Optimal allocation of Monte Carlo simulations to multiple hypothesis tests

Statistics and Computing - Multiple hypothesis tests are often carried out in practice using p-value estimates obtained with bootstrap or permutation tests since the analytical p-values underlying...     

Critical appraisal of jointness concepts in Bayesian model averaging: evidence from life sciences,sociology, and other scientific fields

Jointness is a Bayesian approach to capturing dependence among regressors in multivariate data. It addresses the general issue of whether explanatory factors for a given empirical phenomenon are complements or substitutes. I ask a number of questions about existing jointness concepts: Are the patterns revealed stable across datasets? Are results robust to prior choice and do data characteristics affect results? And importantly: What do the answers imply from a practical vista? The present study takes an applied, interdisciplinary and comparative perspective, validating jointness concepts on datasets across scientific fields with focus on life sciences (Parkinson's disease) and sociology. Simulations complement the study of real-world data. My findings suggest that results depend on which jointness concept is used: Some concepts deliver jointness patterns remarkably uniform across datasets, while all concepts are fairly robust to the choice of prior structure. This can be interpreted as critique of jointness from a practical perspective, given that the patterns revealed are at times very different and no concept emerges as overall advantageous. The composite indicators approach to combining information across jointness concepts is also explored, suggesting an avenue to facilitate the application of the concepts in future research.     

Structured Coupling of Probability Loss Distributions: Assessing Joint Flood Risk in Multiple River Basins

Losses due to natural hazard events can be extraordinarily high and difficult to cope with. Therefore, there is considerable interest to estimate the potential impact of current and future extreme events at all scales in as much detail as possible. As hazards typically spread over wider areas, risk assessment must take into account interrelations between regions. Neglecting such interdependencies can lead to a severe underestimation of potential losses, especially for extreme events. This underestimation of extreme risk can lead to the failure of riskmanagement strategies when they are most needed, namely, in times of unprecedented events. In this article, we suggest a methodology to incorporate such interdependencies in risk via the use of copulas. We demonstrate that by coupling losses, dependencies can be incorporated in risk analysis, avoiding the underestimation of risk. Based on maximum discharge data of river basins and stream networks, we present and discuss different ways to couple loss distributions of basins while explicitly incorporating tail dependencies. We distinguish between coupling methods that require river structure data for the analysis and those that do not. For the later approach we propose a minimax algorithm to choose coupled basin pairs so that the underestimation of risk is avoided and the use of river structure data is not needed. The proposed methodology is especially useful for large‐scale analysis and we motivate and apply our method using the case of Romania. The approach can be easily extended to other countries and natural hazards.     

Impact of the EU Structural Funds on Financial Capacities of Non-profit Organizations

To fulfil their role, non-profit organizations (NPOs) need sufficient capacities. These include, first and foremost, financial capacity. EU Cohesion Policy commands financial resources of 351.8 bn. EUR. The EU is also willing to support NPOs from this source. With such considerable funding, the research questions arise: How much money have NPOs received? What are the effects of such assistance on the financial capacities of NPOs? On a sample of 2715 non-profit organizations in the Czech Republic, we have found that EU subsidies have a positive impact on financial capacities, measured as real assets. It is caused by using EU funds for investment. We have not proved an effect on short-term financial capacities measured on revenues. Moreover, the distribution of financial support among PBOs is unequal as 4% of NPOs collected 80% of subsidies due to differences in skills among NPOs’ managers.     

The Inequality-Trust Nexus Revisited: At What Level of Aggregation Does Income Inequality Matter for Social Trust?

Social Indicators Research - The negative linkage between income inequality and social trust is widely acknowledged. Despite this consensus, it remains unclear at what level of aggregation income...     

Contemporary Philanthropy in the Spotlight: Pushing the Boundaries of Research on a Global and Contested Social Practice

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This article is intended as the leading article in a special issue devoted to the achievements, limitations, opportunities...     

The irreversibility effect and agency conflicts

This paper studies the influence of agency conflicts on the irreversibility effect. Using a dynamic variant of the static Baron and Myerson (Econometrica 50(4):911–930, 1982) adverse selection model, we characterize under which circumstances the irreversibility effect arises in the presence and absence of an agency conflict. In particular, we find that in the presence of an agency conflict the irreversibility effect arises in more circumstances than in the standard first-best analysis that abstracts from agency problems.     

DOES RELATIONSHIP SPECIFIC INVESTMENT DEPEND ON ASSET OWNERSHIP? EVIDENCE FROM A NATURAL EXPERIMENT IN THE HOUSING MARKET

In this paper, I test the most basic prediction of Grossman and Hart (1986, The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration. Journal of Political Economy, 691–719): allocations of asset ownership that expose a party to ex‐post expropriation reduce this party’s ex‐ante relationship‐specific investments. In the empirical context of the German housing market, I find that relationship‐specific investments, such as bathroom renovations, are more frequent if the occupant is protected against expropriation because he owns his home. To avoid the endogeneity of the homeownership allocation, I rely on the natural experiment of the German reunification: under the communist regime, ownership existed but was economically meaningless; yet after reunification, ownership unexpectedly reacquired legal force.     

Discourse Failures and the NGO Sector: How Campaigning Can Undermine Advocacy

Within academic research, more and more scholars reveal the ambivalence of NGOs—the sometimes constructive, sometimes destructive role they play in solving societal problems. In this paper, we present a discourse analysis that illustrates how NGOs’ campaigning may undermine their reputation and advocacy function. We conclude that such discourse failures are frequently not merely an accidental by-product, but rather a not-intended consequence of deliberate NGOs’ campaigns. By applying ideas from political economy, we make particular note of probable discourse failures when campaigns attempt to deal with complex issues in an environment rife with wide-spread prejudices and where the NGO’s work is transparent. We present collectively institutionalized commitments for NGOs and commitment services enforced by political organizations as instruments that are suitable for increasing public accountability of the NGO sector. In conclusion, we argue that further research can benefit from systematically analyzing the interdependencies between discourses and institutions.