‘Look at What We Made’: communicating subcultural value on London’s Southbank

ABSTRACT

This article sets out key findings of an interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project that uses Long Live Southbank’s (LLSB) successful campaign to retain London’s Southbank Undercroft for subcultural use – skateboarding, BMXing, graffiti art, etc. – as a case study to generate discussions about young people’s experiences and engagements with (sub)cultural heritage and political activism. At the heart of this inquiry is the perceived contradiction between the communicative practices of subcultures and social protest movements: the former typically understood to be internally oriented and marked by strong boundary maintenance, and the latter, to be successful, to be externally oriented to a diverse range of publics. In explaining the skaters/campaigner’s negotiation of this contradiction, we look to the inclusive and everyday concepts of ‘inhabitant knowledge’ [Ingold, T., 2000 Ingold, T., 2007. Lines: a brief history. London: Routledge.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. The perception of the environment: essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill. London: Routledge], ‘vernacular creativity’ [Burgess, J., 2009. Remediating vernacular creativity: photography and cultural citizenship in the Flickr photosharing network. In: T. Edensor, D. Leslie, S. Millington, and N. Rantisi, eds. Spaces of vernacular creativity: rethinking the cultural economy. London: Routledge, 116–126] and ‘affective intelligence’ [Van Zoonen, L., 2004. Imagining the fan democracy. European journal of communication, 19 (1), 39–52]. In eschewing the exclusionary and contestatory language of (post)subcultural and spatial theories, this article proposes new frameworks for thinking about the political nature of young people’s bodily knowledge and experiences, and the implications of this for the communication of (sub)cultural value.     

The World Bank's Use of Country Systems for Procurement: A Good Idea Gone Bad?

The World Bank's newest country‐systems policy, adopted in 2008, allows borrowers to use their national systems to conduct procurement and manage finances for Bank‐funded projects. In principle, it will incentivise institutional reform, increase local ownership, and facilitate donor harmonisation. In practice, its content and the handling of stakeholder input seem to indicate that the Bank's dominant desire has been to preserve its market share. This article demonstrates (i) how deficiencies in the policy may reverse the Bank's work on governance and undercut aid efficiency, and (ii) how its handling of public consultations on the policy ignored the Bank's best practices. It concludes with steps for improving the policy, including re‐opening dialogue with key stakeholders.     

Variable selection in proportional hazards cure model with time-varying covariates,application to US bank failures*

From a survival analysis perspective, bank failure data are often characterized by small default rates and heavy censoring. This empirical evidence can be explained by the existence of a subpopulation of banks likely immune from bankruptcy. In this regard, we use a mixture cure model to separate the factors with an influence on the susceptibility to default from the ones affecting the survival time of susceptible banks. In this paper, we extend a semi-parametric proportional hazards cure model to time-varying covariates and we propose a variable selection technique based on its penalized likelihood. By means of a simulation study, we show how this technique performs reasonably well. Finally, we illustrate an application to commercial bank failures in the United States over the period 2006–2016.     

海峡西岸东北翼物流平台的构建对策

随着海峡西岸东北翼中心城市发展战略的提出,作为区城经济重要组成部分的物流网络系统的发展面临着机遇和挑战。因此,必须从海峡西岸东北翼已有的基础条件出发,突破制约发展的瓶颈,构建多层次、点线面有机结合的区域物流平台,以形成高效有序的各种经济要素的集聚扩散,加快海峡西岸东北翼中心城市的发展步伐。     

试论邮政储金汇业局的经营活动——以抗战时期为例

1937年对日全面抗战开始后，国民政府主张抗战与建设并重。在金融方面，对政策进行了一系列调整，在战前经济金融政策的基础上，国民政府制定实施了战时金融统制政策，在此过程中邮政储金汇业局的经营发生了深刻变化。作为四联总处下属的“四行二局”之一，邮政储金汇业局在战时的金融体系中占有举足轻重的地位。通过利用中国第二历史档案馆馆藏的邮政储金汇业局、四联总处等机构的资料，重点分析邮政储金汇业局在抗日战争时期的经营活动。这不仅有助于我们了解抗战时期国民政府经济金融政策实施的过程及成效，也可以清楚地认识到邮政储蓄在抗战金融体系中的地位和作用。     

世界银行的发展问题研究

世界银行作为全世界最重要的政府间国际组织之一,在国际舞台上一直发挥着重要的作用。从其成立之初到现在,世界银行已经有了巨大的发展。但是,面临的问题也日益突显,主要表现为现实与目标的差距;政治化倾向问题以及项目执行监督不力等。针对这些问题,世界银行应该要坚定使命,"为消除贫困而努力";要将角色定位清晰,保持相对独立性;同时还要继续加强和非政府组织的合作,加强外部监督。     

The Feasibility of IFI‐Led Institutional Reform: Four Turkish Experiments Compared

Institutional reform has proved an enduring theme in the lending programmes of international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the IMF and the World Bank. But research harbours strong objections to the feasibility of IFI‐led institutional restructuring. This article evaluates these objections in the light of evidence from Turkey, a country with an early record of programme‐based reform initiatives in many institutional domains. Drawing on Turkey's central bank independence, banking regulation, anti‐corruption and agricultural subsidy reforms, it argues that IFI‐guided institutional restructuring may indeed encounter severe feasibility problems unless prescribed and implemented in a propitious environment marked by powerful international norms, widely accepted design templates, high levels of bureaucratic preparedness, and active endorsement from key domestic players.     

Oregon's Efforts to Reduce Elder Financial Exploitation

ABSTRACT

Several programs have been undertaken in Oregon to reduce financial abuse. They include the production of a multi-media training kit by the Oregon's Attorney General's Task Force with funding from the US Department of Justice, creation of an “Elder Financial Exploitation Prevention Program” that educates seniors “at the scene of the crime,” and distribution of devices to assist elders in ending unwamted phone calls and direct mail solicitations.     

和成钱庄的现代化变革

和成钱庄作为一个旧式金融机构，1934年5月在重庆正式开业，为扩大业务范围，1937年5月决定改组银行，改组是其向现代化转型的标志，1938年1月正式改组，完成了向现代化金融机构的过渡。通过对抗战前夕和成钱庄创立与发展概况的梳理，分析其直到1938年才正式改组成银行的原因，分享和成钱庄现代化变革的特点，以期对现代金融业提供借鉴。     

科技银行中国化：产权定位与发展对策

科技银行是纾解科技型中小企业融资难的重要金融机构。在对美国硅谷科技银行的成功经验进行回顾分析的基础上,探讨了中国科技银行发展的现状和存在的问题,并分析了科技银行中国化的定位和发展对策。文章认为应将科技银行定位为商业银行而非政策性银行,通过市场机制来解决科技型中小企业科技融资困境。政府可通过打造良性科技金融生态环境、信贷政策倾斜、法律法规保障等手段来促进科技银行中国化;科技银行应该通过加强商业模式和金融产品创新、专业型人才培养等手段降低中小企业科技创新融资的难度。