Three's company: Wall Street, Capitol Hill, and K Street

This paper explores the link between the political influence of the financial industry and financial regulation in the run-up to the global financial crisis. We construct a detailed database documenting the lobbying activities, campaign contributions, and political connections of the financial industry from 1999 to 2006 in the United States. We find evidence that spending on lobbying by the financial industry and network connections between lobbyists and the legislators were positively linked to the probability of a legislator changing positions in favor of deregulation. The evidence also suggests that hiring connected lobbyists who had worked for legislators in the past enhanced this link

Teacher Competence Frameworks In Myanmar And Hungary

Teacher competence framework is a quality improvement tool to regulate continuous professional development activities and to support ethical professional behavior. The aim of this study is to analyze and compare teacher competence frameworks in Myanmar and Hungary, thus, to examine the similarities and differences in two systems. It can be concluded that TCFs were established with international inspiration and support in both countries, in 2006 in Hungary, in Myanmar a decade later. TCFs provide the standards that teachers are to attain at the different stages of their careers and professional growth in both systems. But while in Myanmar there is one single framework, in Hungary there are two separate (although similar) sets of competences: one for teacher appraisal and promotion and one for setting the expected learning outcomes in teacher education. The content of the Myanmar and the Hungarian frameworks, i.e. the teacher competencies are very similar, though in Hungary the later modifications included some new competencies

Presuming the influence of the media: teenagers’ constructions of gender identity through sexual/romantic relationships and alcohol consumption

Using empirical data from group discussions and in-depth interviews with 13 to 15-year olds in Scotland, this study explores how teenagers’ alcohol drinking and sexual/romantic relationships were shaped by their quest for appropriate gendered identities. In this, they acknowledged the influence of the media, but primarily in relation to others, not to themselves, thereby supporting Milkie's ‘presumed media influence’ theory. Media portrayals of romantic/sexual relationships appeared to influence teenagers’ constructions of gender-appropriate sexual behaviour more than did media portrayals of drinking behaviour, perhaps because the teenagers had more firsthand experience of observing drinking than of observing sexual relationships. Presumed media influence may be less influential if one has experience of the behaviour portrayed. Drinking and sexual behaviour were highly interrelated: sexual negotiation and activities were reportedly often accompanied by drinking. For teenagers, being drunk or, importantly, pretending to be drunk, may be a useful way to try out what they perceived to be gender-appropriate identities. In sum, teenagers’ drinking and sexual/romantic relationships are primary ways in which they do gender and the media's influence on their perceptions of appropriate gendered behaviour is mediated through peer relationships

ASTYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF HONEST DECEPTION REFLECTED INPIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL

This researchis aimedat describing thehonest deceptionused in a film entitledPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. There are three objectives of this research. The first is to provide the description and analysis of honest deception phenomenain the mentioned film. This research explores three types of honest deception:hyperbole, irony, and sarcasm. The second is to provide abrief description and discussion of the language functionrelated to the use of honest deception. The last is to reveal the life in pirates’ world in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearlthrough the occurrence of honest deception. The data source of this research wasa film entitled Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The data of this research were taken from the characters’ dialogues by watching the film whichwerethen checked by reading the script. The data of this research were some verbal expressions in words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs, and non-verbal expressions/actions which were related tothe verbal ones. The data were then analyzed usingadescriptive qualitative method. It gaveasufficient description of the factual data of the phenomena and provided its logical and rational interpretation based on relevant theories. Data trustworthiness was achieved through credibility, reliability, and conformability.Theresearch findings show that (1) there are three types of honest deception found in the film among 21 occurrences: hyperbole (11 times or 52.38%),irony (5 times or23.81%), and sarcasm (5 times or23.81%). Hyperbole is an extremely effective literary device since it is dramatically more descriptive in getting a point across and making a desired effect. (2)There are four types of language functions found in the film, namely: emotive (3times or14.29%), conative (6times or28.57%), referential (11times or52.38%), and phatic (once or4.76%). Referential is the highest function since it is logically often found in the language use. Most utterances have referential contents. (3) Thereflection of life in the pirates’ world in the filmis presented through the analysis of honest deception. There are some aspectsthatcan beseen: (a) pirates’ world is a life that is full of immorality and contempt, (b) the use of swear words is very common in the pirates’ world, (c) pirateshave lingo in communicatingin their everyday life, (d) pirates commonly consistof men; it is against pirates' rules for women to be on board, (e) pirates always fly gruesome flagsto makea mark on their ships, (f) the most precious prizes for pirates are chests of gold, silver and jewels, (g) a mutiny is one problem that often appears in their world, and (h) pirating is prohibited by international law becauseitunsettlesthe life of manypeople. Keywords: stylistics, honest deception,Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Comparative Education Understanding Why the United States Underperforms in International Test Scores: Learning From China, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom

The United States has slow but surely fallen in their standing in global education. Education affects everything from economic standing to innovation for the future and thus the decline in educational standing presents a problem for the U.S. This research uses the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment as a baseline for where countries place relative to the United States. The study then uses Canada and England to represent nations with ideologies and economies most similar to the United States as well as China and Japan to represent countries that differ. Each nation’s governmental structure, societal issues, and economies are compared in order to understand how the individual systems affect overall education policy. The overall findings of each nation are taken and compared to that of the United States and policy suggestions are drawn based on the history and educational structures in the U.S. The policy that is offered is intended to take in account what limitations and variances that the United States has and offer the best solutions, while also taking into account what has been successful in other nations

Review of \u3cem\u3eSpirituality in Social Work Practice.\u3c/em\u3e Ronald K. Bullis. Reviewed by Lolita Perkins, Louisiana State University.

Ronald K. Bullis, Spirituality in Social Work Practice. Washington, D.C. Taylor and Francis, 1996 $24.95 papercove

Competition in Funding Higher Education

In higher education pure credit market funding leads to underinvestment while income-contingent loans funding tends to produce overinvestment. We analyze whether a market structure in which both funding schemes coexist and compete against each other might restore efficiency of the educational investment process. In the absence of government intervention, we find that funding competition does not rectify the investment inefficiency nor will it improve pooling of individual income risks. However, a policy which allows the two financing schemes to compete and which, at the same time, restricts access to higher education can achieve investment efficiency and improve risk pooling. We find that the equilibrium with funding competition and restricted participation yields the highest level of social welfare.higher education, funding competition, human capital formation