Stripping the Boss : The Powerful Role of Humor in the Egyptian Revolution 2011

The Egyptian Revolution 2011 has shaken the Arab world and stirred up Middle-East politics. Moreover, it caused a rush in political science and the neighboring disciplines, which had not predicted an event like this and now have troubles explaining it. While many things can be learned from the popular uprising, and from the limitations of previous scholarship, our focus will be on a moral resource, which has occasionally been noticed, but not sufficiently explored: the role of humor in keeping up the spirit of the Revolution. For eighteen days, protestors persevered at Liberation Square in Central Cairo, the epicenter of resistance; at times a few dozens, at times hundreds of thousands. What they did was to fight the terror of the regime, which reached absurd peaks during those days, with humor – successfully. We offer a social-functionalist account of the uprising, which includes behavioral as well as cultural levels of analysis, and illuminates how humorous means helped to achieve deadly serious goals. By reconstructing how Egyptians laughed themselves into democracy, we outline a social psychology of resistance, which uses humor both as a sword and a shield.Peer reviewe

The Social Irresponsibility of Corporate Tax Avoidance: Taking CSR to the bottom line

TAX REVENUES ARE THE LIFEBLOOD OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT AND THE SOCIAL CONTRACT, BUT THE MAJORITY OF MULTINATIONAL BUSINESSES HAVE BEEN STRUCTURED SO AS TO ENABLE TAX AVOIDANCE IN EVERY JURISDICTION IN WHICH THEY OPERATE. JOHN CHRISTENSEN AND RICHARD MURPHY OF THE TAX JUSTICE NETWORK ARGUE THAT POLICY MEASURES ARE REQUIRED TO REDRESS THE DISTORTIONS THAT HAVE ARISEN AS GLOBALIZED COMPANIES HAVE LEFT NATIONALLY BASED TAX REGIMES FLOUNDERING. BUSINESSES SHOULD ADOPT CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY STANDARDS ON TAXATION, INCLUDING REQUIREMENTS TO PUBLISH ALL NECESSARY ACCOUNTING INFORMATION AND TO REFRAIN FROM THE USE OF PROFITS-LAUNDERING VEHICLES CREATED WITHOUT SUBSTANTIAL ECONOMIC PURPOSE.:Development (2004) 47, 37–44. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100066

The Ricardian equivalence hypothesis: evidence from Bangladesh

This article examines the Ricardian equivalence hypothesis (REH) and its sources of failure in the case of Bangladesh using various theoretical specifications, annual data from 1974-2001 and linear and nonlinear time series techniques. The general findings tend to invalidate the REH: a finite time horizon and the presence of liquidity-constrained individuals are the sources of deviation from the REH. Empirical results reveal that real per-capita private consumption (C) under various specifications is cointegrated generally at the 5% level with real per-capita income (Y), government expenditure before and after interest rate repayments (G and G2), taxes (T) and the interest rate (r). Results reveal that an increase in G, G2, T and r reduces C and that an increase in budget deficits raises trade deficits. These results highlight the importance of fiscal policies in boosting private consumption and controlling trade deficits, which are the prime goals of stabilization policies being followed by Bangladesh.