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While research has uncovered an array of visible competitive dynamics, a strategic world of competition lies beneath the surface that should also be theorized and empirically traced. We investigate the strategic consequences of "media–rival" common ownership, in which investors own a media company and a non-media focal firm's rivals. We posit that focal firms receive worse coverage from media outlets when institutional investors hold substantial ownership in both a media company and the focal firm's rivals because the investors' common holdings provide them with incentives and power to enhance the competitiveness of their portfolio firms by tainting the focal firm's media coverage. We account for three moderators to show that this effect amplifies when investors have stronger incentives and power to influence the media and when media executives have incentives to cater to the interests of their investors. Using a novel dataset on common ownership of rival firms and media companies, we find support for our theory. Our study reveals a new invisible hand underlying competitive markets and offers a new view of the media as a strategic tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of liberal market economies, propagated by neoliberal free market thought, has created a vacant responsibility for public interests in the market order of society. This development has been critiqued by Catholic social teaching (CST), forcefully arguing that governments and businesses should be directed to the common good. In this debate, no attention has yet been given to the Reformational tradition and its principle of sphere sovereignty, which provides guidelines on the responsibilities of governments and companies for the public interest of society. This article analyzes the differences and similarities between CST and the Reformational philosophy in their critiques of the neoliberal free market perspective of Hayek. We apply the three perspectives to the case of orphan drugs in the pharmaceutical industry and show that CST and the Reformational philosophy offer valuable insights in correction to Hayek's views on the responsibilities of governments and companies for public health interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astro-Tourism involves ‘using the natural resource of unpolluted night skies, and appropriate scientific knowledge for astronomical, cultural and environmental activities’. Astro-Tourism further includes specialised activities that differ from mass tourism, as tourists are exposed to knowledge-rich experiences. Well-known examples of Astro-Tourism destinations include Bryce Canyon National Park and Death Valley in the United States of America (USA). The Free State Gambling, Liquor and Tourism Authority (FSGLA) is the marketing arm of the Free State province and is responsible for attracting potential tourists to the province and solidifying the Free State as a destination of choice. Astro-Tourism has been identified as an opportunity to grow tourism in Bloemfontein and the Free State. This study found that Astro-Tourism is a niche product, and that the facilities currently on offer in Bloemfontein are in excellent condition and can potentially be further exposed to a broader audience through dedicated marketing initiatives and events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the local lineage of neoliberalism in Lithuania, examining its intellectual pedigree, early proponents and the structural shifts that facilitated its rise. The latter are attributed to the openings created by perestroika and the development of the communication network linking economists within the Reform Movement of Lithuania, émigré intellectuals and Hillsdale College in Michigan. Information exchanges produced within this network generated embryonic neoliberal ideas before 1991. The network also contributed to the establishment of an influential think tank, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), whose policy influence is illustrated by surveying monetary and pension privatisation reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article challenges the common view that more stringent regulation of the digital economy inevitably compromises innovation and undermines technological progress. This view, vigorously advocated by the tech industry, has shaped the public discourse in the United States, where the country's thriving tech economy is often associated with a staunch commitment to free markets. U.S. lawmakers have also traditionally embraced this perspective, which explains their hesitancy to regulate the tech industry to date. The European Union has chosen another path, regulating the digital economy with stringent data privacy, antitrust, content moderation, and other digital regulations designed to shape the evolution of the tech economy toward European values around digital rights and fairness. According to the EU's critics, this far-reaching tech regulation has come at the cost of innovation, explaining the EU's inability to nurture tech companies and compete with the United States and China in the tech race. However, this Article argues that the association between digital regulation and technological progress is considerably more complex than what the public conversation, U.S. lawmakers, tech companies, and several scholars have suggested to date. For this reason, the existing technological gap between the United States and the EU should not be attributed to the laxity of American laws and the stringency of European digital regulation. Instead, this Article shows there are more foundational features of the American legal and technological ecosystem that have paved the way for U.S. tech companies' rise to global prominence--features that the EU has not been able to replicate to date. By severing tech regulation from its allegedly adverse effect on innovation, this Article seeks to advance a more productive scholarly conversation on the costs and benefits of digital regulation. It also directs governments deliberating tech policy away from a false choice between regulation and innovation while drawing their attention to a broader set of legal and institutional reforms that are necessary for tech companies to innovate and for digital economies and societies to thrive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the work of two twentieth‐century liberal economists, Friedrich Hayek and James Buchanan, who have made lasting contributions to our understanding of the role of the market in a free society. I argue that they offer significantly different but complementary visions of the value of the market as a system of individual freedom. Hayek's vision is of the price system as a marvel of spontaneous order which solves a fundamental economic problem – that of making efficient use of a totality of knowledge that is divided between individuals. Buchanan's vision is of the market as a space in which individuals are free to make voluntary exchanges. In his words, 'this is all that there is to it': the market is not a solution to any collective problem. These visions have a common blind spot. Both writers recognise the need for programmes of social insurance and consider how they should structured so as to be as compatible as possible with the workings of a market economy and a liberal democracy. But, I argue, neither sees the full importance of social insurance in a justification of the market system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study combined the Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic model to explore the potential topics of new energy vehicle (NEV) policies and their impacts on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of new energy vehicle enterprises. The results reveal that financial subsidies, infrastructure development, and environmental protection are the most popular topics. And these three popular topics have significant positive impacts on the CSR of new energy vehicle enterprises, with infrastructure construction having the most significant impact. Additionally, the intensity of the positive impact on large‐scale enterprises is more significant compared with small‐scale enterprises, and the impact on state‐owned enterprises is more remarkable than on private enterprises. Moreover, these three popular topics have more significant impacts on CSR in China's eastern region. Finally, we conclude this study by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article empirically analyzes the impact of hedge fund activism on audit quality in emerging markets represented by China. It is found that hedge fund holding can significantly improve the audit quality of listed companies, but the above-mentioned effect is limited to private enterprises and companies with dispersed equity, yet not significant in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and companies with concentrated equity. In addition, hedge fund activism becomes more prominent when auditors and analysts fail to play a governance role. Further tests show hedge funds influence audit quality through certain activism campaigns. We also use instrumental variable (IV) and propensity score matching method (PSM) to alleviate the endogeneity problem. The conclusion of this article contributes empirical evidence from emerging markets to the controversial topic of hedge fund activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have endured as an important response to HIV/AIDS. As nations of eastern and southern Africa currently have the highest adult HIV/AIDS prevalence rates, this study focused on NGOs headquartered in Tanzania. Although communication research on HIV/AIDS NGOs has spanned a variety of cultural contexts, theoretical traditions, and samples, research in nations of Africa has yet to situate these NGOs in a relevant global context. This study integrated discourse analysis and constant comparisons to examine how the discourses of 36 NGO leaders on their local HIV/AIDS initiatives are taking up neoliberalism, a global ideological discourse that valorizes free markets, individualism, and profits. Based on linkages forged between HIV/AIDS and poverty at multiple scales (the nation, rural areas, target groups, families), participants positioned entrepreneurship as a solution for poor clients, namely, a 4-step process of assisting clients with entrepreneurship, several entrepreneurship industries, and positive consequences for clients. The article concludes with a discussion and implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPublic-sector corruption siphons trillions of dollars from the global economy and contributes to social instability. Institutional Anomie Theory, with its focus on the links between social institutions, individualistic and achievement-oriented cultural norms, and crime, offers a possible framework for understanding corruption. This possibility is contrasted with research indicating that individualistic values and free markets reduce corruption. Using twenty years of data from 83 countries, this study finds institutional imbalance toward the economy is associated with higher levels of corruption. The lowest levels of corruption are found in highly individualistic countries, though institutional imbalance had a strong positive effect on corruption in such countries. Conversely, corruption is high in collectivistic countries regardless of institutional imbalance. Findings underscore the importance of institutional and cultural configurations, and their interplay, for corruption. We discuss the implications of our study for Institutional Anomie Theory and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of the establishment of the republican regime in Turkey in 1923, the policy of economic dirigisme began to dominate the markets step by step. This article aims to analyse the effects of economic dirigisme on maritime trade for a quarter of a century and furnishes an illustrative case delineating how the government’s favoured economic policy attenuated the developmental prospects of maritime commerce. Throughout this temporal span, endeavours advocating a laissez-faire market policy found themselves systematically marginalized, as the juggernaut of economic dirigisme unfolded. The corollary of this policy was a precipitous decline in the operational efficiency of maritime trade. The proclivity for deploying antiquated ships escalated the inherent risks of maritime accidents. Legislative initiatives, exemplified by the promulgation of cabotage laws and the imposition of onerous taxes, erected formidable impediments that curtailed the operability of foreign-flagged vessels in Turkish ports. Concurrently, the waning trade potential cast a pall over the developmental trajectory of Anatolian cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article tackles how The United Stated rose out of its isolationism and was to head the world on behalf of democracy, and the free enterprise. In its race with the Soviet Union, the United States rose glorious and thought after the Cold War unilateralism would prevail. The work aims to demonstrate that, by the turning of the twentieth century, Asia rose as a geopolitical mighty continent and endangered the US hegemony. Not only Russia rose and its revived policy traced new geopolitical pillars to the country but also is today making with the great China and Iran a Eurasian coalition that is really endangering an earlier western order. The article sheds light mainly on the Chess game in the Middle East and shows the new balances of power at the international arena and how they are playing geopolitically. The basic methods carried throughout the work are: the Qualitative Data Analysis, the Interpretative Policy Analysis and the Discursive Narrative Analysis. Indeed, it presents the events from a historical perspective when their interpretation is made via a critical argumentative one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification on Indonesian Crude Palm Oil exports and other factors, such as commodity production and prices, exchange rates, and production levels. The data covers total CPO volume (HS codes 15111000 and 15119000) from January 2006 to December 2022, focusing on ISPO certification for large State-owned and Private Enterprises in palm oil cultivation and processing. The analysis employs the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method and multiple linear regression (MLR) to identify the linear relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The DID analysis revealed that Indonesian CPO production and global CPO prices significantly affected CPO export volumes, while soybean oil prices and effective exchange rates were not statistically significant in the regression model. The results provide valuable insights for policymakers and industry stakeholders in developing strategies that support sustainable growth, enhance competitiveness, and maintain Indonesia's leading position in the global palm oil market. Policymakers should focus on encouraging broader adoption of ISPO among palm oil producers through incentives, training, and technical support, especially for smaller producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the degree and effectiveness corporate social responsibility (CSR) fulfillment on corporate value assessment by investors is significant. However, prior research on effects of CSR on stock price crash risk has showed contrasting results. Certain studies suggest that an abundance of CSR can become a self-serving tool for management. This may lead to concealing and accumulating negative information, resulting in stock price collapse. Based on principal-agent theory, we suggest that CSR equilibrium could be an effective approach to prevent the concealment of negative events by managers. Employing data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning 2010 to 2020, we examine how CSR equilibrium and corporate governance levels influence the risk of stock price collapse across entities with different property rights. Empirical findings indicate that a balanced distribution of CSR can mitigate the risk of stock price collapse. Furthermore, we find that higher levels of corporate governance can mitigate the negative impact of CSR equilibrium on stock price collapse risk. Interestingly, this governance effect is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises compared to private enterprises, where the likelihood of hiding adverse information is higher. Additionally, it provides a theoretical explanation for the impact of CSR equilibrium on the risk of stock price collapse, based on the principal-agent problem, thereby expanding the applicability of the theory. Practically, the research findings carry significant implications for listed companies, CSR rating agencies, and investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a top-down type of water regulation, the River Chief System (RCS) in China has effectively enhanced urban water quality. Simultaneously, environmental control significantly impacts the financial performance of enterprises. In recent years, the tension between environmental protection and economic development has escalated, underscoring the undeniable economic ramifications of stringent water regulations. Enterprises are the fundamental agents of economic activities and environmental impact, thus becoming the primary targets of water environment regulatory policies. This study adopts the differences-in-differences (DID) method and uses a sample of listed enterprises in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region from 2010 to 2021 to study the impact of the RCS on the financial performance of enterprises. The results show that the RCS harms the financial performance of enterprises. This impact primarily manifests through increased environmental protection investments. Conversely, the RCS does not have a positive influence on enterprises' technological innovation. This indicates the challenge of stringent top-down environmental regulations in stimulating short-term technological advancements and enhancing enterprise performance. Moreover, the adverse effects of the RCS on financial performance are notably pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises and those located in the upper Yangtze River Economic Belt. This suggests that private enterprises and those in less-developed regions exhibit lower resilience to top-down environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Engineering Management / Gongcheng Guanli Xuebao is the property of Journal of Engineering Management Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As one of the means of specialization, agricultural outsourcing is regarded as a breakthrough point for agricultural efficiency improvement and rural economic growth by many developing countries. From the perspective of the interest linkage across the entire agricultural industry chain, the potential entrepreneurial effects of agricultural outsourcing have rarely been discussed. The study innovatively treats a Chinese policy as a quasi‐natural experiment, uses cutting‐edge econometric methods to make rigorous causal inferences, and addresses the difficulty of quantifying agricultural outsourcing. We find that agricultural outsourcing significantly increases rural entrepreneurship activity, with an increase of 9.1% of the rural population working for rural private enterprises and rural self‐employed businesses. From the perspective of heterogeneity, the entrepreneurial effect of agricultural outsourcing is more impressive in nonmajor grain‐producing areas. In addition, agricultural outsourcing mainly promotes opportunistic entrepreneurship. Influencing mechanisms include industrial chain extension, off‐farm employment and credit access. Accordingly, we suggest that policymakers take agricultural outsourcing as a starting point to promote rural innovation and entrepreneurship to complete industrial upgrading and transformation. [EconLit Citations: D13, L26, Q16]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society as a whole faces a host of economic tradeoffs, many of which emerge around economic policies. An example of tradeoffs that any society faces in many economic realms is the tradeoff between economic efficiency and income equality (aka the efficiency-equality tradeoff). This tradeoff has been called "the Big Tradeoff" by the esteemed economist Arthur Okun, who also termed it "the Double Standard of a Capitalist Democracy." Although the efficiency-equality tradeoff is more or less an inevitable tradeoff in most societal settings and economic contexts, there are still some special circumstances in which this tradeoff can be avoided. This paper identifies five such avenues and elaborates on why and how the tradeoff between these two somewhat contradictory societal goals—efficiency and equality—can be deftly averted under the mentioned circumstances. These avenues with their transformative potential can and should be used so that a capitalist society as an integrated whole can promote both efficiency and equality at the same time under these scenarios and avoid facing the Big Tradeoff in cases where it is evitable. Static and dynamic economic models are developed, solved, and applied to facilitate the articulation and exposition of the main points of each solution with formal rigor and logical coherence. Finally, policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Academic Inquiries / Akademik Incelemeler Dergisi is the property of Akademik Incelemeler Dergisi (Journal of Academic Inquiries) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Existing research suggests that natural resources, domestic markets, and decisive political influence attract China to build relationships with African countries. However, why China sought to deepen its relationship with Ethiopia since the mid-1990s despite its lack of these endowments? This article aims to address this empirical puzzle by combining theoretical perspectives from development economics and fragmented authoritarianism to analyse the driving factors behind China’s Ethiopia policy and its formulation and implementation process. Examining China’s diplomacy towards Ethiopia from 1995–2019, it finds that Ethiopia’s stable society and abundant labour force made it a key destination for China’s industrial transfer. And China’s need for industrial restructuring has driven its Ethiopia policy, with private enterprises playing a crucial role by proposing projects. These findings enrich the understanding of the motivations and processes behind China’s influence in Africa from an industrial restructuring perspective, offering insights into China’s diplomacy and its impact on Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen economy faces significant challenges that cannot be addressed by market forces alone. High production costs, distribution logistics, and expensive utilization technologies hinder hydrogen's competitiveness. Additionally, economic and political interests that favor fossil fuels, the preservation of ruling elites, and colonial legacies, combined with media biases against hydrogen, further obstruct progress. This is evident in the backward-looking developments in Australia. Increased public awareness and support are crucial to drive government intervention, including subsidies and infrastructure investment, to overcome these barriers and facilitate hydrogen's integration into the global energy market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to enhance the understanding of how servant leadership (SL) influences organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the specific context of Chinese private enterprises. Applying social exchange theory, social identity theory, and psychological contract theory, this study examines not only the mediating roles of relational identification and perceived organizational support (POS) but also how workplace loneliness negatively moderates the sequential mediating effect of SL on OCB. The analyzed survey included 335 employees from private enterprises in Zhejiang Province, China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling results show that relational identification and POS sequentially mediate the relationship between SL and OCB. Moreover, workplace loneliness significantly moderated these relationships. By presenting a framework that captures sequence mediation and includes a moderator, this study not only contributes methodologically to its field of study but also extends the literature by providing critical theoretical and practical insights for leadership and organizational behavior studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses different policy approaches to achieving one of the key goals that Rachel Reeves set out in her Mais lecture in 2024: bridging regional inequalities in the UK. If it is agreed that the unfettered free market economic model pursued by successive governments in recent decades has led to an intolerable regional concentration of high value‐added, innovative production, what alternative policy options are there? The article considers two answers to this question. The first option is to promote innovation through top‐down state intervention in key economic sectors. While this approach is becoming increasingly popular among proponents of industrial policy in advanced economies, its potential to reach a wide range of firms and sectors behind the technological frontier is limited. Instead, the article favours a second, comparatively under‐explored policy option: facilitating inter‐firm and public‐private coordination. Three key policy tools are presented for implementing this second approach in the UK context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrates various opportunities and risks. Our study explores the trade-off of AI technology, including existential risks. We develop a theory and a Bayesian simulation model in order to explore what is at stake. The study reveals four tangible outcomes: (i) regulating existential risks has a boundary solution of either prohibiting the technology or allowing a laissez-faire regulation. (ii) the degree of 'normal' risks follows a trade-off and is dependent on AI-intensity. (iii) we estimate the probability of 'normal' risks to be between 0.002% to 0.006% over a century. (iv) regulating AI requires a balanced and international approach due to the dynamic risks and its global nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial activities are at the forefront of human relationships with other people and with society. For this reason, trade has a long history, as long as the history of mankind. Human beings, as a socio-cultural beings, meet a significant part of their needs through commercial activities, and thus, make achieves an important step towards achieving peace. In other words, the individual who cannot meet his needs becomes unhappy and uncomfortable. This leads to a society consisting of unhappy and restless individuals who also do not create a peaceful and secure environment. Trade therefore, plays a significant role in ensuring peace and security in society. For this reason, all ruling systems have given importance to trade, and they have introduced certain sets of rules which ensure the efficiency and order of commercial activities. Aiming at the happiness of human beings both in this world and in the hereafter, Islam has also laid down certain rules in the relations between man and society and their commercial activities, as well as in the fields of faith, worship, and morality. It is a fact that the Qur'an and the Sunnah, which are the main references to Islam, have important regulations and provisions in the field of trade. These rules and regulations, which represent the basic rules of trade, have over time been transformed into a voluminous accumulation that we can call "Islamic commercial law," in the corpus of fiqh over time. When Islamic precepts and their accumulated interpretation are examined, it is seen that market economy is adopted in Islamic commercial law. One of the important conditions that the market economy naturally requires is undoubtedly the existence of free competition throughout all commercial activities. Although in the classical fiqh corpus, or in modern terms, the subject of commercial competition in Islamic law has not been dealt with separately, the existence of this competition in Islamic commercial law is understood by inductive methods. All of the steps, precautions, and prohibitions focusing on the stability of the market in commercial activities from the beginning lead to this conclusion. In this study, the issue of competition in Islamic commercial law is discussed in general, based on the nass (divine decree) and principles. Based on the analytical method, the study concludes that Islam's understanding of trade is dominated by the free market economy and therefore free competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a link between authoritarian politics and free market economics? How important has economic theory been historically to the rise of authoritarian systems and ideologies? Are fascism and populism determined by economic priorities or economic interests? In this article, I argue that economics was not that important, and certainly not as important as politics was, for fascists and populists. I then address how this is changing in the present cases of wannabe fascist populists such as Donald Trump in the United States and Javier Milei in Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1834, hundreds of thousands of enslaved people in the British empire became free laborers under the 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act. In Britain that same year, the Poor Law Amendment Act created the first free market in labor for some of the United Kingdom's poorest workers, agricultural laborers on British and Irish farms. Although political economists in Britain posited that slavery was estranged from the free market, "free labor"—at least for farmworkers—came to Britain and its empire at roughly the same time. For some activists in the British antislavery movement, wage labor appeared to have a civilizing power, and it seemed that enslaved people would need to be taught how to behave in a free labor market so that its "natural" laws would impel them to steady wage work after emancipation. In 1815, the end of the Napoleonic wars brought a prolonged period of economic "distress" in Britain and Ireland. In this era, antislavery thinkers began to reflect on the ways that wages, properly calibrated, could civilize free as well as enslaved workers. This article traces overlapping ideas about the free market in both antislavery and laissez-faire economic thought. It shows how antislavery thinkers struggled with the tension between their faith in a free labor market and their concerns about setting a "civilizing" rate of wages. Finally, it sketches the history of the Quaker abolitionist William Allen's attempt to build a colony in England that would educate free workers in wage labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are neoliberal thought leaders reacting to the rise of radical conservatism? Looking at Atlas, a worldwide network comprising approximately 500 free market think tanks and campaign groups, this study examines how its affiliates prioritize threats. This is accomplished through a qualitative analysis of a sample of documents that Atlas partners published on their websites from 2017 to 2022. The findings range from expected to puzzling. First, there is a reliable adherence to core neo-liberal ideas such as globalization and marketization. Second, explicit evidence of ideological tension is scarce, as only a few think tanks openly signal alignment with illiberal and authoritarian positions. However, as a whole, the network appears consistently—and wilfully—apathetic towards the radical right. This indifference contrasts with the vigour and regularity with which the network confronts left-of-center ideas, parties and governments. Delving into this contrast and its political implications, the study highlights the twin concepts of strategic and selective ignorance and considers their analytical potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the question of who and what drives forced migration governance in origin, host, and transit states, drawing on empirical material from the contemporary Syrian and Libyan, and the historical Algerian displacement situations. These three cases are examples for different forced migration governance approaches, ranging from open-supportive (Algeria), to restrictive-selective (Syria) and laissez-faire (Libya). We identify three key drivers of forced migration governance to explain variation in governance outcome: domestic, geopolitical, and international-normative drivers. We understand forced migration governance as a state-making strategy for different state and non-state actors in origin, transit, and host countries. We argue that while forced migration governance is negotiated around humanitarian principles in which international organizations and civil society play a crucial role, the international-normative driver remains strongly bound to domestic and geopolitical logics. Political and economic interests are key factors of forced migration governance in host countries, especially if they align with political interests and state-making strategies of state and non-state actors in origin countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, Turkey has been an ally of the transatlantic bloc. As a NATO member, with a majority Muslim population and a free market economy, it was even hailed by Western powers as a model country in the 2000s. However, due to its acquisition of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia, its desire to be a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and its military presence in Syria and Libya, many analysts have argued that Turkey's foreign policy has experienced a pivot to Asia recently. This article systematically examines the current positions of various political parties in Turkey in this context using first-hand data. Through semi-structured interviews with 14 political party representatives, and by analysing their party programmes, the vision of different political parties in respect of Asia, their relations with Asian actors, their stance on Asian foreign direct investments and its environmental impacts, the Uyghur issue, and their thoughts on the period that will follow the Ukraine-Russia war are studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypertension-related knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of hypertensive patients can affect the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension. However, little attention has been paid to the association between the change of hypertension preventive KAP and blood pressure (BP) control in occupational population using longitudinal data. We assess the effectiveness of a workplace-based multicomponent hypertension intervention program on improving the level of KAP of hypertension prevention, and the association between improvement in KAP and BP control during intervention. Methods: From January 2013 to December 2014, workplaces across 20 urban regions in China were randomized to either the intervention group (n = 40) or control group (n = 20) using a cluster randomized control method. All employees in each workplace were asked to complete a cross-sectional survey to screen for hypertension patients. Hypertension patients in the intervention group were given a 2-year workplace-based multicomponent hypertension intervention for BP control. The level of hypertension prevention KAP and BP were assessed before and after intervention in the two groups. Results: Overall, 3331 participants (2658 in the intervention group and 673 in the control group) were included (mean [standard deviation] age, 46.2 [7.7] years; 2723 men [81.7%]). After 2-year intervention, the KAP qualified rate was 63.2% in the intervention groups and 50.1% in the control groups (odds ratio = 1.65, 95% CI, 1.36∼2.00, P <.001). Compared with the control group decreased in the qualified rate of each item of hypertension preventive KAP questionnaire, all the items in the intervention group increased to different degrees. The increase of KAP score was associated with the decrease of BP level after intervention. For 1 point increase in KAP score, systolic blood pressure (SBP) decreased by.28 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) decreased by.14 mmHg [SBP: β = -.28, 95%CI: −.48∼-.09, P =.004; DBP: β = −.14, 95%CI: −.26∼-.02, P =.024]. SBP and DBP was significantly in manual labor workers (SBP: β = −.34, 95%CI: −.59∼-.09, P =.008; DBP: β = −.23, 95%CI: −.38∼−.08, P =.003), workers from private enterprise, state-owned enterprise (SOE) (SBP: β = −.40, 95%CI: −.64∼−.16, P =.001; DBP: β = −.21, 95%CI: −.36∼−.06, P =.005) and a workplace with an affiliated hospital (SBP: β = −.31, 95%CI: −.52∼−.11, P =.003; DBP: β = −.16, 95%CI: −.28∼−.03, P =.016). The improvement of knowledge (SBP: β = −.29, 95%CI: −.56∼−.02, P =.038; DBP: β = −.12, 95%CI: −.29∼.05, P =.160), as well as attitude (SBP: β = −.71, 95%CI: −1.25∼−.18, P =.009; DBP: β =.18, 95%CI: −.23∼.59, P =.385) and behavior (SBP: β = −.73, 95%CI: −1.22∼−.23, P =.004; DBP: β = −.65, 95%CI: −.97∼−.33, P <.001) was gradually strengthened in relation to BP control. Conclusion: This study found that workplace-based multicomponent hypertension intervention can effectively improve the level of hypertension preventive KAP among employees, and the improvement of KAP levels were significantly associated with BP control. Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry No. ChiCTR-ECS-14004641. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to examine the national mechanism applied in Bulgaria to tackle the high electricity prices in the period 2021-2023 and its impact on state-owned enterprises, which are the main source of the compensation funds. The proposed thesis is that with the collection of the revenues of state-owned companies, they are posted in conditions of restriction in terms of development opportunities, which is why the imposed emergency measures should be reviewed in the future. Although the measures themselves are widely discussed, the mechanisms for providing financial support, the financial magnitude of this support, as well as its effect, are yet to be clarified, and the data collected in the material may be useful for further analyses and evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper computes Balassa's index of revealed comparative advantage for machinery and equipment (a rough proxy for high-tech goods) for a number of emerging areas (East Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East) and for selected individual countries over some 50 years, from the early 1970s to the early 2020s. The focus is on why some economies were successful in promoting high-tech sectors. As could be expected, experience differs hugely. In some countries, interventionist trade or industrial policies were crucial in fostering comparative advantage. In others, however, the role of policies appears to have been minor and successes were achieved thanks to the free play of market forces (including an important contribution, at least in some countries, coming from foreign direct investment). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This multidisciplinary paper contributes to political economy, social cybernetics, and philosophy by examining distinctions in market capitalist ideologies through a metacybernetic approach. It explores reflexive processes, akin to Adam Smith's invisible and visible hands, and their impact on market ideologies. The study highlights the evolutifon of these ideologies in balancing egoism and altruism, revealing insights into sociocultural shifts. Some ideologies are more prone to pathologies like market hegemony, which disrupts market viability and social welfare. Diagnosing these ideologies is essential to address issues of market hegemony like platform capitalism, technofeudalism, and surveillance capitalism. After a comparative analysis of capitalist ideologies, the paper focuses on neoliberal and stakeholder capitalism, due to their dominance, contrasting philosophies, policy influence, and roles in global challenges. A metacybernetic perspective is adopted, modelling the market as a complex adaptive system with agency, using Mindset Agency Theory (MAT). MAT distinguishes agency into subagencies of affect and cognition. Recognising the role of spirit, a spirit subagency is configured into MAT to enable explicit consideration of attributes like ethics and the greater good within the market, relationally improving transparency and promoting sustainable and inclusive economic practices. MAT is applied to the evolution of capitalist ideologies, examining their viability and sustainability under changing conditions. With its now triadic interactive subagency structure, MAT identifies eight distinct types of mindset, each characterised by 21 parameters that combine to deliver unique variations, in neoliberal and stakeholder capitalism, of the market ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has long been debate about whether the motives for corporate philanthropy are selfish or altruistic in nature. This study takes A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in China from 2016 to 2019 as the research object and analyzes China's new government–business relationship based on institutional theory. The results show that the new government–business relationship, which is characterized by being close and unsullied, has a significant inhibitory effect on corporate philanthropy. To be specific, the closer and more unsullied the government–business relationship in the region where the firm is located, the lower its level of corporate philanthropy, thus supporting the hypothesis of selfish—and especially political—motivation. A heterogeneity analysis shows that compared with private enterprises and enterprises in areas with high levels of marketization, the new government–business relationship has a less inhibitory effect on the philanthropic efforts of state-owned enterprises and enterprises in areas with lower levels of marketization. Conditional testing shows that the purpose of corporate philanthropy is to obtain more economic resources such as bank loans, government subsidies, and tax incentives. Finally, the improvement in the government–business relationship reduces the economic resources that enterprises obtain from the government, thus indicating that the political motivation for corporate philanthropy will be mitigated after the change in that relationship. The results of this study clarify the actual motives underlying corporate philanthropy and provide empirical evidence for the government to reference when establishing and adjusting the government–business relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the theory of economic modernization, regional economies will ultimately be harmonized in a global free economy and that this global free market that will ensure the socioeconomic interests of all. Through an inquiry into the development of the free market in the mid-19th century of England, John Gray argues that it is not reasonable to expect that all regional economies will follow the same pattern due to their diverse social and political conditions. For Gray, the idea of homogeneity of regional economies is rooted in enlightenment theory that takes the idea of universal civilization for granted, and he develops a critique of this idea of economic modernization. This paper focuses on his critique and explores how human economic wellbeing through homogeneity of economies is utopic, explaining that fostering mutual cooperation to facilitate regional economic growth is necessary for human economic wellbeing on a global level. Mutual corporation is not possible without legitimate and moral ground, and this paper suggests that a broad-based human values system can serve as this moral ground for mutual cooperation. By constructing an economic system based on this ground, economic wellbeing can be achieved in the true sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the EU launched a number of initiatives to prevent the weaponising of supply chains and build resilience against interruptions. This article explores attempts to ensure security of supply in three sectors: semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical raw materials. The analysis contrasts the measures taken in each sector in order to highlight commonalities and explain differences in approach and impact. This comparison of the EU's three principal policies for mitigating supply chain disruption shows the EU has equipped itself with more policy tools in the area of critical raw materials. The argument put forward to explain this prioritisation is that the weaponisation of critical raw materials has already taken place and risks stoking a political backlash against the EU green deal. Consequently, the evidence shows how the EU's geoeconomic hedging marks a move away from an overriding commitment to free markets as part of the postwar liberal international order. Rather, the EU is experimenting with market‐directing mechanisms involving state aid, stockpiling and regulatory interventions in the name of security of supply. This change illustrates not just the fraying of the liberal international trade order but also the part that the EU is playing in this transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies provide evidence that social, economic, political, and conservation-related factors impact cross-national biodiversity loss. One theoretical argument concerning biodiversity loss that has not been directly assessed involves the relationship between species loss and neoliberalism. Generally, neoliberalism promotes free markets. This has become a dominant philosophy across nations (though the strength of neoliberalism varies cross-nationally) and affects how nations interact with one another as resource users and providers. Given how neoliberal policies work to integrate nations into a single global capitalist economy, we assess neoliberalism's effects on threatened species alongside a nation's position in the global world-system. The current study examines nine sets of negative binomial regression models analyzing the effect of neoliberalism, world-system position, and a set of control variables on species biodiversity loss across a sample of 104 countries for which all relevant data were available. We find some support that neoliberalism increases biodiversity loss in fully assessed species (birds and amphibians). We also find support for the hypothesis that there is more biodiversity loss in the periphery and semi-periphery of the world-system (compared with core countries) in fully assessed threatened species. We argue that the results support previous research showing the sociological drivers of biodiversity loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We adopt a pandemic-macroeconomic model to simulate the macroeconomic impact of COVID-19 on various occupations under both laissez-faire and government lockdown scenarios. We integrate a SIR model of virus transmission into a simplified neoclassical model and categorize occupations into two groups based on their ability to work remotely. Subsequently, we assess the shock impact of the pandemic on GDP, consumption, and working hours of flexible and rigid occupations. We find that these three variables declined during the pandemic, yet the consumption varied among individuals with different health status. The labour market experienced a recession, with workers in flexible occupations experiencing a relatively milder impact compared to those in rigid occupations. A larger proportion of remote work mitigated the recessionary effects, although it accentuated the disparities between occupations' income and working hours. The implementation of lockdown policies detrimentally affects welfare, similar to the pandemic itself, but the impact on flexible and rigid occupations differs from that in a laissez-faire scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Planning Education & Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Planning Education & Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Islamic revolution is nothing but Islamic revivalism or the establishment of an Islamic state based on Sharia. In this paper, I focus on the Islamic revolution in Iran that has been exceptionally considered as a 'social revolution' targeting an overhaul of the economic institutions. Can the economic model of Islamic revivalism be reduced to one of the principal dichotomous models of state socialism or free market economy as suggested by many economists? It will be shown that Anfal or the Imam's exclusive property over all public properties known as res nullius has been the major invention of the Islamic revivalism in Iran. This provides an independent Islamic model that has been left unnoticed by specialists in Islamic economics that can be characterized as a specific economic system, namely Islamic political capitalism. This system is not reducible to state socialism or competitive free markets. This paper fills the gap and demonstrates that Anfal institutionalizes a confiscatory regime enhancing a rent-seeking society hindering private property rights and competitive free markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's global market, the movement of raw materials and goods in the free global market can lead to unintended consequences. One significant concern is the potential presence of contaminants and carcinogens, particularly when products originate from regions with less strict regulations and enforcement. This issue is particularly pertinent in the natural raw materials utilized in the global building materials market, where contamination by asbestos minerals can occur. Therefore, the screening of natural raw materials for asbestos content is crucial to mitigate the risk of exposure to carcinogens for both workers and the general public. In this study, we examine a challenging case involving a smectite–kaolinite clay from Gomsiqe–Puka, Albania, possibly containing mineral fibres. Detection and quantification of asbestos in this material push the boundaries of current experimental methods. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), micro-Raman spectroscopy, and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), we identified the presence of asbestos tremolite, along with a rare fibrous variety of diopside. EPMA data allowed the advancement of some speculations on the origin of the observed tremolites, showing that Al-rich tremolites are typical of oceanic settings and Al-poor tremolites are more similar to continental tremolites. We also investigated the impact of milling on the detection and quantification of mineral fibres, testing different milling times. This investigation is crucial as it can influence the classification of the raw material as asbestos-containing material or not. Our findings indicate that tremolite, cleavage fragments, and elongated particles break down into smaller World Health Organization (WHO) fibres with increasing milling times (1–5 min). However, prolonged milling (10 min) leads to overgrinding, resulting in a decrease in the number of counted WHO fibres with a length exceeding 5 µ m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States now acknowledges that it made a mistake in supporting China's accession to the WTO in 2001. According to the United States, China has not lived up to its WTO commitments to adopt free markets but has exploited its WTO membership to pursue its mercantilist goals and has now become the largest exporter in the world, dwarfing its nearest competitors. Not only has the WTO been powerless to convince China to fulfil its WTO commitments but what is even more galling to the United States is that the WTO has enabled China's ascent by stymieing the United States' use of venerable trade law remedies to challenge China. These frustrations led the United States to cripple the WTO Appellate Body in 2019 with the result that all WTO obligations are now in effect unenforceable. The major advantage to the United States is that it now has a free hand to deal with China without regard to WTO rules. The United States is now using forceful new measures such as punitive tariffs, trade embargoes, and industrial subsidies that are of dubious WTO legality to constrain China. Any revival of the WTO dispute settlement system will threaten the ability of the United States to continue using these bold new measures. For this reason, the United States will not support any proposed resuscitation of the WTO dispute settlement system that is not also accompanied by reforms in the WTO dealing with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based in First Amendment principles, the Noerr-Pennington doctrine immunizes parties petitioning the government from antitrust liability, even when such petitioning may be considered anticompetitive. Within the doctrine exists a narrower "sham exception" which eliminates Noerr-Pennington antitrust immunity when petitions are merely shams meant to interfere with a competitor's business. The Supreme Court has examined the sham exception in two cases which have produced differing standards for when and how to apply it. As a result, circuit courts have had to grapple with this uncertainty and a circuit split has developed as they have disagreed on the proper approach to applying the sham exception. This Comment proposes that the Supreme Court revisit its Noerr-Pennington jurisprudence and clarify the scope under which immunity shall attach. Furthermore, this Comment advocates for the adoption of a new "holistic evaluation" rule akin to the rule of reason in which patterns of lawsuits are evaluated, not on their individual chance of success, but collectively based on intent. As part of this inquiry, this Comment argues that courts should analyze whether the legitimate gains a party stands to win from such lawsuits (i.e. damages) is less than the anticompetitive effects of bringing those lawsuits (i.e. litigation costs and attorney fees) such that the lawsuits, collectively, should not enjoy Noerr-Pennington antitrust immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]