Digital Commons Network^™

Fostering Low-Income Homeownership: A Longitudinal Randomized Experiment On Individual Development Accounts, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Jung-Sook Lee, Johanna K.P. Greeson, Chang-Keun Han, Yeong H. Yeo, Kate Irish

Johanna K.P. Greeson, PhD, MSS, MLSP

For low-income families, homeownership represents an important strategy for promoting long-term social and economic development. Individual Development Account (IDA) programs facilitate saving toward assets such as a home through matching, financial education, and case management. Using longitudinal experimental data from the American Dream Demonstration, this study examines the impact of IDA participation on homeownership rates and on clearing old debts. Low-income participants were interviewed after 18 months (Wave 2) and after program completion at 48 months (Wave 3). Logistic regression results indicate that among those who were renters at baseline, IDA participation significantly increases the clearing of old debts at …

Telecommunications In South-East Europe: Operators, Reforms And Outcomes, Ewan Sutherland

Ewan Sutherland

This paper sets out the policy frameworks adopted by governments in South East Europe to address the deficit of access networks and thus boost economic development. The responses by large European operators to the opportunities are then explained and analysed. The effects of the policies and the operator responses are then discussed. Finally, conclusions for policy makers and for researchers are drawn.

Counting Cellphones, Ewan Sutherland

Ewan Sutherland

An description of the reasons for having multiple cellphones and wireless numbers. An analysis of statistics on ownership levels in the European Union and some other countries, including South Africa. Concluding that the discrepancies point to overstatement of customer numbers globally.

Political Globalisation And Citizenship: New Sources Of Security Threats In Africa, Shola J. Omotola

Shola J. Omotola Mr

This article analyses the interface between political globalization, citizenship and security threats in Africa. Political globalization is assumed to be capable of engendering inclusive citizenship; in the same way, citizenship is considered to be central to the national question in Africa. It is around citizenship that most issues of human rights revolve, both at individual and group levels. The article argues that political globalization in Africa tends to limit the meaning, essence and substance of citizenship, even if the latter is defined from a minimalist perspective of duties-rights relationships. The marginalization and/or exclusionary politics engendered by political globalization, especially for …

Parker V. The District Of Columbia And The Hollowness Of Originalist Claims To Principled Neutrality, William G. Merkel

William G. Merkel

Risk Management In Security Policy, Beat Habegger

Beat Habegger

No abstract provided.

International Handbook On Risk Analysis And Management: Professional Experiences, Beat Habegger

Beat Habegger

No abstract provided.

Human And Fundamental Rights And Duties In Portuguese Constitution. Some Reflections, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

The Portuguese Constitution (1976) came after a period of 48 years of authoritarianism and a closed society, in which some happy few enjoyed great privileges while the great majority of people were charged with heavy duties So, by a very understandable "law of human nature", the constituent law givers could not reasonably impose constitutionally many obligations, in an autonomous way. As rights and duties are the twin sides of the same coin, the juridical formulation under the sign of rights also implies obligations, related to those same rights. This is kinder and more pleasant to do by a liberating Constitution...

El Derecho Natural, Historia E Ideologia, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Intentemos retomar algunos hilos sueltos de discursos dispersos y con una nueva mirada analítica, procuremos ver una realidad sutil y huidiza: ese derecho natural que parece silencioso en nuestros días, y más silencioso aún en los discursos psitacistas: tanto en los pomposos como en los pseudo-rigurosos.

Princípio Republicano E Virtudes Republicanas, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

O presente artigo procura unir traços de aparente heterodoxia, recuperando, porém, paradigmas e tópicos que não são novos. Com efeito, nem as virtudes, nem a república, nem sequer a felicidade são novidades. O que talvez seja novo (new again) é o espírito de buscar outra vez as raízes, as fontes, para um intento de renovação do ambiente juspolítico. Somos naturalmente favorável a uma Constituição principial e valorativa, como a nossa. Mas parece-nos que há nela lugar a Virtudes (que já existem nela), e que a descoberta das Virtudes nas Constituições, e, logo, no Direito, é, afinal, um ovo de Colombo. …

Da Constituição Antiga À Constituição Moderna. República E Virtude, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Virtude e República necessariamente têm de levar-nos à Antiguidade: desde logo porque a primeira “começa” com a helénica "areté". Logo, é preciso ir, antes de mais, à Grécia Antiga, e especialmente ao legado ateniense. “Directly or indirectly, Athenian democracy as an extraordinary experiment in social history thus stimulates our own thinking about crucial issues of our own democracy and society, incomparably more complex though they are. The point is precisely that the ancients help us focus on the essentials" - como afirma Kurt A. Raaflaub.

Uma Filosofia Constitucional Comum (Luso-Brasileira), Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Onde melhor se pode aquilatar de uma filosofia constitucional? Além do cunho da constitução, que já vimos ser liberal na fórmula política (porque moderna ecodificada) e social na social, cultural e económica, o que mais exprime uma filosofia constitucional é a ética constitucional, e, antes de mais, são os valores. A Constituição cidadão brasileira e a Constituição portuguesa de 1976 comungam, em grande medida, dos meus valores de liberdade, igualdade, justiça, e outros, progressivos e de cidadania.

Firm Size And Innovation In European Manufacturing, Mario Pianta, Andrea Vaona

Mario Pianta

The paper investigates the differences between small, medium-sized and large firms regarding their performance in the introduction of new products and processes. After a review of the relevant literature, two models are proposed and tested in search for different business strategies and innovation inputs connected to product and process innovations. The empirical analysis uses innovation survey (CIS 2) data at the industry level for 22 manufacturing sectors, broken down in three firm size classes, for eight European countries. Special attention is devoted to tackling the issues of possible endogeneity of the regressors and of unobserved sectoral heterogeneity. The results – …

Innovations, Profits And Wages, Mario Pianta, Massimiliano Tancioni

Mario Pianta

New Process And New Products In Europe And Italy, Mario Pianta, Francesco Crespi

Mario Pianta

Innovation After Lisbon: New Ideas For Innovation Policies In Europe, Mario Pianta, Andrea Vaona

Mario Pianta

Demand And Innovation In Productivity Growth, Mario Pianta, Francesco Crespi

Mario Pianta

The labour productivity impact of demand and innovation is investigated in this paper combining insights from the Kaldorian and Schumpeterian traditions. After a review of studies in such traditions, a general model is proposed for explaining productivity growth in European manufacturing and service industries in the late 1990s, followed by two distinct specifications for the industries oriented toward product innovation, and for those where process innovation dominates. The empirical analysis is based on the match of the SIEPI-CIS2 database developed at the University of Urbino and Eurostat Input–Output Tables at the industry level, for 22 manufacturing sectors and 10 services …

The Criminal Is To Go Free Because The Constable Has Blundered: Challenges Of Law Enforcement In The Face Of The Exclusionary Rule, Jospeter M. Mbuba

Prof. Jospeter M. Mbuba

The criminal justice system is in a quagmire; known criminals are easily let off the hook by suppression of the truth in pursuit of the truth. A survey of all state and local law enforcement officers in a large mid-western county revealed the enormity of the challenges that law enforcement officers grapple with against the technicalities and intricacies of the exclusionary rule. This reality, coupled with the outcome of an in-depth literature review inform the twin arguments of this article, that individual rights, which form the basis of the exclusionary rule, should be construed in a manner that does not …

Trying To Vote In Good Conscience, Elizabeth F. Brown

Elizabeth F Brown

This Article analyses the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States, and how it addresses the economic and environmental issues raised during the 2008 Presidential election.

The Centennial Of The Boundary Waters Treaty: A Century Of United States–Canadian Transboundary Water Management, Noah D. Hall

Noah D Hall

The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 has now provided the foundation for transboundary United States-Canadian water management for a century. During the one hundred years that the Boundary Waters Treaty has been in place, both the law and the world in which the law operates have changed dramatically. Some of the most relevant and significant changes have been several fold increases in population and thousand fold increases in gross domestic product in North America with correlating increased environmental impacts, the growth of international law and governance institutions, the emergence of modern environmentalism and the resulting creation of domestic and international …

Democracy And Constitutionalism In Nigeria Under The Fourth Republic, 1999-2007, Shola J. Omotola

Shola J. Omotola Mr

No abstract provided.

Diversity In Innovation And Productivity In Europe, Mario Pianta, Francesco Crespi

Mario Pianta

The diversity in innovation patterns across manufacturing and service industries and in their outcomes in terms of hourly labor productivity are investigated in this article considering six European countries. The Schumpeterian insights into the variety of innovation are developed in this work by identifying different innovation–performance relationships for industries and countries, relying either on the dominant role of product innovation, or on the diffusion of process improvements. Moreover, the “push” effect of innovation is combined with the “pull” effect of demand, by considering the impact of the dynamics of consumption and investment at the sectoral level. The results point out …

Re-Thinking The Future Of Work: Beyond Binary Hierarchies, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

How will work be organised in the future? This paper reveals that although there are multiple stories about the future of work, a similar storyline is adopted across many of the competing visions. Most visions firstly squeeze all forms of work into one side or the other or some dichotomy and then proceed to temporally and/or normatively sequence the two sides of the dualism and finally label the resultant one-dimensional and linear trajectory as some -ism, -ation or post-somethingor-other. This paper evaluates critically such hierarchical binary narratives (e.g., the shift from informal to formal work, non-commodified to commodified work, localisation …

Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

Examining The Dispute Resolution Section Pro Bono Mediation Project: Lessons Learned And A Plan For The Future, Sherrill W. Hayes

Sherrill W. Hayes

The Hazards Of Starting The Cigarette Smoking Habit, Nisha Malhotra, Brahim Boudarbat

Nisha Malhotra

In order to develop effective policies and programs that reduce the number of smokers a necessary first step is to understand the determinants of starting to smoke. In this paper, we present a split-sample duration model of the decision to start smoking. We use data from the 2002 Canadian tobacco use monitoring survey. The hazard rate of starting smoking peaks sharply at age 15 and quickly declines thereafter. Our parametric estimates provide evidence that gender, education, marital status and household size are important determinants of the smoking habit. We also find that higher cigarettes prices have an impact on picking …

The Developer’S Decision Calculus: An Agent-Based Model Of Commercial Development, Mirya R. Holman, Travis Coan

Mirya R Holman

While considerable research has been devoted to understanding the impact local regulatory environments on housing development, few studies have examined the implications of land-use regulations for commercial development. The paucity of studies is unfortunate given that commercial development often provides municipalities with considerable economic benefits (e.g., employment) and a crucial source of tax revenue. This study presents a formal model of the commercial development process that explicitly incorporates the dynamic interaction of commercial developers and local cities. Specifically, we construct an agent-based model (ABM) of the commercial development process that represents some key features of the development process. We form …