A New Texas Has Heart Like This

The Texas Orato

Stock market development and long-run growth

The authors empirically evaluate the relationship between stock market development and long-term growth. The data suggest that stock market development is positively associated with economic growth. Moreover, instrumental variables procedures indicate a strong connection between the predetermined component in the long run. While cross-country regressions imply a strong link between stock market development and economic growth, the results should be viewed as suggestive partial correlations that stimulate additional research rather than as conclusive findings. Careful case studies might help identify causal relationships and further research could bedone on the time-series property of such relationships.Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Achieving Shared Growth,Governance Indicators,Health Economics&Finance

Capital control liberalization and stock market development

The authors address two questions: What happens to stock market size, liquidity, volatility, and integration with world capital markets after capital controls are liberalized? And what is the relationship between those indicators of stock market development and regulations about information disclosure, accounting standards, and investor protection? An analysis of data on stock markets in 16 developing countries suggests the following: a) stock markets become larger, more liquid, more integrated internationally, and more volatile after controls on capital and dividend flows are liberalized; b) easy access to information about firms is positively associated with the size and liquidity of stock markets; and c) countries that officially establishinternationally accepted accounting standards and laws to protect investors do not have substantially better- functioning stock markets than countries that do not adopt those official standards.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Markets and Market Access,Health Economics&Finance,Health Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access,Access to Markets,Banks&Banking Reform

Looking at the facts : what we know about policy and growth from cross-country analysis

What has the profession learned from cross-country regressions about the links between long-run growth and indicators of fiscal, monetary, trade, financial, and exchange-rate policies? The authors find that: indicators of financial development are strongly associated with long-run growth; other individual policy indicators are only weakly linked to growth; and it is particularly difficult to find a consistent relationship between inflation and long-run growth. For example, the inclusion or exclusion of one or two countries (Nicaragua and Uganda) out of more than 100 countries in the sample can lead to reaching three quite different conclusions: (1) that only very high inflation is bad for growth; (2) that very high inflation in itself is not bad for growth, but small increases in inflation in moderate-inflation countries slow growth; or (3) that inflation is unrelated to growth. The connections between policy indicators and growth are quite sensitive to slight alterations in the right-hand-side variables and to small changes in the sample of countries. And the daunting array of methodological problems limiting the ability to interpret cross-country regressions implies that, at best, they suggest interesting empirical regularities. Cross-country regressions should not be used to predict by how much long-run growth will change when policies change. But beliefs about policy and growth that are not supported by cross-country evidence will tend to be viewed skeptically. So, future work on the policy-growth nexus should integrate broad cross-country analyses with country case studies and investigations of specific firms.Governance Indicators,Economic Theory&Research,Economic Conditions and Volatility,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth

New approaches to persistent problems in Australia’s schools

This report presents four propositions to accelerate transformation in Australia’s schools. Summary In November 2013, the Mitchell Institute hosted a policy forum titled New approaches to persistent problems attended by approximately 100 of Australia’s leading educators, researchers, policy makers and leaders. The discussion was chaired by Mark Burford, Executive Director of the Mitchell Institute and led by an expert panel comprising: Kathryn Greiner, member of the 2010 Commonwealth Government’s Schools Funding Review Panel; Professor John Hattie, Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne; Dr Lisa O’Brien, CEO of The Smith Family; and Dr Yong Zhao, Professor in the College of Education at the University of Oregon. The forum report, New approaches to persistent problems in Australia’s schools, outlines the key themes and discussions that emerged during the forum and presents four propositions to accelerate transformation in Australia’s schools

The Americanization of Tsuru Aoki: Orientalism, Melodrama, Star Image, and the New Woman

This article contextualizes issues of race and Orientalism in the career of Japanese actress Tsuru Aoki within changing representational strategies and ongoing cultural struggles over the public and domestic roles of women in the modern age. According to the author, Aoki\u27s persona blurred the boundaries between Japanese and U.S. identities

Effective Aggressiveness and Inconsistencies in the Bijuridical Treatment of Aggressive Behaviour: Mixed Martial Arts, Bullying, and Sociolegal Quandaries

This paper seeks to address effective aggressiveness and the treatment of aggressive behaviour in the context of MMA in comparison to the balance of the formal Canadian legal landscape. I choose anti-bullying legislation, and its treatment of aggressive behaviour, as a counterexample to the treatment of aggressive behaviour within the MMA regulatory framework. By intertextually linking and superimposing these two categories of legislation, a critical lens drawing on institutional ethnography is applied in order to question and deconstruct the differential treatment of aggressive behaviour and the rationale behind the legislative mixed message sent. The quandary faced within the fabric of the MMA community regarding its own treatment of aggressive behaviour, where it is both reified as well as castigated through anti-bullying advocacy, will also be examined

Causing a Racket: Unpacking the Elements of Cultural Capital in an Assessment of Urban Noise Control, Live Music, and the Quiet Enjoyment of Private Property

I examine the tension between and the treatment of the elements of cultural capital within dynamic mixed-use spaces, and posit that Canada\u27s current noise control and noise pollution legislation, by-laws, and case law demonstrate a hierarchical protection framework placing greater importance on the quiet enjoyment of private property over live music culture, where performances are often the subject of noise complaints. While the elements of cultural capital valued by those who favour the value of quiet enjoyment of private property is well represented throughout legislation, by-laws, and case law, the elements of cultural capital valued by those who favour the value of live music venues and events is comparatively unaddressed