scholarly journals Does Power Always Flow to the Executive? Interbranch Oscillations in Legislative Authority, 1976–2014

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Paul Chaisty ◽  
Timothy Power
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Legislative Authority ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Relative Gains ◽  
Head Of Government ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Is legislative power flowing to the executive branch over time? Beginning in the 1990s, comparativists began to investigate delegation to the executive under different executive formats. Hypothesized causes include collective action problems due to legislative fractionalization, the presence of a dominant pro-executive faction, preference congruence vis-à-vis the head of government, and challenges posed by economic crises. We test these four hypotheses on a data set containing 2,020 country-year observations of democracies and semi-democracies between 1976 and 2014. Using V-Dem data, we derive annualized measures of shifts in executive–legislative relationships. Contrary to stereotypes of executive dominance, relative gains by legislatures are no less frequent than gains by executives, and economic crises do not advantage political executives in consistent ways. Surprisingly, some of the factors expected to benefit executives seem to enhance assembly authority as well. Robust democracy maintains interbranch power relations in equilibrium, while lower levels of polyarchy are associated with greater ‘noise’ in the relationship.

scholarly journals Dynamics of Political Protests

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 485-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graig R. Klein ◽  
Patrick M. Regan
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
The State ◽  
Event Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Political Protests ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
State Responses ◽  
Cross National

AbstractThe links between protests and state responses have taken on increased visibility in light of the Arab Spring movements. But we still have unanswered questions about the relationship between protest behaviors and responses by the state. We frame this in terms of concession and disruption costs. Costs are typically defined as government behaviors that impede dissidents’ capacity for collective action. We change this causal arrow and hypothesize how dissidents can generate costs that structure the government's response to a protest. By disaggregating costs along dimensions of concession and disruption we extend our understanding of protest behaviors and the conditions under which they are more (or less) effective. Utilizing a new cross-national protest-event data set, we test our theoretical expectations against protests from 1990 to 2014 and find that when protesters generate high concession costs, the state responds in a coercive manner. Conversely, high disruption costs encourage the state to accommodate demands. Our research provides substantial insights and inferences about the dynamics of government response to protest.

The predictive value of strategic orientation for ESG performance over time

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Chevrollier ◽  
Jianhong Zhang ◽  
Thijs van Leeuwen ◽  
André Nijhof
Keyword(s):  
Business Strategy ◽  
Fixed Effect Model ◽  
Strategic Orientation ◽  
Set Covering ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Publicly Traded Companies ◽  
Strategic Orientations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Purpose Despite the scholarly attention for the integration of sustainability within business strategy and processes, little is known about how strategic orientations of companies influence this integration. Drawing on stewardship theory, this paper aims to analyse the influence of strategic orientation of companies on their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance and the moderating effect of three different political models of economy (Rhine, British and American). Design/methodology/approach This paper creates a measurement for strategic orientations by using a coding scheme with a five-category evaluation matrix. The main empirical analysis is done by a fixed-effect model with a panel data set covering 179 publicly traded companies over the 2009-2016 period. Findings The conclusions of this paper present that – consistent over time – a stronger orientation on stewardship positively associates with higher ESG performance. Additionally, the political model of economy significantly alters the relationship indicating the effect of strategic orientation on ESG performance. The relationship is significantly stronger in the Rhine model and significantly weaker in the British model, when both compared to the American model. Originality/value The implications of this paper are vital to understanding corporate strategic orientation and its relationship to actual corporate behaviour and long-term performance. Implementing the elements of focus, motivation, commitment, support and communication linked to a stewardship orientation is fundamental to achieve higher levels of sustainability performance.

scholarly journals Inflation and Economic Growth: a Review of The International Literature

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Foluso A. Akinsola ◽  
Nicholas M. Odhiambo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Threshold Level ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Country Specific

This paper surveys the existing literature on the relationship between inflation and economic growth in developed and developing countries, highlighting the theoretical and empirical indications. The study finds that the impact of inflation on economic growth varies from country to country and over time. The study also finds that the results from these studies depend on country‑specific characteristics, the data set used, and the methodology employed. On balance, the study finds overwhelming support in favour of a negative relationship between inflation and growth, especially in developed economies. However, there is still much controversy about the specific threshold level of inflation that is appropriate for growth. Most previous studies on this subject just assume a unidirectional causal relationsship between inflation and economic growth. To our knowledge, this may be the first review of its kind to survey, in detail, the existing research on the relationship between inflation and economic growth in developed and developing countries.

Financial Needs for a Competitive Business Model in the Knowledge Society

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Castillo-Merino ◽  
Dolors Plana-Erta
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Financial Constraints ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Financial Structure ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Investment Model ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Innovative Firms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

This paper investigates the constraints for companies to innovate in order to be competitive in the knowledge society. Using a large and original data set of Catalan firms, the authors have conducted a micro econometric analysis following Henry et al.’s (1999) investment model and von Kalckreuth (2004) methodology empirically contrasting the relationship between firms’ investment spread over time and their financial structure. Results show that it exits a positive and significant relationship between firms’ investment shift and financial structure, emerging financial constraints for more innovative firms. Furthermore, these constraints are higher for micro companies and firms within the knowledge-advanced services’ industry. Finally, the authors find that advanced ICT uses by more innovative firms allow them to reduce constraints of access to sources of finance.

Khenry and Anatol

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Moss
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
The State ◽  
Nixon Administration ◽  
Henry Kissinger ◽  
Summit Meeting ◽  
Richard Nixon ◽  
Private Correspondence ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Richard Nixon endorsed the use of a back channel between Henry Kissinger, as his personal representative, and Anatoly Dobrynin, as the intermediary to the Kremlin. Over time, the relationship came to be known as “the Channel” and was the primary back channel in U.S.-Soviet relations during the Nixon administration. Long before Nixon became president, the executive branch had utilized private correspondence with foreign leaders, presidential emissaries, confidential channels, and other types of communication beyond the purview of the normal foreign policy bureaucracy. Despite the earlier precedents, the Dobrynin-Kissinger channel was novel in its breadth, its sweeping exclusion of the State Department, and most significantly for its central role in shaping détente. Back-channel diplomacy with the Soviets was not dominant until 1971, when the Channel became “operational,” as Kissinger later wrote, to cover the Berlin negotiations, break an impasse in SALT, and begin tentative planning for a summit meeting.

The efficacy of cheap talk in collective action problems

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenton Kenkel
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Incomplete Information ◽  
No Value ◽  
Cheap Talk ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
The Relationship

Incomplete information exacerbates the problems inherent in collective action. Participants cannot efficiently coordinate their actions if they do not know each other’s preferences. I investigate when ordinary communication, or cheap talk, may resolve mutual uncertainty in collective action problems. I find that the efficacy of communication depends critically on the relationship between contributions and the value of the joint project. The incentive barriers to honesty are highest when every contribution increases the project’s value. Participants then have a strict incentive to say whatever would induce others to contribute the most, so cheap talk lacks credibility. By contrast, when contributions may be marginally worthless, such as when the project has no value unless contributions hit a certain threshold, communication may help participants avoid wasted effort. Using these findings, I identify which collective action problems in politics might benefit from communication and which require more expensive solutions to overcome uncertainty.

scholarly journals From fragmentation to fragile unity: Organizational fault-lines in South African business

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicoli Nattrass
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fault Lines ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

This article explores the nature and history of organized business in South Africa. It describes the major racial, sectoral and other fault-lines which fracture the business community, and indicates that many of these are the legacy of apartheid. It points out that the relationship between business and the state was ambiguous, varied between the economic sectors, and changed radically over time. The latter sections of the article discuss the role of business in South Africa's transition (and the collective action problems which were experienced), and charts the developments which lead up to the creation of the mega federation Business South Africa (BSA). It is argued that BSA represents an important, yet fragile, step towards unity.

Inequality and Democracy: Why Inequality Harms Consolidation but Does Not Affect Democratization

2009 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Houle
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Probability Of Transition ◽  
The Relationship

Under what conditions do democracies emerge and consolidate? Recent theories suggest that inequality is among the leading determinants of both democratization and consolidation. By contrast, this article argues that inequality harms consolidation but has no net effect on democratization. The author shows that the existing theories that link inequality to democratization suffer from serious limitations: (1) they are useful only for understanding transitions from below and thus do not apply to many other transitions (that is, those from above); (2) even for democratization from below, their predictions are unlikely to hold, since inequality actually has two opposite effects; and (3) they ignore collective action problems, which reduces their explanatory power. However, these objections do not affect the relationship between inequality and consolidation. In particular, while inequality has two opposite effects on the probability of transition to democracy, it unambiguously increases the probability of transition away from democracy. This article conducts the most comprehensive empirical test to date of the relationship between inequality and democracy. It finds no support for the main democratization theories. Contrary to what they predict, estimation suggests neither a monotonic negative nor an inverted U-shaped relationship. Yet inequality increases the probability of backsliding from democracy to dictatorship.

The Rise of Trading

2020 ◽  
pp. 83-108
Author(s):  
Sarah Paterson
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Secondary Market ◽  
Trading Strategies ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Corporate Reorganization ◽  
Secondary Markets ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Debt Markets ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the second of the changes in logic and practice in the field of finance with which the book is concerned: the shift from hold-to-maturity debt investment strategies to trading strategies. The argument is made that the concept of collective action problems in US corporate reorganization law ought to be replaced by different concepts when the reorganization is among sophisticated, strongly adjusting financial creditors and investors and when debt trades in secondary markets. The chapter further argues that the more recent development of modern corporate reorganization law in England and Wales has enabled terms and concepts to emerge which are better adapted to traded debt markets. Overall, however, the chapter emphasizes the relationship between reduced salience of the collective action concept and a secondary market for distressed debt. It does not suggest a new, universal conceptual framework for corporate reorganization law in which the collective action concept is permanently replaced.

scholarly journals When thinking you are better leads to feeling worse: Self-other asymmetries in prosocial behavior and increased anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea Helion ◽  
David V Smith ◽  
Johanna Jarcho
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Psychological Outcomes ◽  
Prosocial Behaviors ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Peer Reports ◽  
Better Than

Thinking one is better than peers is generally associated with positive psychological outcomes like increased self-esteem and resilience. However, this tendency may be problematic in the context of collective action problems, wherein individuals are reliant on others' prosocial behaviors to achieve larger goals. We examined this question in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and recruited participants (n = 1022) from a university community in Spring 2020. We found evidence for a self-peer asymmetry, such that participants reported that they were doing more to stop the spread of the disease and were more prosocially motivated than peers. Actual peer reports indicated that these were overestimations. This self-enhancement tendency comes with a cost: the perceived self-peer asymmetry mediated the relationship between Covid-specific worry and general anxiety during the early lockdown period. This indicates that while believing one is doing more than others may be maladaptive in collective action problems.

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