Does Gender Inequality Reduce Growth in Sub‐Saharan African and Arab Countries?*

Abstract: This paper uses 1974 to 2001 panel data for 31 sub‐Saharan African and 10 Arab countries and Arellano–Bond estimations to empirically assess the impact on growth of an important indicator associated with MDG 3; namely the ratio of 15–24‐year‐old literate females to males. Our findings indicate that gender inequalities in literacy have a statistically significant negative effect that is robust to changes in the specification. In addition, it seems that gender inequality has a stronger effect on growth in Arab countries. Interestingly, we find that the interaction between openness to trade and gender inequality has a positive impact. This result suggests that trade‐induced growth may be accompanied by greater gender inequalities.     

高血压病心脏结构改变与心律失常、心源性猝死的关系讨论及用药选择

目的探讨高血压病心脏结构改变与心律失常,心源性猝死的关系.方法采用24小时动态心电图、心动超声对150例原发性高血压患者进行检查和分析.结果高血压患者左心室肥厚者室性心律失常多见,而左房扩大者房性心律失常多见(46.7% 53.3%),左室肥厚者发生心源性猝死比左房扩大者多见.两者比较有显著差异.结论高血压病不同心脏结构改变对心律失常发生类型及患者预后有显著影响,从而影响用药的选择.     

TAXES AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN OECD COUNTRIES

I examine how taxes and tax progressivity affect two different types of entrepreneurship—established business ownership and nascent entrepreneurship—in a large group of Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development countries, using 2000–2009 macro‐level Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data. Empirical evidence from Arellano‐Bond generalized method of moments estimation suggests that higher tax progressivity exerts a negative influence on nascent enterprises but appears to have no impact on established business ownership. Changes in marginal and average tax rates are found to have no significant influence on either type of entrepreneurship. The most important contribution of the article is the comparison of tax impacts on actual and nascent entrepreneurship rates. (JEL H24, H29, M13, M19)     

Mutual Recognition of National Minimum Quality Standards may Support International Convergence

In a model of vertical product differentiation, duopolistic firms face quality-dependent costs and compete in quality and price in two segmented markets. Minimum quality standards, set according to the principle of Mutual Recognition, can be used to increase welfare. The results of the one-shot game suggest that standards achieve initial convergence in terms of qualities produced and national welfares. Therefore, the static game is repeated in multiple periods and firms qualities in the previous period determine their costs. In an N-period game, quality standards will in fact lead to convergence in terms of qualities and national welfares.     

The judgmental effects of strategy maps in balanced scorecard performance evaluations

We examine whether supplemental information displays affect decisions made using a common strategic performance measurement system, the balanced scorecard. A distinguishing feature of the balanced scorecard (BSC) is the number and diversity of its metrics. To effectively formulate a decision from such a complex information set, managers must view these measures within their strategic context ( [Kaplan and Norton, 1993] and [Kaplan and Norton, 1996] ). However, academic studies indicate that problems in communication and comprehension of the strategic logic underlying the scorecard hinder its implementation and use ( [Lipe and Salterio, 2000] , [Malina and Selto, 2001] , [Ittner et al., 2003a] and [Ittner et al., 2003b] ). We investigate whether a supplemental information display, in the form of a strategy map, results in performance evaluation judgments consistent with the recognition of relations between performance metrics and strategy. Strategy maps are causal diagrams depicting temporally-separate and non-linear relations between scorecard performance measures and overriding strategic objectives. As predicted, we find that performance evaluation decisions are more consistent with the achievement of strategic objectives when participants are provided with strategy maps.     

Liquidity,Technological Opportunities,and the Stage Distribution of Venture Capital Investments

This paper explores the determinants of the stage distribution of European venture capital investments from 1990 to 2011. Consistent with liquidity risk theory, we find that the likelihood of investing in earlier stages increases relative to all private equity investments during liquidity crisis years. While liquidity is the main driver of acquisition investments and, to some extent, of expansion financings, technological opportunities are overall the main driver of early and late stage venture capital investments. In contrast to the dotcom crash, the recent financial crisis negatively affected the relative likelihood of expansion investments, but not of early and late stage investments.     

United Arab Emirates Trade Policy Review

This paper reviews the WTO's first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of the United Arab Emirates. The TPR raises a number of concerns about barriers to foreign investment and competition. In reviewing the evaluation, the approach adopted in this paper is to elaborate on two main issues, insufficiently developed in the TPR. The first is investment treaties, which are treated by the UAE as legally superior to and prevailing over domestic legal instruments. The second is free trade zones, which constitute an economic enclave free of barriers to foreign investment and competition. The paper provides preliminary statistical evidence on the relationship between inward FDI, free trade zones and bilateral investment treaties, suggesting the presence of a statistically significant positive association between the three. The evidence lends initial support to the concerns raised by the review.     

An evolutionary perspective on health innovation systems

This paper elaborates on the general properties of medical innovation processes. It begins with a critical review of different perspectives and methods of investigation used in various streams of research that have previously analysed technical change in the health sector. After profiling and discussing their characteristics, the paper proposes an evolutionary approach to change in medicine constructed around the notion of a ‘Health Innovation System’. Health innovation, it is argued, consists of complex bundles of new medical technologies and clinical services emerging from a highly distributed competence base. Health Innovation Systems are driven by the combination of (1) institutionally-bound interactions among agents (‘gateways’ of innovation) and (2) history-dependent trajectories of change (‘pathways’ of innovation) whose developments emerge from and feed back into the structure of the system through organised transfers of knowledge between research and clinical practice. After drawing examples from recent empirical work on clinical research in specific disease areas, the paper concludes by identifying implications for further research.

用户价值共创过程中的创造力形成机制

基于社会认知理论,将"创造性自我效能感"和"积极情绪体验"作为中介变量,从用户心理的角度,深入分析了用户在线参与服务创新推动自身创造力提升的内在驱动机制,并构建了创新氛围、创造性自我效能感、积极情绪对用户创造力影响的概念模型。利用对307位有过或经常参与企业虚拟社区在线创新活动的用户进行问卷调查的数据进行实证研究。结果显示:用户在线参与企业虚拟社区服务创新过程中,宽松、自由、互动和充分授权的创新氛围对激发用户的"创造性自我效能感"、获得参与的"积极情绪体验"有显著的正向影响;"创造性自我效能感"对用户创造力的提升有显著的正向影响。