In Their Own Words: Elements of Youth Empowerment in Spain

Abstract

The aim of the HEBE¹ project, developed jointly by four universities, is to analyze the spaces, moments and processes involved in the empowerment of young people in order to formulate socio-educational programmes that help them and improve their lives. The articulation of the project focuses on different lines of work and action, one of which is to identify and analyze the spaces in which the empowerment of youth occurs. This article delves into the elements involved in youth empowerment by using a questionnaire administered to young people from Catalonia between the ages of 19 and 25 (n?=?1067). This article presents the results obtained for these young people based on their level of empowerment and the elements that characterize them.     

EPA's 2006 Human-Subjects Rule for Pesticide Experiments

Arguing that the 2006 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) human-subjects rule allows use of unethical third-party research (on pregnant women and children) in setting pesticide regulations, this article first (a) provides a brief history of U.S. pesticide regulation, particularly regarding childhood safety. Next it (b) outlines ethical and scientific loopholes in the 2006 EPA rule; (c) shows how the Human Subjects Review Board, mandated by the 2006 rule, has been implemented in flawed ways; and (d) illustrates that one source of problems with the rule may be influence by those with conflicts of interest.     

Exploring issues of children as actors in social research

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus among childhood researchers on the concept of children's agency, or children as social actors, within research. The argument for the focus on children as ‘agents’ has commonly critiqued an earlier dominant tradition of research, whereby children had been positioned as passive objects of investigation, with their capacity for social agency largely ignored.This paper provides a theoretical and methodological exploration of the concept of children's agency in the research process. The authors outline conceptual developments that have contributed to the increased focus on children's agency and discuss how this focus has influenced research methods, both in terms of counting children in and researching collaboratively with them. Key elements of a methodological framework for promoting children's agency in collaborative research are outlined and some of the contextual obstacles to the implementation of this framework are discussed, in particular those encountered in attempting to ‘balance power relations’ between adults and children. The facilitation by adults of children themselves as researchers is identified as a possible way forward.The paper concludes with a brief discussion on the extent to which the acknowledgement of children's agency in research may lead to more inclusive policy practices.     

Can institutional investors fix the corporate governance problem? Some Danish evidence

It has been advocated within corporate governance that institutional investors may discipline management in listed firms and thereby alleviate the free rider problem associated with dispersed ownership. This article tests this hypothesis using a sample of Danish listed firms during 1998–2001 determining, whether ownership by institutional investors impacts performance, measured by Tobin’s q. Using three stage least squares, it is shown that aggregate ownership by institutional investors does not influence firm performance. However, when decomposing the results, it is found that joint ownership by the largest two Danish institutional investors, has a significant negative impact firm performance. Ownership by banks and to a lesser extent insurance companies significantly influences firm performance positively. The results somehow challenge the conventional wisdom, arguing that the black box view of institutional investors should be abandon. Therefore it is suggested that a more careful analysis should be devoted to each institutional investors own legal environment.

中国外贸代理制度刍议──兼析《合同法》的有关规定

我国于20世纪80年代推行外贸代理制,但直至1999年新《合同法》颁布之前,关于外贸代理的规则只可见于国家外经贸部颁发的行政规章之中,而且其规定的内容也不完备、不合理。也正因为如此,外贸代理的做法颇为混乱。新《合同法》针对以往外贸代理立法上的不足和实践中存在的问题,规定了委托合同与行纪合同及其规则,从而为我国外贸代理制的发展奠定了坚实的法律基础。作者还就进一步搞好外贸代理工作,从法律角度提出了自己的建议。     

论合同成立与合同生效——兼论合同法对合同效力的其他规定

从合同法理论上对合同成立和合同生效的关系进行探讨,分析了合同成立的几种情形及合同生效应具备的条件;着重研讨处于合同成立到合同效力未确定状况的三种类型的合同.即附条件的合同和附期限的合同、当事人享有变更或者撤销权的合同、效力未定合同的特征和具体情形,在这一部分提出一些自己的观点.     

股价信息含量与资本投资效率——基于投资现金流敏感度的视角

本文以2001-2008年在沪深证券交易所上市的制造业公司为研究样本,基于投资现金流敏感度的视角研究了股价信息含量与资本投资效率之间的关系,得到以下研究结论 :富含信息的股价有效降低了资本投资对现金流的敏感程度。进一步研究后发现,富含信息的股价不仅能够有效降低融资约束导致的投资现金流敏感度,而且也能够有效降低代理冲突导致的投资现金流敏感度问题,以上结论在添加了诸多影响资本投资的控制变量及稳健性检验后仍然成立。本文的研究从一个全新的视角证明,富含信息的股价通过缓和融资约束和代理冲突问题,有效地改善了企业的资本投资效率。     

控股股东代理成本、纳税筹划方案抉择及其市场价值:基于J有限公司的案例研究

纳税筹划是实务界与学术界共同关心的领域,现有研究大量讨论了公司纳税筹划行为的决定因素及其经济后果,但仍存在巨大争议。一方面,纳税筹划节约了现金流,提升股东价值;另一方面,代理问题使企业的纳税筹划方案更可能有利于控股股东或管理层,而非上市公司利益最大化,从而可能降低企业价值,最终纳税筹划方案的经济后果取决于上述两方面的共同作用。本文基于某上市公司(J有限公司)收购大股东土地案例,分析了代理成本影响公司税务决策的路径及其经济后果。本文发现,控股股东构造了较为复杂的股权转移交易方式,为上市公司和控股股东节约了大量税务成本。但由于代理成本的存在,在多种纳税筹划方案中,控股股东并未选择对上市公司最为有利的方案,而选择了能够取得现金最多,控股股东利益最大化的方案。进一步的研究发现,市场非常关注该企业的纳税筹划行为,与本文搜集的对照样本相比,尽管J公司的控股股东未选择最优的方案,但投资者仍给予了该纳税筹划行为以积极反应,提升了企业价值。本文为研究代理成本影响公司税务决策的机理提供了重要参考。     

产品市场竞争、融资约束与公司现金持有:基于中国制造业上市公司的实证分析

本文采用我国制造业上市公司2001年-2007年共2401个公司年的平衡面板数据,利用行业间竞争、行业内竞争两个维度的产品市场竞争变量,实证分析了我国制造业上市公司产品市场竞争对现金持有水平的综合影响。实证结果显示,对于所有制造业上市公司来说,产品市场竞争对公司现金持有存在显著的掠夺风险效应。在考虑公司融资约束的情况下,产品市场竞争对公司现金持有的掠夺风险和代理成本两种竞争效应被有效区分开来。融资约束公司表现为显著的掠夺风险效应,非融资约束公司则表现为显著的代理成本效应。这些研究结论不仅丰富和补充了产品市场竞争与公司现金持有之间的相关研究,也为公司实施积极的现金流风险管理和持有现金的高效利用提供了实践支持。     

盈余质量对资本配置效率的影响及作用机理

本文以2004-2007年沪深两市的上市公司为研究样本,在Richardson、verdi研究的基础上,对中国现实制度背景下盈余质量和资本配置效率两者的关系进行了探讨.不同于国内外的现有研究,本文不仅检验了盈余质量是否影响上市公司的资本配置效率,还对盈余质量如何影响上市公司资本配置效率进行了检验.检验结果表明,盈余质量的改善一方面能直接提高上市公司的资本配置效率,另一方面则能够通过降低代理成本间接促进上市公司资本配置效率的提高.这一研究结论对理解盈余质量在上市公司资本配置效率中的作用,以及了解盈余质量与上市公司资本配置效率之间的中介传导机制和路径模式均具有较强的现实意义.