Capability, Objectivity and 'False Consciousness' : On Sen, Marx and J.S. Mill

Purpose The extent to which Amartya Sen’s capability approach is prefigured in Karl Marx’s views comes into sharper focus when one notes that Marx and Friedrich Engels explicitly argued that the transformation from capitalism to communism would involve the development of “a totality of capacities”. Sen also cites the notion of “false consciousness” in developing his view of objectivity and claims a Marxian pedigree for the notion of “objective illusion”. He suggests that public discussion can make evaluative judgements better informed and less parochial, so that they connect more closely with what people have reason to value. The author argues that this line of argument is also closely related to views John Stuart Mill advanced in his discussion of the “competent judges” and in his defence of liberty of thought and discussion. Design/methodology/approach The approach used is conceptual analysis and discussion of historical texts. Findings The chief findings are that Amartya Sen’s works on capability and objectivity have deeper affinities with some of Karl Marx’s and Friedrich Engels’ views than has been hitherto appreciated by scholars. However, some of the claims which Sen makes about objectivity and false consciousness are prefigured in the writings of J.S. Mill. Originality/value Because some of these affinities between the works of Sen, Marx and Mill have not previously been recognised, the paper’s elucidation of them is a new contribution to the literature. </jats:sec

Do Short Sellers Front-Run Insider Sales?

We find evidence of significant increases in short sales immediately prior to large insider sales, consistent with information leakage and front-running. We examine a number of alternative explanations that the increase in short sales is driven by public information about the firm or about the impending insider sale, but the evidence is inconsistent with these explanations. The result has implications for the enforcement of insider information regulations, and for timely disclosure of short sales information by stock exchanges

Mutual Fund Trading Pressure: Firm-Level Stock Price Impact and Timing of SEOs

In tests of the equity market timing theory of external finance, the prior literature has used overvaluation identifiers such as high market-to-book and high prior returns that are likely correlated with other determinants of SEOs. We use price pressure resulting from purchases by mutual funds with large capital inflows to identify overvalued equity. This is a relatively exogenous overvaluation indicator as it is associated with who is buying-buyers with excess liquidity-rather than what is being purchased. Using this indicator we document that 1) inflow-driven buying pressure by mutual funds has a pronounced and persistent stock price impact, 2) the probability of an SEO increases by 59%, 3) insider sales increase by 7%, and 4) the probability of completing a stock-based acquisition increases by 20% in the four quarters following the buying pressure. These results provide new evidence that firm managers are able to identify and exploit overvalued equity

Institutional Ownership and Corporate Tax Avoidance: New Evidence

We provide new evidence on the agency theory of corporate tax avoidance (Slemrod, 2004; Crocker and Slemrod, 2005; Chen and Chu, 2005) by showing that increases in institutional ownership are associated with increases in tax avoidance. Using the Russell index reconstitution setting to isolate exogenous shocks to institutional ownership, as well as a regression discontinuity design that facilitates sharper identification of treatment effects, we find a significant and discontinuous increase in tax avoidance following Russell 2000 inclusion. The tax avoidance involves the use of tax shelters, and immediate benefits include higher profit margins and the likelihood of meeting or beating analyst expectations. Collectively the results shed light on the effect of increased ownership concentration on tax avoidance

Physical Management of Patient with Osteoarthritis of Knee

Osteoarthritis (OA), is by far the most common form of arthritis. It shows a strong association with ageing and is a major cause of pain and disability in the elderly. Pathologically, it may be defined as a condition of synovial joints characterized by focal loss of articular hyaline cartilage with proliferation of new bone and remodelling of joint contour. Inflammation is not a prominent feature, OA preferentially targets the weight bearing joint mainly knee &amp; hip. There is no single cause of OA; it results from a disparity between the stress applied to the articular cartilage and the ability of the cartilage to withstand that stress. The initial or early OA treatment aimed at relieve of pain, restoration of joint movement and rest of the joint with the support of analgesic and NSAIDS. Shortwave diathermy (SWD) and ultrasound therapy is also helpful in relieving pain and joint stiffness. For long term management full explanation of the nature of OA and advice and instruction on appropriate exercise program is essential. Reduction of any adverse mechanical factors - these includes weight loss if obese, shock -absorbing footwear, use of walking stick or walker. DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v2i2.4770 BSMMU J 2009; 2(2): 95-9