scholarly journals Peer Effects in Legislative Voting

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 156-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaj Harmon ◽  
Raymond Fisman ◽  
Emir Kamenica
Keyword(s):  
Peer Effects ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Percent Reduction ◽  
Legislative Voting ◽  
The Past

We exploit seating rules in the European Parliament to identify peer effects in legislative voting. Sitting adjacently leads to a 7 percent reduction in the overall likelihood that two members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the same party differ in their vote. Peer effects are markedly stronger among pairs of women, MEP pairs from the same country, and in close votes. Using variation in seating across the parliament's two venues (Brussels and Strasbourg), we show that peer effects are persistent: MEPs who have sat together in the past disagree less even when they are not seated adjacently. (JEL D72, Z13)

Le parlement européen : Comparaison des résultats de juin 1979 et portrait de l'Assemblée élue

Res Publica ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-501
Author(s):  
Dusan Sidjanski
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
European Community ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
General Distribution ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Minor Parties ◽  
The Past ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
Comparison Of The Results

The results of the first European elections reflect the general distribution of the European electorate slightly center-right oriented, even if the abstentionism of almost 40 % caused some distorsions as in the case of United Kingdom. After the comparison of the results, state by state, it appears globally that the socialists ( 113) and liberals (40) regressed, the gaullists and their allies (22) suffered a serious defeat, white the christian democrats ( 107) and the communists (44) progressed and some minor parties (leftists and regionalists) entered the European Parliament.The second part contains a portrait of the new European Parliament which is younger than its predecessor, has more women including its president and has many high personnalities. As in the past, the political groupsplay a central and dynamic role. The question is to know if they will be capable of maintaining their cohesion. The examined cases give no evidence of the existence of the center-right majority in front of the left opposition. In fact, there were changing coalitions and voting constellations according to different problems, ideological options or concrete choices. The recent vote rejecting the proposed budget expresses a will of the European Parliament to impose its style and its democratic control on the European Community.

Off the Record: Unrecorded Legislative Votes, Selection Bias and Roll-Call Vote Analysis

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 691-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLIFFORD J. CARRUBBA ◽  
MATTHEW GABEL ◽  
LACEY MURRAH ◽  
RYAN CLOUGH ◽  
ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Random Sample ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
General Study ◽  
Roll Call Vote ◽  
Legislative Voting ◽  
Sampling Problem ◽  
The Universe

Scholars often use roll-call votes to study legislative behaviour. However, many legislatures only conclude a minority of decisions by roll call. Thus, if these votes are not a random sample of the universe of votes cast, scholars may be drawing misleading inferences. In fact, theories over why roll-call votes are requested would predict selection bias based on exactly the characteristics of legislative voting that scholars have most heavily studied. This article demonstrates the character and severity of this sampling problem empirically by examining European Parliament vote data for a whole year. Given that many legislatures decided only a fraction of their legislation by roll call, these findings have potentially important implications for the general study of legislative behaviour.

scholarly journals Editorial: Beyond Cognitive Ability

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Srecko Joksimovic ◽  
George Siemens ◽  
Yuan Elle Wang ◽  
M. O. Z. San Pedro ◽  
Jason Way
Keyword(s):  
Peer Effects ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Memory Encoding ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis

The past 70 years of research in learning has primarily favoured a cognitive perspective. As such, learning and learning performance were measured based on factors such as memory, encoding, and retrieval. More sophisticated learning activities, such as perspective changes, still relied on a fundamental cognitive architecture (Dunlosky & Rawson, 2019). Early researchers advocating for a constructivist learning lens, such as Piaget, also assessed development on a range of cognitive tasks. Over the past several decades, this view of learning as cognitive has given rise to a range of augmenting perspectives. Researchers increasingly focus on mindsets, social learning, peer effects, self-regulation, and self-perception to evaluate the broader scope of learning. For learning analytics (LA), this transition has important implications for data collection and analysis, tools and technologies used, research design, and experimentation. This special issue continues existing conversations around LA and emerging competencies (Dawson & Siemens, 2014; Buckingham Shum & Crick, 2016) but also reflects the growing number of researchers engaging with these topics.

Background and activities of members of the European Parliament

Res Publica ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
Emil J. Kirchner
Keyword(s):  
European Parliament ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Experience ◽  
Written Questions

This article argues that the development of the European Parliament (EP) is largely in the hands of the Members of this Parliament (MEPs).Empirical questions are posed whether a) age and prior political experience (parliamentary and ministerial) are determinants of MEPs' levels of activities (number and length of interventions in debates and written questions) ; and b) MEPs concentrate their activities on those issues where the Parliament has the potential to gain powers. The empirical examination deals with the first three years of the directly elected EP and centres on the British, Benelux and Irish MEPs. Whilst age and prior political experience were found to be important determinants for levels of activities, the activities themselves do not appear to be focusing attention on those issues where the EP has in the past gained powers in line with institutional changes.

Het gebruik van de voorkeurstem bij de regionale en Europese parlementsverkiezingen van 13 juni 2004

Res Publica ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 377-412
Author(s):  
Bram Wauters ◽  
Karolien Weekers ◽  
Jean-Benoît Pilet
Keyword(s):  
European Parliament ◽  
European Elections ◽  
The Past ◽  
Preferential Vote ◽  
Electoral Laws ◽  
Campaign Expenditures

On 13 June 2003, elections for both the regional parliaments and the European Parliament were held in Belgium.The percentage of voters casting a preferential vote increased when compared with the previous regional and European elections of 1999, reaching scores clearly higher than 60%.  The new electoral laws are one explanation for this increase, together with societal evolutions, such as individualism, anti-party feelings, personalization of polities and the appearance of cartels. In comparison with the federal elections of 2003 however, there was a decrease in prererential voting, due to lower campaign expenditures and to the success of parties that traditionally do not attract many preferential votes.  Voters can also cast a vote for several candidates figuring on the same party list, which is contrary to the past done quite frequently now. Finally, more candidates than ever succeeded in becoming elected out oî the order of the party list.

Language Minorities and Language Maintenance

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 30-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Edwards
Keyword(s):  
European Community ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Institutions ◽  
Language Minorities ◽  
Indigenous Minorities

The position of minority groups and the maintenance of their languages are very much in the news today. For (largely) indigenous minorities, consider the case of continental Europe: As it moves—sometimes erratically—towards federalism, its minorities and its “stateless” peoples are pressing for increased and improved recognition. In October 1981, the European Parliament adopted the Arfé resolution, providing such recognition. A number of further developments have occurred, important among which was the establishment in 1982 of the Dublin-based Bureau for Lesser Used Languages. Its Secretary-General recently observed that:If our languages have been ignored in the past by European institutions this is no longer the case. The European Community is positive towards the cause of our languages and now includes in its budget a provision of 3.5 million ECU to promote regional and minority languages and cultures (Breathnach 1993:1). (See also Baetens Beardsmore 1993; 1994, Edwards 1994a, Sikma and Gorter 1991.)

A database about the Members of European Parliament: Contributions and limitations of automated data collection in the study of European political elites

2021 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-141
Author(s):  
Sébastien Michon ◽  
Eric Wiest
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Open Data ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Automated Data Collection ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Group ◽  
Members Of European Parliament

Over the past 25 years, a field of research concerning the careers of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) has developed. Drawing on a massive amount of accessible open data, we have assembled an updated database including all MEPs from 1979 to September 2019. In this note, we describe the data collection processes and the construction of the database. Then, we propose an application concerning the turnover at the EP following the 2019 European elections. The longitudinal perspective provided by the database allows us to describe this turnover, which is important, but varies greatly according to nationality and political group, and does not fundamentally alter the division of parliamentary power. Finally, we identify some limitations: the lack of data in MEP profiles and difficulties both in the comparison between people from 27 countries and the comparison over a long period (1979–2019). As a result, the article shows that automated data collection can be very useful. However, in the case of individuals, as MEPs, it should be seen as a complementary source to other sources.

scholarly journals A Passage to America: University Funding and International Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-126
Author(s):  
John Bound ◽  
Breno Braga ◽  
Gaurav Khanna ◽  
Sarah Turner
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Research Universities ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
State Appropriations ◽  
Public Research ◽  
Percent Reduction ◽  
The Past ◽  
University Funding ◽  
Public Research Universities

The number of international undergraduate students at US public research universities increased dramatically over the past two decades, alongside concurrent reductions in state support for universities. We show that these trends are closely connected as public research universities relied on foreign students to cushion the effects of falling appropriations. The growing capacity in emerging economies to pay for a US education provided opportunities for universities to recover revenues from full-fare-paying foreign students. We estimate that between 1996 and 2012, a 10 percent reduction in state appropriations led to an increase in foreign enrollment of 16 percent at public research universities. (JEL H75, I22, I23)

The Jacksonian as Leveller

1980 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ashworth
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Belief System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Standard View ◽  
Legislative Voting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Social ◽  
Democratic Ideology

Over the past two decades Jacksonian historiography has been enriched by the publication of a large number of scholarly articles and monographs. Legislative voting in the states and in Congress has been analysed, the social composition of the two major parties has been studied, the mechanics of the political system have been scrutinized and political ideas have been reexamined. The present article will be concerned with ideology, the belief system of the Jacksonian Democratic party. It will deal specifically with the Jacksonian conception of equality. Surprisingly, this is a facet of Democratic ideology to which relatively little attention has been paid.In The American Political Tradition, published in 1948, Richard Hofstadter presented what is perhaps the standard view of Jacksonian equality. He cited Andrew Jackson's Bank Veto Message of 1832. Jackson here affirmed thatDistinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth cannot be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law.Hofstadter concluded that this was “certainly … not the philosophy of a radical leveling movement that proposes to uproot property or to reconstruct society along drastically different lines.”

scholarly journals Saving the horseshoe crab: A synthetic alternative to horseshoe crab blood for endotoxin detection

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Maloney ◽  
Ryan Phelan ◽  
Naira Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Horseshoe Crab ◽  
Percent Reduction ◽  
Animal Products ◽  
The Past ◽  
Safe Production ◽  
Horseshoe Crabs ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industries ◽  
Biomedical Industry ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Factor C

Horseshoe crabs have been integral to the safe production of vaccines and injectable medications for the past forty years. The bleeding of live horseshoe crabs, a process that leaves thousands dead annually, is an ecologically unsustainable practice for all four species of horseshoe crab and the shorebirds that rely on their eggs as a primary food source during spring migration. Populations of both horseshoe crabs and shorebirds are in decline. This study confirms the efficacy of recombinant Factor C, a synthetic alternative that eliminates the need for animal products in endotoxin detection. Furthermore, our findings confirm that the biomedical industry can achieve a 90-percent reduction in the use of reagents derived from horseshoe crabs by using the synthetic alternative for the testing of water and other common materials used in during the manufacturing process. This represents an extraordinary opportunity for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries to significantly contribute to the conservation of horseshoe crabs and the birds that depend on them.

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