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E-Government Capabilities And Crisis Management: Lessons From Combating Sars In Singapore, Shan Ling Pan, Gary Pan, Paul R. Devadoss Dec 2005

E-Government Capabilities And Crisis Management: Lessons From Combating Sars In Singapore, Shan Ling Pan, Gary Pan, Paul R. Devadoss

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The city-state of Singapore has been highly ranked for its e-government services. Over the past two decades, it has leveraged its IT infrastructure for economic development and transformed its public services. The SARS outbreak in 2004 turned into a national health crisis because it spread rapidly and the medical community had little knowledge of how to treat the new mutation of the corona virus. Yet, several Singaporean government agencies utilized the e-Government infrastructure and related resources to quickly bring the outbreak under control. In particular, the government?s IT infrastructure streamlined communications, information exchange, and data flow, and significantly eased collaboration …


The Internet And Civil Society: Environmental And Labour Organizations In Hong Kong, Yin-Wah Chu, James T. H. Tang Dec 2005

The Internet And Civil Society: Environmental And Labour Organizations In Hong Kong, Yin-Wah Chu, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

To what extent has the Internet strengthened civil society? In which ways have civil society organizations (CSOs) used the internet to communicate their missions, enhance the discussion of public issues, extend networks and mobilize collective actions? This article seeks to answer these and related questions by reporting on an empirical study in Hong Kong. The study involves an analysis of the web pages launched by 14 environmental groups and 22 labour organizations on the one hand, and in-depth interviews with representatives of five of these organizations on the other. Due to the lack of resources and low level of e-readiness …


Natural Forum And The Elusive Significance Of Jurisdiction Agreements, Tiong Min Yeo Dec 2005

Natural Forum And The Elusive Significance Of Jurisdiction Agreements, Tiong Min Yeo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore court's power to stay its proceedings by reason of its not being the appropriate forum the proceedings ought not to be continued is underpinned by the common law principle enunciated in The Spiliada that generally a trial should be heard in its natural forum. The Rainbow Joy adds significantly to Singapore law on forum non conveniens on two important points. First, it establishes that it is not necessary to show that the alternative forum abroad is constituted as a court of law. Secondly, the case establishes that whether there is a defense claim on the merits is an …


Fostering Total Wellness Through Peer Helping: Reflections On The Smu Experiences, Gilbert Tan, Timothy Hsi Dec 2005

Fostering Total Wellness Through Peer Helping: Reflections On The Smu Experiences, Gilbert Tan, Timothy Hsi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Peer Helping is widely implemented in Colleges and Universities in the United States and Canada. Despite the popularity of these programs, very little has been researched on peer helping in the Asian context. This paper traces the theoretical foundations of peer helping and the nascent development of a peer helping program in the Singapore Management University and how this program has developed since the beginning of 2004. The initial focus of the program was based on the model of paraprofessional student counselors assisting their fellow peers through difficult moments in their lives. Over time, the program was fine-tuned to embrace …


Using Community Service Projects To Teach Leadership And Team-Building: Theoretical Foundations, Students' Reactions And Practical Considerations, Gilbert Tan Dec 2005

Using Community Service Projects To Teach Leadership And Team-Building: Theoretical Foundations, Students' Reactions And Practical Considerations, Gilbert Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper discusses the theoretical foundations of utilizing Community Service Project (CSP) or service-learning to teach Leadership and Team-Building. It examines the students’ reactions to this innovative method of instruction. This is done through conducting a content analysis of students’ learning journals, in which students reflect on their CSP learning experiences. Two themes emerged from the data: (a) variety of learning experiences, and (b) impact of CSP experience. The data suggested that students derived a variety of learning experiences from the CSP. In addition, there were attitudinal and learning impacts associated with the CSP experiences. The paper also outlines some …


Multiracialism Engineered: The Limits Of Electoral And Spatial Integration In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan Nov 2005

Multiracialism Engineered: The Limits Of Electoral And Spatial Integration In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper examines Singapore's innovations in electoral and spatial integration. In examining the Group Representation Constituency and the Ethnic Integration Policy, a critique is made of the official discourse that multiracialism is internalized and entrenched in Singapore's political psyche and electoral process. While the electoral and spatial integration policies are driven by the objective of enhancing multiracialism, their actual workings do not adequately advance the development of norms and values that would be truly supportive of the need for a multiracial legislature and an abiding commitment to multiracialism. The layering of the electoral system with other political objectives, such as …


Bloggers Beware: The Five Commandments For Bloggers, Warren B. Chik Nov 2005

Bloggers Beware: The Five Commandments For Bloggers, Warren B. Chik

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

There is a need for Singapore bloggers to be aware of legal issues arising from their online diaries, particularly in the light of the recent cases involving seditious remarks made online by bloggers that resulted in jail terms and fines; and earlier in the year, a dispute arose over allegedly defamatory speeches made by a blogger about A*STAR’s Chairman, Philip Yeo, which was resolved amicably, but not without an apology. The threats of legal repercussions in the form of civil lawsuits and criminal charges serve as reminders of the potential legal problems that can arise from blogging, and indeed from …


Globalisation And Urban Crime: Mean Streets Or Lost Suburbs, Mark Findlay Nov 2005

Globalisation And Urban Crime: Mean Streets Or Lost Suburbs, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This parer introduces notions of contemporary globalisation and the manner in which crime and glotalisation interrelate. In particular, the importance of analysing crime and control at both local and global levels is emphasised. Issues of crime and space are addressed in the context of urbanisation. The tendencies of the city to marginalise, and the consequential criminal outcomes from this environment of modernisation (and the modem city) are discussed. Urban planning has had a crucial part to play in humanising and at the same time distinguishing the global push towards urbanisation, and crime prevention is now a recognised feature of globalised …


A Spatial Analysis Of The Xiii Italian Legislature, Massimiliano Landi, Riccardo Pelizzo Nov 2005

A Spatial Analysis Of The Xiii Italian Legislature, Massimiliano Landi, Riccardo Pelizzo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We present a spatial map of the Italian House of Deputies during the XIII Legislature obtained by applying the Poole and Rosenthal methodology to roll call data. We estimate coordinates for almost all the 650 Deputies that were on the House’s floor at the time, and we aggregate them according to parties. We find that voting patters generate basically a two dimensional political space. The first dimension represents loyalty to either the ruling coalition or the opposing one. The second dimension is represented by the European Union. These findings are consistent with the exceptional case of the party Northern League, …


China's Changing Economic Structures And Its Implications For Regional Patterns Of Trade Production And Integration, Kim Song Tan, Hoe Ee Khor Nov 2005

China's Changing Economic Structures And Its Implications For Regional Patterns Of Trade Production And Integration, Kim Song Tan, Hoe Ee Khor

Research Collection School Of Economics

There is tremendous momentum for economic and financial integration in East Asia today. Partly inspired by the formation of the European Union and partly as a response to the 1997/98 Asia financial crisis, many East Asian countries are showing greater commitment to regional economic cooperation. A number of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have either been concluded or are being negotiated.1 At a less formal level, the ASEAN+3 grouping has brought the whole region together in regular consultations over trade, investment, as well as monetary and exchange rate policy matters.


Institutions, Wages, And Inequality: The Case Of Europe And Its Periphery (1500-1899), Davin Chor Oct 2005

Institutions, Wages, And Inequality: The Case Of Europe And Its Periphery (1500-1899), Davin Chor

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper explores the long-run relationship between institutions and wage outcomes in Europe and its periphery. I find that cities that exercised stronger institutional protection of private property experienced: (i) higher levels of both skilled and unskilled real wages, as well as (ii) lower levels of inequality as measured by the skilled-unskilled wage ratio. While the first result corroborates existing work on the positive growth effects of better institutions, the second finding is more novel to the literature. Some explanations are proposed for how stronger institutions can cause an increase in the relative supply of skilled workers, thus lowering wage …


A New Approach To Robust Inference In Cointegration, Sainan Jin, Peter Phillips, Yixiao Sun Oct 2005

A New Approach To Robust Inference In Cointegration, Sainan Jin, Peter Phillips, Yixiao Sun

Research Collection School Of Economics

A new approach to robust testing in cointegrated systems is proposed using non-parametric HAC estimators without truncation. While such HAC estimates are inconsistent, they still produce asymptotically pivotal tests and, as in conventional regression settings, can improve testing and inference.


Review Of Theory Of Regular Economies, Zhenlin Yang Oct 2005

Review Of Theory Of Regular Economies, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This book provides a systematic treatment of the theory of regular economies, one of themost advanced topics in modern general equilibrium theory, emphasizing on the basiceconomic ideas, mathematical tools and important economic applications. By introducingthe necessary mathematical tools, in particular the Differential Topology, graduallywhen needed, Professor Nagata has made this highly mathematical subject understandableto many readers including graduate students in economics. Through the study of variousimportant theoretical problems such as the existence of equilibria, local uniqueness andfiniteness of the set of equilibria, inefficiency of equilibria, etc., Professor Nagata has demonstratedhow successful it is to use mathematics to study important theoretical …


Determinants Of Job Turnover Intentions: Evidence From Singapore, Xiaolin Xing, Zhenlin Yang Oct 2005

Determinants Of Job Turnover Intentions: Evidence From Singapore, Xiaolin Xing, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper explores both observable and unobservable variables that would affect employed workers’ decisions on job change. We find that age, job satisfaction, satisfaction with working environment or job security, and firm size are among the major factors determining workers’ intentions of job-to-job mobility. Younger workers and workers in smaller firms are more likely to look for other jobs. We also find that men are more likely to consider a change in job than women, but when “actually looking for another job” is concerned, men and women do not differ. Furthermore, monthly income and working sector contribute significantly to looking …


Q-Convergence With Interquartile Ranges, Sung Jin Kang, Myoung-Jae Lee Oct 2005

Q-Convergence With Interquartile Ranges, Sung Jin Kang, Myoung-Jae Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We introduce a new convergence concept ‘Q-convergence’ which defines convergence in national incomes as a shrinking interquartile range (IQR) of the national income distribution. Compared with the other convergence definitions in the literature, Q-convergence has the following advantages. First, IQR, which represents dispersion and inequality of the income distribution, is also closely linked to the two-group clustering with the lower and upper quartiles being the ‘centers’ of the two groups. Second, IQR is equivariant to increasing transformations and thus reconciles better conflicting empirical findings using level or log data. Third, IQR is insensitive to outliers, leading to robust statistical inferences. …


The Optimal Design Of Fallible Organizations: Invariance Of Optimal Decision Criterion And Uniqueness Of Hierarchy And Polyarchy Structures, Winston T. H. Koh Oct 2005

The Optimal Design Of Fallible Organizations: Invariance Of Optimal Decision Criterion And Uniqueness Of Hierarchy And Polyarchy Structures, Winston T. H. Koh

Research Collection School Of Economics

We present a general framework to study the project selection problem in an organization of fallible decision-makers. We show that when the organizational size and the majority rule for project acceptance are optimized simultaneously, the optimal quality of decision-making, as determined by the decision criterion, is invariant, and depends only on the expertise of decision-makers. This result clarifies that the circumstances under which the decision-making quality varies with the organizational structure are situations where the organizational size or majority rule is restricted from reaching the optimal level. Moreover, in contrast to earlier findings in the literature that the hierarchy and …


Future Targets And Multiple Equilibria, Ashok S. Guha, Brishti Guha Oct 2005

Future Targets And Multiple Equilibria, Ashok S. Guha, Brishti Guha

Research Collection School Of Economics

Multiple Pareto-rankable equilibria may obtain in an overlapping generations model where consumers save to reach a fixed target. Existence and uniqueness conditions are discussed. The model displays excess consumption sensitivity to current income and perfect old-age insurance.


Trade Mark Dilution In Singapore: The Aftermath Of Mcdonald’S V Mactea, David Llewelyn Oct 2005

Trade Mark Dilution In Singapore: The Aftermath Of Mcdonald’S V Mactea, David Llewelyn

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a unanimous decision delivered in September 2004, the Court of Appeal of Singapore has ruled against McDonald's Corporation in its attempts to stop a small Singapore company, Future Enterprises Pty Ltd, from registering its marks "MacNoodles", "MacTea" and "MacChocolate". This case has international significance as the Singapore court ruled, confirming the position taken by courts in a number of other jurisdictions, that McDonald's did not have an exclusive right over the prefix "Mc" in relation to food and beverages in the absence of deception or confusion. However, Singapore's trade mark laws have since undergone a major revamp. Under the …


The State, The Market, Economic Growth And Poverty In China, John A. Donaldson Oct 2005

The State, The Market, Economic Growth And Poverty In China, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The People’s Republic of China is often cited as an unprecedented success story as far as rural poverty is concerned. Despite recent reports of sometimes violent protests in rural areas over illicit land seizures and pollution, since implementing reforms in 1978, China has seen rural poverty rates fall from xxx to yyy, as economic growth increased zzz on average each year, according to World Bank estimates. Some have ascribed liberal policy prescriptions based on open markets and pro-market government policies as are largely responsible, even as they forwent expensive, large-scale mass welfare programs. Starting with their initial round of fundamental …


Regret And The Control Of Temporary Preferences, Terry Connolly, Jochen Reb Oct 2005

Regret And The Control Of Temporary Preferences, Terry Connolly, Jochen Reb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Regret is often symptomatic of the defective decisions associated with temporary preference problems. It may also help overcome these defects. Outcome regret can modify the relative utilities of different payoffs. Process regret can motivate search for better decision processes or trap-evading strategies. Heightened regret may thus be functional for control of these self-defeating choices.


To Pete Or Not To Pete: Review Of The Practical Entrepreneurship Teaching Engagement (Pete) Model To Produce Practically Relevant Entrepreneurial Learning: A Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of Action-Learning In Entrepreneurship In Singapore, China, Korea, New Zealand And Australia, Jens Mueller, John Thornton, Joe Dewberry, Wee Liang Tan, Hanjun Hu Oct 2005

To Pete Or Not To Pete: Review Of The Practical Entrepreneurship Teaching Engagement (Pete) Model To Produce Practically Relevant Entrepreneurial Learning: A Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of Action-Learning In Entrepreneurship In Singapore, China, Korea, New Zealand And Australia, Jens Mueller, John Thornton, Joe Dewberry, Wee Liang Tan, Hanjun Hu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: To discuss the effectiveness of a sustainable entrepreneurship training program in several countries in Asia, used by global firms to identify junior management talent, by applying the PETE model of creating an engaging action-learning program. Design/Methodology/Approach: Current literature is reviewed to make a case for the applicability of action-learning based entrepreneurship training. The results of interviews with more than 20 senior level managers of multi-national corporations in 5 Asian countries are compared to self-evaluations of more than 300 student participants and more than 30 faculty evaluations of the program. We use the Practical Entrepreneurship Teaching Engagement (PETE) model to …


Cross-Validation In Nonparametric Regression With Outliers, Denis H. Y. Leung Oct 2005

Cross-Validation In Nonparametric Regression With Outliers, Denis H. Y. Leung

Research Collection School Of Economics

A popular data-driven method for choosing the bandwidth in standard kernel regression is cross-validation. Even when there are outliers ill the data, robust kernel regression can be used to estimate the unknown regression curve [Robust and Nonlinear Time Series Analysis. Lecture Notes in Statist. (1984) 26 163-184]. However, Under these Circumstances Standard cross-validation is no longer a satisfactory bandwidth selector because it is unduly influenced by extreme prediction errors caused by the existence of these Outliers. A more robust method proposed here is a cross-validation method that discounts the extreme prediction errors. In large samples the robust method chooses consistent …


Growth Is Good For Whom, When, How?, John A. Donaldson Oct 2005

Growth Is Good For Whom, When, How?, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Economic growth often helps the poor, but what about the many cases when it does not? The consensus that economic growth reduces poverty, encapsulated by two World Bank economists in the above-quoted article entitled Growth is Good for the Poor, leaves many important questions unanswered. What help does the knowledge that economic growth can reduce poverty provide for economies with few realistic prospects for robust, sustained growth? What hope does the understanding that growth reduces poverty on average provide for poor families that are excluded from prosperity? How should we respond when economic growth undermines the market positions of the …


The Risk Of Adverse Impact In Selections Based On A Test With Known Effect Size, Wilfried De Corte, Filip Lievens Oct 2005

The Risk Of Adverse Impact In Selections Based On A Test With Known Effect Size, Wilfried De Corte, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The authors derive the exact sampling distribution function of the adverse impact (AI) ratio for single-stage, top-down selections using tests with known effect sizes. Subsequently, it is shown how this distribution function can be used to determine the risk that a future selection decision on the basis of such tests will result in an outcome that reflects the presence of AI. The article therefore provides test and selection practitioners with a valuable tool to decide between alternative selection predictors.


The Emergence Of Corporate Forms In China, 1872- 1949. An Analysis On Institutional Transformation, Wai Keung Chung Oct 2005

The Emergence Of Corporate Forms In China, 1872- 1949. An Analysis On Institutional Transformation, Wai Keung Chung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Cultural Economy: A Critical Review, Chris Gibson, Lily Kong Oct 2005

Cultural Economy: A Critical Review, Chris Gibson, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article reviews work on 'cultural economy', particularly from within geography, and from other disciplines, where there are links to overtly geographical debates. We seek to clarify different interpretations of the term and to steer a course through this multivalency to suggest productive new research agendas. We review and critique work on cultural economy that represents a relatively straightforward economic geography, based on empirical observation while theoretically informed and driven by debates about Fordism and post-Fordism, agglomeration and cluster theory. Some of these ideas about cultural economy have proven attractive to policy-makers and we map a normative script of cultural …


Manpower Planning And University Enrollments: The Debate In Singapore, Eng Fong Pang, Linda Y. C. Lim Oct 2005

Manpower Planning And University Enrollments: The Debate In Singapore, Eng Fong Pang, Linda Y. C. Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Faced with growing resource constraints, many countries are grappling with the issue of how best to allocate resources to publicly funded universities. Quite a few governments have used manpower planning models to guide policies regarding university enrollments and resource allocation. These models typically derive educational enrollments from projected manpower requirements based on forecasts of economic growth. Recent public debate on university admissions policy in Singapore raises anew the question of the effectiveness of the manpower planning model that Singapore (and many other countries) relies on to guide university intakes. The Singapore government is committed to giving its universities greater autonomy …


The Auditor And The Firm: A Simple Model Of Corporate Cheating And Intermediation, Brishti Guha Sep 2005

The Auditor And The Firm: A Simple Model Of Corporate Cheating And Intermediation, Brishti Guha

Research Collection School Of Economics

We apply a game-theoretic model to the analysis of the recent spate of corporate scandals in which firms have cheated their investors, often with the aid of external auditors. We characterize the different types of equilibria that obtain for different parameter ranges in an auditor’s absence (the parameters we consider being early signal accuracy – a measure of transparency – and withdrawal costs – a measure of the liquidity of investments). We also analyze whether and under what conditions the presence of an informed auditor could lead to an improvement in the sense of honest behavior replacing cheating as the …


Games Suppliers And Producers Play: Upstream And Downstream Moral Hazard With Unverifiable Input Quality, Brishti Guha Sep 2005

Games Suppliers And Producers Play: Upstream And Downstream Moral Hazard With Unverifiable Input Quality, Brishti Guha

Research Collection School Of Economics

We pin down the optimal relational contract between an input supplier and a final goods producer given a framework of bilateral moral hazard with variable but non-verifiable input quality. Given the inability of third parties to verify input quality, each party has an incentive to cheat the other by making a false claim about input quality. We derive the contract which (a) induces honest behavior and brings about the Pareto superior first-best outcome for the widest possible range of exogenous parameters, and (b) maximizes the Nash product of both parties’ payoffs subject to incentive compatibility. An interesting feature of the …


Trade, Growth And Increasing Returns To Infrastructure: The Role Of The Sophisticated Monopolist, Ashok S. Guha, Brishti Guha Sep 2005

Trade, Growth And Increasing Returns To Infrastructure: The Role Of The Sophisticated Monopolist, Ashok S. Guha, Brishti Guha

Research Collection School Of Economics

We consider a model of international trade with increasing returns in a non-traded input into industry, infrastructure, and show that the nature of equilibrium depends crucially on whether the infrastructure provider acts in a naïve manner – akin to a Level 1 agent in a cognitive hierarchy (C-H) model – or in a more sophisticated manner. Infrastructure requires a fixed investment and is produced under decreasing marginal costs, and we model two possible market forms, monopoly and Cournot oligopoly with free entry – both capable of generating pecuniary externalities in the manufacturing sector . Unlike most other work exploring the …