Search

This paper presents an analysis of structural transformation with respect to the CARICOM region's export sophistication and diversification dynamics. Trends in the data indicate that CARICOM, in relation to other country groups, has the lowest number of active export lines. The region also has a low number of commodities with comparative advantage, and an almost negligible number of highly sophisticated exports. The factors affecting export diversification were also evaluated in relation to resource and factor endowments, the regulatory environment and the degree of technical progress. The overall results, from a global perspective, indicate that countries which are technically advanced tend to have a higher degree of export diversification while resource reliant economies are shown to be less diversified. In terms of CARICOM, structural factors and technical progress significantly explain diversification, however as the ease of doing business improves, these countries tend to become more specialized therefore highlighting the tendency to focus on sectors in which they are relatively strong given their factor endowments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two images dominate discussion of money laundering. Investigative journalists and politicians stress the variety and sophistication of methods that have been used to launder money of corrupt officials and white collar offenders. The research literature, largely dependent on criminal cases, emphasizes how unsophisticated and routine are the laundering methods used by drug dealers and other illegal market participants. The discrepancy may reflect the incapacity of police to detect sophisticated money laundering but it may also represent the reality; different groups of offenders choose different methods. This paper presents a theoretical framework to explain how offenders choose to launder their criminal earnings. Specifically it asks: what determines the sophistication of the method chosen? Among the variables that we suggest influence the choice are: (a) the type of predicate crime and of crime proceeds, (b) the type of offender (age, education, social status), (c) his/her motivations, (d) the AML environment and the level of AML controls. The paper provides arguments from criminological and economic theory for how these variables might play a role. Without claiming that individual cases can test the theory, we offer some case narratives to suggest the plausibility of the factors that we propose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on first language (L1) attrition typically focuses on immigrant populations in their second language (L2) environment, yet we know comparably little about L1 attrition in the L1 setting. This study used two lexical tasks to test L1 attrition, a time-sensitive word decision task and a video retelling. Chinese teachers of English vs. Chinese teachers of other subjects (N = 25/group) were recruited at a secondary school in China. The aim was to provide an exploratory basis of the L2 influence on L1 lexical attrition in the L1 environment, both on the level of lexical comprehension and production. Mixed-effects models were used to analyse multiple measures including response accuracy and reaction times in comprehension, and lexical diversity, density, sophistication, and accuracy in production. The results showed Chinese teachers’ L1 lexical attrition in the form of longer response times to high-frequency Chinese words compared to non-English Chinese teachers, and the use of significantly fewer sophisticated words in their retellings. Also, teachers of English were faster and more accurate in decisions about Chinese borrowings from English, suggesting L2-driven influence on their mental lexicon. Considering participants’ background information, analyses showed that increased L2 exposure and frequency of use can predict L1 lexical attrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In current scenario the whole world facing a big problem for the collection and assemblages the heavy metal in Agriculture land or crop soil-fertility. The heavy metal contamination (HMC) is very harmful for our beautiful earth planet as well as human health issue. Due to the collection and assemblages of heavy metals in earth crust the soil -fertility will be reduced day by day, it is directly or indirectly affected the whole ecosystem and our environment. There are the many innovative methods or technique to analysis and determination for the assemblages and collection the heavy metal pollution or contaminated soil-fertility in Agriculture land, but they have some basic problem like high cost issue is a big problem, time taking process or method and technique, sophistication or complication issues of processes, some problem in planning and strategy issues. The main heavy metals are generally found in earth crust is Zn, Cd, Hg, Pb, Cr, Cu and As. The soil-fertility of farming crop depends on the contamination of heavy metals. These heavy metals will be isolate from the crop soil by some innovative methods, technique or research approaches like- phytochemical, phtyoremediation, phytodegradation processes. My research and analysis work on the assemblages or collection of common heavy metals (Cd, Cr, As, Pb, Hg, Cu, and Zn) in paddy crop soil atmosphere. The corn pickup and acquired the heavy metals in compare then paddy was very prone, it is commonly found. The descending order of assemblages and collection in paddy grains - (Cd > Cu > Cr > Pb > Hg > Zn).

What determines media coverage on cyber conflict (CC)? Media bias fostering misperception is a well-established problem in conflict reporting. Because of the secrecy and complexity surrounding cyber operations (COs), where most data moreover come from marketing publications by private sector firms, this problem is likely to be especially pronounced in reporting on cyber threats. Because media reporting shapes public perception, such bias can shape conflict dynamics and outcomes with potentially destabilizing consequences. Yet little research has examined media bias systematically. This study connects existing literature on media reporting bias with the CC literature to formulate four theoretical explanations for variation in reporting on COs based on four corresponding characteristics of a CO. We introduce a new dataset of COs reporting by the private sector, which we call the Cyber Conflict Media Coverage Dataset, and media reporting on each of these operations. Consequently, we conduct a statistical analysis to identify which of these characteristics correlate with reporting quantity. This analysis shows that the use of novel techniques, specifically zero-day exploits, is a highly significant predictor of coverage quantity. Operations targeting the military or financial sector generate less coverage. We also find that cyber effect operations tend to receive more coverage compared to espionage, but this result is not statistically significant. Nonetheless, the predictive models explain limited variation in news coverage. These findings indicate that COs are treated differently in the media than other forms of conflict, and help explain persistent threat perception among the public despite the absence of catastrophic cyberattacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Faculty of Divinity of Ankara University / Ankara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Ankara Universitesi Ilahiyat Fakultesi Dergisi 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.)

We study a decision-framing design problem: a principal faces an agent with frame-dependent preferences and designs an extensive form with a frame at each stage. This allows the principal to circumvent incentive compatibility constraints by inducing dynamically inconsistent choices of the sophisticated agent. We show that a vector of contracts can be implemented if and only if it can be implemented using a canonical extensive form, which has a simple high–low–high structure using only three stages and the two highest frames, and employs unchosen decoy contracts to deter deviations. We then turn to the study of optimal contracts in the context of the classic monopolistic screening problem and establish the existence of a canonical optimal mechanism, even though our implementability result does not directly apply. In the presence of naive types, the principal can perfectly screen by cognitive type and extract full surplus from naifs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Many developing economies are seeking to industrialize by integrating global value chains and are thus implementing export-led industrialization policies. • The positive relationship between economic growth and industrialization is nowadays questioned. • Manufacturing exports may not automatically bring about economic upgrading - measured by the transformation of the export basket. • There is a risk of sectorial specialization within the textile sector. • There is a risk of product-type specialization within the machinery and mechanical sector. • Policymakers should consider a potential 'industrialization curse'. This paper examines the relationship between the industrialization pattern and the structural change process. This approach fits in a global economic context characterized by Global Value Chains (GVCs), which shake up the pattern of industrialization. In fact, by entering a value chain, economies are able to industrialize and export high-technology goods without building a broad set of industrial capabilities. Using a panel of 117 countries over the period 1995–2017, our three-step analysis, first reveals that manufacturing exports may not automatically bring about economic upgrading - measured by the transformation of the export basket. Secondly, the inter-sectoral approach demonstrates that developing countries, for which industrialization no longer seems to be the main source of continuous development, are specialized in 'textiles and textile articles' for the poorest countries and in 'machinery and mechanical appliances' for middle-income countries. Finally, the intra-sectoral analysis shows that both of these sectors can become traps leading to either sectoral concentration or product concentration with low domestic value-added, both of which hinder the continuity of the transformation process in the productive structure. We introduce the idea of an 'industrialization curse' to illustrate our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Information Library Magazine 'INFOLIB' is the property of National Library of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi 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.)

Commercial diplomacy has been of interest to researchers in the context of export development due to the many empirical studies indicating that the international economic integrations provide more growth and employment for the governments and internationalization for the enterprises. Unlike the strict and/or regional economic integrations, MIKTA was created as an informal and cross-regional group of ‘middle powers’ bringing together Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and Australia in 2013. Being distant apart from each other geographically and having many differences besides their similarities, each of the member states is considered influential in their regions and of high importance for the paradigm shift to a new world order. This paper aims to figure out if MIKTA has been utilized as a powerful advocate for enhancing exports of the member states while also resuming sustainable economic growth. For this reason, it is analyzed to what extent the members’ exports were and have become sophisticated, meaning capital intensive or labour intensive, over the past 20 years and how the members’ economic growth rates were contributed. For the analysis, PRODY and EXPY indices are calculated representing the sophistication levels of, respectively, product groups and the total exports of the states.

Advertising and marketing managers understand that not all brands need to be on social media, but what is not clearly understood is consumers’ engagement expectations for brands that are on social media. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of brand personality, specifically sophisticated and rugged brands, and gendered communication styles on consumers’ expectations of social media engagement. A scenario-based experiment is performed to test the hypotheses using a mock brand. The main study consisted of a Qualtrics consumer panel, and a MANOVA was utilized to examine three components of social media engagement (consumption, contribution, and creation) on the two brand personality dimensions. Results suggest that not all brands are expected to be as engaging on social media. Specifically, consumers expect higher levels of engagement with sophisticated brands (feminine traits) compared to rugged brands (masculine traits).

The morphological characteristics, phytochemical composition of Pimpinella anisoides fruits was investigated. The morphological analysis of the monocarps contributed to distinguish P. anisoides from other related Pimpinella species used for commercial purposes, in particular P. anisetum and P. anisum. Our study showed that these fruits are different for their surface and shape: in particular, P. anisoides monocarps are glabrous, whereas the other two species are strigose. Two main compounds were identified in the essential oil of the five studied accessions: limonene (46.78-50.74%) and anethole (38.50-42.77%) whose sum ranged between 85.28 and 93.51%. estragole and β-phellandrene were other two representative compounds. All other volatiles accounted for less than 1% of the total volatile composition. One-way ANOVA analysis showed significant differences in almost all volatiles, whereas non-significant differences were found in the compounds detected in very low quantity. Hierarchical cluster analysis allowed to group the five accessions in three main clusters. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that the first two principal components explained 71.80% of total variance. Results show that morphological and phytochemical features of the ripe fruits of P. anisoides can be used to distinguish this species from others, to avoid commercial sophistications and for a better conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Dewar (2019) has suggested that one can apply the strategy of 'sophistication'—as exemplified by sophisticated substantivalism as a response to the diffeomorphism invariance of General Relativity—to gauge theories such as electrodynamics. This requires a shift to the formalism of fibre bundles. In this paper, I develop and defend this suggestion. Where my approach differs from previous discussions is that I focus on the metaphysical picture underlying the fibre bundle formalism. In particular, I aim to affirm the physical reality of gauge properties. I argue that this allows for a local and separable explanation of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Its puzzling features are explained by a form of holism inherent to fibre bundles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a market setting where a consumer holds either a naive or sophisticated perception of their preference over products. We introduce the concept of a cognitive equilibrium, in which the consumer can transition between the cognitive states of naiveté and sophistication depending on the degree of exploitation in the market. We compare market outcomes under monopoly and competition. While competition unambiguously improves market outcomes when the consumer's cognitive state is exogenous, it can strictly lower gains from trade when cognitive states are endogenously determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend the study of behavioural types in voluntary contribution games, adapting the elicitation method of Fischbacher et al. (2001) to a broader range of economic and strategic incentives. Our results in the standard VCM game align with previous findings in many respects; in particular, we identify one-quarter of participants as a distinctive group of "strong" conditional cooperators. We provide an explanation for the behaviour of this group by tracking their contribution strategies as the financial incentives of the game vary. We find that conditional cooperators follow a sophisticated rule, matching contributions only when doing so leads to an overall welfare improvement. This favours an account of conditional cooperation based on social norm compliance, rather than confusion, inequity aversion, or warm-glow giving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal intelligence concerns the ability to understand personality in oneself and others—including the understanding of motives, socioemotional traits, and abilities. We examined if people's scores on the ability-based Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI) would be reflected in their narratives about someone whose personality they had learned about. In a Preliminary Study (N = 220), we collected narratives and open-ended descriptions about their learning. In Study 1 (N = 212), experts rated the respondents' open-ended narratives for their sophistication about personality, defined as their knowledge and complexity of thought around the topic. Respondents also filled out checklists concerning what they learned and their relationship outcomes. Study 2 (N = 299) was a replication and extension in which we added the TOPI. Participants who scored higher on the TOPI produced narratives higher in Sophistication, even after statistical controls for Word Count and Vocabulary (the measures also were largely independent of the Big Five). The findings here may have applications for both testing and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to explore the factors that may lead to the choice behind sophisticated management accounting practices (SMAP) in an emerging economy, Bangladesh. A semi-structured questionnaire has been developed to capture the market data and different descriptive and inferential statistical tools have been used to test relevant hypotheses. The findings of the study are helpful for the management accounting practitioners, academics, and researchers to understand the current state of management accounting practices in an emerging market. In addition, the study brings an extension to existing literature by exploring potential causal relationship between sophistication in applying management accounting tools and satisfaction of management accounting practitioners. This study confirms that there is a missing link between practitioners’ satisfaction and SMAP. It gives a signal to the market that the critical decision-making process is not supported by tactical exercises and market lacks professionalism greatly which may act as an obstacle to develop a competitive business environment.

The Democratic Party is a coalition of interests sharing a common desire to use government to ameliorate societal inequities. Research shows that the party's programmatic policy appeals engender attitudinal consistency among Democratic identifiers, although less work explores the connection between these partisans' core values and specific policy positions. In this article, we propose and test a theory linking self-identified Democrats' political sophistication to their commitment to a central core value—equality—and attitudes toward group-specific policies designed to benefit Blacks, gays and lesbians and the poor, respectively. We expect that beneficiaries will support their group-specific policy uniformly, but that political sophistication moderates non-target group Democrats' support, as greater awareness should increase non-group members' willingness to further the party's cardinal core value. Results from 2008–2016 CPS American National Election Studies (ANES) surveys support our key hypotheses and illuminate a coalitional linchpin of one of the two major American political parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial diplomacy has been of interest to researchers in the context of export development due to the many empirical studies indicating that the international economic integrations provide more growth and employment for the governments and internationalization for the enterprises. Unlike the strict and/or regional economic integrations, MIKTA was created as an informal and cross-regional group of 'middle powers' bringing together Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and Australia in 2013. Being distant apart from each other geographically and having many differences besides their similarities, each of the member states is considered influential in their regions and of high importance for the paradigm shift to a new world order. This paper aims to figure out if MIKTA has been utilized as a powerful advocate for enhancing exports of the member states while also resuming sustainable economic growth. For this reason, it is analyzed to what extent the members' exports were and have become sophisticated, meaning capital intensive or labour intensive, over the past 20 years and how the members' economic growth rates were contributed. For the analysis, PRODY and EXPY indices are calculated representing the sophistication levels of, respectively, product groups and the total exports of the states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel is a creative icon who has freed the ‘new’ woman from the millennium of dictated dress codes, stereotypical behaviors and clichéd sexual and status simplification. The little black dress has become synonymous of sophistication, to the femininity she gave the character flavor of relaxation and empowered women with timeless clothing pieces and equipped them with inspiring pieces of jewelry, distinctive decorative accessories and bold fragrances. Since then, with the Chanel fashion women were able to step sovereignly and freely aside of male. Coco resisted the reservation of clothing and decorative pieces and fabrics as exclusively masculine in order to help revolutionary women on their journey to a more a more useful elegance and a more noticeable fatality. Without any doubt she succeeded. She gave the new woman what she could not have before: practicality, youthfulness, timelessness and freedom, which was often scandalous at the time of her creation. But it has paid off with a revolution in the clothing industry and, more importantly, with a historic step in liberating the modern woman.

It is now standard to interpret symmetry-related models of physical theories as representing the same state of affairs. Recently, a debate has sprung up around the question when this interpretational move is warranted. In particular, Møller-Nielsen (Philos Sci 84(5):1253–1264, 2017) has argued that one is only allowed to interpret symmetry-related models as physically equivalent when one has a characterisation of their common content. I disambiguate two versions of this claim. On the first, a perspicuous interpretation is required: an account of the models’ common ontology. On the second, stricter, version of this claim, a perspicuous formalism is required in addition: one whose mathematical structures ‘intrinsically’ represent the physical world, in the sense of Field (Science without numbers: a defence of nominalism, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1980). Using Dewar’s (Br J Philos Sci 70(2):485–521, 2019) distinction between internal and external sophistication as a case study, I argue that the second requirement is decisive. This clarifies the conditions under which it is warranted to interpret symmetry-related models as physically equivalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of symmetries in physical theories implies a pernicious form of underdetermination. In order to avoid this theoretical vice, philosophers often espouse a principle called Leibniz Equivalence, which states that symmetry-related models represent the same state of affairs. Moreover, philosophers have claimed that the existence of non-trivial symmetries motivates us to accept the Invariance Principle, which states that quantities that vary under a theory's symmetries aren't physically real. Leibniz Equivalence and the Invariance Principle are often seen as part of the same package. I argue that this is a mistake: Leibniz Equivalence and the Invariance Principle are orthogonal to each other. This means that it is possible to hold that symmetry-related models represent the same state of affairs whilst having a realist attitude towards variant quantities. Various arguments have been presented in favour of the Invariance Principle: a rejection of the Invariance Principle is inter alia supposed to cause indeterminism, undetectability or failure of reference. I respond that these arguments at best support Leibniz Equivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common adage runs that, given a theory manifesting symmetries, the syntax of that theory should be modified in order to construct a new theory, from which symmetry-variant structure of the original theory has been excised. Call this strategy for explicating the underlying ontology of symmetry-related models reduction. Recently, Dewar has proposed an alternative to reduction as a means of articulating the ontology of symmetry-related models—what he calls (external) sophistication, in which the semantics of the original theory is modified, and symmetry-related models of that theory are treated as if they are isomorphic. In this paper, we undertake a critical evaluation of sophistication about symmetries—we find the programme underdeveloped in a number of regards. In addition, we clarify the interplay between sophistication about symmetries, and a separate debate to which Dewar has contributed—viz., that between interpretational versus motivational approaches to symmetry transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a market setting where a consumer holds either a naive or sophisticated perception of their preference over products. We introduce the concept of a cognitive equilibrium, in which the consumer can transition between the cognitive states of naiveté and sophistication depending on the degree of exploitation in the market. We compare market outcomes under monopoly and competition. While competition unambiguously improves market outcomes when the consumer’s cognitive state is exogenous, it can strictly lower gains from trade when cognitive states are endogenously determined.

Copyright of CIRCULO de Linguistica Aplicada a la Comunicacion is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid 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.)

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel is a creative icon who has freed the 'new' woman from the millennium of dictated dress codes, stereotypical behaviors and clichéd sexual and status simplification. The little black dress has become synonymous of sophistication, to the femininity she gave the character flavor of relaxation and empowered women with timeless clothing pieces and equipped them with inspiring pieces of jewelry, distinctive decorative accessories and bold fragrances. Since then, with the Chanel fashion women were able to step sovereignly and freely aside of male. Coco resisted the reservation of clothing and decorative pieces and fabrics as exclusively masculine in order to help revolutionary women on their journey to a more a more useful elegance and a more noticeable fatality. Without any doubt she succeeded. She gave the new woman what she could not have before: practicality, youthfulness, timelessness and freedom, which was often scandalous at the time of her creation. But it has paid off with a revolution in the clothing industry and, more importantly, with a historic step in liberating the modern woman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work on political divisions in the mass public has identified several manifestations of polarization linked to different types of attitudes, orientations, and behaviors. Of these, affective polarization and perceived polarization have attracted increasing attention, though we still know fairly little of the links between these variants of polarization. In this paper, we examine the association between affective and perceived polarization, with an aim toward disentangling any potential causal relationship between the two processes. Using two sets of nationally representative panel data from 1992 to 1996 and 2008 to 2009, we find evidence that affective polarization causes perceived polarization, and that perceived polarization is not related to future affective polarization. Stratifying the models by level of political information, we find that the strength and statistical significance of the relationships between past and future values of affective and perceived polarization are conditional on political sophistication: more sophisticated individuals exhibit stronger relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the relationship between syntactic and lexical complexity and also the relationship between different aspects of lexical complexity. To this end, speech monologs of 35 Iranian high-intermediate learners of English on three different tasks (i.e. argumentation, description, and narration) were analyzed for correlations between one measure of syntactic complexity (mean number of clauses per Analysis of Speech Unit) and two measures of lexical complexity (diversity and sophistication). Spearman’s rho was used to calculate correlations between the average scores for syntactic and lexical complexity obtained from the three tasks and also for each of the three tasks individually. The results showed that the average scores for lexical diversity and lexical sophistication correlated positively, but the correlation was found only for the narration task. Also, the average scores for syntactic complexity did not correlate significantly with any of the average scores for the two measures of lexical complexity. However, the pattern of results differed across the three tasks. In the argumentation task, syntactic complexity correlated significantly only with lexical diversity. Syntactic complexity did not correlate significantly with any of the two measures of lexical complexity in the description task. In the case of the narrative task, there was a significant correlation between syntactic complexity and both measures of lexical complexity. The results are discussed in light of Levelt’s (1989) speaking model

Personal intelligence concerns the ability to understand personality in oneself and others—including the understanding of motives, socioemotional traits, and abilities. We examined if people’s scores on the ability-based Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI) would be reflected in their narratives about someone whose personality they had learned about. In a Preliminary Study (N = 220), we collected narratives and open-ended descriptions about their learning. In Study 1 (N = 212), experts rated the respondents’ open-ended narratives for their sophistication about personality, defined as their knowledge and complexity of thought around the topic. Respondents also filled out checklists concerning what they learned and their relationship outcomes. Study 2 (N = 299) was a replication and extension in which we added the TOPI. Participants who scored higher on the TOPI produced narratives higher in Sophistication, even after statistical controls for Word Count and Vocabulary (the measures also were largely independent of the Big Five). The findings here may have applications for both testing and training.

The present research aims to analyse the method of discourse employed by Gorgias in his work entitled "The Defense of Palamedes" through an analytical philosophical appreciation of the text, based on the legal model adopted in Greece in the 5th century BC The research has as specific objectives to investigate the Gorgian method of defense in the Defense of Palamedes, to identify, in the same work, the rhetorical elements of persuasion employed by Gorgias, to understand the legal principles used by Gorgias in the work in question and to estimate which would be the real intention of Gorgias with the presentation of the Defense of Palamedes. We will deal in detail with two basic points pointed out in Palamedes' speech, which would be the absence of evidence and the verisimilitude of the allegations. An approach to these points will also be made in the light of the rhetorical manual proposed by Aristotle. The theme is relevant to the understanding of the development of philosophical reflections on legal processes and the means to effect persuasion. The understanding of these questions from ancient thinkers will shed light on the current discussions on these themes, enabling us to understand important aspects of this development as well as the transmission of these reflections over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are time-inconsistent preferences widespread among decision makers? This paper provides a possible explanation by showing that time-inconsistent preferences could be beneficial for decision makers that work together. Time-inconsistent preferences – which are usually blamed for having detrimental effects – can thus be advantageous for the functioning of societies. We further show that decision makers with time-inconsistent preferences are better off if they are naive rather than sophisticated concerning their inconsistency. The results do not depend on the construction of contracts or punishment schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to explore the factors that may lead to the choice behind sophisticated management accounting practices (SMAP) in an emerging economy, Bangladesh. A semi-structured questionnaire has been developed to capture the market data and different descriptive and inferential statistical tools have been used to test relevant hypotheses. The findings of the study are helpful for the management accounting practitioners, academics, and researchers to understand the current state of management accounting practices in an emerging market. In addition, the study brings an extension to existing literature by exploring potential causal relationship between sophistication in applying management accounting tools and satisfaction of management accounting practitioners. This study confirms that there is a missing link between practitioners' satisfaction and SMAP. It gives a signal to the market that the critical decision-making process is not supported by tactical exercises and market lacks professionalism greatly which may act as an obstacle to develop a competitive business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impacts of patents and financial development on economic complexity in a sample of 52 economies (including 32 high-income economies (HIEs) and 20 middle-income economies (MIEs)). Specifically, nine indices of financial development and three variables related to patents are mobilized to identify the major determinants of the economic complexity index captured through two indicators ECI and ECI+. Several econometric techniques are applied for our panel data estimations. Our study firstly documents the existence of a bi-directional causality but also a long-run co-integration between patents, financial development and ECI/ECI+. Our estimations show that the patents have a significant positive impact on the economic complexity of a country but for the financial development, the results are more diversified. Beyond these dissimilarities, our study emphasize some common conclusions: Patents (especially resident patents) directly contribute to the complexity of a country; a too large financial sector does not contribute to the diversification and sophistication of a national economy but the efficiency of financial markets appear to have a positive influence of such processes probably because financial markets offers alternative way of funding patents and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the trade performance and competitiveness of textile industry of India and its competitors namely China and Vietnam by using revealed comparative advantage developed by Balassa, and other trade parameters given by World Bank in terms of growth, diversification and sophistication for 1988 to 2016. Data has been taken from World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) based on harmonised system (HS-2) including 11 products ranging from HS-50 to HS-60. Results indicate that India has attained comparative advantage from 7 products to only 8 Products While Vietnam has shown drastic improvement in textile products and has achieved comparative advantage from 2 products to 7 products during 2000 to 2016. Moreover, China has improved its comparative advantage from 9 products to all products. The study concluded that there are immense opportunities for Indian textile industry in world market as most of the products have shown positive growth of export. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous papers on time-inconsistent procrastination assume projects are completed once begun. We develop a model in which a person chooses whether and when to complete each stage of a long-term project. In addition to procrastination in starting a project, a naive person might undertake costly effort to begin a project but then never complete it. When the costs of completing different stages are more unequal, procrastination is more likely, and it is when later stages are more costly that people start but don't finish projects. Moreover, if the structure of costs over the course of a project is endogenous, people are prone to choose cost structures that lead them to start but not finish projects. We also consider several extensions of the model that further illustrate how people may incur costs on projects they never complete.

It is widely obvious that the modern business depends on many new previously unknown factors: innovations, technology expanding, information dispersion and collection, culture, imaginations, and other intangible productive factors. This paper deals with some of the unexpected changes that we could recognise as the most influential ones in the new economy era. Purpose and findings of the substantial theoretic and empirical analysis are oriented to the modernisation and sophistication of today business, especially in developing, emerging and small countries. All of them are exposed to severe market reforms, in order to be more efficient and effective in global and regional level. This paper contains the analysis of content of global development documents and literary materials, as well as cross-referencing of statistical and other available data. The findings of this study could result in better orientation of industrial policies and clearer path for the future broader researches to be conducted in this field.

Recent findings related to the controversy over proximity and directional spatial models of voting suggest that the relevance of the models can change under different conditions. The political sophistication of voters and the issue factor are discussed in this article. In line with other authors, we believe that it is necessary to focus also on the question whether the examined issue is salient for the voter-party relationship. Contrary to what was expected, when voters' preferences for parties emphasizing a particular issue are predicted by increasing sophistication of voters, it does not mean that these preferences are predicted by the proximity theory at the same time. Moreover, the directional theory is a better predictor of voters' preferences for most of the issues, regardless of the sophistication influence. Yet voters' proximity utilities from their preferences are increased by their increasing sophistication across all of the issues under examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]