2,789 research outputs found

    Down a slippery slope:lack of trust, coercive threats and business tax resistance in Greece, 1955-1988

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    Over the second half of the 20th century, Greek governments failed to tax business income in line with the country’s level of economic development. This paper uses the “slippery slope” model of tax compliance to explain why the reform of income and corporate taxation in the late 1950s met strong resistance in the business sector. We argue that the negative legacy of interwar reforms, the lack of sustained and credible investment in trust building in coincidence with the postwar reforms, and the intensification of coercive threats in tax enforcement led to an antagonistic tax climate and a degradation of enforced and voluntary compliance. Our qualitative analysis based on original primary sources shows that the arguments publicly voiced by entrepreneurs and their organizations reflected their persistent perception of tax power as unfair, arbitrary and extractive. Using aggregate tax returns data, our quantitative analysis finds evidence of systematic and increasing income underreporting both by unincorporated and incorporated businesses. This vicious circle of non-cooperation and mutual distrust explains why governments got trapped into a persistent low tax capacity equilibrium that still casts a shadow on the Greek economy

    Examining systemic and dispositional factors impacting historically disenfranchised schools across North Carolina

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    This mixed method sequential explanatory study provided analysis of North Carolina (NC) school leaders’ dispositions in eliminating opportunity gaps, outlined in NC’s strategic plan. The study’s quantitative phase used descriptive and correlation analysis of eight Likert subscales around four tenets of transformative leadership (Shields, 2011) and aspects of critical race theory (Bell, 1992; Ladson-Billings, 1998; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 2006) to understand systemic inequities and leadership attitudes. The qualitative phase comprised three analyses of education leadership dispositions and systemic factors in NC schools. The first analysis of State Board of Education meeting minutes from 2018–2023 quantified and analyzed utterances of racism and critical race, outlined the sociopolitical context of such utterances, and identified systemic patterns and state leader dispositions. The second analysis of five interviews of K–12 graduates identified persistent and systemic factors influencing NC education 3 decades after Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and within the context of Leandro v. State of NC (1997), where the NC Supreme Court recognized the state constitutional right for every student to access a “sound basic education.” The final qualitative analysis consisted of five interviews of current NC public school system leaders, for personal narratives of the state of NC schools compared to patterns from lived experiences of NC K–12 graduates. The study’s findings suggested NC school and state education leaders experience a racialized dichotomy between willingness for change (equity intentions) and execution of transformative action (practice). Although leaders at the board and school levels recognize the need for inclusivity and equity, a struggle to transcend systemic challenges, especially rooted in racial biases and power dynamics is evident. This study may identify leadership qualities needed for change in NC to address systemic inequities for improving educational access and inform policy to uphold all students’ constitutional right to a sound, basic education

    Essays in macroeconomics: worker and firm dynamics

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    Defence date: 22 May 2023Examining Board: Prof. Russell Cooper, (EUI, Supervisor); Prof. Thomas Crossley (EUI, Co-Supervisor); Prof. Basile Grassi, (Bocconi University); Prof. Bas van der Klaauw, (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)This thesis comprises three independent essays in applied macroeconomics. The three papers examine unemployment insurance policy, monetary policy transmission to real economic activity, and how government spending passes through production networks. Job Search and the Threat of Unemployment Benefit Sanctions examines the impact of the threat to cut jobseekers’ unemployment benefits in order to spur search effort and accelerate the return to work. Faster exit from unemployment is often associated with worse reentry characteristics associated with a substitution of social insurance transfer payments towards “market insurance". Sectoral Volatility and the Investment Channel of Monetary Policy investigates how the dispersion of individual-level fluctuations in firms’ productivity affects their investment responsiveness to monetary policy operations, with consequences for when monetary policy is more or less powerful over the business cycle. Goverment Spending in Production Networks: Size versus Centrality examines how government spending propagates through the production network. We ask what are the consequences for fiscal spending multipliers when we account for both the networked structure of production and the heterogeneity of firms which occupy important nodes simultaneously. Specifically, we examine whether there is a race between centrality (implying large network effects) and firm size (dampening responsiveness due to slacker constraints).1. Job search and the threat of unemployment benefit sanctions -- 2. Sectoral volatility and the investment channel of monetary policy -- 3. Government spending in firm-level production networks: size versus centralit

    First Year Teacher in Appalachia: Place, Identity, Tensions

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    This study centers on one first-year Social Studies teacher who is beginning her teaching career in a rural middle school in central Appalachia. Grounded in sociocultural theory, this qualitative study focuses understanding how the focal teacher discursively constructs her teaching identity including how she makes use of sociocultural resources, social practices, and the discourses she draws from as she describes her experiences. Data is drawn from a five-month interpretive qualitative case study that included semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and the focal teacher’s personal journals. Data analysis indicated that place is crucial in shaping teachers’ beliefs and practices—including their conceptions of race and how this is handled in classrooms and how place deeply impacts professional identity development. This study suggests that teacher education programs need to purposefully provide educators with courses that prepare teachers to handle highly politicized topics in their classrooms—such as race and gender. Further, pre-service teachers need to have guidance in understanding the backgrounds and perspectives they bring to teaching including being pushed to challenge deficit perspectives, engage in discussions regarding race, poverty, rurality, and become trauma responsive/informed in the context of rural education. Finally, social media has emerged as a key place in early-career teachers’ identity development. This being the case, pre-service and early-career teachers need to learn to intentionally use social media in local contexts. This study also points to the importance of induction programs for new teachers in order to assist in bridging their teacher education preparation with real-world teaching

    Honors Colleges in the 21st Century

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    Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction | Richard Badenhausen Part I: Honors College Contexts: Past and Present CHAPTER ONE Oxbridge and Core Curricula: Continuing Conversations with the Past in Honors Colleges | Christopher A. Snyder CHAPTER TWO Characteristics of the 21st-Century Honors College | Andrew J. Cognard-Black and Patricia J. Smith Part II: Transitioning to an Honors College CHAPTER THREE Should We Start an Honors College? An Administrative Playbook for Working Through the Decision | Richard Badenhausen CHAPTER FOUR Beyond the Letterhead: A Tactical Toolbox for Transitioning from Program to College | Sara Hottinger, Megan McIlreavy, Clay Motley, and Louis Keiner Part III: Administrative Leadership CHAPTER FIVE “It Is What You Make It’’: Opportunities Arising from the Unique Roles of Honors College Deans | Jeff Chamberlain, Thomas M. Spencer, and Jefford Vahlbusch CHAPTER SIX The Role of the Honors College Dean in the Future of Honors Education | Peter Parolin, Timothy J. Nichols, Donal C. Skinner, and Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson CHAPTER SEVEN From the Top Down: Implications of Honors College Deans’ Race and Gender | Malin Pereira, Jacqueline Smith-Mason, Karoline Summerville, and Scott Linneman Part IV: Honors College Operations CHAPTER EIGHT Something Borrowed, Something New: Honors College Faculty and the Staffing of Honors Courses | Erin E. Edgington and Linda Frost CHAPTER NINE Telling Your Story: Stewardship and the Honors College | Andrew Martino Part V: Honors Colleges as Leaders in the Work of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access CHAPTER TEN Cultivating Institutional Change: Infusing Principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into Everyday Honors College Practices | Tara M. Tuttle, Julie Stewart, and Kayla Powell CHAPTER ELEVEN Positioning Honors Colleges to Lead Diversity and Inclusion Efforts at Predominantly White Institutions | Susan Dinan, Jason T. Hilton, and Jennifer Willford CHAPTER TWELVE Honors Colleges as Levers of Educational Equity | Teagan Decker, Joshua Kalin Busman, and Michele Fazio CHAPTER THIRTEEN Promoting the Inclusion of LGBTQ+ Students: The Role of the Honors College in Faith-Based Colleges and Universities | Paul E. Prill Part VI: Supporting Students CHAPTER FOURTEEN Who Belongs in Honors? Culturally Responsive Advising and Transformative Diversity | Elizabeth Raisanen CHAPTER FIFTEEN Fostering Student Leadership in Honors Colleges | Jill Nelson Granger Part VII: Honors College Curricular Innovation CHAPTER SIXTEEN Honors Liberal Arts for the 21st Century | John Carrell, Aliza S. Wong, Chad Cain, Carrie J. Preston, and Muhammad H. Zaman CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Honors Colleges, Transdisciplinary Education, and Global Challenges | 423 Paul Knox and Paul Heilker Part VIII: Community Engagement CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Teaching and Learning in the Fourth Space: Preparing Scholars to Engage in Solving Community Problems | Heidi Appel, Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson, Joy Hart, Paul Knox, Andrea Radasanu, Leigh E. Fine, Timothy J. Nichols, Daniel Roberts, Keith Garbutt, William Ziegler, Jonathan Kotinek, Kathy Cooke, Ralph Keen, Mark Andersen, and Jyotsna Kapur CHAPTER NINETEEN Serving Our Communities: Leveraging the Honors College Model at Two-Year Institutions | Eric Hoffman, Victoria M. Bryan, and Dan Flores About the Authors About the NCHC Monograph Serie

    A corpus-based investigation into lexicogrammatical incongruity and its relation to irony

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    Presented is a corpus-based investigation into the lexicogrammatical features of irony. A common understanding of irony is of a trope in which the dictum and the implicatum are seen as incongruous. I argue that patterns of lexicogrammatical incongruity can reflect this incongruity at the pragmatic level. Additionally, a bottom-up examination of authentic examples of ironic utterances can reveal common lexicogrammatical patterns. This study attempts to readdress the paucity of linguistic studies into irony by focusing on real-world examples of irony as a source of data. Examples of irony were taken from two irony-rich discourse environments and ironic examples were extracted using an independent framework of irony. Commonalities of patterning were first identified, and then interrogated across the two DIY corpora, as well as two general corpora, in order to measure both frequency (raw/t-score) and fixedness. Finally, a deeper examination of the concordance lines revealed whether such patterns carry an ironic force. Three significant findings are presented. Firstly, the study explores lexicogrammatical patterns of collocation concerning multiple hedging: that is, two or more lexical items which ostensibly have a hedging function, yet often frame strong evaluative or rhetorical statements. Secondly, I present patterns of collostruction in which the progressive aspect colligates with cognition verbs. It is the lexicogrammatical incongruity within these patterns that is often a source of irony. Usage of these phrases does not, however, guarantee that the statement will always be ironic. Yet, when compared within larger general corpora, these patterns demonstrate high tendencies of pragmatic characteristics related to irony. Therefore, the final results chapter argues that such patterns can be considered as having ironic priming. Identification and awareness of such patterns may help audiences in accurately reaching ironic interpretations. More practically, these patterns may also help NLP methodology by building upon previous attempts of automated irony detection to create more robust algorithms. Furthermore, there are wider implications to what corpus linguistic methodology can explore in regard to connections between pragmatics and lexicogrammar

    Designing adaptivity in educational games to improve learning

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    The study of pedagogy has shown that students have different ways of learning and processing information. Students in a classroom learn best when being taught by a teacher who is able to adapt and/or change the pedagogical model being used, to better suit said students and/or the subject being taught. When considering other teaching mediums such as computer-assisted learning systems or educational video games, research also identified the benefits of adapting educational features to better teach players. However, effective methods for adaptation in educational video games are less well researched.This study addresses four points regarding adaptivity within educational games. Firstly, a framework for making any game adaptive was extracted from the literature. Secondly, an algorithm capable of monitoring, modelling and executing adaptations was developed and explained using the framework. Thirdly, the algorithm's effect on learning gains in players was evaluated using a customised version of Minecraft as the educational game and topics from critical thinking as the educational content. Lastly, a methodology explaining the process of utilising the algorithm with any educational game and the evaluation of said methodology were detailed

    China-US Competition

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    This open access edited book brings together a closer examination of European and Asian responses to the escalating rivalry between the US and China. As the new Cold War has surfaced as a perceivable reality in the post-COVID era, the topic itself is of great importance to policymakers, academic researchers, and the interested public. Furthermore, this manuscript makes a valuable contribution to an under-studied and increasingly important phenomenon in international relations: the impact of the growing strategic competition between the United States and China on third parties, such as small and middle powers in the two arguably most affected regions of the world: Europe and East Asia. The European side has been under-studied and explicitly comparative work on Europe and East Asia is extremely rare. Given that the manuscript focuses heavily on recent developments—and because many of these developments have been quite dramatic—there are very few publications that cover the same topics
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