The virtue of narrowing: the fiscal federalism setting

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-128
Author(s):  
Pierre Salmon
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Fiscal Federalism ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Exact Nature ◽  
Yardstick Competition ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Short Section

This chapter mainly discusses the empirical work in the domain of local (subcentral) finance involving yardstick competition. It begins with a short section on the systemic novelty introduced by yardstick competition into the theory of fiscal federalism. The central part of the chapter focuses on the empirical arguments developed to probe the presence of yardstick competition and yardstick voting in various data sets. Then, some queries are formulated about the exact nature of what has been established empirically so far. It seems clearly confirmed that some form of yardstick competition or yardstick voting is at work in different settings. That result is important but the findings should not be supposed to validate the game-theoretical analysis or the pure mimicking behavior assumption typically associated with the empirical studies. Alternative approaches are considered toward the end of the chapter.

scholarly journals Six Decades of Top Economics Publishing: Who and How?

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel S Hamermesh
Keyword(s):  
Age Structure ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Full Length ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Pure Theory ◽  
Economics Journals ◽  
One Year ◽  
Number Of Authors

Presenting data on all full-length articles in the three top general economics journals for one year in each decade 1960s–2010s, I analyze changes in patterns of coauthorship, age structure and methodology, and their possible causes. The distribution of number of authors has shifted steadily rightward. In the last two decades, the fraction of older authors has almost quadrupled. Top journals are publishing many fewer papers that represent pure theory, regardless of subfield, somewhat less empirical work based on publicly available data sets, and many more empirical studies based on data collected by the author(s) or on laboratory or field experiments. (JEL A14)

MULFE: Multi-Label Learning via Label-Specific Feature Space Ensemble

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Yaojin Lin ◽  
Qinghua Hu ◽  
Jinghua Liu ◽  
Xingquan Zhu ◽  
Xindong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Feature Space ◽  
Training Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Feature Spaces ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Margin Distribution ◽  
Label Correlations ◽  
Label Correlation

In multi-label learning, label correlations commonly exist in the data. Such correlation not only provides useful information, but also imposes significant challenges for multi-label learning. Recently, label-specific feature embedding has been proposed to explore label-specific features from the training data, and uses feature highly customized to the multi-label set for learning. While such feature embedding methods have demonstrated good performance, the creation of the feature embedding space is only based on a single label, without considering label correlations in the data. In this article, we propose to combine multiple label-specific feature spaces, using label correlation, for multi-label learning. The proposed algorithm, mu lti- l abel-specific f eature space e nsemble (MULFE), takes consideration label-specific features, label correlation, and weighted ensemble principle to form a learning framework. By conducting clustering analysis on each label’s negative and positive instances, MULFE first creates features customized to each label. After that, MULFE utilizes the label correlation to optimize the margin distribution of the base classifiers which are induced by the related label-specific feature spaces. By combining multiple label-specific features, label correlation based weighting, and ensemble learning, MULFE achieves maximum margin multi-label classification goal through the underlying optimization framework. Empirical studies on 10 public data sets manifest the effectiveness of MULFE.

GLOBALIZATION AND INFLATION: NEW PANEL EVIDENCE

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong-Hyeon Kim ◽  
Shu-Chin Lin ◽  
Yi-Chen Wu
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Panel Cointegration ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
Heterogeneous Panel ◽  
Positive Effect

Recent empirical work on globalization and inflation analyzes multicountry data sets in panel and/or cross-section frameworks and reaches inconclusive results. This paper highlights their shortcomings and reexamines the issue utilizing heterogeneous panel cointegration techniques that allow for cross-section heterogeneity and dependence. It finds that in a sample of developing countries globalization of both trade and finance, on the average, exerts a significant and positive effect on inflation, whereas in a sample of developed countries there is, on the average, no significant impact of openness. Neither type of openness disciplines inflationary policy. Despite this, there are large variations in the effect across countries, due possibly to differences in the quality of political institutions, central bank independence, the exchange-rate regimes, financial development, and/or legal traditions.

Media portrayals of older employees: a success story?

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine van Selm ◽  
Beatrice I.J.M. Van der Heijden
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Corporate Communication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Media Portrayals ◽  
Older Employees ◽  
Age Related

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of how portrayals of older employees in mass media messages can help combating stereotypical beliefs on their employability. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a systematic review of empirical studies on mass media portrayals of older employees in order to show what these reveal about the ways in which their employment status, occupation, job type, or work setting is portrayed. The approach builds upon theory on media portrayals, media effects, and stereotypes of older workers’ employability. Findings – This study shows that older employees in media portrayals, when present at all, are relatively often shown in higher-level professional roles, herewith overall, depicting an image that is positive, yet differs from stereotypical beliefs on their employability that are prevalent in working organizations. Research limitations/implications – Further empirical work is needed to more safely conclude on the prevalence of age-related portrayals of work and employment in mass media. In addition, longitudinal research is called for in order to better understand the possible causes for the way in which older employees are portrayed, as well as effects of age-related stereotyping in mass media and corporate communication outlets over time. Practical implications – This research sparks ideas about how new portrayals of older employees in mass media and corporate communication outlets can contribute to novel approaches to managing an aging and multi-generational workforce. Social implications – This study shows how working organizations can make use of the positive and powerful media portrayals of older employees, in order to activate normal and non-ageist behaviors toward them, and herewith, to increase their life-long employability. Originality/value – This study highlights the role of media portrayals of older employees in combating stereotypes about their employability.

Gendered caregiving and structural constraints: An empirical ethical study

2020 ◽  
pp. 096973302091251
Author(s):  
Xiang Zou ◽  
Jing-Bao Nie ◽  
Ruth Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Rural China ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Current Configuration ◽  
Normative Evaluation ◽  
The Impact

Background: The pressing issue of aged care has made gendered caregiving a growing subject of feminist bioethical enquiry. However, the impact of feminism on empirical studies in the area of gendered care in Chinese sociocultural contexts has been less influential. Objectives: To examine female members’ lived experiences of gendered care in rural China and offer proper normative evaluation based on their experiences. Research design: This article adopted an empirical ethical approach that integrates ethnographical investigation and feminist ethical inquiry. Participants and research context: This article focused on three cases of gendered caregiving for sick older members collected from a 6-month fieldwork conducted in a primary hospital in rural China. Ethical consideration: Approval was obtained from the university ethics committee. Findings: The empirical work highlights caregivers’ voices of weiqu (a sense of unfairness) resulting from their constrained choice when being pressured to engage in caregiving, which is associated with a disadvantageous socio-institutional and structural backdrop in current rural China. Informed by the conception of structural injustice, the normative analysis of this article traced various forms of social norms, structural deficiencies and ageing welfare institutions, as they intertwine and transmit into additional care deficiencies against rural families and their female caregivers. Conclusion: This article identified the constraint of gender hierarchy and its intersection with external social structure that exacerbate gendered oppression and exploitation of female labour in rural China. Normatively, this article argues that the current configuration of rural family care, featured by structural impediments and exploration of female labour, is unjust. Some policy recommendations are proposed to empower caregivers and advance care for rural older people.

scholarly journals Power, pork and patronage: Decentralisation and the politicisation of the development budget in Papua New Guinea

1970 ◽  
pp. 7-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Allen ◽  
Zahid Hasnain
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
State Development ◽  
Patronage Politics ◽  
History Of

This paper examines a number of recent empirical studies of local-level decision-making in relation to development planning and, especially, the allocation of state development funds in Papua New Guinea. The discussion is framed by the extensive theoretical and Papua New Guinea literature on patronage politics and political culture, by the recent history of decentralisation reforms, and by the frequently articulated, but largely anecdotal, observations about the functioning of district and local-level governance processes.In contrast to the anecdotal vision of widespread and chronic dysfunctionality, the studies considered here paint a picture of considerable spatial and regional variation. We offer some tentative hypotheses to explain this variation, while flagging the need for more empirical work. We outline how these preliminary findings have informed a program of research that is currently being undertaken at the district and local government levels with a view to gaining a better understanding of the extent and nature of spatial variation in the local-level governance of state development funds in Papua New Guinea.

scholarly journals Vigor in the Face of Fluctuating Rates of Reward: An Experimental Examination

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3933-3938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Guitart-Masip ◽  
Ulrik R. Beierholm ◽  
Raymond Dolan ◽  
Emrah Duzel ◽  
Peter Dayan
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Average Return ◽  
The Face ◽  
Cost Of Time ◽  
Human Participants

Two fundamental questions underlie the expression of behavior, namely what to do and how vigorously to do it. The former is the topic of an overwhelming wealth of theoretical and empirical work particularly in the fields of reinforcement learning and decision-making, with various forms of affective prediction error playing key roles. Although vigor concerns motivation, and so is the subject of many empirical studies in diverse fields, it has suffered a dearth of computational models. Recently, Niv et al. [Niv, Y., Daw, N. D., Joel, D., & Dayan, P. Tonic dopamine: Opportunity costs and the control of response vigor. Psychopharmacology (Berlin), 191, 507–520, 2007] suggested that vigor should be controlled by the opportunity cost of time, which is itself determined by the average rate of reward. This coupling of reward rate and vigor can be shown to be optimal under the theory of average return reinforcement learning for a particular class of tasks but may also be a more general, perhaps hard-wired, characteristic of the architecture of control. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that healthy human participants would adjust their RTs on the basis of the average rate of reward. We measured RTs in an odd-ball discrimination task for rewards whose magnitudes varied slowly but systematically. Linear regression on the subjects' individual RTs using the time varying average rate of reward as the regressor of interest, and including nuisance regressors such as the immediate reward in a round and in the preceding round, showed that a significant fraction of the variance in subjects' RTs could indeed be explained by the rate of experienced reward. This validates one of the key proposals associated with the model, illuminating an apparently mandatory form of coupling that may involve tonic levels of dopamine.

scholarly journals The relationship between excess returns, firm size and earnings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Page ◽  
Francis Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Firm Size ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Model Misspecification ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
The United States ◽  
Excess Returns ◽  
Market Inefficiencies ◽  
Johannesburg Stock Exchange ◽  
The Relationship

While considerable empirical work has been conducted in the United States concerning excess returns and the relationship of these returns to firm size and E/P ratio, thus far, there have been few similar empirical studies conducted using Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) data. Evidence of firm size or E/P ratio effects has been ascribed by various authors to either model misspecification or market inefficiencies. In this article the evidence is examined for the South African market using 1370 company years of data over the period 1978 to 1988, and a significant earnings effect is found, but no size effect. In the analysis the problem of data bias is considered with particular emphasis on thin trading issues, and a methodology for future empirical work is described. Finally, it is suggested that the evidence can be better explained by market inefficiencies than model misspecification.

Back to the roots! Methodological situationalism and the postmodern lesson for studying tribes, practices, and assemblages

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Woermann
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Marketing Theory ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Empirical Observation ◽  
Critical Edge ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Litmus Test

This article argues that one can revive the critical edge that postmodernist theory has brought to marketing, thinking without subscribing to any particular school of (critical) theory by following the principle of methodological situationalism. The roots of postmodernist critique lie in careful empirical observation of how social reality is being constructed in local contexts. Because knowledge, subjects, power, and value are social accomplishments, they are neither fixed nor without alternative. Many key developments in marketing theory such as assemblage theory, practice and consumer tribes formulate alternative accounts of how precisely constructing social facts occur. When further advancing these and other critical approaches, it must always be taken into account that society and culture manifest in concrete, local situations. Data sets or theories that do not take the local production of social order into account, hence fail to provide sensible insight. I propose the principle of methodological situationalism as a litmus test to the analytical strength of a theory or piece of research. The principle states that theoretically adequate accounts of social phenomena must be grounded in empirical observations of manifest meaning or social order in concrete situations. This does not mean that macro-processes or structures should be ignored, but that their roots and effects in local lived life have to be scrutinized. Critical theorizing does not need to resort to utopian or ideological arguments about the grand scheme of things. Careful empirical work zooming in on social life in concrete situations will provide plenty of novel insight and critical edge.

scholarly journals OutRank: A GRAPH-BASED OUTLIER DETECTION FRAMEWORK USING RANDOM WALK

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
pp. 19-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. D. K. MOONESINGHE ◽  
PANG-NING TAN
Keyword(s):  
Outlier Detection ◽  
Markov Chain Model ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Graph Representation ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Chain Model ◽  
Stochastic Graph ◽  
Object Similarity ◽  
Detection Schemes

This paper introduces a stochastic graph-based algorithm, called OutRank, for detecting outliers in data. We consider two approaches for constructing a graph representation of the data, based on the object similarity and number of shared neighbors between objects. The heart of this approach is the Markov chain model that is built upon this graph, which assigns an outlier score to each object. Using this framework, we show that our algorithm is more robust than the existing outlier detection schemes and can effectively address the inherent problems of such schemes. Empirical studies conducted on both real and synthetic data sets show that significant improvements in detection rate and false alarm rate are achieved using the proposed framework.

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