Corporate governance and accounting irregularities: Canadian evidence

This study examines the extent to which corporate governance acts as an efficient means of protecting investors against accounting irregularities. It is grounded in the literatures on public enforcement of securities laws by market authorities, governance, and fraudulent financial statements. A unique feature of the Canadian tracking and enforcement system for reporting issuers in default is used to refine the definitions of accounting irregularities or fraudulent financial statements used in other studies. We test and find that the governance mechanisms of firms found in default of financial reporting regulations during the first 5 years of existence of the Canadian system are weak compared to a sample of no-default firms. For instance, they have fewer independent and financial expert directors on their boards and audit committees, are more prone to have recently changed auditor and to having their CEO as chair of the board. They also appear to fulfill their financing requirements through private rather than public funds, which is consistent with the fact that default firms are less likely to be in a position to return to the public market to fulfill their needs. This study offers evidence relevant to policy makers and others who are concerned with the potential role of market authorities and governance in protecting investors against accounting irregularities.     

NGOs and Aid Fragmentation: The Belgian Case

Aid fragmentation is considered a burden for recipient countries. NGOs as important channellers of official development assistance can contribute significantly to this fragmentation. This article is a first attempt to conceptualize and measure NGO aid fragmentation while identifying the complex set of (contradictory) incentive structures. The Belgian case, with its multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic setting, and multi-layered government structures is a crucial case for showing the possible variety of factors which may influence fragmentation. The research finds that fighting aid fragmentation may prove a lot more difficult than suggested because, in the Belgian case, with its multiple incentive structures, fragmentation actually pays off for NGOs.     

From the Theory of Aid Effectiveness to the Practice: The European Commission's Governance Incentive Tranche

Around the turn of the millennium a growing consensus emerged on the dos and don'ts of development assistance, based on lessons drawn from failed aid. Donors now increasingly see aid as a leverage to induce or support governance reforms in recipient countries. The EC, which considers itself to be a forerunner of the new aid approach, has recently launched a new instrument to incentivise such reforms: the ‘Governance Incentive Tranche’. However, the evidence presented in this article suggests that, in design and practice, the incentive tranche is surprisingly similar to some of the unsuccessful aid modalities of the past.     

Drought and migration: an analysis of the effects of drought on temporary labor and return migration from a migrant-sending area in Nepal

Population and Environment - Although the relationship between drought – a dimension of climate change – and migration has been explored in a number of settings, prior research...     

Forming Effective Employee Information and Consultation: A Five‐Stage Trust and Justice Process

In this paper we show how trust and justice influence the efficacy of employee information and consultation (I&C) bodies. Evidence is drawn from a 2‐year qualitative study of I&C participants in two organizations in the UK. The research builds on Dietz and Fortin's conceptual five‐stage model of the I&C process to provide a more nuanced understanding of I&C trust and justice outcomes. In particular, we point to crucial stages in the process, and how these influence the effectiveness of I&C mechanisms. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Effets pervers des déréglementations européennes : le cas du transport routier de marchandises

The transportation of freight by truck has been fully deregulated and opened to competition in the European Union, without any quotas or restrictions since 1July 1998. This deregulation has caused problems, mainly due to the delay in adopting common fiscal and social measures, road checks and sanctions for firms that commit offenses. Unscrupulous companies have used this legal vacuum in the EU to factitiously “outsource” activities and dodge national rules and regulations about taxes, labor relations and welfare. As a result, working conditions have worsened as barriers have been lifted. By definition, turnover is high among wage-earners. Truck drivers, semi-skilled, have become interchangeable on the EU marketplace. They can be profitably replaced with drivers from eastern Europe (Poland, Romania, Bulgaria), who are much cheaper and less protected. The spread of such practices is a cause of concern for labor organizations in Europe. Shipping by truck is a textbook case for analyzing how the EU is trying to counter the devious effects arising out of the deregulation of a branch of the economy.     

Infants' Visual Recognition of Pincer Grip Emerges Between 9 and 12 Months of Age

The development of the ability to recognize the whole human body shape has long been investigated in infants, while less is known about their ability to recognize the shape of single body parts, and in particular their biomechanical constraints. This study aimed to explore whether 9‐ and 12‐month‐old infants have knowledge of a hand‐grasping movement (i.e., pincer grip), being able to recognize violations of the hand's anatomical constraints during the observation of that movement. Using a preferential looking paradigm, we showed that 12‐month‐olds discriminate between biomechanically possible and impossible pincer grips, preferring the former over the latter (Experiment 1). This capacity begins to emerge by 9 months of age, modulated by infants' own sensorimotor experience with pincer grip (Experiment 2). Our findings indicate that the ability to visually discriminate between pincer grasps differing in their biomechanical properties develops between 9 and 12 months of age, and that experience with self‐produced hand movements might help infants in building a representation of the hand that encompasses knowledge of the physical constraints of this body part.