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Book part
Publication date: 16 December 2009

Riad A. Attar

Data on economic variables are drawn from the International Financial Statistics (IFS) Yearbook (Edward, 2008; Carson, 2000, 2002, 2004; McLenaghan, 1992, 1995) published by the…

Abstract

Data on economic variables are drawn from the International Financial Statistics (IFS) Yearbook (Edward, 2008; Carson, 2000, 2002, 2004; McLenaghan, 1992, 1995) published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Statistics Department (1964, 1973, 1981, 1983). The economic variables that I obtained from the IFS are GDP, gross domestic investment, and government expenditures. The IMF values for the variables are in current prices. The current values are non-comparable across countries due to the different amounts of inflation across nations over time. I converted all data to constant values with the year 1985 as a base year using the GDP deflator provided by the IFS. For countries that do not have GDP deflators for the period (1960–2002), I used the consumer price index (CPI)2 provided by the same source. In addition, the values for the variables are converted from their respective national currencies to U.S. dollars. Some countries in Latin America posed problems when I conducted the conversion process because they arbitrarily changed their national currencies several times from 1960 to 2002. These currency changes made it very difficult in the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Mexico to draw reliable conclusions from the empirical analysis. Several countries – Chile, Indonesia, Liberia, Mauritius, Madagascar, the Sudan, Tanzania, Zaire, and Zambia – have numerous missing values that made their time series fall below the required span for appropriate time series analysis. These nine countries were dropped from the NLS analysis, which reduced the number of countries involved in the NLS analysis to sixty countries. However, these nine countries were included in the CNTS analysis.

Details

Arms and Conflict in the Middle East
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-662-5

Abstract

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Structural Road Accident Models
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-08-043061-4

Book part
Publication date: 15 October 2013

Edward T. Walker

Corporate foundations – entities established to regularize corporate giving at an arm’s length removed from the firm – command substantial resources, root companies in the…

Abstract

Corporate foundations – entities established to regularize corporate giving at an arm’s length removed from the firm – command substantial resources, root companies in the nonprofit sectors of their host communities, indirectly augment perceptions of corporate responsibility, and help firms to deflect controversies in an attentive global media environment. Despite these important roles, relatively little research has examined the institutional and strategic factors that influence such proximate charitable giving by firms. Using systematic data on foundations linked to S&P 3000 firms in the health sector – a growing domain in which public trust in high-stakes products and services is critical – fixed-effects models illustrate the primary role of network influences on giving: corporate foundations give substantially more in years following higher contributions by other (noncorporate) foundations in the health sector in a firm’s headquarters locality and also following increased contributions by industry peers through their corporate foundations. Giving also appears to reflect strategic reputational concerns, in that foundation contributions increase significantly following controversies associated with the corporate parent’s products and/or services. By contrast, giving tends to decline as the presence of outside directors on a firm’s board increases, as well as when firms carry heavier debt loads. Combined, these findings suggest that corporate foundations serve as a strategic proxy for the firm, reflecting both a company's position in community and interfirm networks while also mitigating the threat of reputational challenges.

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Voices of Globalization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-546-3

Book part
Publication date: 16 December 2009

Riad A. Attar

According to Thucydides, writing in 416 BC, when the Melians suggested that the Athenians accept Melian neutrality in the war against Sparta, the Athenians replied, “No, for your…

Abstract

According to Thucydides, writing in 416 BC, when the Melians suggested that the Athenians accept Melian neutrality in the war against Sparta, the Athenians replied, “No, for your enmity doth not so much hurt us as your friendship will be an argument of our weakness and your hatred of our power amongst those we have ruled over” (Vasquez, 1996, p. 16). Realists consider the Melian Dialogue to be an immutable lesson that morality in itself is not sufficient against power (Vasquez, 1996, p. 1). Edward H. Carr (1939) articulates the main tenets of classical realism in The Twenty Years’ Crisis 1919–1939. According to Carr, “Internationally, it is no longer possible to deduce virtue from right reasoning, because it is no longer seriously possible to believe that every state, by pursuing the greatest good of the whole world, is pursuing the greatest good of its own citizens, and vice versa” (p. 12). Thus, the eternal dispute, as Albert Sorel put it, is “between those who imagine the world to suit their policy, and those who arrange their policy to suit the realities of the world,” and the realists resolved it by making policies that suit the world (as cited by Carr, 2001, p. 12).

Details

Arms and Conflict in the Middle East
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-662-5

Abstract

Details

The Corporate, Real Estate, Household, Government and Non-Bank Financial Sectors Under Financial Stability
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-837-2

Book part
Publication date: 16 November 2018

Maya Cranitch and Duncan MacLaren

The Thai–Burma refugee program of Australian Catholic University (ACU) brings young Burmese refugees from camps in Thailand to an internet-equipped teaching center to study for a…

Abstract

The Thai–Burma refugee program of Australian Catholic University (ACU) brings young Burmese refugees from camps in Thailand to an internet-equipped teaching center to study for a Diploma in Liberal Studies. Some of the learning is carried out online and some in face-to-face mode provided by ACU or partner universities.

The authors detail the methodologies followed, combining sound pedagogy with an integral human development approach. This changed the students’ mode of learning from rote to critical thinking which, in turn, improved their self-confidence, gave them a good ethical and culturally acceptable grounding and provided them with fluency in oral and written academic English. In addition, the authors recount the many challenges faced by bringing together students from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds with all the baggage brought from a conflict ridden and divided country emerging out of decades of dictatorship.

The program’s results have been remarkable. Many students have found high-quality employment after graduating, especially with non-governmental organizations on the border or in Burma or in some other job serving the needs of their own people. Others have used the Diploma to go on to full degree courses in a number of countries in Asia, North America, and Europe.

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 19 November 2020

Mary C. K. Chepkonga

Parallel with trends in the wider East Africa region, there has been an increase in the number of women involved in drug use, trafficking and drug-related crime in Kenya…

Abstract

Parallel with trends in the wider East Africa region, there has been an increase in the number of women involved in drug use, trafficking and drug-related crime in Kenya (Beckerleg, Telfer, & Hundt, 2005 ). Vulnerable populations, such as domestic labourers, ethnic minorities, those living in slums, bar attendants, sex workers and refugees, are recruited into criminal organisations and assigned roles that expose them to negative health outcomes, human rights violations and incarceration (NACADA, 2016 ). In cases where women do not directly participate in drug use or the drug trade, they often are responsible for mitigating the risks arising from drug use by family members and the community. This reflects their triple burden of care and support when family and social life deteriorates (Mburu, Limmer, & Holland 2019).

The Kenya Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act of 1994, criminalises possession and trafficking of illicit drugs. The enforcement of this legislation has led to an increase in the number of women incarcerated in Kenya for drug, but also (and mainly) alcohol offences. This goes against the recommendation of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2005 that States should adopt innovative measures and policies that prioritise treatment and rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration. In Kenya, prisons have adopted the Mandela and Bangkok Rules, enabling a paradigm shift in the provision of correctional services for women offenders, including remote parenting, family open days and linkages to aftercare services. However, these policies need to be anchored in the legal framework, with adequate resources to hasten the realisation of goals for the care and treatment of female drug and criminal offenders.

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The Impact of Global Drug Policy on Women: Shifting the Needle
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-885-0

Book part
Publication date: 17 September 2020

Federica Angeli, Jörg Raab and Leon Oerlemans

Project networks are an increasingly salient organisational temporary form to deal with complex problems. It remains unclear, however, whether and how project networks adapt over…

Abstract

Project networks are an increasingly salient organisational temporary form to deal with complex problems. It remains unclear, however, whether and how project networks adapt over time, and hence implement changes, both within the span of the specific project, and across projects. The authors apply the performance feedback (PF) perspective to explore how adaptive responses to PF are organised and absorbed within project networks. The authors investigate these matters in the area of humanitarian and development aid efforts, which represent complex social issues. In this context, project networks involve a multitude of actors at different distances from the implementation field, ranging from the donor, through an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), to the NGO’s country offices, local NGOs and the beneficiary communities. This study’s qualitative findings, which the authors generate through an abductive analytical process, highlight that project networks dealing with complex social issues face six paradoxes based on work by DeFillippi and Sydow: the distance, difference, identity, learning, temporal and performance paradoxes. Collective goal setting, adaptive monitoring and evaluation practices, and continuous re-negotiation of aspiration levels emerge as coping mechanisms enabling project networks to internalise insights from the field and translate them into adaptive behavioural responses, mainly at the intra-project level. The authors contribute to a better understanding of adaption in these temporary forms, and particularly in its behavioural consequences. The study also advances knowledge on the PF perspective, through its application in temporary settings, on the level of the project network and in the context of complex social issues, where organisational arrangements strive to pursue multiple interdependent goals.

Book part
Publication date: 29 May 2009

W. Erwin Diewert

The chapter reviews and extends the theory of exact and superlative index numbers. Exact index numbers are empirical index number formula that are equal to an underlying…

Abstract

The chapter reviews and extends the theory of exact and superlative index numbers. Exact index numbers are empirical index number formula that are equal to an underlying theoretical index, provided that the consumer has preferences that can be represented by certain functional forms. These exact indexes can be used to measure changes in a consumer's cost of living or welfare. Two cases are considered: the case of homothetic preferences and the case of nonhomothetic preferences. In the homothetic case, exact index numbers are obtained for square root quadratic preferences, quadratic mean of order r preferences, and normalized quadratic preferences. In the nonhomothetic case, exact indexes are obtained for various translog preferences.

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2005

Van Son Lai and Issouf Soumaré

In this paper, we study the role of government financial guarantees as catalyst for project finance (PF). On the one hand, the government's incentive compatibility and…

Abstract

In this paper, we study the role of government financial guarantees as catalyst for project finance (PF). On the one hand, the government's incentive compatibility and participation constraint determine the optimal portion of the loan to be backed. On the other, the borrowing interest rate satisfies the debtholders’ participation constraint. The project's sponsor may choose to underinvest or overinvest depending on its own capital contribution, the risk technology, the risk measurement errors, and the proportion of guarantee provided by the government. We derive the project optimal investment level as well as the government partial loan guarantee coverage. We also discuss the impact of the risk measurement errors on the project's credit spreads.

Details

Research in Finance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-277-1

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