The Rising of Asian Values and the Financial Crisis: The Cases of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore

Following the recent financial crisis, people are asking why the Asian countries are suffering less in this crisis than their Western counterparts, signalling a highly consequential shift of financial and commercial gravity to the east. This paper is intended to unearth the real merits of ‘Asian values/models’. As former British colonies which still maintain a common law system, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore share some similarities but at the same time have some differences, thereby providing three unique case studies to examine the impacts of the financial crisis on these economies. This paper first offers a brief review of the economic and financial systems of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Then, it analyses their development of regulatory systems in the financial markets. Afterwards, it moves on to evaluate the impacts of the crisis on their economy including GDP, banking, stock market and trade, followed by their policy and regulatory responses to such crisis. The final part concludes that Asian values as a new model for development have helped the three economies survive in a global financial hurricane

Growth without Institutions? The Case of China

Scholars and policymakers have always been interested in what matters to economic growth. The 'legal origins' hypothesis suggests that legal systems have a long-run impact on patterns of economic growth. Alternatively, it has been suggested that a political economy based explanation may be stronger than the legal origins hypothesis. Indeed, there can be a spectrum of factors which are relevant. This article seeks to present a comprehensive and contextual analysis of these factors in the context of China, with the support of existing empirical evidence. In relation to legal institutions, although gaige kaifang, the twin strategies of reform and opening-up the economy, was initiated in 1978, a formal framework of company, financial and labour laws did not come until around mid-1990s. Moreover, only until mid-2000s, these laws were then revised and polished to international standards. However, the growth of China remained strong amid a fairly long period of ‘institutional void’. This article first offers a brief explanation to the importance of re-considering institutions, especially after the financial crisis. Then, it discusses the role of these institutions in the context of China. One focus will be on the legal institutions in China. Afterwards it goes on to discuss the role of other institutions such as politics, culture, as well as certain professionals. Institutions have constantly been built and fine-tuned in China. Undoubtedly, this will be an on-going process

Local Composite Quantile Regression for Regression Discontinuity

We introduce the local composite quantile regression (LCQR) to causal inference in regression discontinuity (RD) designs. Kai, Li and Zou study the efficiency property of LCQR, while we show that its nice boundary performance translates to accurate estimation of treatment effects in RD under a variety of data generating processes. Moreover, we propose a bias-corrected and standard error-adjusted t-test for inference, which leads to confidence intervals with good coverage probabilities. A bandwidth selector is also discussed. For illustration, we conduct a simulation study and revisit a classic example from Lee. A companion R package rdcqr is developed.</p

Silica Structures Templated on Fibers of Tetraalkylphosphonium Salt Gelators in Organogels

Phosphonium cations (18nRP+) consisting of three or four n-octadecyl chains and R = PhCH2 or CmH2m+1 (m = 1−5 or 12) when n = 3 and with iodide, bromide, chloride, fluoride, or perchlorate anions are used to gelate and polymerize solutions of 2−10 wt % tetraethyl orthosilicate in ethanol, benzene, tetrahydrofuran, and dimethyl sulfoxide using acid or base catalysis and under hydrolytic or nonhydrolytic conditions. These are the simplest low-molecular-mass organic gelator structures of which we are aware that have been able to template silica. The silica objects that are obtained after the hydrolytic sol−gel process include porous, spherulitic, and tubular objects in the size range of several micrometers to tens of nanometers. Their specific shapes and sizes depend on the specific conditions of the hydrolytic sol−gel process, including the nature of the catalyst. The electrostatic interaction between silicate intermediates and gelator strands is the driving force for templating. The template effect is strongly influenced by several factors, including (1) the competition between silicate/solvent and silicate/template interactions, (2) the period of the sol−gel process, (3) the hardness of the anion of the gelator salt, (4) the surface tension of the solvent, (5) and the sequence of drying and template removal processes. The nature of the R group influences the stability of the molecular gels but appears to have little effect on the silica morph obtained. In addition, it is shown in one case, where a direct comparison is possible, that the fibers of one of our phosphonium salts are a much more efficient template for silica than those of the corresponding ammonium salt (with its “harder” cationic center). The specific nature of the objects and the conditions under which they can be formed are discussed

Image_1_Sex differences in cognitive function among Chinese older adults using data from the Chinese longitudinal healthy longevity survey: a cross-sectional study.pdf

ObjectiveTo compare the sex differences in cognitive function and its influencing factors among Chinese older adults.MethodWe conducted a cross-sectional study by using data from the China Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). According to the 32 provinces and 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government of China, 3–5 counties or districts were randomly selected in each province or city (except Tibet), and then 1–3 villages or streets were randomly selected in each county or district, from which the target population was sampled. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to assess the cognitive function of 9,262 older adults aged 65 and above in China. Descriptive analysis was applied to demonstrate the participants’ demographic characteristics, health-related behaviors, social and non-social activity, disease status, mental and sleep condition. And then, univariate and multifactor analyses were performed to validate different risk factors for cognitive function, respectively in the general population, male older adults and female older adults.ResultThe older adults with cognitive impairment accounted for 10.4% of the total population. There are significant differences in cognitive function between male and female older adults. The odds of cognitive impairment in older adult women was 1.291 times that of older adult men (OR = 1.291, 95%CI: 1.084–1.538). Among the male older adults, those who were older, highly educated, spouseless, had depressive symptoms, and lacked social activities were more likely to have cognitive impairment, whereas among the female older adults, those who were older, highly educated, and lacked social activities were more likely to have cognitive impairment.ConclusionOverall, there are subtle differences in potential influencing factors for cognitive function between the male older adults and female older adults. Attention should be paid to the different cognitive protection measures for the older adults with different sexes.</p

UBQLN2 mutations in Chinese sALS patients.

(A) Patient 2014–042 had a c.1174A>G (p.M392V) missense mutation. (B) Patient 2013–368 carried a deletion mutation (c.1500_1508delCATAGGCCC, p.P500_G502del).</p

The location and genetic conservation of the mutations in <i>UBQLN2</i> gene.

<p>(A) Ubiquilin-2 protein indicating structural and functional domains: UBL (ubiquitin-like domain), STI1 (heat-shock-chaperonin binding motif), PXX (proline-rich region) and UBA (ubiquitin-associated domain). Our detected mutations are displayed in red. (B) The conservation of ubiquilin-2 protein in different species. The mutated residues are displayed in red.</p

Patient characteristics.

<p>Abbreviations: PALN: Para-aortic lymph nodes; ILN: Inguinal lymph nodes.</p

Progression-free survival after radiotherapy for recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer.

<p>Progression-free survival after radiotherapy for recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer.</p

Biomimetic Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalyzed by Microperoxidase-11 at Liquid/Liquid Interfaces

An investigation of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyzed by microperoxidase-11 (MP-11) at the polarized water/1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) interface is reported. MP-11 contains a heme group covalently bonded to an undecapeptide chain via two thioether bonds of cysteine residues, as in cytochrome <i>c</i> oxidases (C<i>c</i>Os), and has been widely studied as a biomimetic model of C<i>c</i>Os. Herein we demonstrated that MP-11 can adsorb at the water/DCE interface and catalyze the O₂ reduction by lipophilic electron donors, namely tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and 1,1′-dimethylferrocene (DFc). The overall catalytic ORR corresponds to a proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) reaction and is kinetically controlled by the heterogeneous conversion of MP-11 from ferric (Fe^III-MP-11) to ferrous state (Fe^II-MP-11). Given that a significant amount of H₂O₂ was produced for both electron donors, it indicates that MP-11 has a remarkable impact on the ORR pathway and that MP-11, similar to other mononuclear macrocyclic compounds, cannot selectively catalyze the 4e^–/4H⁺ reduction of O₂ to H₂O. The results also suggest that one should carefully considers the role of Cu site in C<i>c</i>Os and the reaction environment to understand respiratory ORR and to develop more selective catalysts for practical applications (e.g., fuel cells)