All-Pay Auctions with Endogenous Rewards

This paper examines a perfectly discriminating contest (all-pay auction) with two asymmetric players. Valuations are endogenous and depend on the effort each player invests in the contest. The shape of the valuation function is common knowledge and differs between the contestants. Some key properties of R&D races, lobbying activity and sport contests are captured by this framework. Once the unique equilibrium in mixed strategies analyzed, we derive a closed form of the expected expenditure of both players. We characterize the expected expenditure by means of incomplete Beta functions. We focus on unordered valuations.All-pay auctions, contests

All-pay auctions with endogenous rewards

This paper examines a perfectly discriminating contest (all-pay auction) with two asymmetric players. Valuations are endogenous and depend on the effort each player invests in the contest. The shape of the valuation function is common knowledge and differs between the contestants. Some key properties of R&D races, lobbying activity and sport contests are captured by this framework. Once the unique equilibrium in mixed strategies analyzed, we derive a closed form of the expected expenditure of both players. We characterize the expected expenditure by the means of incomplete Beta functions. We focus on unordered valuations.all-pay auctions, contests

A Multinomial Model of Fertility Choice and Offspring Sex-Ratios in India

Fertility decline in developing countries may have unexpected demographic consequences. Although lower fertility improves nutrition, health, and human capital investments for surviving children, little is known about the relationship between fertility outcomes and female-male offspring sex-ratios. Particularly in countries with a cultural preference for sons, like India and China, fertility decline may deteriorate the already imbalanced sex-ratios. We use the fertility histories of over 90,000 Indian women in the Second National Family and Health Survey to investigate the relationship between fertility choices and offspring sex-ratios in India. Both within- and between-family-size differences in offspring sex-ratios are examined. Our analysis reveals three main findings. First, within-family-size differences show that for our reference household (i.e. non-low-caste Hindus), parental education reduces anti-female bias in survival in large families (three or more children households) but plays no role in small families (one or two children households). While a higher standard of living worsens anti-female bias in survival in both large and small families, it does so to a greater extent in small families. Small families that own land also have lower offspring sex-ratios compared to landless households. Second, between-family-size differences indicate an `intensification' effect, whereby small families have dramatically lower offspring sex-ratios than large families. The intensification effect is greatest for Sikh and non-low-caste Hindu households, followed by low-caste Hindu and Christian households, but does not exist for Muslims. Third, while maternal education and urban residence weaken the intensification effect, paternal education, a higher standard of living, and land ownership strengthen it. Our results suggest that fertility decline, together with economic growth, may worsen India's already imbalanced sex-ratios. Thus, much needed fertility control policies must be supplemented with programs that counter offspring sex-selection in favor of sons. Policies that seek to eradicate son preference by making daughters more economically attractive to parents as well as those that imbibe more gender-equal attitudes within individuals are critically needed as economic growth generates higher levels of education and wealth in India.Female Disadvantage, Mortality, Son Preference, Fertility, India

India's Missing Women: Disentangling Cultural, Political and Economic Variables

The severe anti-female bias in natality and child mortality that gives rise to India's missing women has been widely documented and various explanations ranging from agricultural labor demand to dowries have been offered in the literature. In general, the low demand for girls has been interpreted as a rational response to economic constraints. This paper shows the importance of culture both in determining the value of girls and in shaping parental economic constraints. We find that conservative cultural attitudes, proxied by the electoral success of religious parties, are positively correlated with anti-female bias. Moreover, higher household expenditure is negatively correlated with the number of girls. This suggests that we cannot rely on rising income levels, brought about by economic growth, to improve the demographic disadvantage faced by Indian women. Our policy recommendations therefore focus on changing attitudes of son-preference that motivate anti-female bias as much as enforcement of gender-equality legislation.Female Disadvantage, Mortality, Son Preference, India

Critical Reception Studies: the White Feminism of Feminist Reception Scholarship

This chapter explores the ideological function of the dominant frameworks of “revision” and “empowerment” in feminist classical reception scholarship. The chapter argues that the paradigm of revisionary empowerment is a manifestation of the dominance of “white feminism” in classical reception studies, a feminism that facilitates the discipline of Classics’ evasion of a sincere engagement with its historical and ongoing implication in white supremacism, classism, and misogyny. Crucially, white feminist analyses fail to incorporate a reflexive analysis of the scholar’s own acculturation into the discipline and her complicity in the reproduction of cultural, institutional, and discursive power. The first half of the chapter uses the classicising poetry of Sylvia Plath—an early and pre-eminent example of a “revisionary” poet—as a case study to expose the false premise upon which the narrative of subversive empowerment has been built. The second half of the essay turns to examine discourses of white feminism in contemporary public-facing feminist classical reception scholarship, using Mary Beard’s Women & Power: A Manifesto (2017) and Helen Morales’ Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths (2020) as case studies

India’s Missing Women: Disentangling Cultural, Political and Economic Variables

The severe anti-female bias in natality and child mortality that gives rise to India’s missing women has been widely documented and various explanations ranging from agricultural labor demand to dowries have been offered in the literature. In general, the low demand for girls has been interpreted as a rational response to economic constraints. This paper shows the importance of culture both in determining the value of girls and in shaping parental economic constraints. We find that conservative cultural attitudes, proxied by the electoral success of religious parties, is positively correlated with anti-female bias. Moreover, higher household expenditure is negatively correlated with the number of girls. This suggests that we cannot rely on rising income levels, brought about by economic growth, to improve the demographic disadvantage faced by Indian women. Our policy recommendations therefore focus on changing attitudes of son-preference that motivate anti-female bias as much as enforcement of gender-equality legislation.

Towards a resonant theory of memory politics

It is argued that Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance provides memory activists (those actors engaged in memory politics) with both a normative justification and qualitative metric by which sites of memory may be compared and evaluated. Resonance is a plausible candidate for an assessing concept on the grounds that there is overlap between Rosa’s sociological approach and the implicit appeal to resonance in the memory studies literature

University of Westminster Research Data Management Policy

This policy outlines the obligations of and key expectations for researchers and the institution in relation to the management and preservation of research data and research related records created at the University of Westminster. This policy clarifies the responsibilities of both individual researchers and the institution in relation to good research data management and support. This policy updates the University of Westminster Research Data Management Policy 2017. This policy was written in April 2022 and was approved by Academic Council on 07/12/2022