that important explanations for the observed changes in the pecking order of defaults include: strategic mortgage default behavior among consumers with low and negative housing equity, illiquidity in the form of available credit, the rising costs of servicing mortgage debt, and lowered underwriting standards and the greater penetration of nontraditional mortgage products. These results support the importance of strategic consumer behavior, but also emphasize that the changes in the pecking order of defaults have come about because of ability-to-pay considerations.
New Firm Creation: A Global Assessment of National, Contextual and Individual Factors

The prevalence of individuals actively involved in business creation among 75 countries varies from one in thirty (Japan, Belgium, France) to one in three (Peru, Uganda). Predictive models reflecting five national aspects — economic, structural, centralized control, population potential for entrepreneurship, and cultural support — are able to account for 63% to 93% of the variation in 23 types of business creation. The most important factors associated with the prevalence of business creation are the capacity of the population to participate in business start-ups, a high prevalence of small businesses, participation of women in the labor force, the presence of informal investors, emphasis on traditional rather than secular–rational values, presence of young adults, and income inequality. The use of log linear regression modeling to predict individual participation in 15 types of business creation explained from 14% to 41% of the variance. Personal attributes, national cultural and social norms, and personal context were much more likely to be associated with individual participation in business creation than characteristics of the national economy, economic structure, population readiness for business creation or centralized control of economic activity. The primary policy implication is that efforts to directly prepare individuals for business creation are more likely to have an impact compared to adjustments in regulatory procedures or legal standards. The assessment demonstrates the considerable value from harmonized cross national data on business creation and national attributes. There remains, however, substantial opportunity for improving understanding of the entrepreneurial process.
How Does the Market Use Citation Data? The Hirsch Index in Economics

Abstract A large literature following Hirsch (2005) has proposed citation-based indexes of individuals' research output. This paper views Hirsch's index as one member of a larger class and examines how well different indexes align with labor market outcomes for young, tenured economists at 50 US departments. Variants that emphasize smaller numbers of highly-cited papers are more aligned with labor market outcomes than is Hirsch's original index. It also examines how the market assesses jointly authored work, and how indexes can be adjusted for differences in citations across fields and years of experience. (JEL A14, C43)
Solving Dynamic Programming Problems on a Computational Grid

We implement a dynamic programming algorithm on a computational grid consisting of loosely coupled processors, possibly including clusters and individual workstations. The grid changes dynamically during the computation, as processors enter and leave the pool of workstations. The algorithm is implemented using the Master---Worker library running on the HTCondor grid computing platform, which can be deployed on many networks. We implement value function iteration for large dynamic programming problems of two kinds: optimal growth problems and dynamic portfolio problems. We present examples that solve in hours on HTCondor but would take weeks if executed on a single workstation. The cost of using HTCondor is small because it uses CPU resources that otherwise would be idle. The use of HTCondor can increase a researcher's computational productivity by at least two orders of magnitude.
Accounting for initial franchise fee revenue: When a journal article in 1970 constituted GAAP in the eyes of the SEC

Abstract This article reports on an instance in 1969/70 when the leaders of the accounting profession orchestrated the drafting and publication of an article in the Journal of Accountancy, which was understood as having the force of an APB Opinion.
Curie temperatures of the concentrated and diluted Kondo‐lattice model as a possible candidate to describe magnetic semiconductors and metals

We present a theory to model carrier mediated ferromagnetism in concentrated or diluted local moment systems. The electronic subsystem of the Kondo lattice model (KLM) is described by a combined equation of motion (EOM)/coherent potential approximation (CPA) method. Doing this we can calculate the free energy of the system and its minimum according to the magnetization of the local moments. Thus, also the Curie temperature can be determined and its dependence on important model parameters. We get qualitative agreement with the Curie temperatures' experimental values of Ga1–xMnxAs for a proper hole density.
Remedying education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in india

This paper presents the results of a two-year randomized evaluation of a large scale remedial education program conducted in Mumbai and Vadodara India. The remedial education program hires young women from the community to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to children who reach standard three or four without having mastered these competencies. The program implemented by a NGO in collaboration with the government is extremely cheap (it cost 5 dollars per child per year) and is easily replicable: It has been implemented in 20 Indian cities and reached tens of thousands of children. We find the program to be very effective: On average it increased learning by 0.15 standard deviations in the first year and 0.25 in the second year. The gains are the largest for children at the bottom of the distribution: Children in the bottom third gain 0.2 standard deviations in the first year and 0.32 in the second year. In math they gain 0.51 standard deviation in the second year. The results are similar in the two grade levels and in the two cities. At the margin extending this program would be up to 12-16 times more cost effective than hiring new teachers. (authors)
Money and Credit Under Currency Substitution

This paper examines the effects on the supply of money and credit of a repatriation of foreign assets in an economy subject to currency substitution. In the absence of 100 percent reserve requirements, such a change in the location of deposits, which is not compensated by an increase in money demand, induces a credit boom that works itself out through a transitory current account deficit and real currency appreciation. These results are illustrated with data from the recent experience in Argentina and Peru where local banks have been authorized to capture dollar deposits from residents.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
The Retention Effect of Withholding Performance Information

It is a common practice for firms to conduct performance evaluations of their employees and yet to withhold this information from those employees. This paper argues that firms strategically withhold performance information to retain workers. In particular, if the worker enjoys high outside options and is tempted to quit, then the firm chooses not to reveal his performance information in order to keep him on the job. The firm's equilibrium strategy is to fire if performance is sufficiently low, reveal information if performance is sufficiently high, and withhold information otherwise. The pooling equilibrium is robust under a wide variety of settings, such as general cost functions, ability‐contingent outside options, nonlinear contracts, nonverifiable output, and multiple stages of production.
Demand-Side Programs to Stimulate Adoption of Broadband: What Works?

If the United States is to achieve the promise of the broadband revolution it will need to ensure that a much larger share of Americans are subscribers. This report examines whether programs intended to stimulate broadband adoption have fulfilled their purpose. 'Our focus is on quantitative evaluations that seek to measure the causal impact of a program or initiative on the adoption of broadband. This report is not a compendium of every initiative ever tried to stimulate demand for broadband, but does cover every useful attempt at program evaluation we could find in the area of broadband adoption. We begin by discussing the several general types of initiatives and programs designed to stimulate broadband demand that are extant. We next review studies that have attempted to measure the results of such programs. 'After reviewing the evidence, we discuss our overall findings and give suggestions for “best practice” (or, at least, “better practice”) for future program evaluation that may be performed as part of the National Broadband Plan. Given the multiplicity of barriers to broadband adoption, we find that a successful program must tackle many goals. Encouraging broadband adoption is only part of a larger digital literacy effort, and programs work when they make non-users want to connect, make the Internet cheaper and easier to use, and adjust to users’ preferences. There are strengths and weaknesses with both local and national approaches to stimulating broadband adoption. When local governments or community organizations are involved, they typically begin with a more complete knowledge of what the barriers to adoption are in the community. Local organizations may also be more effective at ensuring that programs are actually utilized by the intended recipients. Nationally coordinated efforts may have more capability to set up programs in such a way that they can be evaluated effectively and to collect and analyze data. 'Our suggestions are to include cost-benefit analysis as a standard part of program review, and to make clear that the purpose of evaluation is to assess progress made toward the ultimate policy goals (rather than the program’s proximate implementation goals). The collection of appropriate data from which conclusions can be drawn is vital. We close by discussing the need to use appropriate statistical methods to determine the causal impacts of a program, which may require use of econometric or other quantitative techniques'
Macroeconomic Policy Design in an Interdependent World Economy: An Analysis of Three Contingencies

The paper uses a small analytical model of two regions, the United States and the Rest of the Industrial World, to analyze three topical issues concerning international economic interdependence and macroeconomic policy coordination. They are: (1) What should be the monetary and/or fiscal response in the Rest of the Industrial World to a tightening of United States fiscal policy and what should be the United States monetary response? (2) What should be the monetary and/or fiscal response in the United States and in the Rest of the Industrial World to a 'collapse of the United States dollar?' The paper highlights the importance of determining the causes of such a 'hard landing' for the United States dollar, as the appropriate policy responses are very sensitive to this; (3) What should be the macroeconomic policy response in the Industrial World to a disappointing real growth performance? Again the correct identification of the reason(s) for the disappointment is shown to be crucial. The final section discusses and qualifies the activist policy conclusions derived from the formal analysis.