Japan's Paradoxical Response to the new 'Global Standard' in Corporate Governance

We suggest, on the basis of empirical research into the implementation of recent legal reforms, that Japan is not moving inexorably towards a 'global standard' in corporate governance, based on external monitoring and a market for corporate control. Japanese corporate governance is nevertheless changing: in part as an indirect response to legal initiatives, new structures and practices are emerging, aimed at providing greater flexibility in decision-making, while retaining the organisational core of the Japanese firm. The paradoxical effect of legal reforms aimed, in large part, at transplanting the global standard, may be to renew the distinctive Japanese model of the corporation.corporate governance, company law reform, Japan

Shareholder Primacy and the Trajectory of UK Corporate Governance

Core institutions of UK corporate governance, in particular those relating to takeovers, board structure and directors’ duties, are strongly orientated towards a norm of shareholder primacy. Beyond the core, in particular at the intersection of insolvency and employment law, stakeholder interests are better represented, thanks to European Community influence. Moreover, institutional shareholders are redirecting their investment strategies away from a focus on short-term returns, in such a way as to favour stakeholder-inclusive practices. We therefore suggest that the UK system is currently in a state of flux and that the debate over shareholder primacy has not been concluded.corporate governance, stakeholding, hostile takeovers, company law, insolvency, employee representation, shareholder activism

Japan\u27s Paradoxical Response to the New \u27Global Standard\u27 in Corporate Governance

We suggest, on the basis of empirical research into the implementation of recent legal reforms, that Japan is not moving inexorably towards a \u27global standard\u27 in corporate governance, based on external monitoring and a market for corporate control. Japanese corporate governance is nevertheless changing: in part as an indirect response to legal initiatives, new structures and practices are emerging, aimed at providing greater flexibility in decision-making, while retaining the organisational core of the Japanese firm. The paradoxical effect of legal reforms aimed, in large part, at transplanting the global standard, may be to renew the distinctive Japanese model of the corporation

Shareholder Protection and Stock Market Development: An Empirical Test of the Legal Origins Hypothesis

We test the 'law matters' and 'legal origin' claims using a newly created panel dataset meas-uring legal change over time in a sample of developed and developing countries. Our dataset improves on previous ones by avoiding country-specific variables in favour of functional and generic descriptors, by taking into account a wider range of legal data, and by considering the effects of weighting variables in different ways, thereby ensuring greater consistency of cod-ing. Our analysis shows that legal origin explains part of the pattern of change in the adop-tion of shareholder protection measures over the period from the mid-1990s to the present day: in both developed and developing countries, common law systems were more protective of shareholder interests than civil law ones. We explain this the result on the basis of the head start common law systems had in adjusting to an emerging 'global' standard based mainly on Anglo-American practice. Our analysis also shows, however, that civil law origin was not much of an obstacle to convergence around this model, since civilian systems were catching up with their counterparts in the common law. We then investigate whether there was a link in this period between increased shareholder protection and stock market devel-opment, using a number of measures such as stock market capitalisation, the value of stock-trading and the number of listed firms, after controlling for legal origin, the state of economic development of particular countries, and their position on the World Bank rule of law index. We find no evidence of a long-run impact of legal change on stock market development. This finding is incompatible with the claim that legal origin affects the efficiency of legal rules and ultimately economic development. Possible explanations for our result are that laws have been overly protective of shareholders; transplanted laws have not worked as ex-pected; and, more generally, the exogenous legal origin effect is not as strong as widely sup-posed.Law and finance, shareholder rights, corporate governance, corporate finance, legal origins, comparative law.

Research Evaluating Sports ConcUssion Events-Rapid Assessment of Concussion and Evidence for Return (RESCUE-RACER): a two-year longitudinal observational study of concussion in motorsport.

INTRODUCTION: Concussion is a clinical diagnosis, based on self-reported patient symptoms supported by clinical assessments across many domains including postural control, ocular/vestibular dysfunction, and neurocognition. Concussion incidence may be rising in motorsport which, combined with unresolved challenges to accurate diagnosis and lack of guidance on the optimal return-to-race timeframe, creates a difficult environment for healthcare practitioners. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Research Evaluating Sports ConcUssion Events-Rapid Assessment of Concussion and Evidence for Return (RESCUE-RACER) evaluates motorsports competitors at baseline (Competitor Assessment at Baseline; Ocular, Neuroscientific (CArBON) study) and post-injury (Concussion Assessment and Return to motorSport (CARS) study), including longitudinal data. CArBON collects pre-injury neuroscientific data; CARS repeats the CArBON battery sequentially during recovery for competitors involved in a potentially concussive event. As its primary outcome, RESCUE-RACER will develop the evidence base for an accurate trackside diagnostic tool. Baseline objective clinical scoring (Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-5th edition (SCAT5)) and neurocognitive data (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT)) will be assessed for specificity to motorsport and relationship to existing examinations. Changes to SCAT5 and ocular, vestibular, and reaction time function (Dx 100) will be estimated by the reliability change index as a practical tool for trackside diagnosis. Neuropsychological (Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB)) assessments, brain MRI (7 Tesla) and salivary biomarkers will be compared with the new tool to establish utility in diagnosing and monitoring concussive injuries. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was received from East of England-Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee (18/EE/0141). Participants will be notified of study outcomes via publications (to administrators) and summary reports (funder communications). Ideally, all publications will be open access. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: February 2019 nationally (Central Portfolio Management System 38259) and internationally (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03844282)

Linkage Between Chromosomal Interchanges and Colchicine Mutated Genes in Sorghum Vulgare

Although the genetic behavior of sorghum has been studied since 1916, it has never been as extensively investigated as certain other species. Information on the cytogenetics of sorghum has been slow in accumulating, chiefly because of the difficulty in distinguishing between the chromosomes. The use of chromosome structural markers as aids in cytogenetic studies has been suggested by Brink and Cooper and Burnham. Chromosomal interchanges have been used successfully in some crops to determine which chromosome pair carried specific genes or group of genes. A number of interchange lines were developed in the sorghum variety, experimental 3, by Hansel who used gamma irradiation to obtain breakage of the chromosomes. The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first objective was to test linkage relationships between the mutant genes and the break points in the interchange lines, thus determining which chromosomes carried the particular mutant genes. In addition it was desired to test for the presence of linkage between the mutant genes themselves. The second objective was to gain information on the action of colchicine in producing true-breeding mutants. If the action of colchicine were a result of somatic reduction following gene mutation, the genes affected might be expected to be scattered at random throughout the chromosome complement. Tests for linkage between the genes and the chromosome markers should provide evidence for one of these hypotheses

CBR Leximetric Datasets

The CBR Leximetric Datasets are the product of work carried out at the Centre for Business Research (CBR) in Cambridge, beginning in 2005 when the Centre received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council to carry out a research project on law, development and finance. Further funding from the ESRC, the European Union's FP5 and FP6 programmes, the Isaac Newton Trust, the Cambridge Political Economy Society and the International Labour Organization made it possible to expand the original datasets to their current state. As of July 2016, there are three principal datasets, coding, respectively, for labour laws in 117 countries between 1970 and 2013 (the CBR Labour Regulation Index), shareholder protection in 30 countries between 1990 and 2013 (the CBR Extended Shareholder Protection Index), and creditor protection in 30 countries between 1990 and 2013 (the CBR Extended Creditor Protection Index). The coding of legal data is carried out using a so-called leximetric coding methodology developed in the CBR and more fully explained in the codebooks which accompany each of the datasets. Taken together, the datasets provide a unique time series which enables researchers and other research users to track changes in labour, company and insolvency law over long periods of time for many countries. A distinguishing feature of these datasets is that all legal sources for the data coding are fully described in the relevant codebooks, thereby assisting transparency, external validity and replicability of results. The work of further developing the datasets on shareholder and creditor rights, so that they match the labour regulation index in terms of years and countries covered, is ongoing.The version of the CBR-LRI (labour regulation) dataset which appears here has been superseded by an updated version. The changes were made in April 2017 and consist of (i) amendments made to the codings for certain countries (Finland, Israel and the Netherlands) in the light of feedback received after the original dataset was published; and (ii) correction of some transcription errors. For further details, please contact Simon Deakin ([email protected]). The other two datasets have not been changed.ESRC (ES/J019402/1)ESRC (ES/J012491/1)The European Union's FP5 programmeThe European Union's FP6 programmeIsaac Newton TrustCambridge Political Economy SocietyInternational Labour Organizatio

Proneness to decreased negative emotions in major depressive disorder when blaming others rather than oneself

&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Background:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; One widespread view holds that vulnerability to major depressive disorder (MDD) is linked to overall increases in negative emotionality. In contrast, cognitive attribution theories emphasize the importance of blaming oneself rather than others for negative events. Thus far, the contrasting predictions of these models have not been directly compared. Following the attributional perspective, we tested the hypothesis that people with remitted MDD show no overall bias towards negative emotions, but a selective bias towards self-blaming emotions relative to those emotions associated with blaming others. &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Sampling and Methods:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; We compared a remitted MDD and a control group on a novel experimental test that allowed us to directly compare proneness to specific emotions associated with different types of self-blame (guilt, shame, self-contempt/disgust) and blame of others (other-indignation/anger, other-contempt/disgust) whilst controlling for negative valence and medication status, and excluding comorbidity. &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Results:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; In agreement with our hypothesis, individuals with remitted MDD exhibited an increased self-contempt bias (difference between contempt/disgust towards self and others) but no increased proneness to any other negative emotion or overall increases in perceived negative valence of stimuli. Moreover, the remitted MDD group exhibited reduced contempt/disgust towards others. &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Our results corroborate the prediction that vulnerability to MDD is associated with an imbalance of specific self- and other-blaming emotions rather than a general increase in negative emotions. Based on the composition of our sample, we speculate that self-contempt bias may be particularly characteristic of melancholic MDD subtypes and could be useful for stratification of depression in the future.</jats:p