Evolution of capital structure in east Asia—corporate inertia or endeavours?

Summary.  The paper examines the capital structure adjustment dynamics of listed non-financial corporations in seven east Asian countries before, during and after the crisis of 1997–1998. Our methodology allows for speeds of adjustment to vary, not only among firms, but also over time, distinguishing between cases of sudden and smooth adjustment. Whereas, compared with firms in the least affected countries, average leverages were much higher, generalized method-of-moments analysis of the Worldscope panel data suggests that average speeds of adjustment were lower in the worst affected countries. This holds also for the severely financially distressed firms in some worst affected countries, though the trend reversed in the post-crisis period. These findings have important implications for the regulatory environment as well as access to market finance.     

Personal histories and social restructuring: the transformation of a peasant society

Using the capacity of linked census data to combine two levels, individual and aggregate, and two dimensions, longitudinal and cross-sectional, the process of structural change is explored to reveal aspects of change which are usually hidden. North Troms, in North Norway, which still had a peasant economy at the end of the Second World War is used as an example. The trajectories of those economically active in 1960 and 1970 are disentangled then reassembled to show how they combined as structural change. Only a minority of personal histories paralleled the change in society as a whole. Much more structural change resulted from succession of cohorts leaving and entering the labour force. By joining the study of individuals to that of structures, it is possible to see how change occurs in the spaces between people, out of the effects of many contradictions.     

Text,competence and logic: An exercise

Professional medical practice, like other organizational conduct, relies upon records which document transactions between members and their clientele. Medical practitioners employ a set of conventions providing for the systematic recording and interpretation of medical record cards that forms a social organization underlying the records cards' ordinary usage. In this paper we examine these conventions and develop a computer program which captures elements of their structure and use. By doing so we illustrate one way in which sociological analysis can contribute to the design of intelligent systems. We also suggest that the emerging discipline of Artificial Intelligence might find recent developments in sociology pertinent to its concerns.     

Brazilian slavery: A survey from the cape of recent literature in English

This article surveys some of the rich historical writing on slavery in Brazil which has appeared in English over the past twenty years. This work has made important modifications to the notion that Brazilian slavery was part of a benign seigneurial society, markedly different from that of other New World colonies. By selecting five themes ‐ the transition from indigenous Indian to imported African slavery; slavery and rural production; slaves on the mines and in the towns; treatment of slaves; and the causes of emancipation ‐ the article draws attention to features of comparative interest to slavery elsewhere and particularly to that at the Cape.     

The ‘Dutch’ in Colchester: The economic influence of an immigrant community in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries

In this paper the immigration of ‘Dutchmen’ into England is firstly placed within the context of immigration into this country in general, with particular reference to the movement of people in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries. The growth of the community in Colchester is described briefly, as is the economy and standing of the town itself, with particular reference to the decline of its staple textile manufacture in the sixteenth century. The position of the Dutch in the town, and the transformation and revival of cloth production which resulted from their arrival, are examined, as are both popular and official attitudes towards them. Finally, an attempt is made to assess the extent of the Dutch contribution to the economic and social well‐being of the town by an examination of developments within the English textile industry in general in this period.     

The Effect of a Mediation-Blocking Task on the Acquisition of Instructive Feedback Targets

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - The inclusion of instructive feedback in discrete-trial training has been shown to increase the efficiency of learning. However, the behavioral mechanism...