An Investigation of the Practice of Respecting Civil and Commercial Customs in the Early Republican Period

In spite of frequent changes in political power and social unrest in the early Republican period, state organs and social organizations showed great concern and respect for the popular customs.     

An Investigation of De-agriculturalization and Changes in the Position of Rural Women in the Family──The Example of Zhejiang Province

I. IntroductionThe rural areas of Zhejiang province in China are one of the regionswith a higher degree of de-agriculturalization, which roughly correspondsto that in rural areas throughout the country. De-agriculturalization inthese areas has gone through five stages: From 1949 to 1957, which wasthe embryonic stage of rural industry; from 1958 to 1959 was the stage ofthe people's commune industries; from 1959 to 1965 was a period ofreadjustment to non-agricultural enterprises; from 1966 to 1…     

Sunk ‘Decision Points’: a theory of the endowment effect and present bias

Theory and Decision - This paper presents a very simple model in which situational cues associated with a particular consumption good compel an agent—who may have otherwise been...     

An Analysis of the Determinants of the Changes in China’s Foreign Exchange Reserves’ Nominal and Real Rates of Return

We use decomposition and regression to examine the reasons for the changes in nominal and real rates of return of China’s foreign exchange reserves between 2002 and 2009. The results show that the US financial market risk premium is the most important determinant of changes in the nominal rate of return, while the US dollar exchange rate and the bulk commodity price are the two key determinants of changes in the real rate of return. From empirically based research, one may conclude that the loose monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve increases China’s foreign exchange reserves’ nominal rate of return but decreases the real rate of return and that the European debt crisis has an uncertain impact on China’s foreign exchange reserves’ nominal rate of return but may well raise the real rate of return.     

The Political Impetus behind the Construction of Anti-corruption Institutions in Developing Countries: An Analysis of the Process Leading up to India’s Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act (LALA)*

Existing anti-corruption theories adopt “state-centric,” “market-centric” or “governance/ good governance” approaches as their dominant research direction. These theories are grounded in Western systems of liberty and democracy and their analysis is couched in terms of the logic of the division between public and private, which makes it difficult for their proponents to gain an insight into the unique experience of developing countries. The process behind India’s Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act (LALA), starting from 2010, shows that developing countries may have another anti-corruption route: a composite tripartite anti-corruption model. In this model, the government, the elite and the mass of the people constitute the three main players in the anti-corruption drive. The three forms a complex multi-faceted relationship premised on compliance with bottom-line standards and the use of positive interaction in a dynamic balance that advances the construction of anti-corruption institutions. Summing up the experience and synthesizing the theory of this model will not only help us explore a new anti-corruption approach but will also stimulate our thinking about the unique state-society relationships of developing countries and the political impetus underlying their institutional construction.     

Solutions to the Challenge of Meeting Rural Transportation Needs: Middle-Aged and Older Adults’ Perspectives

This study aimed to explore how the aging population in Appalachia manages its transportation and plans for the transition to non-driving and to seek possible solutions to the challenge of meeting rural transportation needs. Four focus groups (N = 38) were conducted, supplemented by a questionnaire, in Appalachian Kentucky. The results showed that few alternative transportation existed except a local paratransit service and informal transportation support. Compared to older adults, middle-aged adults reported a greater willingness to use mobile phones and the Internet to arrange transportation if they were available. Participants also recommended expanding the use of existing transportation in the community – such as church vans – to better meet the aging population’s needs. The findings suggest that partnership between government, non-profit, and private sectors is needed, not solely focusing on a tax-dependent solution. Additionally, information and communication technology-based transportation management system would help maximize the use of scare but existing resources in rural areas.     

The Diversification of Children’s Support for Their Parents in the Context of an Aging Society: Concepts and Behavior*

China’s aging society and the family-based model of basic aged care determine that children’s support for their parents directly affects the standard of living of the majority of the aging population. Existing theories indicate that in this era of social transition, the implications of filial piety have shifted from the traditional emphasis on the parent-child generational relationship and children’s duty to obey their parents to a dual mode in which family love coexists with the authority of the elders. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey of 2006, we explore the ways in which the two basic dimensions of authoritarian filial piety and reciprocal filial piety connect with various types of filial behavior. The results of our multivariate linear model show that on average, authoritarian filial piety, which emphasizes authority relationships and children’s duty, increases children’s financial support for their parents, while reciprocal filial piety, stressing family love and generational equality, significantly increases children’s emotional support for their parents. A comparison of the basic dimensions of filial piety shows that neither significantly increases children’s physical support for their parents. Further analysis of the interaction effect indicates that the link between authoritarian filial piety and financial support is more significant among younger groups. In addition, for males, a marginally significant positive relation exists between authoritarian filial piety and physical support for their parents.     

Probability weighting and the ‘level’ and ‘spacing’ of outcomes: An experimental study over losses

The main goal of the experimental study described in this paper is to investigate the sensitivity of probability weighting to the payoff structure of the gambling situation—namely the level of consequences at stake and the spacing between them—in the loss domain. For that purpose, three kinds of gambles are introduced: two kinds of homogeneous gambles (involving either small or large losses), and heterogeneous gambles involving both large and small losses. The findings suggest that at least for moderate/high probability of loss do both ‘level’ and ‘spacing’ effects reach significance, with the impact of ‘spacing’ being both opposite to and stronger than the impact of ‘level’. As compared to small-loss gambles, large-loss gambles appear to enhance probabilistic optimism, while heterogeneous gambles tend to increase pessimism.

Revisiting the ‘feminisation of poverty’ in Korea: focused on time use and time poverty

This study aims to analyse the feminisation of poverty in Korea focusing on time use and time poverty. Time conditions are compared for the categories of poor and non-poor men, and poor and non-poor women. Inequality in between-group and within-group working time is analysed through the Theil Index Decomposition. The analysis results reveal that women experience multiple poverties in the process of working long hours to ensure household survival. This phenomenon is more serious in the case of poor female household members. There are also high levels of inequality in unpaid work, which is mostly carried out by women.     

Search and research: the influence of editorial boards on journals’ quality

This paper considers the search for the best papers by the editors of an academic journal. At each period, each editor receives a set of submissions and has to decide which paper to accept. Some editors being more demanding than others, researchers choose the quality level of their papers taking as given the composition of the editorial board. According to the specific structures of the editorial board, various equilibria may appear. We show that the journal will publish a high number of high quality papers only when the editorial board is composed by a homogeneous set of very demanding editors.     

Making sense of nuclear war: narratives of voluntary civil defence and the memory of Britain’s Cold War

In interviews with members of Britain’s Civil Defence Services, experiences of Cold War voluntarism are recalled in different ways. Some remembered their desire to help defend their nation and local community. Others remembered making a leisure choice that had little connection to the potential nuclear war the organization was ostensibly preparing for. No one provided a well-developed account of civil defence’s ability to provide a defence against the effects of a nuclear war. Popular memory theorists suggest cultural discourse limits the ability of individuals to narrate stories that do not align with culturally valued frameworks: in this case, dominant understandings of civil defence as at best ridiculous or at worst dangerous were established in the 1980s. This article argues that memories of civil defence voluntarism in the 1950-60s have been shaped by these discourses, but that individuals were able to express the different meanings civil defence had in their lives in ways that provide a more nuanced and holistic picture of the intersections of leisure, service and sociability that made up civil defence. As such, it argues that oral history allows us to understand the various ‘horizons of possibility’ that made up individual experiences of the Cold War.     

A Qualitative Evaluation of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Turkey: The Beneficiaries’ and Key Informants’ Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Since the 2001 economic crisis, conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been provided to poor families in Turkey to improve education and health outcomes of children. Under the framework of CCT programs, grants provide an incentive for poor households to use available basic social services. The aim of this study is to explore beneficiaries’ perspectives in relation to a CCT program in Turkey. The in-depth study design entailed semistructured qualitative interviews with beneficiary households and key informants. A total of 397 in-depth interviews were conducted. Analysis results suggest that the CCT program not only positively affected health and educational outcomes, but also contributed to the empowerment of women and improved the self-esteem and self-confidence of beneficiary children. Recommendations for future research are made including the need for an impact evaluation analysis that employs quantitative research methods designed to improve the provision and quality of the basic social services.     

Gender Conflicts and the Limits of Political Democratization in the Early Years of the Republic:As Exemplified by the Proposal for Women Suffrage

Soon after the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911 the Provisional Revolutionary Government was set up at Nanjing. Lin Zongsu, Tang Qunying and other woman revolutionaries submitted in March 1912 a proposal for woman suffrage to the Senate at Nanjing. The Senate turned down the motion, giving rise women petitioners' creating turmoil in the Senate. With the northward movement of the Provisional Senate, the center of the woman suffrage petition movement also shifted to Beijing. They once     

‘Civic’ police and the condition of liberty: the rationality of governance in eighteenth-century England

In this article it is argued that previous attempts to understand the organization of eighteenthcentury systems of police have failed to take into account the political implications of governmental organization. Examining the office of constable in terms of the contemporary governmental imagination reveals that concerns with the independence of the officers and the need to ward against ‘corruption’ are not simply practical requirements. The unpaid, sequential nature of eighteenth-century police service was defined in terms of the classical model of civic duty, which saw active participation in government and the rotation of public office as key conditions of the free state, and as such the liberty of the citizens. This vision of freedom as a condition of freedom from dependence or domination, not an absence of interference, was instrumental in defining the way the system of police was debated and reformed over the course of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Given that ‘police’ in this period represents a much wider programme of administration than the simple control of law and order, this has implications for our understanding of the structure of eighteenth-century government in general.