The myth of price convergence under economic integration: A proposed explanation for the difference in food prices across European countries

Conventional globalization theory states that regional economic integration will precede price standardization across participating countries due to the increased buying power of large retail groups and parallel imports. The resulting price corridor should merely reflect differences in logistic costs and short-term, local competitive actions. Yet, this study uses panel data from 25 European countries to examine how hefty food and beverage price differentials between regions remained constant over the last decade. Income, store productivity, and market concentration all contribute to the explanation for regional price differences. These findings suggest that, contrary to straight-line globalization theory, large European retailers’ decisions can influence price convergence and maintain important price dispersion between economically integrated countries. We provide recommendations to enhance market integration.     

董事会社会资本、公司领导权结构对企业R&D投入程度的影响研究

基于资源依赖理论与管家理论,从内部治理层面探讨董事会社会资本在企业研发战略中的作用.首先构建董事会社会资本模型,同时引入董事会领导权结构,探讨董事会社会资本对企业研发投入的影响机理及边界条件.通过对2010～2012年制造业主板上市公司数据进行实证分析,结果表明:董事会社会资本对企业研发投入有积极的促进作用,并且董事会领导权两职合一时这种促进作用更显著.     

Mobilising diasporas for justice. Opportunity structures and the presencing of a violent past

ABSTRACT

This article investigates how the global dominance of the transitional justice (TJ) discourse and practice – and the controversies and conflicts that arise around TJ – have come to make up an important context for diaspora mobilisation. The article looks at the increasingly globalised mechanisms and norms of transitional justice as a set of opportunity structures – political, legal and discursive – which shape diaspora mobilisation. Diaspora engagement in commemoration, truth-seeking and legal justice in relation to atrocities in Rwanda and Sri Lanka is studied. The article shows that in relation to Rwanda, state dominance and divides are largely replicated in the diasporic space, while the Sri Lankan case provides examples of how Tamil diaspora engagement have been able to reverse power dynamics around TJ. Combining opportunity structures with the concept of ‘past presencing’, the article shows how diaspora groups appropriate and strategise in relation to the dominant norms and practices of TJ, and how in doing so the past is performed and experienced in ways which are both personally and politically meaningful.     

Occupy the government: Analyzing presidential and congressional discursive response to movement repression

I examine the role of Occupy Wall Street in shifting presidential and congressional discourse on economic fairness and inequality. Using data from 4646 presidential speeches and 1256 congressional records from 2009 to 2015, I test different mechanisms, including repression, media coverage, public opinion, and presidential agenda-setting by applying a novel combination of web scraping, natural language processing, and time series models. I suggest that movement success can be measured in its ability to shape discursive opportunity structures, and I argue that the role of the president should be at the forefront of social movements research. Ultimately, I demonstrate (1) that the repression of Occupy protesters not only predicts media coverage but also increases discursive opportunities through President Obama and Congress, (2) that media coverage of Occupy predicts presidential discourse, (3) that the president's rhetorical shift increases congressional response, and (4) that this change persists after the movement faltered.     

Unsettling Universities' Incongruous,Gendered Bureaucratic Structures: A Case‐study Approach

Recent research shows that women faculty members in academia continue to face systemic barriers to opportunity and advancement and that these barriers are particularly strong in science and engineering, and in university administration. University administrators and faculty members, however, have been slow to recognize that systemically gendered barriers will have to be reduced or eliminated in order for women faculty to advance in their careers. One key problem is that many, if not most, leaders in powerful decision‐making roles in universities continue to embrace women‐centred explanations for gender disparities in advancement through the academic ranks. University leaders' lack of recognition of institutionalized gender barriers suggests the need for greater dissemination of research findings (and training) about how systemic barriers operate and why these barriers disproportionately disadvantage women. In this article I first theorize universities as incongruous, gendered bureaucratic structures. I then outline an intervention strategy for enabling university faculty members and administrators to see incongruous, gendered bureaucratic structures and to then use this knowledge to develop strategies for addressing the problem of women's underrepresentation among science and engineering faculty. The strategy described is a case‐study approach recently implemented at a mid‐sized research‐intensive university in the US Midwest. The workshop was part of a broader university programme aimed at transforming the university's cultures, practices and structures in ways that help to enhance the recruitment, retention and promotion of women scientists. I conclude by discussing the benefits and limitations of the case‐study approach as a method for unsettling accepted knowledge about the gendered structures and normative practices of the university.     

Methodological decisions and the evaluation of possible effects of different family structures on children: The new family structures survey (NFSS)

Every social science researcher must make a number of methodological decisions when planning and implementing research projects. Each such decision carries with it both advantages and limitations. The decisions faced and made by Regnerus (2012) are discussed here in the wider context of social science literature regarding same-sex parenting. Even though the apparent outcomes of Regnerus’s study were unpopular, the methodological decisions he made in the design and implementation of the New Family Structures Survey were not uncommon among social scientists, including many progressive, gay and lesbian scholars. These decisions and the research they produced deserve considerable and continued discussion, but criticisms of the underlying ethics and professionalism are misplaced because nearly every methodological decision that was made has ample precedents in research published by many other credible and distinguished scholars.     

Bringing the owners back in: An analysis of a 3-mode interlock network

This paper examines the association between ownership and director interlocks in Swedish big business during the period 1990–2005. By analyses of the 3-mode network of owners, firms, and directors, multiple director assignments are shown to be highly dependent on owner interlocks. The findings provide a new understanding of the mechanisms behind the formation of director interlocks. Furthermore, the association between the interlock types suggests that the ownership network may potentially (co-)produce some of the phenomena that have been attributed to the director network. Future analyses of director interlocks have to bring the owners back in.     

Intergenerational-Multigenerational Relationships

Abstract

Multigenerational and intergenerational relations are used interchangeably by the United Nations in official documents. However, the terms are not universally considered synonymous. This article explores the origin of terminology usage and how these terms are used differentially in the literature on intergenerational relationships. It also places the discussion within a global framework by linking it to the United Nations Second World Assembly on Ageing and the International Plan of Action on Ageing Madrid 2002.     

Sri Lanka: an exploration of the systemic erosion of stability

Abstract

In Sri Lanka tremendous expertise is employed in thinking and manoeuvring around the personalities that shape the outcomes that beset the country. Such expertise is the bread and butter of the political and business circles, which is equally well reflected in the media and realistically respected in the NGO and international circuit.

What is disconcerting however is the almost oblivious attention paid to matters of structure and functionality. Yet Sri Lanka is rife with structural and functional anomalies, which is positioned to terminally gnaw at advantages gained by changes in governments, peace talks, poverty reduction, etc. Using the example of the Public Administration System and the democratically elected Presidential and Parliamentary process explained is the structural and functional impediments that are crying out for serious remedy.

There is a vital homeostatic balance that is exercised between the parliament and the Public Administration System as a result of the former being elected and the latter employed on tenure. This translates to the Public Administration System being able to afford to think long term (since their tenure is secure) whilst being tempered by parliament's shorter range thinking occasioned by the politician's need to show results to entice its next bout of votes. In essence, this twofold structure serves to foster the seeking of a homeostatic balance between the long-and short-term needs of the country.

In Sri Lanka by constitutional and other legislative enactments various homeostatic relationships between races, languages, time spans etc. have been (un)wittingly flouted. These aspects are diagnosed using the cybernetic concepts of homeostasis and ultrastability.     

分析电磁散射问题的MGFFT方法

采用多重网格法（ＭＧ）分析电大尺寸物体的电磁散射，这种ＭＧ方法与已有的几种多重矩量法有本质的不同，与其他多层方法相比，它是一种高效率的迭代方法。再利用积分方程的卷积特性引入ＦＦＴ方法快速计算迭代过程中矩阵与矢量的乘积，从而构成ＭＧＦＦＴ新算法，数值结果表明ＭＧＦＦＴ方法具有很高的计算效率，适用于电大尺寸问题的分析。