Human Resource Development in Asia – Thriving on dynamism & change: Reflections from 2006 Asian HRD conference

This article discusses the experiences of the conference management team and the host (Universiti Putra Malaysia -UPM) of the Fifth Asian Conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development, held in Putrajaya, Malaysia from 2 to 5 December 2006. In reviewing the conference, the following sub-topics are used for organizing the contents of the article: HRD in Malaysia; conference theme & overview; participations/country representations and paper streams; keynote addresses; conference assessment; and conclusions. At the end, brief perspectives of the next Asian HRD conference to be held in China are also provided.     

Revolt on the Nile: Economic Shocks,Religion, and Political Power

Using centuries of Nile flood data, I document that during deviant Nile floods, Egypt's highest‐ranking religious authority was less likely to be replaced and relative allocations to religious structures increased. These findings are consistent with historical evidence that Nile shocks increased this authority's political influence by raising the probability he could coordinate a revolt. I find that the available data provide support for this interpretation and weigh against some of the most plausible alternatives. For example, I show that while Nile shocks increased historical references to social unrest, deviant floods did not increase a proxy for popular religiosity. Together, the results suggest an increase in the political power of religious leaders during periods of economic downturn.     

Testing for Common Conditionally Heteroskedastic Factors

This paper proposes a test for common conditionally heteroskedastic (CH) features in asset returns. Following Engle and Kozicki (1993), the common CH features property is expressed in terms of testable overidentifying moment restrictions. However, as we show, these moment conditions have a degenerate Jacobian matrix at the true parameter value and therefore the standard asymptotic results of Hansen (1982) do not apply. We show in this context that Hansen's (1982) J‐test statistic is asymptotically distributed as the minimum of the limit of a certain random process with a markedly nonstandard distribution. If two assets are considered, this asymptotic distribution is a fifty–fifty mixture of χ²_H−1 and χ²_H, where H is the number of moment conditions, as opposed to a χ²_H−1. With more than two assets, this distribution lies between the χ²_H−p and χ²_H (p denotes the number of parameters). These results show that ignoring the lack of first‐order identification of the moment condition model leads to oversized tests with a possibly increasing overrejection rate with the number of assets. A Monte Carlo study illustrates these findings.     

Nonparametric Estimation in Random Coefficients Binary Choice Models

This paper considers random coefficients binary choice models. The main goal is to estimate the density of the random coefficients nonparametrically. This is an ill‐posed inverse problem characterized by an integral transform. A new density estimator for the random coefficients is developed, utilizing Fourier–Laplace series on spheres. This approach offers a clear insight on the identification problem. More importantly, it leads to a closed form estimator formula that yields a simple plug‐in procedure requiring no numerical optimization. The new estimator, therefore, is easy to implement in empirical applications, while being flexible about the treatment of unobserved heterogeneity. Extensions including treatments of nonrandom coefficients and models with endogeneity are discussed.     

Bringing the state in: A commentary on welfare states and social inequality

A long and extensive line of welfare state research reveals that the state is both a cause and consequence of social stratification. However, the findings of this research have largely been ignored in the literature on social stratification and mobility. Similarly, welfare state scholars largely work without reference to the research on social stratification and mobility. The papers presented in the volume are an important first step towards integrating the literatures these complementary literatures. In this commentary, I push these articles further by revealing linkages between the papers that are not fully developed in papers themselves. In particular, I highlight two ways in which the papers in this issue can be productively linked to raise new questions or provide new insight into old problems. I then discuss the reasons why and productive ways in which these two large and stand-alone literatures can be integrated. I end the commentary with a section describing productive avenues for future research that integrates both literatures.     

Ethnomethodological studies of mediated interaction and mundane expertise1

This paper introduces ethnomethodological studies of skill and reasoning in domains of mundane expertise. In particular, it focuses on reasoning in the game of checkers. Reasoning is generally considered to be a ‘thing of its own kind’, something universal that transcends the empirical situations to which it is applied. The game of checkers suggests something quite different: that reasoning is domain specific and that it belongs peculiarly to the practices from within which reasoning arises. Through the material on checkers, the paper illustrates ethnomethodological research as a ‘tinkerer's craft’ and attempts to show the continuing vitality of small‐scale ethnomethodological studies for raising fundamental, foundational issues of social inquiry     

Olfactory Familiarization and Discrimination in Preterm and Full‐Term Newborns

The purpose of this study was to observe olfactory detection and discrimination in preterm and full‐term newborns. Infants were familiarized for 10 trials with either vanillin or anethole. On each trial, a cotton swab perfumed with one of the odors was slowly moved in front of the baby's nose for 10 sec. For half of the preterm and full‐term infants, a new odor was presented after the last familiarization trial (experimental groups). For the other half, the same odor as during familiarization was presented (control groups). Facial and head movements for both populations and heart rates for preterm infants were recorded before, during, and after odor presentation. Preterm infants reacted to the scents by increasing facial actions and heart rate but not head movements. Full‐term infants increased facial and head movements. Neither population showed a clear behavioral habituation pattern, but full‐term newborns had a significantly reduced facial reactivity on the last familiarization trial compared to preterm infants. Preterm newborns did, however, show cardiac habituation on the last familiarization trial. Preterm and full‐term infants presented with a new odor after familiarization increased responding compared to infants presented with the same odor, indicating their ability to discriminate between 2 odors. Infants' reactivity and discrimination to odors indicate preterm and full‐term newborns' ability to be attuned to their olfactory environment.     

Do Human Rights Matter in Bilateral Aid Allocation? A Quantitative Analysis of 21 Donor Countries*

Objective. To analyze the role of human rights in aid allocation of 21 donor countries. Methods. Econometric analysis is applied to a panel covering the period 1985 to 1997. Results. Respect for civil/political rights plays a statistically significant role for most donors at the aid eligibility stage. Personal integrity rights, on the other hand, have a positive impact on aid eligibility for few donors only. At the level stage, most donors fail to promote respect for human rights in a consistent manner and often give more aid to countries with a poor record on either civil/political or personal integrity rights. No systematic difference is apparent between the like‐minded countries commonly regarded as committed to human rights (Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden) and the other donors. Conclusions. Contrary to their verbal commitment, donor countries do not consistently reward respect for human rights in their foreign aid allocation.