Review Essay: The Political Sociology of Nader and Chomsky

Sociological Forum -     

Investorenreaktionen auf die Fair Value-Bilanzierung von Verbindlichkeiten nach IFRS – eine experimentelle Untersuchung

The fair value-option in IAS 39 allows fair value measurement for liabilities. It is often criticized that a change in a company’s own credit risk affects the value of its liabilities. Therefore it is doubtful whether the fair value-option is in fact useful for investors’ decision making process. Due to a lack of empirical studies concerning the understandability and the decision usefulness of the fair value-option, this paper contains the results of an experimental investigation. We find that investors are misled by fair values for liabilities, though under some circumstances they learn to interpret the financial data correctly. We compare fair value measurement of liabilities with an accounting treatment based on German GAAP.     

Interview group therapy: Process and effects 1

Abstract

This article identifies major forms of institutional racism in the United States today. It considers how taken together they form a web of oppression which obstructs economic, social, and political mobility for people of color while white people are issued passports of privilege. The implications of this enduring form of social inequality for social workers and other helping professionals are considered.     

Comparisons Within a Single Social Formation: A Critical Appreciation of Perry Anderson's Lineages of the Absolutist State

Perry Anderson's Lineages of the Absolutist State uses a comparative and narrative historical method to reconceive the social dynamic of late feudalism. Anderson explains differences in economic development among European countries by comparing class dynamics within a single social formation: the absolutist state. This article makes explicit the factorial analysis implicit in Anderson's case studies, and highlights the ways in which Lineages overcomes the logical flaws in much previous work. Anderson's inability to explain why some absolutist states ended in bourgeois revolutions exposes the ultimate limitations of Marxian categories for explaining the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Anderson fails to take full advantage of the analytical possibilities opened by his reconceptualization of absolutism. His schema allows for complexity within absolutism. This article concludes by showing that such complexity can be understood better in terms of a double dynamic of elite and class conflict rather than with just the class categories employed by Anderson.     

Kapitalmarktreaktionen auf Personalabbauprogramme: Welchen Einfluss haben Motiv,Umfang und Freiwilligkeit?

This study examines the effects of layoff announcements on the market value of German listed companies. Analyzing 136 announcements being published between 2000 and 2009, the results show marginal abnormal returns but high variance indicating that the market reaction might depend on specific characteristics. As potential determinants we particularly discuss the reasons for layoff, the size of layoff and the voluntariness of layoff. We find that reactive reasons like plant closures have a negative impact on shareholder value whilst active reasons like cost improvements enhance shareholder value. The size of layoff tends to induce negative effects. A voluntary layoff announcement however increases the value of a firm. Furthermore, we find a positive relationship between abnormal returns and human capital intensity and a negative one with both the manufacturing industry membership and financial leverage. In addition, the regression model extends prior literature since its coefficient of determination exceeds those in Anglo-American studies.