The institutional and political roots of complex policies: Evidence from the European Union

The complexity of public policies has repeatedly been identified as a key challenge for modern democracies. Yet, we know only very little about the origins of this complexity. Controlling for functional and legal explanations, this article investigates whether complex policies have distinct institutional and political origins. The study builds on the assumption that complex policies are communicated in more complex language and uses textual data from 1771 legislative proposals issued by the European Commission since 1994 to demonstrate that the complexity of public policies is strongly tied to institutional and political costs of policy formulation. Collegial cabinets formulate more complex policies whenever they face more inclusive decision-making processes and struggle with higher internal preference bias and heterogeneity. The implications of these findings reach far beyond the political system of the European Union and highlight that to a considerable degree, complex policies are the price of inclusive democratic decision making

The Impact of Credit Risk Management on Profitability of Nordic Commercial Banks

This thesis investigates credit risk management in Nordic commercial banks and its effect on profitability. Two determinants of credit risk are chosen according to relevant literature, namely loan loss provision ratio and capital adequacy ratio. Thirteen banks in total are then investigated across the 16 year time frame from 2000-2015. The results seek to address two essential questions. Firstly, it seeks to capture the relation between credit risk management and profitability of Nordic commercial banks in the full data sample. Loan loss provision ratio is found to have negative effect on the performance of banks, while capital adequacy ratio presents mixed results. Second part of the thesis focuses on the financial crisis component, most notably its impact on the change in credit risk management. It is shown that macroeconomic environment plays a bigger role in the decrease in profitability after the financial crisis than credit risk management does

High-Temperature Anyon Superconductivity

The screening of an applied magnetic field in the charged anyon fluid at finite density and temperature is investigated. For densities typical of high-temperature superconducting materials we find that the anyon fluid exhibits a superconducting behavior at any temperature. The total Meissner screening is characterized by two penetration lengths corresponding to two short-range eigenmodes of propagation within the anyon fluid.Comment: 10 pages Latex 2

Britain’s exit from the EU will benefit the South and weaken Germany

For the European Union, the exit of the United Kingdom will not only have major economic consequences, also the political fallout will be substantial. Although some observers now fear that Europe will be more dominated by Germany, such fears might be exaggerated. Steffen Hurka writes that when we examine its voting power in the European institutions the opposite may be true. Germany will lose the UK as one of its most important allies, and it may also have to face a stronger group of MEPs from the Southern member states

The Speech Act Fallacy Fallacy

John Searle has charged R.M. Hare's prescriptivist analysis of the meaning of ‘good,’ ‘ought’ and the other evaluative words with committing what he calls the ‘speech act fallacy.’ This is a fallacy which Searle thinks is committed not only by Hare's analysis, but by any analysis which attributes to a word the function of indicating that a particular speech act is being performed, or that an utterance has a particular illocutionary force. ‘There is a condition of adequacy which any analysis of the meaning of a word must meet,’ Searle writes, ‘and which the speech act analysis fails to meet. Any analysis of the meaning of a word must be consistent with the fact that the same word can mean the same thing in all the different kinds of sentences in which it can occur.' Hare maintains that the word ‘good’ is used to indicate the speech act of prescribing. He maintains that one of the principal functions of this word is to indicate that utterances of sentences containing it have prescriptive illocutionary force, and that an analysis of its meaning must make explicit and ineliminable reference to this force-indicating function. But ‘good’ regularly occurs in sentences utterances of which appear to have no prescriptive illocutionary force

Business Administration Students in Five Canadian Universities: A Study of Values

Using the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey (A VL ) for measuring dominant values, 513 business administration students from five schools in the Prairie Region were tested. The A VL scale measures relative importance of student values in six basic areas: theoretical, econo- mic, aesthetic, social, political and religious. The sample included 349 men and 164 women enrolled in different class levels (years 1 to 4) in five schools of business. Significant differences were found between business student values and the norms for the general college population, and between the values of male and female business adminis- tration students. Differences were progressively less significant when business students were compared by class levels and by schools.En utilisant l'échelle Allport-Vernon-Lindzey (A VL) pour mesurer les valeurs dominantes, on a échantilloné 513 étudiants des cours d'administration commerciale à cinq établisse-ments de la région des Prairies. L'échelle A VL mesure l'importance relative des valeurs des étudiants dans six champs fondamentaux: les domaines théorique, économique, esthétique, social, politique et religieux. L'échantillon comprenait 349 hommes et 164 femmes inscrits à divers niveaux (première année jusqu 'à la quatrième année) de cinq écoles d'administra-tion. On a constaté des différences significatives entre les valeurs des étudiants en adminis-tration et les normes pour la population générale des établissements post-secondaires, et aussi entre les valeurs des étudiants mâles et celles des étudiants femelles en administration commerciale. Les différences se faisaient progressivement moins significatives quand on comparait entre eux les étudiants en administration de différentes années ou fréquentant différentes établissements

Business Faculty in Canadian Universities: Importance and Satisfaction Related to Job Characteristics

This paper examines the relationship between the importance and satisfaction of various job characteristics as perceived by 322 business faculty members teaching in 15 Canadian universities. The findings suggest that those aspects which the respondents felt to be most important were also those with which they were the least satisfied.Cette étude fail l'analyse des rapports entre l'importance et la satisfaction de diverses caractéristiques de l'emploi telles que perçues par 322 membres du corps enseignant de la Faculté des affaires commerciales à 15 universités canadiennes. Les résultats de l'enquête suggèrent que les aspects estimés les plus importants par les répondants étaient en même temps ceux avec lesquels ils exprimaient le moins de satisfaction

Verbreitung und Ökologie von Nasturtium x sterile (Airy Shaw) Oef. (Brassicaceae) in Mitteleuropa

Anhand der Ergebnisse von Chromosomenzählungen wird die Verbreitung der Nasturtium- Taxa (Brassicaceae) in Mitteleuropa diskutiert. Nasturtium officina/e R. Br. (2n = 32) und Nasturtium microphyllum (Boenn.) Rchb. (2n = 64) sind primär geographisch isoliert, wobei N. officinale seinen Verbreitungsschwerpunkt im südlichen Mitteleuropa hat, während N. microphyllum im nördlichen Mitteleuropa vorkommt. Die natürlichen Areale der Taxa sind durch den ehemaligen Anbau von Nasturtium als Salatpflanze (Brunnenkresse) überlagert. Die hybridogene Nesturtium x sterile (Airy Shaw) Oef. (2n = 48) ist in Mitteleuropa wesentlich weiter verbreitet als bislang angenommen. Die Ergebnisse von Vegetationsaufnahmen und Untersuchungen zum Diasporen-Potential in N. x sterile-Habitaten werden vorgestellt. N. x sterile besiedelt im südwestlichen Niedersachsen vorwiegend regelmäßig ausgeräumte Wiesengräben mit zumindest zeitweise fließendem Wasser. Dieses Taxon verfügt über eine gute vegetative Regenerationsfähigkeit und kann offene Standorte aus dem Diasporen-Potential besiedeln. Eine eventuelle ökologische Differenzierung der Nasturtium- Taxa nach dem Basengehalt des Gewässers wird kritisch diskutiert.Based on chromosome counts the distribution of the Nasturtium- Taxa (Brassicaceae) in Central Europe is discussed. N. officinale is widely distributed in southern Europe whereas N. microphyllum occurs in the northern parts of Central Europe. It is argued that Nasturtium officina/ e R. Br. (2n = 32) and Nasturtium microphyllum (Boenn.) Rchb. (2n = 64) are primarily geographically isolated. The natural distribution of the taxa is blured by human activities, namely by the former cultivation of Nasturtium as a crop plant (watercress). The hybrid Nasturtium x sterile (Airy Shaw) Oef. (2n = 48) is more widely distributed in Central Europe than thought before. Phytocoenological and seed bank data of the natural hybrid are presented. In southwestern parts of Lower Saxony (Germany) N. x sterile mainly occurs in ditches or small brooks with floating water subject to frequent biotope management. This taxon shows quick vegetative regeneration after management and is also capable of recolonizing open habitats dried out during the summer by seeds. An ecological differenziation of the Nasturtium-Taxa based on the calcium contents of the water as stated in the literature is dicussed criticaily

Autonomy and adaptive preferences

Adaptive preference formation is the unconscious altering of our preferences in light of the options we have available. Jon Elster has argued that this is bad because it undermines our autonomy. I agree, but think that Elster’s explanation of why is lacking. So, I draw on a richer account of autonomy to give the following answer. Preferences formed through adaptation are characterised by covert influence (that is, explanations of which an agent herself is necessarily unaware), and covert influence undermines our autonomy because it undermines the extent to which an agent’s preferences are ones that she has decided upon for herself. This answer fills the lacuna in Elster’s argument. It also allows us to draw a principled distinction between adaptive preference formation and the closely related – but potentially autonomy-enhancing – phenomenon of character planning