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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Singapore Management University

2008

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Articles 31 - 60 of 170

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Schooling And Political Participation Revisited, Davin Chor, Filipe R. Campante Oct 2008

Schooling And Political Participation Revisited, Davin Chor, Filipe R. Campante

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate how the link between individual schooling and political participation is a ected by country characteristics which determine the relative productivity of human capital in political versus production activities. In our model, individuals face an e ort-allocation decision over the use of their human capital. Focusing on the role played by country factor endowments, we show that the abundance of a factor that is used in the least (respectively most) human capital-intensive sector will increase (respectively decrease) both: (i) the level of individual political participation; and (ii) the responsiveness of individual political participation to increases in human capital. We …


The Changes And Non-Changes Of China's Rural Land, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson Oct 2008

The Changes And Non-Changes Of China's Rural Land, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


A Comparative Account Of Statutory Interpretation In Singapore, Yihan Goh Oct 2008

A Comparative Account Of Statutory Interpretation In Singapore, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In 1993, the Singapore Parliament enacted legislative provisions adapted from Australian legislation directing, inter alia, that the courts apply the purposive approach in statutory interpretation. Those provisions also allowed for the extended use of extrinsic materials in the interpretative process. Fifteen years on, there is now a considerable body of Singapore case law to which a meaningful analysis may be undertaken. Indeed, from an initially cautious application of the enacted legislation, the courts began to read the enactments expansively, eventually providing for a statutory interpretation regime that is largely free of the confines of old. Nonetheless, the Singapore position does …


The Effective Reach Of Choice Of Law Agreements, Tiong Min Yeo Sep 2008

The Effective Reach Of Choice Of Law Agreements, Tiong Min Yeo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Two fundamental principles relating to party autonomy developed in the recent history of the conflict of laws. Despite initial reservations, the law today takes for granted that the parties’ agreement is nearly conclusive in respect of both their choice of litigation forum and their choice of the law governing the contractual relationship. Meanwhile, the law of obligations – in tort, restitution and equity – has grown apace; disputes between contracting parties today are rarely confined to pure contractual issues. Can contracting parties choose the law to govern non-contractual disputes in cross-border litigation? In the absence of such choice, to what …


Validity And Adverse Impact Potential Of Predictor Composite Formation, Wilfried De Corte, Filip Lievens, Paul R. Sackett Sep 2008

Validity And Adverse Impact Potential Of Predictor Composite Formation, Wilfried De Corte, Filip Lievens, Paul R. Sackett

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Previous research on the validity and adverse impact (AI) of predictor composite formation focused on the merits of regression-based or ad hoc composites. We argue for a broader focus. Ad hoc chosen composites are usually not Pareto-optimal, whereas the regression-based composite represents only one element from the total set of Pareto-optimal composites and can, therefore, provide only limited information on the potential for validity and AI reduction of forming predictor composites when both validity and AI are of concern. In that case, other Pareto-optimal composites may provide a better benchmark to decide on the merits of the predictor composite formation. …


Improving Semiparametric Estimation By Using Surrogate Data, Song Xi Chen, Leung, Denis H. Y., Jin Qin Sep 2008

Improving Semiparametric Estimation By Using Surrogate Data, Song Xi Chen, Leung, Denis H. Y., Jin Qin

Research Collection School Of Economics

The paper considers estimating a parameter beta that defines an estimating function U(y, x, beta) for an outcome variable y and its covariate x when the outcome is missing in some of the observations. We assume that, in addition to the outcome and the covariate, a surrogate outcome is available in every observation. The efficiency of existing estimators for beta depends critically on correctly specifying the conditional expectation of U given the surrogate and the covariate. When the conditional expectation is not correctly specified, which is the most likely scenario in practice, the efficiency of estimation can be severely compromised …


Do Online Reviews Affect Product Sales? The Role Of Reviewer Characteristics And Temporal Effects, Nan Hu, Ling Liu, Jennifer Zhang Sep 2008

Do Online Reviews Affect Product Sales? The Role Of Reviewer Characteristics And Temporal Effects, Nan Hu, Ling Liu, Jennifer Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Online product reviews provided by consumers who previously purchased products have become a major information source for consumers and marketers regarding product quality. This study extends previous research by conducting a more compelling test of the effect of online reviews on sales. In particular, we consider both quantitative and qualitative aspects of online reviews, such as reviewer quality, reviewer exposure, product coverage, and temporal effects. Using transaction cost economics and uncertainty reduction theories, this study adopts a portfolio approach to assess the effectiveness of the online review market. We show that consumers understand the value difference between favorable news and …


Very Low Fertility In Pacific Asian Countries: Causes And Policy Responses, Paulin Tay Straughan Sep 2008

Very Low Fertility In Pacific Asian Countries: Causes And Policy Responses, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Only 40 years ago, population experts were still worried about a population explosion that would threaten the future of humanity. Fortunately, while population growth is currently largely under control, sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia still face massive increases with very serious potential consequences. Paradoxically, however, a new problem is emerging, with its key locus in Pacific Asia (the term used in this book to refer to Asian countries with a Pacific littoral). This problem is ultra-low fertility. Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong SAR are among the very lowest-fertility countries in the whole world, and even …


Smu Institutional Repository: Knowledge Dissemination Of Research And Scholarship, Paolina Martin, Ruth A. Pagell Aug 2008

Smu Institutional Repository: Knowledge Dissemination Of Research And Scholarship, Paolina Martin, Ruth A. Pagell

Research Collection Library

In planning for the implementation of SMU’s Institutional Repository, we discovered significant developments on the international research and academic scene in the area of scholarly communication. The developments cover changes in the role of governments and libraries in the support of research, the development of institutional repositories as the medium for the dissemination of scholarly communication, emerging standards and protocols for knowledge harvesting, new copyright models and new perspectives on measuring and reporting research quality and output. To be recognized as a research institution of excellence in the academic world, the University needs to decide where it wants to be …


When ‘Good Good’ Can Be Bad, M. Thulasidas Aug 2008

When ‘Good Good’ Can Be Bad, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Should we embrace politeness, as Hollywood would have us practise it?


A Nonparametric Hellinger Metric Test For Conditional Independence, Liangjun Su, Halbert White Aug 2008

A Nonparametric Hellinger Metric Test For Conditional Independence, Liangjun Su, Halbert White

Research Collection School Of Economics

We propose a nonparametric test of conditional independence based on the weighted Hellinger distance between the two conditional densities, f(y|x,z) and f(y|x), which is identically zero under the null. We use the functional delta method to expand the test statistic around the population value and establish asymptotic normality under β-mixing conditions. We show that the test is consistent and has power against alternatives at distance n−1/2h−d/4. The cases for which not all random variables of interest are continuously valued or observable are also discussed. Monte Carlo simulation results indicate that the test behaves reasonably well in …


Limit Theory For Explosively Cointegrated Systems, Peter C. B. Phillips, Tassos Magdalinos Aug 2008

Limit Theory For Explosively Cointegrated Systems, Peter C. B. Phillips, Tassos Magdalinos

Research Collection School Of Economics

A limit theory is developed for multivariate regression in an explosive cointegrated system. The asymptotic behavior of the least squares estimator of the cointegrating coefficients is found to depend upon the precise relationship between the explosive regressors. When the eigenvalues of the autoregressive matrix Θ are distinct, the centered least squares estimator has an exponential Θn rate of convergence and a mixed normal limit distribution. No central limit theory is applicable here, and Gaussian innovations are assumed. On the other hand, when some regressors exhibit common explosive behavior, a different mixed normal limiting distribution is derived with rate of convergence …


Regression Asymptotics Using Martingale Convergence Methods, Rustam Ibragimov, Peter C. B. Phillips Aug 2008

Regression Asymptotics Using Martingale Convergence Methods, Rustam Ibragimov, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

Weak convergence of partial sums and multilinear forms in independent random variables and linear processes and their nonlinear analogues to stochastic integrals now plays a major role in nonstationary time series and has been central to the development of unit root econometrics. The present paper develops a new and conceptually simple method for obtaining such forms of convergence. The method relies on the fact that the econometric quantities of interest involve discrete time martingales or semimartingales and shows how in the limit these quantities become continuous martingales and semimartingales. The limit theory itself uses very general convergence results for semimartingales …


Financial Frictions And International Trade, Ruanjai Suwantaradon Aug 2008

Financial Frictions And International Trade, Ruanjai Suwantaradon

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies the effects of financial market imperfections on a firm’s operating and exporting decisions. I introduce financial frictions into a trade model with heterogeneous firms along the line of Melitz (2003). With the presence of financial constraints, even among a group of firms with the same productivity level, firms that are more financially constrained operate on a less efficient scale, and as a result, may no longer find operating and/or exporting profitable. In addition, financial frictions may create a distortion compared to the Melitz (2003) world since operation and export participation may be undertaken by those with better …


A Welfare Analysis Of Capital Account Liberalization, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang Aug 2008

A Welfare Analysis Of Capital Account Liberalization, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We develop a model of a small open economy with credit market frictions to analyze the consequences of capital account liberalization. We show that financial opening facilitates the inflows of cheap foreign funds and improves production efficiency. Reforms increasing labor market exibility can further improve such efficiency gains. However, capital account liberalization also has important distributional consequences. Specifically, it may be impossible to use public transfers to fully compensate the loss of those negatively affected by capital account liberalization. This explains why financial opening often meets fierce opposition even though it leads to efficiency gains for the economy as a …


On The Evaluation Of The Joint Distribution Of Order Statistics, Koon Shing Kwong, Yiu Man Chan Aug 2008

On The Evaluation Of The Joint Distribution Of Order Statistics, Koon Shing Kwong, Yiu Man Chan

Research Collection School Of Economics

Dunnett and Tamhane [Dunnett, C.W., Tamhane, A.C., 1992. A step-up multiple test procedure. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 87, 162-170.] proposed a step-up procedure for comparing k treatments with a control and showed that the step-up procedure is more powerful than its counterpart single step and step-down procedures. Since then, several modified step-up procedures have been suggested to deal with different testing environments. In order to establish those step-up procedures, it is necessary to derive approaches for evaluating the joint distribution of the order statistics. In some cases, experimenters may have difficulty in applying those step-up procedures in multiple hypothesis testing …


Attributionally More Complex People Show Less Punitiveness And Racism, Kim-Pong Tam, Al Au, Angela K. Y. Leung Aug 2008

Attributionally More Complex People Show Less Punitiveness And Racism, Kim-Pong Tam, Al Au, Angela K. Y. Leung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Based on past findings that attributionally more complex people make less fundamental attribution error, it was hypothesized that they would show less punitiveness and racism. In a study of 102 undergraduates, this hypothesis received robust support. The effect of attributional complexity was significant in two different punitiveness measures, a rehabilitation support measure, and two different racism measures. Also, this effect still held when demographic variables, crime victimization history, and need for cognition were statistically controlled. Moreover, attributional complexity mediated the effect of need for cognition and gender on punitiveness and racism. Theoretical implications are discussed.


Barking At The Big Dogs: South Africa's Foreign Policy Towards The Middle East, Eduard Jordaan Aug 2008

Barking At The Big Dogs: South Africa's Foreign Policy Towards The Middle East, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article places South Africa's foreign policy towards the Middle East in the context of the country's general foreign policy. South Africa is classified as a middle power, given its penCHANt for international 'bridge-building' and multilateralism. With regard to the Middle East, South Africa has frequently offered itself as a mediator in the region's various conflicts and continues to do so. However, the argument proposed here is that there is an 'anti-imperialist' strain in South Africa's foreign policy that renders it unlikely to be regarded as an impartial broker in the various Middle East conflicts. South Africa's middle power proclivities, …


Global Governance And Energy, Ann Florini Aug 2008

Global Governance And Energy, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Energy has risen to the top of policy agendas around the world. There is now widespread recognition that energy policy has become key to international security, economic development, and the environmental sustainability of modern civilization. Yet this importance is not reflected in the world’s institutional infrastructure for managing global problems. A handful of international organizations work in uncoordinated fashion on various pieces of the energy puzzle. No organizational infrastructure exists to support the global conversation that is now badly needed about how to move the world onto a sustainable path that provides appropriate, reliable, and affordable energy services.


Time For Singapore To Relook Abortion Law, Seow Hon Tan Jul 2008

Time For Singapore To Relook Abortion Law, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.


Discussion Of Do The Biggest Aisles Serve Brighter Future? Implications Of Global Retail Chains' Presence For Romania, Davin Chor, Beata Javor, Li Xue Jul 2008

Discussion Of Do The Biggest Aisles Serve Brighter Future? Implications Of Global Retail Chains' Presence For Romania, Davin Chor, Beata Javor, Li Xue

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.


Smu Names New Institute After The Late Mr Sim Kee Boon, Singapore Management University Jul 2008

Smu Names New Institute After The Late Mr Sim Kee Boon, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

No abstract provided.


Smu Celebrates Fifth Batch Of 1,167 Graduates, Singapore Management University Jul 2008

Smu Celebrates Fifth Batch Of 1,167 Graduates, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

No abstract provided.


Mapping The Multi-Tiered Impacts Of The Growth Of It Industries In India: A Combined Scale-And-Scope Externalities Perspective, Robert J. Kauffman, Ajay Kumar Jul 2008

Mapping The Multi-Tiered Impacts Of The Growth Of It Industries In India: A Combined Scale-And-Scope Externalities Perspective, Robert J. Kauffman, Ajay Kumar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Externalities occur among agglomerated firms. Scale externalities occur between firms in the same industry. Scope externalities occur when heterogeneous industries are collocated. Combined scale-and-scope externalities exist when the scale of one industry is beneficial to the growth of another collocated industry. In the Sein and Haridranath (2004) framework of information technology (IT) impacts on development, scale externalities correspond to second-order impacts, while combined scale and scope eternalities correspond to third-order impacts. We use an agglomeration perspective to explain the growth of IT industries in India. We study growth patterns of four specific IT industries: computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing, semiconductor …


A Semiparametric Stochastic Volatility Model, Jun Yu Jul 2008

A Semiparametric Stochastic Volatility Model, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper examines how volatility responds to return news in the context of stochastic volatility (SV) using a nonparametric method. The correlation structure in the classical leverage SV model is generalized based on a linear spline. In the new model the correlation between the return innovation and volatility innovation is dependent on the type of news arrived to the market. Theoretical properties of the proposed model are examined. A simulation-based maximum likelihood method is developed to estimate the new model. Simulations show that the estimation method provides reliable parameter estimates. The new model is fitted to daily and weekly data …


Numerical Analysis Of Non-Constant Pure Rate Of Time Preference: A Model Of Climate Policy, Tomoki Fujii, Larry Karp Jul 2008

Numerical Analysis Of Non-Constant Pure Rate Of Time Preference: A Model Of Climate Policy, Tomoki Fujii, Larry Karp

Research Collection School Of Economics

When current decisions affect welfare in the far-distant future, as with climate change, the use of a declining pure rate of time preference (PRTP) provides potentially important modeling flexibility. The difficulty of analyzing models with non-constant PRTP limits their application. We describe and provide software (available online) to implement an algorithm to numerically obtain a Markov perfect equilibrium for an optimal control problem with non-constant PRTP. We apply this software to a simplified version of the numerical climate change model used in the Stern Review. For our calibration, the policy recommendations are less sensitive to the PRTP than widely believed. …


Nonparametric Prewhitening Estimators For Conditional Quantiles, Liangjun Su, Aman Ullah Jul 2008

Nonparametric Prewhitening Estimators For Conditional Quantiles, Liangjun Su, Aman Ullah

Research Collection School Of Economics

We define a nonparametric prewhitening method for estimating conditional quantiles based on local linear quantile regression. We characterize the bias, variance and asymptotic normality of the proposed estimator. Under weak conditions our estimator can achieve bias reduction and have the same variance as the local linear quantile estimators. A small set of Monte Carlo simulations is carried out to illustrate the performance of our estimators. An application to US gross domestic product data demonstrates the usefulness of our methodology.


Image Worship In Chinese Popular Religion, Margaret Chan Jul 2008

Image Worship In Chinese Popular Religion, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


The Rise Of Agrarian Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics: Agricultural Modernization, Agribusiness And Collective Land Rights, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson Jul 2008

The Rise Of Agrarian Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics: Agricultural Modernization, Agribusiness And Collective Land Rights, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The article discusses the agricultural transformation taking place in the rural areas of China. Details about the Chinese laws regarding rural reform and the effect they have had on rural Chinese farmers and families are included. The authors examine the expansion of agrarian capitalism in China and describe the rise of agribusiness in rural Chinese areas. The practices of Chinese agribusinesses and the Chinese land rights laws are explored. The relationships between individual farmers and agribusinesses is also examined.


Earnings Asymmetric Timeliness And Shareholder Distributions, Richard M. Frankel, Yan Sun, Rong Wang Jul 2008

Earnings Asymmetric Timeliness And Shareholder Distributions, Richard M. Frankel, Yan Sun, Rong Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study whether more asymmetrically timely earnings constrain payouts to shareholders in the presence of bad news. Our goal is to provide evidence on the ex post contracting benefits of accounting conservatism. We distinguish between cash flow asymmetric timeliness and accrual asymmetric timeliness to examine how each relates to asymmetric sensitivity of shareholder payouts. We find that only the asymmetric timeliness of cash flows is significantly related to the asymmetric sensitivity of shareholder payouts. Other measures of conservatism (earnings skewness and accumulated nonoperating accruals) are also not significantly related to the sensitivity of shareholder payouts given bad news. These results …