cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Group Wrongs and Guilt Feelings

Can it ever be appropriate to feel guilt just because one's group has acted badly? Some say no, citing supposed features of guilt feelings as such. If one understands group action according to my plural subject account of groups, however, one can argue for the appropriateness of feeling guilt just because one's group has acted badly - a feeling that often occurs. In so arguing I sketch the plural subject account of groups, group intentions and group actions: for a group to intend (in the relevant sense) is for its members to be jointly committed to intend that such-and-such as a body. Individual group members need not be directly involved in the formation of the intention in order to participate in such a joint commitment. The core concept of joint commitment is in an important way holistic, not being reducible to a set of personal commitments over which each party holds sway. Parties to a group intention so understood can reasonably see the resulting action as "ours" as opposed to "theirs" and thus appropriately respond to the action's badness with a feeling of guilt, even when they themselves are morally innocent in the matter. I label the feeling in question a feeling of "membership guilt." A number of standard philosophical claims about the nature of guilt feelings are thrown into question by my argument.
NEPA in the Hot Seat: A Proposal for an Office of Environmental Analysis

Judicial deference under NEPA can be problematic. It is well-established rule of administrative law that courts will grant a high degree of deference to agency decisions. They do this out of respect for agency expertise and policy judgment. This deference is applied to NEPA lawsuits without acknowledgment of the special pressures that agencies face while assessing the environmental impacts of their own projects. Though there is a strong argument that these pressures undermine the reasons for deferential review, neither the statute nor the courts have provided plaintiffs with adequate means to remedy this problem. Both agency pressure and environmental harms are often amplified in the context of climate change and can lead to absurd results that are scientifically questionable, counter to NEPA’s expressive environmental policy, or both. In light of both the current deficiencies in interpretation and application of the law and the pressing issue of global warming, the time is ripe for reforms that will ensure that agency decisions reflect NEPA’s expressive purpose and are, at the very least, supported by honest science. Part I of this paper will provide an overview of global warming and the relevant statutes - NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act) and the APA (Administrative Procedure Act). Part II will address NEPA’s role in the climate change debate, including the characteristics that make it appealing, those that make it confusing, and those that make it largely ineffective. Part II will conclude that NEPA’s expressive characteristics become more important in light of climate change and necessitate strengthening the EIS procedures, despite difficulty in achieving substantive results. Part III proposes an external office to address NEPA’s shortcomings by providing higher level of scientific review for agency analyses under NEPA. This proposed review grants the wide deference for policy judgments that the administrative state requires, while acknowledging the places where an agency may not be in the best position to adjudge the veracity of the environmental impacts of its own projects. Part IV concludes.
Wrap Contracts and Privacy

Websites often use "wrap contracts" — clickwrap and browsewrap agreements — that include provisions that permit websites to track and exploit customer information. In this paper, I propose that the law conceptualize a website user’s act of inputting or uploading information as constituting a limited license to the website to use the information for very expressly defined purposes. Websites that desire to use the information for purposes other than these narrowly defined ones should craft online agreements so that the user/licensor must physically indicate agreement with the nature and scope of the license by clicking once for every line containing a right or use permitted by the licensee. Incorporating a technological burden or hassle negatively affects the user’s experiences and may give less intrusive companies a competitive advantage over more intrusive ones.
ADAPTATION OR EXTINCTION? COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT LOAN FUNDS AT A CROSSROADS

This article examines community development loan funds (CDLFs), a type of com- munity development financial institution that provides financing and technical assistance for busi- nesses; for-profit and nonprofit real estate and housing developers; nonprofit organizations looking for facility or operating capital; and low-income individuals looking for financing to purchase or rehabilitate their homes. Like many nonprofits and social enterprises, CDLFs have experienced a worsening political and economic environment since 2000, leaving many of them struggling to stay alive as the subsidized capital necessary to fund their operations largely has evaporated. The arti- cle reviews CDLF origins, structures, and current activities; discusses the field's historic sources of subsidized capital and why they have shrunk; reviews potential new sources of capital and the organizational ways that CDLFs are responding to their changed environment; and makes recom- mendations for CDLFs, funders, and policy makers. It is based on organizational-level data from annual surveys of CDLFs conducted by the CDFI Data Project and the Opportunity Finance Net- work; on two dozen interviews with CDLF, foundation and bank officers and staff and policy makers involved with the field; on documents from individual CDLF institutions; and on contemporary press accounts. Healthy communities require access to affordable capital—mortgages to purchase and main- tain homes; financing to build and rehabilitate commercial properties, community facilities, and affordable housing, or to start and grow businesses; and checking and saving accounts to keep and build assets. Unfortunately, low-income individuals and communities have limited access to affordable credit, investment capital, and financial services, a fact that greatly hampers efforts to improve conditions in these areas. Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are one response to this problem. CD- FIs were created to improve economic conditions for low-income individuals and communities by providing a range of financial products and services that often are not available from more mainstream lenders and financiers. There are four different types of CDFIs—community develop- ment banks, credit unions, venture capital funds, and loan funds—each of which offers a range of financial products and services to individuals and organizations (Benjamin, Rubin & Zielenbach, 2004).
Islamic Law and Crime in Contemporary Courts

What is today referred to as ‘criminal law’ does not exist in the classical Islamic legal tradition. This is because criminal law as currently understood did not exist anywhere prior to the emergence of the modern nation state. The collection of classical era doctrines that are today discussed under the label ‘Islamic criminal law’ were not understood as comprising a unified area of law in the pre-modern era, and not all of those classical era rules fit the modern definition of crime. The construction of modern Islamic criminal law is a result of assimilating a diverse body of classical doctrines to the categories of modern law.
The distribution and utilization of class time: How long should class be, and should students even attend?

Abstract Previous research has examined a number of factors affecting student learning and academic performance, including attendance, prior GPA, and college entrance exam scores. This study seeks to expand the literature utilizing a data set for introductory macroeconomics classes at a public liberal arts college. The study introduces an important new variable to determine the role of class scheduling on student performance: the distribution of class time per week. Linear regression models yield anticipated directional results, with six of nine selected variables yielding statistically significant results and 57.3% of the variation in exam scores explained by the selected variables.
Al-doped ZnO aligned nanorod arrays: significant implications for optic and opto-electronic applications

We investigated the optical and optoelectronic properties of vertically aligned Al:ZnO nanorod arrays synthesized by the hydrothermal technique at a considerably low temperature on a sputtered Al:ZnO seed layer. The nanorod arrays maintained remarkable alignment along the c-axis over a large area. The seed layers and nanorod arrays showed various optical band gaps. Investigation of the optoelectronic properties of nanorod arrays on Al∶ZnO∕p-Si seed layer with SiO2 revealed that the photocurrent is significantly reduced in nanorod arrays on a AZO∕SiO2∕p-Si heterojunction due to multiple scattering phenomena associated with nanorod arrays. This research may open up venues for various optical and opto-electronic applications where highly aligned nanostructures are desired. © 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). (DOI: 10.1117/1.JNP.6.063507) effects). Also, light scattering properties are under intense focus for application in the field of solar cells in order to enhance the absorption of light in thin absorber layers. In this paper, we report almost perfect, vertically aligned ZnO nanorod arrays synthesized by the hydrothermal route at 90°C on a sputtered Al:ZnO seed layer. The nanorod arrays demon- strate remarkable alignment along the c-axis over a large area. The optical properties of the seed layers, as well as the nanorod arrays, were investigated. The optoelectronic properties of nanorod arrays on an Al∶ZnO∕p-Si seed layer with SiO2 have been illustrated. Our results clearly demon- strate that the photocurrent is significantly reduced in nanorod arrays on an AZO∕SiO2∕p-Si heterojunction due to multiple scattering phenomena associated with the nanorod arrays.
Freedom of Speech, Permissible Tailoring and Transcending Strict Scrutiny

The Supreme Court has often held that content-based restrictions on fully protected speech are valid if they are "narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest."'' I believe this is wrong. It is wrong descriptively: There are restrictions the Court would strike down-of which I'll give examples-even though they are narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest. It is wrong normatively: In striking these restrictions down, the Court would, in my view, be correct. And the official test is not just wrong but pernicious. It risks leading courts and legislators to the wrong conclusions, it causes courts to apply the test disingenuously, and it distracts us from looking for a better approach.2
Planning Problems in the Limited Liability Company

Limited liability company statutes raise jurisprudential problems regarding the allocation of rights and duties when the parties fail to take advantage of the planning opportunities available under the modern corporation statutes. This article considers the position of parties to these ventures who have agreed to a given power structure that, with the passage of time, becomes unsatisfactory to them. It discusses the development of the limited liability company form and its roots in the liberalized provisions of modern corporation and partnership law; examines a variety of fact situations derived from partnership and close corporation case law as examples of the kinds of disputes that arise among the participants in closely held enterprises; and focuses on planning issues facing closely held enterprises under limited liability company statutes, including the mode of operation and internal division of authority, potential liability to third parties, the rights of new entrants to the business, withdrawal rights of participants, and members' fiduciary duties. Within the context of each situation, it considers various possibilities or degrees of planning that the parties have undertaken and asks how particular disputes will get resolved under the limited liability company statutes.It is a mistake for parties to rely solely on the controlling limited liability company statute. Such reliance can result in unpleasant surprises for which the parties would not have bargained had they considered the possibility of such occurrences at the time of formation, and thus the participation of a skilled attorney at the formation stage is as important in the limited liability company context as in the close corporation context.
From Mixed Economy To Neo-Liberalism: Class and Caste in India’s Economic Transition

Neoliberal transformation is not simply a top-down process. Neoliberal hegemony at the global level has an ally in the Indian elite in producing class-biased economic growth at the national scale. ...
Fiscal Multipliers: Liquidity Traps and Currency Unions

Abstract We provide explicit solutions for government spending multipliers during a liquidity trap and within a fixed exchange regime using standard closed and open-economy New Keynesian models. We confirm the potential for large multipliers during liquidity traps. For a currency union, we show that self-financed multipliers are small, always below unity, unless the accompanying tax adjustments involve substantial static redistribution from low to high marginal propensity to consume agents, or dynamic redistribution from future to present non-Ricardian agents. But outside-financed multipliers which require no domestic tax adjustment can be large, especially when the average marginal propensity to consume on domestic goods is high or when government spending shocks are very persistent. Our solutions are relevant for local and national multipliers, providing insight into the economic mechanisms at work as well as the testable implications of these models.
The Valuation of Biotech IPOs

The valuation of initial public offerings (IPOs) is of considerable interest, given the important role these enterprises play in economic growth and investors' decisions. IPO valuation is particula...
Does the Need for Agreement Among Reviewers Inhibit the Publication of Controversial Findings

As Cicchetti indicates, agreement among reviewers is not high. This conclusion is empirically supported by Fiske and Fogg (1990), who reported that two independent reviews of the same papers typically had no critical point in common. Does this imply that journal editors should strive for a high level of reviewer consensus as a criterion for publication? Prior research suggests that such a requirement would inhibit the publication of papers with controversial findings. We summarize this research and report on a survey of editors.
Tiebout Competition, Yardstick Competition, and Tax Instrument Choice: Evidence from Ohio School Districts

Previous research has shown that Tiebout-style fiscal competition among local governments reduces the likelihood of adopting income taxes. This literature has not yet considered the impact of yardstick competition on tax instrument choice. This article uses spatial econometrics to test for yardstick competition in the decision to adopt an income tax. The results, based on Ohio school district data, indicate that school districts are more likely to adopt an income tax if their neighbors have already done so. While a negative correlation of Tiebout competition on district income tax adoption persists, controlling for spatial dependence reduces the statistical significance of the effect.
Do private income transfers increase labor market risk

Abstract In a two-stage model of private income transfers with a labor market, we find that the aggregate effect of such transfers induces labor market responses to the increase in moral hazard, thereby increasing the volatility of wages and lowering welfare. The equilibrium level of transfers exceeds the socially-optimum level.
The Centrists against the Ideologues: What are the Falsehoods that Divide Americans on the Issue of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

At first glance, many people with moderate interest in the ongoing debate over Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) assume the divisiveness inherent in this issue to be one of right versus left. However, upon further review, a more accurate assessment would be to state that this issue is better defined as one that divides the moderate middles of both parties from their more radical fringes at either end of the spectrum. I’ve concluded that the real problem, more than anything, is that this issue is divided along a very simple axis - namely, the informed versus the misinformed. There are many, many people out there who have heard a preponderance of flatly wrong information that has consistently been publicly disseminated by the opponents of CIR, and have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. So what exactly are these “myths” that the restrictionists or nativists have been propagating? Well, there are several, and they have pervasively made their way into the mainstream of this debate. There are four myths in particular that I will attempt to debunk in this article. First, that CIR is bad for our national security. Second, that illegal immigrants are a net burden on our tax base. Third, that CIR is just another code word for amnesty, and if it passes, it will make the problem of illegal immigration worse, because it will encourage more illegal immigrants to sneak into our country. And finally, that since these immigrants took it upon themselves to come here illegally, the United States has no moral or ethical responsibility to allow them to stay, or specifically to legalize their status to remain in the United States. We have to face the fact that in the continuing debate for comprehensive immigration reform, there are very few clearly defined black and white issues. The final solutions will almost certainly emerge as murky shades of gray. That being said, it is vital that we go into this debate with as many truths as possible, and eliminate propaganda, spin, and outright falsehoods. This debate deserves nothing less than our best, bipartisan good-faith effort to achieve workable and enforceable legislation. Our government has an ethical responsibility to enact this vital legislation, and it has a moral responsibility to make sure that the final legislation reflects fairness, inclusiveness, and the American values that we hold to be self-evident.
A model of contagious currency crises with application to Argentina

Abstract This paper proposes a model of contagious currency crises where crises are transmitted across countries through a risk premium effect on government bonds. Three types of equilibria can occur in the model: a ‘no-collapse’ equilibrium in which a crisis is never transmitted from abroad, a ‘collapse’ equilibrium in which a crisis is inevitably contagious, and a ‘fundamentals’ equilibrium in which a crisis is contagious when domestic fundamentals are weak enough. The model is calibrated to the March 1995 Argentine crisis that followed on the heels of the December 1994 Mexican peso crisis. The results imply that the occurrence of the 1995 Argentine crisis reveals a combination of risk aversion of investors and weak credibility in the currency board arrangement. The Argentine crisis however could only be attributed to a ‘tequila effect’ alone (contagion from the Mexican crisis without any role for weak domestic fundamentals) if investors were excessively risk averse.
Do tax policies drive innovation by SMEs in China

There is little empirical evidence showing how innovation by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is impacted by tax policies, especially SMEs from developing countries. We study the economic ration...
Global strategy and the collaboration of MNEs, NGOs, and governments for the provisioning of collective goods in emerging markets

The global business environment is increasingly characterized by dynamic collaborations among public as well as private for-profit and not-for-profit actors for the provision in emerging markets of such local public goods as health, education, transportation, and utilities whose supply has received scant attention in international business research. Drawing from, and expanding on, transaction-cost economics and institutional theory, we analyze the choice of collaborative arrangements among the three parties for the local supply of these public goods—here, called a ‘collective goods’ via contracting, alliance, internationalization or assistance—the latter a governance mode hitherto overlooked in transaction-cost economics but essential in dealing with collective goods and nonmarket actors. We discuss the implications of these arrangements for multinational enterprise nonmarket strategies within the realm of global strategy.
CEO turnover in China: the role of market-based and accounting performance measures

We investigate the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) turnover and firm performance in China's publicly traded firms. We provide evidence on the use of accounting and market-based performance measures in CEO turnover decision. We also investigate the moderating roles of noise in performance measures, firm growth opportunities, state-owned enterprises, and corporate governance reform on the weights attached to these performance measures. We observe that Chinese listed firms rely more on accounting performance than on stock market performance when determining CEO turnover. Firms with noisier performance measures and larger growth opportunities rely less on both accounting performance and stock market performance in CEO replacement decision. State-controlled firms are more likely to use accounting performance to determine CEO turnover. Finally, we observe that the weight attached to the accounting performance measure is significantly reduced and the weight attached to the stock market perform...
How realistic is the supply/demand equilibrium story?: A simple demonstration of false trading and its implications for market equilibrium

Abstract Transactions at non-equilibrium prices are “false trades”. Under standard assumptions, markets without false trading produce Pareto-efficient outputs. This paper demonstrates graphically the complications created when false trades occur, showing that quantities produced deviate from Pareto-efficient quantities except under unique conditions. In a general equilibrium framework, this spills over to cause Pareto-inefficient results in other markets as well. These observations call into question the use of standard supply-and-demand equilibrium theory as a starting point for policy analysis.
Investor Expectations and the North American Free Trade Agreement

The paper uses a stock market event study to examine investors’ expectations of NAFTA's effect on the profitability of manufacturing industries in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. The main finding is that factor intensity, specifically a measure of the industry–wide labor–capital ratio, is the most significant determinant of excess returns. The results suggest that investors believed the NAFTA would favor industries that used abundant factors intensively and reduce profitability in industries that relied heavily on scarce factors; and, more generally, that factor intensity is a primary source of comparative advantage. No significant relationship was found between the relative scale of industries among the three countries and the NAFTA's expected influence on profitability.
The Next Generation: Technology Adoption and Integration Through Internal Competition in New Product Development

This paper examines the impact of internal competition that occurs when new technology challenges the technology in a firm's existing products. New-technology development projects are traditionally judged by market success---and most fail. If we examine their impact on existing-technology product development, a different interpretation arises. Drawing on the literature on the influence of social factors on interfirm search and adoption of new technologies, this study argues that similar processes occur intrafirm. Evidence from a field study on new-technology product development in high-technology firms shows that internal competition influences existing-technology product development groups to integrate the new technology into the next generation of their own products. The reason is twofold. First, these groups shift their search toward the new technology and allocate resources to gain a deeper understanding of it. Second, access to internal information and the mobility of workers across project boundaries benefit the existing-technology groups. The findings provide a model of innovation that illustrates an endogenous process of internal competition. This often political and contentious process can have a strong influence on technology adoption and integration.
Federal Power, Non-Federal Actors: The Ramifications of Free Enterprise Fund

In Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board1 the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Congress’s decision to protect members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from at will removal by the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose members in turn are protected from at will removal at the hands of the President.2 The case arose out of Congress’s establishment of the Board as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act3 to regulate accounting methods and procedures for publicly traded companies.4 Accounting firms must register with the Board and comply with its regulatory standards.5 In addition, the PCAOB conducts inspections of registered accounting firms, both on a regular basis and in response to allegations of noncompliance with its standards.6
Transparency, Information Shocks, and Tax Avoidance

This study helps provide clarity to the prior mixed findings on the association between financial reporting transparency and tax avoidance by studying the effect that transparency has on tax avoidance in a cross‐country sample through aggregate‐ and firm‐level tests. Results using firm‐ and country‐level (aggregate) measures of transparency and tax avoidance show that countries and firms with greater levels of transparency exhibit lower levels of tax avoidance and that the effect of country‐level transparency is incremental to firm‐level transparency. Furthermore, results of difference‐in‐difference tests using the adoption of IFRS and the initial enforcement of insider trading laws around the world as exogenous shocks that increase transparency find that transparency has a statistically and economically significant effect on tax avoidance and address empirical concerns regarding endogeneity and reverse causality not fully addressed in the prior research. The results of these tests as well as tests that address potential correlated but omitted variables suggest that financial transparency is an important tool which regulators can use in battling tax avoidance. Transparence, chocs d'information et evitement fiscal En etudiant l'incidence de la transparence de l'information financiere sur l’evitement fiscal dans un echantillon multipays, a l'aide de tests agreges et de tests a l’echelon des societes, l'auteur jette un eclairage utile sur les constatations mitigees des etudes anterieures au sujet de la relation entre transparence et evitement fiscal. Les resultats de l'application de mesures de la transparence et de l’evitement fiscal a l’echelon des societes et a celui des pays (agrege) indiquent que les pays et les societes auxquels sont associes des niveaux de transparence superieurs affichent des niveaux inferieurs d’evitement fiscal et que l'incidence de la transparence a l’echelon des pays s'ajoute a celle de la transparence a l’echelon des societes. En outre, les resultats de tests des ecarts dans les differences — dans lesquels l'adoption des IFRS et l'entree en vigueur initiale des lois visant a prevenir les delits d'inities dans le monde sont utilisees comme chocs exogenes augmentant la transparence — montrent que la transparence a une incidence statistiquement et economiquement significative sur l’evitement fiscal et nous renseignent sur des preoccupations empiriques relatives a l'endogeneite et la causalite inverse qui n'ont pas ete entierement explorees dans les etudes precedentes. Les resultats de ces tests ainsi que de tests portant sur des variables potentiellement correlees mais omises semblent indiquer que la transparence de l'information financiere est un outil important que peuvent utiliser les autorites de reglementation dans leur lutte contre l’evitement fiscal.
Effects of Marriage, Education and Occupation on the Female / Male Wage Gap in China

In the present study the way in which the gender wage gap in urban China differs according to marital status, education and occupation, is examined. Married Chinese women experience much larger absolute gender wage gaps than their unmarried counterparts. The proportion of the gender wage gap unexplained by differences in the levels of productive characteristics is also higher for married women than single women. Gender wage gaps are smaller for more educated women. These findings suggest that occupational segregation is not as important a factor as industrial segregation in accounting for the gender wage gap in China’s urban labour markets.
Empowering the Police: How the Chinese Communist Party Manages Its Coercive Leaders

How does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secure the loyalty of its coercive leaders, and its public security chiefs in particular, in the face of numerous domestic protests every year? This article presents the first quantitative analysis of contemporary China's coercive leaders using an original data set of provincial public security chiefs and public security funding during the reform era. I demonstrate that the CCP, owing to its concern for regime stability, has empowered the public security chiefs by incorporating them into the leadership team. Empowered public security chiefs then have stronger bargaining power over budgetary issues. I rely on fieldwork, qualitative interviews and an analysis of Party documents to complement my statistical analysis. The findings of this analysis shed light on the understanding of regime durability, contentious politics and the bureaucracy in China.
A declaratory theory of state accountability

Debate persists over the meaning of the Eleventh Amendment and the degree to which it supports the lines drawn by the Supreme Court on fraught questions of state sovereign immunity and accountability. Scholars disagree both as to the legal and historical accuracy of the Court’s expansive conception of sovereign immunity and as to the proper scope of the Ex parte Young action, the primary tool for ensuring state accountability. Characterized as a body of law devoid of principle and subject to arbitrary stops in reasoning, the doctrine has yet to strike a balance between immunity and accountability that enjoys anything close to a consensus. In this Essay, we propose to blend current law and scholarship into a new, historically grounded, declaratory theory of state accountability. Our account builds on the willingness of federal courts to entertain applications for declaratory relief and their reluctance to entertain money claims against the states. We argue that the states should take responsibility for money claims, at least in cases where Congress cannot abrogate state immunity. We suggest a framework within which states give preclusive effect to federal declarations in follow-on suits brought by individuals who seek monetary relief in accordance with state law. Such an approach would honor a surprisingly strong tradition of reliance on declaratory judgments as a tool of government accountability, would preserve state control over the purse strings, and would give state governments a role in securing the effectiveness of judgments against the states comparable to that played by Congress and the executive branch in connection with judgments against the federal government.
The effect of government highway spending on road users' congestion costs

Policymakers attempt to reduce the growth of congestion by spending billions of dollars annually on our road system. We evaluate this policy by estimating the determinants of congestion costs for motorists, trucking operations, and shipping firms. We find that, on average, one dollar of highway spending in a given year reduces the congestion costs to road users only eleven cents in that year. We also find that even if the allocation of spending were optimized to minimize congestion costs that it still is not a cost-effective way to reduce congestion. We conclude the evidence strengthens the case for road pricing.
Semi-Trained Memristive Crossbar Computing Engine with In Situ Learning Accelerator

On-device intelligence is gaining significant attention recently as it offers local data processing and low power consumption. In this research, an on-device training circuitry for threshold-current memristors integrated in a crossbar structure is proposed. Furthermore, alternate approaches of mapping the synaptic weights into fully trained and semi-trained crossbars are investigated. In a semi-trained crossbar, a confined subset of memristors are tuned and the remaining subset of memristors are not programmed. This translates to optimal resource utilization and power consumption, compared to a fully programmed crossbar. The semi-trained crossbar architecture is applicable to a broad class of neural networks. System level verification is performed with an extreme learning machine for binomial and multinomial classification. The total power for a single 4 × 4 layer network, when implemented in IBM 65nm node, is estimated to be a42.16μW and the area is estimated to be 26.48μm × 22.35μm.
Who Consumes Firm Disclosures? Evidence from Earnings Conference Calls

ABSTRACT Using a set of proprietary records, we examine who consumes quarterly earnings conference calls and under which circumstances the calls are consumed. While there is significant interest in...
Time-inconsistent risk preferences in a laboratory experiment

We conduct an experiment to explore the time-consistency of risk preferences in a multi-period betting game. Specifically, subjects planned their contingent betting decisions in advance then played the game dynamically later to determine whether their respective decisions matched. We find that subjects took more risk than planned in their initial bet and after losses. In addition, this increased risk was associated with an increase in breakeven mental accounting. Our findings indicate that immediacy of outcomes can lead to impulsive risk-taking behavior and highlight the importance of precommitment to long-term financial planning.
The activities of buy-side analysts and the determinants of their stock recommendations

Abstract We survey 344 buy-side analysts from 181 investment firms and conduct 16 detailed follow-up interviews to gain insights into the activities of buy-side analysts, including the determinants of their compensation, the inputs to their stock recommendations, their beliefs about financial reporting quality, and the role of sell-side analysts in buy-side research. One important finding is that 10-K or 10-Q reports are more useful than quarterly conference calls and management earnings guidance for determining buy-side analysts׳ stock recommendations. Our results also suggest that sell-side analysts add value by providing buy-side analysts with in-depth industry knowledge and access to company management.
Not-for-Profit Annual Reports: What do Museum Managers Communicate?

This study addresses: (1) What disclosures are provided in annual reports of not-for-profit entities?(2) What characteristics of the reporting entities explain variations in the quantity of financial disclosure?(3) How do not-for-profit disclosures compare with those in for-profit corporate reports? The annual reports of 170 not-for-profit museums were examined. The reports were highly variable. Some contained no financial data and only 22 percent included complete financial statements with footnotes. Regression analysis indicated that the amount of museum financial data was positively associated with museum size, a larger number of pages of donor disclosures, and museum type (art and history, but not science, natural history, or general).
Shareholder Litigation, Reputational Loss, and Bank Loan Contracting

We examine shareholder litigation and the price and nonprice terms of bank loan contracts. After filing a lawsuit, defendant firms pay higher loan spreads and up-front charges, experience more financial covenants, and are more likely to have a collateral requirement. These findings are consistent with reputational losses associated with shareholder litigation. The magnitude of a firm’s lost market value when the lawsuit is filed is positively related to the increase in the firm’s future borrowing costs. We investigate whether the lawsuit allegations and its merit affect future bank loan terms. Our results do not appear to be affected by self-selection.
Capital structure pre-balancing: Evidence from convertible bonds

Abstract A large body of the corporate finance literature is devoted to capital structure. This literature examines whether firms have a target capital structure, and whether they actively rebalance their capital structure toward a target. Since conversion of a convertible bond causes a drop in leverage, target capital structure theory suggests that the structure should be rebalanced in the future. I consistently find that following a realized conversion firms rebalance their positions in less than a year. When the stock price passes the conversion price threshold for a convertible bond, the firm expects this drop in leverage to occur in the near future. Using a regression discontinuity design around the conversion price threshold for those conversions that are decided by investors, not by the firm, my paper documents a 20% increase in leverage before an actual drop in leverage. That is to say, firms do not wait for the realization of leverage shocks but rather respond to anticipated shocks. A quantile treatment effect analysis reveals the effect to be a hump-shaped function of leverage, with a peak for firms with a conditional leverage ratio around the 70th percentile.
A discipline without sympathy: the happiness of the majority and its demise

. Experimental economists frequently invoke Adam Smith's notion of sympathy, and experimental treatments typically examine sympathy in situations where two groups are involved. We explore additional implications of sympathy suggested by the work of later classical economists. We link the notion of sympathy to their majoritarian welfare analysis. Since sympathy provides a source of moral obligation, classical economists held that agents in democratic politics will refrain from unjust acts. We also consider how sympathetic agents may effect reforms that involve more than two parties, in which the benefits from the action accrue to someone who is not part of the ‘exchange.’ JEL classification: B12, D63 Une discipline sans sympathie: le bonheur de la majorite et son deces. Les economistes experimentateurs parlent souvent de la notion de sympathie chez Adam Smith et on fait etat de la sympathie dans des situations ou deux groupes sont impliques. Les auteurs explorent plus avant des implications additionnelles de la sympathie suggerees par les travaux d’economistes classiques ulterieurs. On relie la notion de sympathie avec leurs analyses du bien-etre de la majorite. Puisque la sympathie fournit une source d’obligation morale, les economistes classiques suggeraient que les agents en politique democratique vont s’abstenir d’actes injustes. On considere aussi comment des agents sympathiques peuvent enclencher des reformes qui impliquent plus que deux parties dans lesquelles les avantages de l’action sont obtenus par quelqu’un qui n’est pas partie de l’echange.
Experimental Results on Bargaining Under Alternative Property Rights Regimes

The effect of alternative property rights regimes on the choice between taking an object and acquiring it via a consensual exchange is experimentally explored in a two-period screening game. Results are generally consistent with equilibrium predictions, suggesting that property rights regimes have a significant impact on observed behavior. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press.
International Substitutes for Domestic Institutions: Bilateral Investment Treaties and Governance

Abstract This paper concerns the increasing use of international commitment devices by developing countries. These devices include bilateral investment treaties, international arbitration, and multilateral trade commitments. The conventional wisdom is that such devices help to remedy local institutional deficiencies. Using an empirical analysis of bilateral investment treaties, this paper argues that, under some circumstances, international devices may be substitutes for local institutions and lead to reductions in governance quality.
Restructuring a Sovereign Bond Pari Passu Work-Around: Can Holdout Creditors Ever Have Equal Treatment?

The rise of vulture fund investing in sovereign bonds has created additional hurdles to successful restructuring in an already fragile ad hoc process. Recent litigation in NML Capital, Ltd. v. Argentina has proven courts’ willingness to utilize powers of equity to enforce a ratable payment interpretation of the pari passu clause—the equal treatment provision commonly found in sovereign bond contracts—creating much uncertainty on how the ruling will affect future restructuring efforts. By looking to the tension in interpretations of the pari passu clause, discrepancies in remedial relief awarded, and international institutions’ proposed solutions, this Note analyzes the role of the pari passu clause as a tool for holdout creditors to disrupt restructurings. This Note argues for a contractual solution targeted at preventing vulture fund investors from access to pari passu injunctive relief coupled with creative restructuring strategies for outstanding bonds awaiting maturity. This resolution seeks to retain some protection for traditional holdout creditors while disincentivizing investments made with intent to derail restructurings from the start. Unlike debtors in the domestic bankruptcy system, sovereigns have no overarching mechanism to facilitate a successful restructuring when their debt burden becomes unsustainable. Using the pari passu clause as a means to enjoin payment to restructured bondholders leaves sovereign debtors with little recourse but to cede to the demands of holdout creditors and can have a devastating long-term impact on the sovereign’s capacity to rebuild debt sustainability. On the other hand, removing pari passu injunctive relief strips holdout creditors of a valuable enforcement mechanism and can leave sovereigns unrestrained. This Note balances these concerns by advocating for a solution that diminishes vulture creditor leverage that can obstruct a restructuring, while otherwise preserving creditor rights against unfair or coercive exchange terms.
Social Capital and the Growth of the Nonprofit Sector

Objectives. This article examines the extent to which nonprofit organizational foundings are determined by various forms of social capital. Our hypothesis is that, controlling for other relevant social, political, and economic factors, communities with higher levels of social capital should experience more extensive growth in their nonprofit sectors. Methods. Using data derived from the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey and the IRS “charitable organization” Business Master Files, we test our hypothesis using a negative binomial event count regression on nonprofit organization foundings in 284 U.S. counties in the year 2001. Results. We find that two core dimensions of social capital—political engagement and “bridging” social ties—have a significant impact on county-level nonprofit foundings. Surprisingly, a key element of social capital in the literature, the level of interpersonal trust, does not lead to an increase in foundings of new not-for-profit organizations. Conclusions. This study provides further evidence of the strength of political engagement and bridging ties for the vitality of the community. It also shows that the different dimensions of social capital do not manifest a uniform effect on nonprofit sector growth. These results further demonstrate that the growth of a community's not-for-profit sector is dependent on a mix of ecological and environmental factors, especially preexisting organizational density, median household income, unemployment, and levels of governmental spending. Overall, social capital can usefully be seen as another key “environmental” factor in explanations of organizational foundings.
Ultra high frequency volatility estimation with dependent microstructure noise

We analyze the impact of time series dependence in market microstructure noise on the properties of estimators of the integrated volatility of an asset price based on data sampled at frequencies high enough for that noise to be a dominant consideration. We show that combining two time scales for that purpose will work even when the noise exhibits time series dependence, analyze in that context a refinement of this approach is based on multiple time scales, and compare empirically our different estimators to the standard realized volatility.
Quantum Vertex Representations via Finite Groups¶and the McKay Correspondence

We establish a q-analog of our recent work on vertex representations and the McKay correspondence. For each finite group Γ we construct a Fock space and associated vertex operators in terms of wreath products of $Γ×ℂ× and the symmetric groups. An important special case is obtained when Γ is a finite subgroup of SU 2, where our construction yields a group theoretic realization of the representations of the quantum affine and quantum toroidal algebras of ADE type.
Why Do Firms Hold Cash? Evidence from Demographic Demand Shifts

We exploit variation in demand induced by demographics to provide causal evidence of the precautionary motive of cash holdings. We show that firms significantly increase their cash levels in response to exogenous increases in investment opportunities. We also provide novel evidence of the dynamics of accumulation and use of cash. Financially constrained firms build their cash reserves using internal sources. Consequently, they start saving earlier and keep high cash levels longer. Unconstrained firms rely on external financing to both invest and build cash reserves, requiring them to save less and allowing them to incur lower costs of carry.Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.
Earnings Attribution and Information Transfers

Managers frequently attribute the news in their earnings forecasts to various economic events. Using textual analysis, we identify the economic factors underlying earnings news from press releases. We document a wide range of industry-wide shocks and firm-specific actions to which the earnings news in management forecasts is attributed. As expected, earnings attributions significantly affect peer firms’ price reactions to the earnings news. Specifically, earnings news attributed to industry-wide trends or firm structural changes leads to positive information transfers but earnings news attributed to firm competitive moves triggers negative information transfers. Information transfers are much stronger when each economic factor is mentioned the first time in a given industry-year. Further analysis reveals that the strength of information transfers varies with firm-level rivalry within the industry (i.e., similar business strategies, market position, and level of competition).