The Making of Oil-backed Indigenous Capitalism in Nigeria

There has been considerable growth in the past few years in the number and size of Nigerian companies providing services to the oil and gas industry. The capacity of these companies, enhanced by local content policy, will not only create economic development in the industry, but will also likely boost the development of Nigeria's manufacturing and service economies. While ‘Nigerian content’ faces many challenges in terms of implementation, it has made and will continue to make a significant impact on the economy of Nigeria and may also be making a significant impact on the political economy. Powerful interests have helped ensure that the Nigerian elite will be the primary beneficiaries of Nigerian content. Through interviews and case studies, this article argues that by embracing Nigerian content as a new strategy of accumulation, the elite are creating more capitalistic social relations of production in Nigeria.     

选择代表:自然资源管理分权管理的机构及其权力

论述了有效的分权管理的中心条件——代表制。代表性是分权管理公式的关键,将代表性分为反应性和问责性是非常有用的。分权管理的结果似乎是代表性的功能和管理动机。为了评价选择的地方机构是否能够形成有效的分权管理,关键的问题是选择的机构是否对他们管理范围内的人民负责。许多国家缺乏可持续的具有代表性的地方政府。不管有或没有代表性的地方政府,也不管是哪个权威掌握对环境的权力,问责性措施都可以培育政府一定程度的向下的责任。选举并不是达到这样的问责制的唯一形式。分权管理改革的安全性和可持续性,大部分取决于中央政府向其它实体转移权力时采用的方式。制度转移是最安全的也是最具可持续性的。分权管理的有效和公正的潜力取决于地方机构的代表性。但是在几种情况下,选择民主负责的地方机构然后赋予其民主权力。     

Peer Ostracism as a Sanction Against Wrongdoers and Whistleblowers

Journal of Business Ethics - Retaliation against whistleblowers is a well-recognized problem, yet there is little explanation for why uninvolved peers choose to retaliate through ostracism. We...     

COSTLY EVIDENCE AND SYSTEMS OF FACT-FINDING

This paper compares the relative merits of adversarial and inquisitorial systems of civil procedure in the presence of evidence suppression. Each party has the incentive to suppress evidence that may damage her case, and to reveal any evidence that strengthens her case. I model the decision of a litigant to suppress evidence. The court conditions its action (transfers between the parties) upon the evidence which is revealed. Enforcement costs, which are the cost of suppression and the cost of requesting evidence, are a loss to the relationship and form the basis for my evaluation of the relative merits of each system. I find that neither system always outperforms the other. The strength of the inquisitorial system is that it allows for randomization over evidence requests, which leads to lower expected enforcement cost. Litigants cannot commit to randomize as they are motivated by the expected award in litigation. The strength of the adversarial system is that it sometimes allows litigants to utilize their information about the level of suppression.     

A Primer on Logistic Growth and Substitution: The Mathematics of the Loglet Lab Software

This article describes the mathematics underlying the Loglet Lab software package for loglet analysis. “Loglet analysis” refers to the decomposition of growth and diffusion into S-shaped logistic components, roughly analogous to wavelet analysis, popular for signal processing and compression. The term “loglet” joins “logistic” and “wavelet.” Loglet analysis comprises two models: the first is the component logistic model, in which autonomous systems exhibit logistic growth. The second is the logistic substitution model, which models the effects of competitions within a market. An appendix describes the current status of the software.     

Over-optimistic official forecasts and fiscal rules in the eurozone

Eurozone members are supposedly constrained by the fiscal caps of the Stability and Growth Pact. Yet ever since the birth of the euro, members have postponed painful adjustment. Wishful thinking has played an important role in this failure. We find that governments’ forecasts are biased in the optimistic direction, especially during booms. Eurozone governments are especially over-optimistic when the budget deficit is over the 3 % of GDP ceiling at the time the forecasts are made. Those exceeding this cap systematically but falsely forecast a rapid future improvement. The new fiscal compact among the euro countries is supposed to make budget rules more binding by putting them into laws and constitutions at the national level. But biased forecasts can defeat budget rules. What is the record in Europe with national rules? The bias is less among eurozone countries that have adopted certain rules at the national level, particularly creating an independent fiscal institution that provides independent forecasts.     

Exposing organizational buyers to consumer magazine advertisements

The feasibility of using consumer magazines in support of more traditional industrial media in marketing programs designed to create awareness and goodwill among industrial buyers and purchasing influentials is examined. Specifically, magazines delivering at least 10 percent of those individuals influencing organizational purchases of $1000 or more are compared with trade publications. Exposure patterns are examined in total and by segments based on company size. Consumer magazines are found more cost efficient than industry-trade publications and should be considered for exposing purchasing influentials to institutional advertisement containing general appeals designed to build firm awareness among industrial buyers and influentials in different industries.