Autocracy, democracy, bureaucracy, or monopoly: can you judge a government by its size?

We develop a simple theoretical framework to examine on an integrated basis how the form of government affects its power and size. The analytical framework abstracts from distortions that arise from the means ofgovernment finance and separates government power into two dimensions-pure coercive power and pure monopoly power. A government can exert its coercive power to shift the demand for its services outward and/or its monopoly power to restrict the output along a given demand curve to earn rents. Among the implications drawn from the analysis are that government officials have an incentive to provide a non-optimal combination of taxes and services, and that neither size nor rents alone are reliable indicators of the extent to which government fails to achieve optimality in its provision of services.Finance ; Power resources

A Process Model for Designing Employability Award Programs to Develop Graduate Employability

Employability awards have been implemented within universities as a strategy to support student development of employability and ultimately attainment of employment. The extant research into employability awards lacks a theoretical approach to designing and evaluating the impact of employability awards on relevant outcomes including employability and employment. This paper, informed by career construction theory, proposes a learner-focused, process model for developing employability. It also paves the way for future research to evaluate the impact of employability award programs

A tale of two niches: methods, concepts, and evolution

Being snapshots in time, species ranges may fall short of representing all of the geographic or environmental space that they are able to occupy. This has important implications for niche studies yet most comparative studies overlook the transient nature of species distributions and assume that they are at equilibrium. We review the methods most widely used for niche comparisons today and suggest a modified framework to describe and compare niches based on snapshot species range data. First, we introduce a new environmental space-based Niche Equivalence Statistic to test niche similarity between two species, which explicitly incorporates the spatial distribution of environments and their availability into statistical tests. We also introduce a new Background Statistic to measure the ability of this Niche Equivalence Statistic to detect differences based on the available environmental-space. These metrics enable fair comparisons between different geographies when the ranges of species are out of equilibrium. Based on distinct parameterizations of the new Equivalence and Background statistics, we then propose a Niche Divergence Test and a Niche Overlap Test, which allow assessment of whether differences between species emerge from true niche divergences. These methods are implemented in a new R package, ‘humboldt’ and applied to simulated species with pre-defined niches. The new methods improve accuracy of niche similarity and associated tests – consistently outperforming other tests. We show that the quantification of niche similarity should be performed only in environmental space, which is less sensitive than geographic space to the spatial abundance of key environmental variables. Further, our methods characterize the relationships between non-analogous and analogous climates in the species’ distributions, something not available previously. These improvements allow assessment of whether the different environmental spaces occupied by two taxa emerge from true niche evolution, as opposed to differences in life history and biological interactors, or differences in the variety and configuration of environments accessible to them

THE EFFECT OF RETRIBUTION ON SHAREHOLDER LITIGATION AND MANAGERS' REPORTS

Shareholder litigation is important because it is costly and can influence firms' reporting behavior. Prior research finds that attorneys' incentives and specific firm characteristics drive shareholder litigation. In this study, I control for these known drivers in order to examine whether an additional behavioral factor, investor retribution, also drives shareholder litigation. Retribution theory suggests that investors will initiate litigation to punish managers for misreporting even when there is no financial incentive to do so. My study uses experimental markets to examine whether retribution plays a role in investors' litigation decisions, and if this, in turn, affects managers' reporting decisions. Consistent with economic theory, I find that when investors do not have an option to initiate litigation, managers frequently misreport and investors do not find their reports credible. Further, when investors have an option to initiate litigation and a financial incentive to do so (similar to current securities laws), misreporting decreases and the credibility of managers' reports increases. However, inconsistent with economic theory but consistent with retribution theory, when investors have an option to initiate litigation but have no financial incentive to do so, misreporting decreases and the credibility of managers' reports increases to approximately the same level as when investors have a financial incentive to initiate litigation. These findings have important implications for regulators and managers who need to accurately anticipate investors' litigation decisions in order to make optimal policy and reporting decisions

Biofilm-stimulated epithelium modulates the inflammatory responses in co-cultured immune cells

The gingival epithelium is a physical and immunological barrier to the microbiota of the oral cavity, which interact through soluble mediators with the immune cells that patrol the tissue at the gingival epithelium. We sought to develop a three-dimensional gingivae-biofilm interface model using a commercially available gingival epithelium to study the tissue inflammatory response to oral biofilms associated with “health”, “gingivitis” and “periodontitis”. These biofilms were developed by sequential addition of microorganisms to mimic the formation of supra- and sub-gingival plaque in vivo. Secondly, to mimic the interactions between gingival epithelium and immune cells in vivo, we integrated peripheral blood mononuclear cells and CD14+ monocytes into our three-dimensional model and were able to assess the inflammatory response in the immune cells cultured with and without gingival epithelium. We describe a differential inflammatory response in immune cells cultured with epithelial tissue, and more so following incubation with epithelium stimulated by “gingivitis-associated” biofilm. These results suggest that gingival epithelium-derived soluble mediators may control the inflammatory status of immune cells in vitro, and therefore targeting of the epithelial response may offer novel therapies. This multi-cellular interface model, both of microbial and host origin, offers a robust in vitro platform to investigate host-pathogens at the epithelial surface

Economic inequality increases risk taking

Income inequality is rising around the world. Increased income inequality has been linked with higher rates of crime, greater debt, and poorer health, but the mechanisms linking inequality to poor outcomes among individuals are poorly understood. This research tested a behavioral account linking inequality to individual decision making. The account suggests that more unequal outcomes lead people to perceive that they need more resources to be satisfied. Higher perceived needs, in turn, motivate greater risk taking to meet those needs. Results of three experiments and an analysis of large-scale internet search data supported the proposed account. Results suggest that inequality may promote a range of poor outcomes, in part, by increasing risky behavior

A Positive Relationship Between Religious Faith and Forgiveness: Faith in the Absence of Data?

Religious faith and beliefs appear to play an important role in the lives of many individuals and are the topic of much research. The present study investigated the relationship between religious faith and forgiveness in a sample (n = 196) of college students. Students were asked to complete the Heartland Forgiveness Scale and the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Analyses of scores on both measures revealed a positive, significant correlation between these constructs, suggesting that there is a meaningful relationship between religious faith and the tendency to forgive. Implications and directions for further research are discussed

Deceptive measures of progress in the NHS long-term plan for cancer: case-based vs. population-based measures

The NHS Long Term Plan for cancer aims to increase early-stage diagnoses from 50% to 75% and to have 55,000 more people each year survive their cancer for at least 5 years following diagnosis. The targets measures are flawed and could be met without improving outcomes that really matter to patients. The proportion of early-stage diagnoses could increase, while the number of patients presenting at a late-stage remains the same. More patients could survive their cancer for longer, but lead time and overdiagnosis bias make it impossible to know whether anyone had their life prolonged. The target measures should switch from biased case-based measures to unbiased population-based measures that reflect the key objectives in cancer care: reducing late-stage incidence and mortality