Asymptotic approximations to the gain of the 2shi over stein estimators in linear regression models when the disturbances are small

The paper considers a new family of explicit or fully operational two-stage Stein or hierarchial information (2SHI) estimators for linear regression models, and provides an expression for the difference between the risks of these estimators and the usual Stein-rule estimator when the variance of the disturbance is small. The condition under which the 2SHI estimators have smaller average MSE than the Stein-rule estimator is also given.     

Corporate Governance und Eigenkapitalkosten - Bestandsaufnahme des Schrifttums unter besonderer Ber��cksichtigung des Informationsaspektes und Forschungsperspektiven

The present paper provides an overview of research concerning the relationship between corporate governance and the cost of equity capital. The purpose is to explore whether and to what extent corporate governance attributes manifest in firms?? cost of capital. Since the separation of ownership and control is seen as the starting point for the academic thinking on this issue, the term of corporate governance from a shareholder perspective is discussed in more detail. Apart from this terminological discussion the emphasis of this paper lies on the critical review of theoretical and empirical literature. In conducting this review, empirical concepts measuring the relevant dimensions and their potential limitations are explained. Based on these limitations I suggest opportunities for expanding research on the relationship between corporate governance and cost of equity capital, thereby showing future research directions.     

A System of Sustainability Indicators for the Province of Thai Binh,Vietnam

Sustainable Development is a broad and universal concept. Indicators are a basis to measure sustainability and to direct policies that aim to achieve a better quality of life. Thai Binh, a coastal province in North Vietnam is strongly concerned about strategic sustainability development. To select a system of sustainability indicators, the Delphi method was applied in 2012. A two-round questionnaire was organized to use with 32 experts, who acted as participants. 69 indicators were selected from 98 listed indicators: 15 related to economic development, 5 to the sea and coastal zone, 1 to the global economic partnership, 4 to consumption and production patterns, 7 to poverty, 3 to governance, 9 to health, 4 to education, 3 to demographics, 2 to natural hazards, 5 to atmosphere, 7 to land, and 3 to freshwater. Conversely, 29 other indicators were rejected. The Delphi method allows indicator selection for identification of the process of sustainability. The system of indicators, as the first important step of the sustainable development process, provides useful information for decision makers and planners as well sustainability strategy. It is planned that the indicators selected should be applied in the province.     

Does greater household wealth make young children perform better? The case of Vietnam

Our study examines factors affecting children's cognitive ability in Vietnam for the period 2006–2016. We find that conditional wealth has a positive association with the cognitive capacity of 15-year-old children, manifested in all three methods of measurement: vocabulary points, math scores and reading comprehension scores in Vietnamese. Notably, the finding implies that improving household wealth after the children's first 1,000 days still plays an important role in the cognitive development of 5–12-year-olds. Also, it suggests that using conditional wealth enables us to capture the impact of economic shocks, thereby having a significant effect on the cognitive ability of children.     

Further results on the two-stage hierarchial information (2shi) estimators in the linear regression models

The paper considers a class of 2SHI estimators for the linear regression models and provides some results regarding the dominance in quadratic loss of this class over the OLS and usual Stein-rule estimators.     

Economics students need not be greedy: Fairness and the ultimatum game

Following Adam Smith, conventional economics gives self-interest the primary role of all economic behavior. However, past experiments with the ultimatum game often produce outcomes inconsistent with this orthodox conception of ‘economic man.’ In our replication of the ultimatum experiment, students at a small, liberal arts college do not allocate monetary rewards in a self-interested manner, but rather their choices conform with the social norm of ‘fairness’ (i.e., a 50/50 split). Contrary to past research, we find that economic majors are less motivated by self-interest than other students.     

Religious and Spiritual Dimensions of the Vietnamese Dementia Caregiving Experience

This paper focuses on the role of religion and spirituality in dementia caregiving among Vietnamese refugee families. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with nine Vietnamese caregivers of persons with dementia, then tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for emergent themes. Caregivers related their spirituality/religion to three aspects of caregiving: (1) their own suffering, (2) their motivations for providing care, and (3) their understanding of the nature of the illness. Key terms or idioms were used to articulate spiritual/religious dimensions of the caregivers' experience, which included sacrifice, compassion, karma, blessings, grace and peace of mind. In their narratives, the caregivers often combined multiple strands of different religions and/or spiritualities: Animism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Catholicism. Case studies are presented to illustrate the relationship between religion/spirituality and the domains of caregiving. These findings have relevance for psychotherapeutic interventions with ethnically diverse populations.     

A measure of English acculturation stress and its relationships with psychological and physical health status in a sample of elderly Russian immigrants

This study aims to evaluate the factor structure and criterion validity of the English Language Acculturation Stress (ELAS) scale in a community-based sample of elderly Russian immigrants. The sample consists of 300 Russian immigrants with an equal number of females and males, from 59 to 93 years of age (Mean = 73.26, SD = 7.271). The majority of the respondents were married (72%) at the time the interviews were conducted. On average, the respondents have lived in the U.S. for about 7 years (SD = 3.00). We performed both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to ascertain the factor structure or conceptual dimensions of the 11-item ELAS scale. The findings revealed that this 11-item scale encompasses three dimensions: Basic English skills, survival English skills, and social involvement English skills. Correlation analyses of the scale with depression, physical health status, and length of residence suggest that the ELAS has good criterion validity and potential as a screening instrument of language acculturation stress for elderly Russian immigrants. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Women in waste collection and recycling in Hochiminh City

The generation and management of urban solid waste is an urgent and growing problem in Hochiminh City, as elsewhere in the world. An important contribution to solving the city's waste management problem is made by the recycling industry. The well-organized private system of collection, trade and recycling includes door-to-door itinerant buyers, entirely women, who buy solid waste products from households; a range of small, medium, and big shopkeepers who purchase waste from the buyers; middle-men who link the shopkeepers with the recyclers; and the recycling or production units that transform products for sale to consumers. Earnings of itinerant buyers are low and may be declining. However, their self-employment is critical because they are often the main economic support of their families. Shopkeepers enjoy better standards of living but economic competition and recent environmental regulations threaten the survival of the industry. Policy options are offered for attempting to ensure the survival of recyclers and itinerant buyers, those     

R&D in a post centrally-planned economy: The macroeconomic effects in Poland

Half a century of centrally planned policy in the Central and Eastern European countries resulted in outdated technologies, inefficient allocation of resources and low productivity. Following the end of communism there was a fifteen year process of transition which ended in 2004 with eight post-communist countries joining the European Union (EU) of which Poland was the largest. As part of the EU these countries now face the challenge of the common EU strategy Europe 2020, which has set the target of achieving R&D expenditure to GDP ratio (called the R&D intensity) of 3% by 2020 for the Union as a whole in an effort to increase the competitiveness of the region. Poland, like the other post-communist countries, faces a lower target of R&D intensity, set at 1.7%. Nevertheless, the challenge is immense, since the country is still at only half that level and has little experience in developing policies to help achieve it. In this paper we tested two possible policy options to achieve the target: (1) to increase government expenditures on R&D and; (2) to provide tax relief on R&D to businesses. The method applied to assess the options is a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Poland with an explicit link between productivity and R&D stock. The results show that achieving the R&D intensity target via the use of tax relief is 2.5 times more costly to the government budget, but it has a greater impact on the economy in terms of a higher GDP growth. Tax relief proved efficient in the short run while in the long run the government expenditure policy provides better value for money.