The Euro: A Crisis of the Currency or a Failure of Politics? Paper from the Colloquium: The Politics and Economics of the Euro Crisis, Institute for European Studies, University of Malta, 2 December 2011

Summary: Overall the monetary pillar of the EMU project has worked well so that it is incorrect to speak of a 'euro' crisis though it is at the epicentre of the present crisis. The origins of the problems it is facing have more to do with the economic component, particularly because of the breach of budgetary rules which points to a failure of politics. Hence the solution must be political, namely a strong commitment by governments to achieve balanced budgets and implement structural reforms so as to lay the basis for improved competitiveness, job creation and sustainable growth.

From Lampedusa to the Post-Stockholm Programme: Difficult European solidarity in the field of migration. European Policy Brief No. 24, March 2014

Solidarity is a founding principle of the European migration policy. To hold true, Member States must be faithful to their common commitment to European migration rules and implement fair burden sharing of the costs attached to border controls. However, solidarity among Member States appears altogether fragile and under threat, a situation that could jeopardise the founding principle of the free movement of persons in the European Union’s space. The recent solidarity crisis among Member States was solved by an increased externalisation of the European migration policy. Consequently, for the EU to live up to its values, it will have to prove itself generous towards third countries.

On Incentives in Technology Policymaking: What the EU Can Learn from U.S. Developments. CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No. 07.7, 1997

This paper explores the incentives political and bureaucratic actors face in the institutional setting of EU technology policy. In examining the implications and assumptions of neoclassical and evolutionary theories of technological change, it tries to answer why certain theories do not obtain importance in the political wor1d. By focusing on the positive approach to policymaking, the paper examines why policy learning does not occur m certain institutional settings. In referring to EU technology programs, I show which conceptual and functional shortcomings limit the policies in question. As evaluation and oversight mechanisms have not been sufficiently developed and accepted within the institutional setting, there is much room for inefficiency. I discuss this setting within a simple agency model using two political actors and two firms performing R&D. It is easy to show that when asymmetric information applies, the firms receive positive rents and the political agent gains reputation. The outcome suggests changing the evaluation practices and embedding results in political decision making. Regarding this point, recent U.S. developments seem to have led to more efficiency. Moreover, the paper suggests delegating technology policy to other actors and discussing the empowerment of different principals on the political plane.

Who Benefits from a Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement? Policy Brief #2013/04

From a purely economic standpoint, the US and the entire EU will profit from a dismantling of tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers between both regions. The real gross domestic product per capita would increase in the US and in all 27 EU member countries. Also when one looks at labor markets, the positive effects on employment predominate: Two million additional jobs could be created in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) zone over the long run. The public welfare gains of these economies admittedly do stand in contrast with real losses in income and employment in the rest of the world. On balance, however, the beneficial effects on economic welfare prevail.

Affective Commitment and Job Satisfaction among Non-family Employees: Investigating the Roles of Justice Perceptions and Psychological Ownership

Due to numerous characteristics often attributed to family firms, they constitute a unique context for non-family employees’ justice perceptions. These are linked to non-family employees’ pro-organizational attitudes and behaviors, which are essential for family firms’ success. Even though scholarly interest in non-family employees’ justice perceptions has increased, more research is still needed, also because the mechanism connecting justice perceptions and favorable outcomes is not fully understood yet. We address this gap by explicitly investigating non-family employees’ justice perceptions and by introducing psychological ownership as a mediator in the relationships between justice perceptions (distributive and procedural) and common work attitudes (affective commitment and job satisfaction). Our analysis of a sample of 310 non-family employees from Germany and German-speaking Switzerland reveals that psychological ownership mediates the relationships between distributive justice and affective commitment as well as job satisfaction. This represents valuable contributions to family business research, organizational justice and psychological ownership literature, and to practice.

Assessing progress toward meeting the goals of the Illinois Commitment : performance indicators ... annual report.

Title from cover.

Australian divestiture activity: An examination of gains to sell-off announcements

This study examines the source of gains associated with Australian divestiture activity, defined as a voluntary modification of the firm's productive assets by a sell-off of a complete operating division or wholly-owned subsidiary of the divesting firm The sell-off announcement produces positive average abnormal returns of 1.15% over the two-day announcement period. We conclude that the gains arise predominantly from divestitures that have a strategic focus as demonstrated by, first, the divested unit is unrelated to the firm's core activities (a strategic divestiture), second, the significance of the strategic variable in explaining the positive market reaction in regression analysis, and third, the finding of more significant results where the intended use of proceeds of the sell-off is for strategic purposes.

Subordinate-manager gender combination and perceived leadership style influence on emotions, self-esteem and organizational commitment

A theoretical model was developed to investigate the relationships among subordinate-manager gender combinations, perceived leadership style, experienced frustration and optimism, organization-based self-esteem and organizational commitment. The model was tested within the context of a probabilistic structural model, a discrete Bayesian network, using cross-sectional data from a global pharmaceutical company. The Bayesian network allowed forward inference to assess the relative influence of gender combination and leadership style on the emotions, self-esteem and commitment consequence variables. Further, diagnostics from backward inference were used to assess the relative influence of variables antecedent to organizational commitment. The results showed that gender combination was independent of leadership style and had a direct impact on subordinates' levels of frustration and optimism. Female manager-female subordinate had the largest probability of optimism, while male manager teamed with a male subordinate had the largest probability of frustration. Furthermore, having a female manager teamed up with a male subordinate resulted in the lowest possibility of frustration. However, the findings show that the gender issue is not simply female managers versus male managers, but is concerned with the interaction of the subordinate-manager gender combination and leadership style in a nonlinear manner. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of organisational subculture and their significance for organisational commitment

This paper investigates the relationship between perceptions of organisational culture, organisational subculture, leadership style, and commitment. The impact of culture and leadership style on commitment has been previously noted, but there is a lack of detail regarding how different types of culture and leadership styles relate to commitment. The paper particularly addresses the notion of organisational subcultures and how the perception of those cultures relates to commitment, subculture being a neglected variable in the commitment literature. These issues were addressed in a survey of 258 nurses drawn from a range of hospital settings and wards within the Sydney metropolitan region. Results indicate that perceived organisational subculture has a strong relationship with commitment. Furthermore, the results identify the relative strength of specific types of leadership style and specific types of subculture with commitment. Both innovative and supportive subcultures have a clear positive relationship, while bureaucratic subcultures have a negative relationship. In terms of leadership style, a consideration style had a stronger relationship with commitment than a structuring style. Regression analysis was used to investigate the possible role of subculture as a mediator for the influence of leadership on commitment. Both direct and indirect effects of leadership on commitment were found. Implications for practice and for further research are discussed.

Effect of conditional release from hospitalization on mortality risk

Objectives: This study considered the protective value provided by conditional release. It assessed the contribution of conditional release to mortality risk among patients with mental disorders severe enough to require psychiatric hospitalization during a mental health treatment span of 13.5 years in Victoria, Australia. Methods: Death records were obtained from the Australian National Death Index for a sample of 24,973 Victorian Psychiatric Case Register patients with a history of psychiatric hospitalizations: 8,879 had experienced at least one conditional release during community care intervals and 16,094 had not. Risk of death was assessed with standardized mortality ratios of the general population of Victoria. Relative risk of death among patients with and without past experience of conditional release was computed with risk and odds ratios. The contribution of conditional release to mortality, taking into account use of community care services, age, gender, inpatient experience, and diagnosis, as well as other controls, was assessed with logistic regression. Results: Patients who had been hospitalized showed higher mortality risk than the general population. Sixteen percent ( 4,034) died. Patients exposed to conditional release, however, had a 14 percent reduction in probability of noninjury-related death and a 24 percent reduction per day on orders in the probability of death from injury compared with those not offered such oversight throughout their mental health treatment, all other factors taken into account. Conclusions: Conditional release can offer protective oversight for those considered dangerous to self or others and appears to reduce mortality risk among those with disorders severe enough to require psychiatric hospitalization.

Factors in the selection of patients for conditional release from their first psychiatric hospitalization

Objective: This study examined a sample of patients in Victoria, Australia, to identify factors in selection for conditional release from an initial hospitalization that occurred within 30 days of entry into the mental health system. Methods: Data were from the Victorian Psychiatric Case Register. All patients first hospitalized and conditionally released between 1990 and 2000 were identified (N = 8,879), and three comparison groups were created. Two groups were hospitalized within 30 days of entering the system: those who were given conditional release and those who were not. A third group was conditionally released from a hospitalization that occurred after or extended beyond 30 days after system entry. Logistic regression identified characteristics that distinguished the first group. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to evaluate the contribution of conditional release early in treatment to reducing inpatient episodes, inpatient days, days per episode, and inpatient days per 30 days in the system. Results: Conditional release early in treatment was used for 11 percent of the sample, or more than a third of those who were eligible for this intervention. Factors significantly associated with selection for early conditional release were those related to a better prognosis ( initial hospitalization at a later age and having greater than an 11th grade education), a lower likelihood of a diagnosis of dementia or schizophrenia, involuntary status at first inpatient admission, and greater community involvement ( being employed and being married). When the analyses controlled for these factors, use of conditional release early in treatment was significantly associated with a reduction in use of subsequent inpatient care.

To learn from one's mistakes: The role of impulsivity in positive workplace behaviours

Recentiy a neuropsychological model of learning has been proposed Qackson, 2002) which argues that Responsibility provides a cognitive re-expression of Impulsivit)' in the prediction of functional and dysfunctional behaviour. Jackson argues that primitive, instinctive impulses lead to antisocial behaviours and socio-cognitive regulators such as Responsibility leads to the re-expression of Impulsivity in terms of pro-social behaviours. Study 1 tests and supports the measurement properties of the assessment methodology associated with the model. Study 2 provides evidence in favour of the instinctive basis of Impulsivity and the conscious basis of Responsibility, which reinforces the underlying neuropsychological basis of the model. Study 3 uses structural equation modelling to determine if Responsibility mediates Impulsivity in the prediction of a latent variable representing work performance, work commitment and team performance, but does not mediate Impulsivit}' in the prediction of a latent variable representing sexual proclivity, workplace deviancy, gambling and beer consumption. Results provide strong support for Jackson's model and suggest that Impulsivity and Responsibility are fundamental to both functional and dysfunctional learning

A SOTERIOLOGIA SOCIAL DE JOHN WESLEY com consideração especial de seus aspectos comunitários, sinergéticos e públicos

Este estudo investiga os elementos da soteriologia de John Wesley e seus aspectos dinamizantes. Em vez de favorecer um determinado período da vida de Jonh Wesley, a biografia teológica de John Wesley é desenvolvida a partir do conceito da sedimentação de experiência. Dessa forma, a theologia viatorum de John Wesley é desenvolvida com foco nos seus elementos transversais e os crescentes desdobramentos dos mesmos segundo os seus aspectos comunitários, sinergéticos e públicos. Segundo esta tese, a theologia viatorum de John Wesley ganha em profundidade e vitalidade com a sua crescente e consciente aprendizagem e compromisso com o povo inglês e, em especial, com os pobres da Inglaterra. Acompanhado por uma cuidadosa auto-análise, Wesley parte para a análise do efeito de diversas soteriologias dos seus dias no cotidiano, as quais são marcadas pela demorada transição entre a época medieval e a modernidade. Surge uma re-construção característica da soteriologia, designado por nós como soteriologia social. Entendemos esta soteriologia social como o eixo principal da teologia de John Wesley que se manifesta numa típica antropologia, cristologia, pneumatologia, escatologia e eclesiologia soteriológica. Os aspectos comunitários, sinergéticos e públicos desta soteriologia social são vistos e desenvolvidos por Wesley a partir da auto-experiência e da convivência com o povo, suas dinâmicas, sua cultura, suas necessidades e suas competências. Tais aspectos levam, passo a passo, a uma práxis que começa a contemplar o entrelaçamento entre a reforma da igreja, da nação e a transformação de pessoas. Este movimento é comotivado por um horizonte soterioló gico utópico que prevê a continuação da theologia viatorum até na transformação do cosmo inteiro. A soteriologia social é parecida com a um tecido que acompanha a topografia socio-econômica e religiosa da época, procurando caminhos para a superação dos seus impasses, da sua desesperança e irresponsabilidade em relação aos pobres.(AU)

Ownership structure and operating performance: evidence from the European maritime industry

In this paper we examine the relation between ownership structure and operating performance for European maritime firms. Using a sample of 266 firm-year observations, during the period 2002–2004, we provide evidence that operating performance is positively related with foreign held shares and investment corporation held shares, indicating better investor protection from managerial opportunism. We also find no relation between operating performance and employee held shares, suggesting no relation between employee commitment and firms’ economic performance. Furthermore, we find no relation between operating performance and government held shares, indicating that government may not adequately protect shareholders’ interests from managerial opportunism. Finally, we do find a positive relation between operating performance and portfolio held shares for code law maritime firms but not for common law maritime firms. Results are robust after adjusting for various firm and country risk characteristics. Overall, our results on the importance of the ownership structure are new to this setting and add to a large body of evidence linking ownership characteristics to corporate performance.