Does Trade Integration Contribute to Peace?

We investigate the effect of trade integration on interstate military conflict. Our empirical analysis, based on a large panel data set of 243,225 country-pair observations from 1950 to 2000, confirms that an increase in bilateral trade interdependence significantly promotes peace. It also suggests that the peace-promotion effect of bilateral trade integration is significantly higher for contiguous countries that are likely to experience more conflict. More importantly, we find that not only bilateral trade but global trade openness also significantly promotes peace. It shows, however, that an increase in global trade openness reduces the probability of interstate conflict more for countries far apart from each other than it does for countries sharing borders. The results also show that military conflict between countries significantly reduces not only bilateral trade interdependence but also global trade integration. The main finding of the peace-promotion effect of bilateral and global trade integration holds robust when controlling for the natural and geopolitical characteristics of dyads of states that may influence the probability of military conflict and for the simultaneous determination of trade and peace.Trade, Globalization, Military conflict, Peace, War

Does Trade Integration Contribute to Peace?

This paper investigates the effect of trade integration on military conflict. Our empirical analysis,based on a large panel data set of 290,040 country-pair observations from 1950 to 2000, confirms that an increase in bilateral trade interdependence and global trade openness significantly promotes peace. It also suggests that the effect of trade openness varies depending on the geographical proximity of countries. The peace-promotion effect of bilateral trade integration is significantly higher for contiguous countries that are likely to experience more conflicts. The analysis shows, however, that an increase in global trade openness reduces the probability of conflict more for countries far apart from each other than it does for countries sharing borders. The results also show that military conflict between countries significantly reduces not only bilateral trade interdependence but also multilateral trade integration. The main finding of the peace-promotion effect of bilateral and global trade integration holds robust when controlling for the natural and geopolitical characteristics of dyads of states that may influence the probability of military conflict and for the simultaneous determination of trade and peace.Trade; Globalization; Military conflict; Peace

The impact of U.S. foreign aid on human rights conditions in post-Cold War era

During the Cold War, U.S. foreign aid was mainly used to fight against the potential Soviet military threat and to support allies. Containing Communism was the non-negotiable goal in U.S. foreign policy. With the end of the Cold War and the rising force of globalization, aid-providing developed countries in the West, including the United States, emphasized political conditionality attached to aid in order to encourage political reforms, such as democratic political process and securing human rights, in aid-recipient developing countries. This study uses pooled cross-sectional time series data covering 112 countries for the post-Cold War years of 1990-2009 to examine the effects of U.S. foreign aid allocation on human rights, especially physical integrity rights. The findings suggest that U.S. foreign aid [economic, military, and total aid] did have an impact on a government\u27s respect for human rights in recipient countries, but that the association was negative: an increase in foreign aid from the United States is associated with less protection of human rights. Even though the good will of the chief administrators to promote human rights was explicit, implementations to achieve such a goal through foreign aid seem to fall far short of their promises

Enhancing social outcomes from mega urban transport development:An integrated approach to transport and spatial planning

Achieving broader social outcomes from mega urban infrastructure development has been a challenge across the globe. There have been long-standing discussions on the critical role of mega urban transport infrastructure as an agent of change for sustainable and equitable urban development. In practice, limitations in decision-making process and limited positive outcomes from mega urban transport projects can be seen, not only in the West but also elsewhere such as in Asia. This study seeks to examine broader social outcomes from mega urban transport development given spatial changes induced by such development, and explore how an integrated approach to transport and spatial planning can contribute to enhancing life opportunities for all. It investigates the interplay between transport and spatial development at multiple levels by conducting case studies of metro projects in metropolises – London and Seoul. The study shows that the expansion of urban transport networks alone does not guarantee greater accessibility for all. Enhancing social outcomes requires carefully designed integrated planning processes at macro and micro scales, institutional congruence between sectors and levels, and capable actors to operationalise an integrated approach. Furthermore, it addresses the necessity of a context-specific approach to an integrated planning that reflects diverse societal needs and local circumstances in order to ensure fair distribution of outcomes across a city. Other megacities can learn from these findings – especially those cities who consider integration of land use and transport to achieve sustainable urban development

Decreased Interleukin-4 Release from the Neurons of the Locus Coeruleus in Response to Immobilization Stress

It has been demonstrated that immobilization (IMO) stress affects neuroimmune systems followed by alterations of physiology and behavior. Interleukin-4 (IL-4), an anti-inflammatory cytokine, is known to regulate inflammation caused by immune challenge but the effect of IMO on modulation of IL-4 expression in the brain has not been assessed yet. Here, it was demonstrated that IL-4 was produced by noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) of the brain and release of IL-4 was reduced in response to IMO. It was observed that IMO groups were more anxious than nontreated groups. Acute IMO (2 h/day, once) stimulated secretion of plasma corticosterone and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the LC whereas these increments were diminished in exposure to chronic stress (2 h/day, 21 consecutive days). Glucocorticoid receptor (GR), TH, and IL-4-expressing cells were localized in identical neurons of the LC, indicating that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal- (HPA-) axis and sympathetic-adrenal-medullary- (SAM-) axis might be involved in IL-4 secretion in the stress response. Accordingly, it was concluded that stress-induced decline of IL-4 concentration from LC neurons may be related to anxiety-like behavior and an inverse relationship exists between IL-4 secretion and HPA/SAM-axes activation

Effects Of HPWSS On Employee’ Attitude For Korean Firms: The Mediating Role Of Human Resource Competency And The Moderating Role Of Organization Culture

The purpose of this paper is to examine the black box by which high performance work systems (HPWSs) affect employee’s attitude. It attempts to show the mediating effect of human resource (HR) competency in the HPWSs-job attitude link, and the moderating effect of organization culture. More specifically, we propose that HPWSs have a positive effect on the both job satisfaction and HR competency, and that HR competency mediates the relationship between HPWSs and job satisfaction. Further, we propose that adhocracy culture in organization strengthens such relationships between HPWSs and HR competency as well as between HPWSs and job satisfaction. We use a nationally representative data set from Korea (firm-level samples: 215 firms, employee-level samples: 5577 employees) for testing the hypotheses. Results indicated support for the hypothesized that positive association between HPWSs and HR competency and between HPWSs and job satisfaction. HR competency has a partial mediating effect in the HPWS-job attitude link. The results were supportive of organization culture of the impact of HPWSs on HR competency and job satisfaction. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.

The impacts of digital design platforms on design cognition during remote collaboration: A systematic review of protocol studies

For over a decade, technology has been available to support design teams to operate in diverse physical locations and time zones. Despite this, until relatively recently designers have largely continued to work in physically co-located teams. This has all, however, changed in the last year, with designers in many countries being forced to work remotely. The problem addressed in this article is the lack of synthesised knowledge about the impacts of digital modalities on designers' cognitive operations when they are working in distributed teams. With an emphasis on synthesis of existing knowledge, this article conducts a systematic review of research in accordance with the PRISMA framework. The systematic review identifies ten studies that have a common concern (design cognition), a common method (protocol analysis) and a common setting (collaborative yet remote interactions). This article analyses the past research, developing a collective model of cognitive operations in remote design collaboration and synthesising the findings about the impacts of technology (the platforms supporting remote collaboration) on cognition. Through this process multiple gaps in the body of knowledge are also identified, several weaknesses are uncovered and advice for future researchers is developed

Does trade integration contribute to peace?

We investigate the effect of trade integration on interstate military conflict. Our empirical analysis, based on a large panel data set of 243,225 country-pair observations from 1950 to 2000, confirms that an increase in bilateral trade interdependence significantly promotes peace. It also suggests that the peace-promotion effect of bilateral trade integration is significantly higher for contiguous countries that are likely to experience more conflict. More importantly, we find that not only bilateral trade but global trade openness also significantly promotes peace. It shows, however, that an increase in global trade openness reduces the probability of interstate conflict more for countries far apart from each other than it does for countries sharing borders. The results also show that military conflict between countries significantly reduces not only bilateral trade interdependence but also global trade integration. The main finding of the peace-promotion effect of bilateral and global trade integration holds robust when controlling for the natural and geopolitical characteristics of dyads of states that may influence the probability of military conflict and for the simultaneous determination of trade and peace