On moments of dual generalized order statistics from Topp-Leone distribution

In this paper, we have derived exact and explicit expressions for the ratio and inverse moments of dual generalized order statistics from Topp-Leone distribution. This result includes the single and product moments of order statistics and lower records . Further, based on n dual generalized order statistics, we have deduced the expression for Maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and Uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator (UMVUE) for the shape parameter of Topp-Leone distribution. Finally, based on order statistics and lower records, a simulation study is being carried out to check the efficiency of these estimators.     

COVID-19 and business failures: The paradoxes of experience,scale, and scope for theory and practice

In light of growing scholarly works on business failure, across the social science domains, it is surprising that past studies have largely overlooked how extreme environmental shocks and ‘black swan’ events such as those caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other global crises, can precipitate business failures. Drawing insights from the current literature on business failure and the unfolding event of COVID-19, we highlight the paradoxes posed by novel exogenous shocks (that is, shocks that transcend past experiences) and the implications for SMEs. The pandemic has accelerated the reconfiguration of the relationship between states and markets, increasing the divide between those with political connections and those without, and it may pose new legitimacy challenges for some players even as others seem less concerned by such matters, whilst experiential knowledge resources may be both an advantage and a burden.     

Developing an African research network and research agenda on work–family interface

In this article we aim to provide a narrative of the critical engagement on work–family issues in Africa that took place during the inaugural workshop of the African Research Network on Work–Family held at the University of Pretoria, South Africa in September 2015. The inter-disciplinary experts at the workshop agreed that with funding and appropriate local data, the Network has the potential to make a substantial contribution to strengthening and amplifying African voices in the global work–family discourse, which is currently dominated by research findings and literature from the Global North. A future research agenda was also proposed.     

Trade Dependence and Fertility in Hispanic America, 1950–1990

This paper explores Hout's (1980) conceptual model of the development–fertility relationship under trade dependency of Hispanic America, 1950–1990. The results of this study are that the effects of development and dependency on fertility are consistent with Hout's (1980) theory and his findings and that his positive development × dependency interaction term is not replicated. Thus, the well-known long-term negative effect of development might have been misspecified in Hout's model. In contrast to Hout's findings, our results based on all models support that as dependency increased, the long-term negative effect of development on fertility increased in magnitude for Hispanic America. Hence, the findings of this study suggest that the fertility transition for Hispanic America can occur based on an explanation that is alternative to what world system theorists' have so far offered.     

Media Action Research Group: toward an antiauthoritarian profeminist media research methodology

The Media Action Research Group (MARG) is an antiauthoritarian, profeminist (antiracist, anticolonial, queer, trans and anti-capitalist) group of activist-researchers both inside and outside the university, studying autonomous social movement media activism in Canada and beyond. In this article we map a taxonomy of activist-research, illustrating how MARG brings together five specific methodologies—activist-led issue-based research, militant participatory ethnography, feminist community research, prefigurative antiauthoritarian feminist participatory action research (PAFPAR), and autonomous media research—to study how women, people of colour, queer and trans people, and Indigenous people in antiauthoritarian or anarchist-leaning social movements are using grassroots media to support and report on these movements. We find that although MARG set out to create an antiauthoritarian research-activist collective, we are restricted in some ways by the intensification of neoliberalism in the university institution. Nonetheless we are able to conduct transgressive research at the intersection between antiauthoritarian activism and the academy, producing three direct and immediate impacts: within social movements, within media activism, and within the university.     

Does the Minimum Wage Bite into Fast-Food Prices?

We study the effect of increases in effective minimum wages on the prices of several fast-food items using quarterly city-level data from 1993–2014, a period during much of which the federal minimum wage declined in real value while state-level legislation flourished. For one product, a burger, we find a robust price elasticity of 9 % with respect to the minimum wage. This estimate indicates substantial cost pass-through when contextualized by the effect of minimum-wage increases on restaurant wage bills. Our estimate for pizza is suggestive of a similarly large pass-through rate but is less precisely estimated, and our estimate for fried chicken is near zero, but estimated even less precisely. Taken as a whole, our estimates point toward sizable cost pass-through of minimum wage increases to consumer prices. These results contribute to a mixed literature on the consumer burden of minimum wage increases.     

Does Demographic Transition with Human Capital Dynamics Matter for Economic Growth? A Dynamic Panel Data Approach to GMM

Social Indicators Research - This study seeks to empirically investigate whether demographic transition with dynamics of human capital matters for economic growth for a representative sample of...     

Impact of Political Risk and Uncertainty on FDI in South Asia

This study examines the potential effect of political risk and macroeconomic policy uncertainty on FDI in South Asia. To highlight the affect of political risk and macro policy uncertainty on FDI, we setup a theoretical framework based on oligopolistic and imperfect competition environment in host country. Autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) is used to examine the impact of political risk and macro economic policy uncertainty index on FDI inflows. Macroeconomic policy uncertainty and political risk indices are constructed for this purpose. The long run results show negative affect of political risk and macroeconomic policy uncertainty indices on FDI inflows. Trade openness shows positive effect on FDI inflows only in short run while in long run it has negative impact on due lack of creditability regarding consistent trade liberalization policy and high trade cost. Furthermore, the market size significantly affects the inflow of FDI both in long run and short run which shows that FDI inflows in South Asia are mainly depend on market size. South Asian economies need to focus on political and macroeconomic factors along with FDI incentives policies to attract more FDI.     

Old and New Forms of Giving: Understanding Corporate Philanthropy in India

Corporate philanthropy in India is burgeoning due to a fast growing economy, rise in the number of billionaires, and the recent introduction of legislation that mandates spending 2 % of company profits on corporate social responsibility. Through analysis of key historical and anthropological texts, we argue that ‘business philanthropy has a long and honorable history in India’ (Sidel, Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 12(2):171–180, 172, 2001), and explain this with reference to Indian giving practices from Hindu, Mughal (Muslim), British Raj, and Gandhian traditions. We then move into a review of the emerging field of literature on corporate philanthropy, to explore how these traditions synthesized with contemporary global business and economic practices to create a distinct form of Indian corporate philanthropy. We necessarily also include an overview of its salient critiques. This will be of interest to those concerned with Indian philanthropy and of culturally specific scholarship of philanthropy.     

A mixed control chart for monitoring failure times under accelerated hybrid censoring

In an accelerated hybrid censoring scheme several stress factors can be accelerated to make the products to respond to fail more quickly than under normal operating conditions. In such situations, the control charts available in the literature cover the attribute characteristics only to monitor the performance of the process over time. This study extends the idea by proposing an optimal mixed attribute-variable control chart for Weibull distribution under an accelerated hybrid censoring scheme keeping the advantages of both attribute and variable control charts. It first monitors the number of defectives under accelerated conditions and switches to the variable control chart to investigate the mean failure times when the process stability is dubious. The performance of the proposed chart is evaluated by using run-length characteristics, and the optimality of the design parameter is achieved by minimizing the out-of-control average run length. The simulation study depicted better performance of the proposed control chart than the traditional charts in detecting shifts in the process. A real-life application is also included.KEYWORDS: Mixed control chart, attribute chart, variable chart, Weibull distribution, accelerated hybrid censoring