Some Determinants of Property Crime: Economic Factors Influence Criminal Behavior But Cannot Completely Explain the Syndrome

Abstract . An empirical analysis of the property crimes, robbery, burglary and larceny, is presented for all 120 counties in Kentucky. While this analysis is based on an economic model of crime, certain sociological and legal variables are included as well in the system of equations. Overall, the empirical results support prior studies’findings with the exception that a quadratic relationship is found to exist between urbanization and each of the property crimes. Furthermore, neither the economic nor the non economic influences measured appear more important for affecting crime rates. Specifically, results indicate that the level of poverty, the degree of tourism, the presence of police, the unemployment rate and the apprehension rate all affect property crimes. In contrast, the length of sentence, the degree of industrialization, the level of public assistance payments and the proportion of youth in the county have no affect on property crime rates in these areas.     

Ratio cum product method of estimation

Summary In this paper methods of estimation which may be considered as combination of ratio and product methods have been suggested. The mean square errors of these estimators utilizing two supplementary variables are compared with (i) simple unbiased estimator (p=0), (ii) usual ratio and product methods of estimation (p=1) and (iii) multivariate ratio and multivariate product estimators (p=2), wherep is the number of supplementary variables utilized. Conditions for their efficient use have been obtained for each case. Extension to general case ofp-variables has been briefly discussed. A new criteria for the efficient use of product estimator have been obtained.     

Price support and spreads in the IPO aftermarket: An empirical microstructure study

Using the inventory components of spreads as a measure of inventory holding-risk, we test the hypothesis of Hanley et al. [Hanley, K. W., Kumar, A., & Seguin, P. J. (1993). Price stabilization in the market for new issues. Journal of Financial Economics, 34, 177–197] that price supports reduce market makers’ inventory holding-risk in the aftermarket of initial public offerings (IPOs). We find that both spreads and their inventory components are significantly smaller in the earlier periods of the IPO aftermarket than those in the later periods. More importantly, the inventory components of spreads are significantly smaller for stocks without over-allotment options (OAOs) exercised, and for stocks with lower or negative initial returns which are more likely to have price supports. The results are consistent with the price support hypothesis.     

Guanxi Management in Lean Production System—An Empirical Study of Taiwan‐Japanese Firms

While the emphasis in the West is on “what you know” refers to technological expertise, including the price and quality of tendered product or service, the emphasis in Confucian societies is on “who you know,” which refers to personal connections with the appropriate authorities or individuals. These connections are known in Chinese as guanxi, on which as the basis Chinese exchange a lifetime of favors, resources, and business leverage. This study seeks to study guanxi mechanism, the unique Chinese social‐cultural element and its impact on the managerial effectiveness of Taiwanese firms with lean implementation in practice, and an empirical study is constructed to verify our proposal. Results suggest that guanxi and its networks function as the lubrication that eases interpersonal conflicts and as the buffer in solving problems, which in turn upgrades the cooperative efficiency both inter‐ and intragroups. This article provides an inner view of cultural value, which offers insights that should prove helpful to academics in management and related disciplines as well as to practitioners engaged in Chinese production management.     

Crime Rates,Clearance Rates and Enforcement Effort: The Case of Houston,Texas*

Abstract . Two time series relationships with respect to police and criminal activities are analyzed. These relationships are: 1. That between police input and police output where the latter was measured by arrest and convictions rates and the former by expenditures and number of officers and, 2. The hypothetical one between the probability of arrest (the clearance ratio; i.e., the proportion of reported crimes for which arrests were made) and crime rates. Theoretically, an increase in expenditures for police effort would cause an increase in the clearance rate and a concomitant reduction in the crime rate. The results of this study showed little or no response in clearance and crime rates to small changes in police expenditures. However, there was evidence that large changes in police effort did produce some response in both clearance and crime rates. The implication of these findings was that the marginal product of police input was small.     

Keynes' Investments

Abstract . It is well known that in The General Theory, Keynes is very critical of the stock exchange market, an institution, he says, that “cannot be claimed as one of the outstanding triumphs of laissez-faire capitalism.” At the same time much of his income was derived from speculation in commodities, stocks and foreign exchange. Some questions raised by Keynes’ way of making a living are addressed. When did his market activities begin? Did he, as some detractors allege, take advantage of insider information? What principles of behavior did he follow in his buying and selling? What was his attitude toward his way of making a living? And, above all do the views expressed in The General Theory reflect the influence of Keynes’ market experience? It is suggested that there is, in fact, a close relation between Keynes’ financial experiences and some of his distinctive economic theories. His experiences, interpreted in the light of his Apostolic-Moorean beliefs, caused the deeply critical attiiude toward the whole financial system that one finds in The General Theory's chapter 12.     

Capitalization and Community Size

Studies often show taxes and public services capitalized into house prices, but no one has tested whether the rate of capitalization depends on community size. The theoretical model of W. H. Hoyt (1999, Regional Science and Urban Economics, 29, 155–171), predicts that capitalization occurs, but that the rate of capitalization is weaker in large communities. Hoyt's model is tested empirically using a house price hedonic framework. The tax capitalization results are less clear, but the school quality and crime results firmly support the model's predictions. Using both school districts and municipalities to measure communities, larger communities weaken the rate of capitalization.     

‘Old age’ and Ageism in Urban Research: The Case of Fear of Crime

A critique has recently been made of research and theory on ageing in spatial research, arguing for the development of approaches which are informed by critical theoretical perspectives. Perhaps the most significant of these is the recognition that ‘old age’ is culturally constructed. This paper illustrates the value of such an approach with reference to understanding of fear of crime. It is suggested that many difficulties with past research result from epistemological problems, including ageism. A number of assumptions about elderly people and crime can be contested if scrutiny is informed by humanistic, feminist and social constructionist perspectives. Drawing on in depth interviews with elderly people, some of the problems and prospects of work on old age are discussed. Age is only one dimension by which people situate themselves and are situated by others in relation to the risk of crime. Local contexts, life course experiences and other social identities are involved in the constitution of fear for each individual. While the role of ageing can be understood within a framework of power relations, its positive as well as negative impacts on reactions to crime require representation. Similar analysis could profitably be developed in other areas of urban research.     

Modality analysis: a semantic grammar for imputations of intentionality in texts

Modality analysis is a text analysis methodology that affords comparisons of how people from distinct cultural contexts differ in their accounts of why one or more of their numbers find specific activities possible, impossible, inevitable, or contingent. The technique is built around a two-part semantic grammar, the application of which involves the identification of modal clauses in texts, the classification of these clauses according to their modal forms, and the identification of rationales associated with the clauses’ modalities. We show that with sufficient training the method affords high interrater agreement. After providing a few tips on data-collection strategies, results are presented from a modality analysis of editorials sampled from the Arab newspaper, Al Riyadh, and the Hindi newspaper, Hindustan. The analysis illustrates how modal expressions can be used in locating well-known (e.g., Islamic and Hindu) cultural characteristics from among the vast quantities of discourse that societies continuously generate.     

Searching for synchrony

Authorities working on economic-crime investigation in Finland are trying to change their form of collaboration from the sequential passing of documents towards parallel, interorganizational collaboration: the on-line investigation of an ongoing crime. The synchronization of events and the outputs of various participants proved to be difficult in this emerging process. This new model of crime investigation also requires a new kind of time management. This article explores how the change is being constructed in everyday practice by examining three economic-crime-investigation cases. It is claimed that individual efforts to manage time allocation suffice only in terms of co-ordination of events. It is suggested that a successful shift to parallel, interorganizational collaboration requires more than the common marking of calendars. The object of the work and the forms of interaction should be taken as subjects of reflective negotiation. New kinds of collective time-management tools are needed in this effort.     

Muhammad's Conception of Property as A Bundle of Rights

Property was first conceived of as a bundle of rights in early Islam. The legal instrument that crystallised this Islamic conception was the waqf, a legal entity delivering public welfare in accordance with the wishes of a benefactor. Trusts, which evolved in the thirteenth century, have a rationale analogous to that of waqfs, and in fact may have replicated the legal template of waqfs. The finding that waqfs are germane to Islam has ramifications for policies on waqfs in contemporary Islamic societies.     

Can Labor-capital Models Predict the Responses of Agrarian Societies to Development?Part I: Problems With Development Economics

Development efforts and economics have relied upon two-factor, capital and labor neoclassical economic models. Failures have occurred when they were applied to agrarian societies where the ownership of land rent dictates particular institutional forms that engender resistance to development. It is argued that there is a need for a new three-factor development theory which explicity models land and its rent. Ideas of Smith, Ricardo, George and Samuelson are assembled as a basis for a computer simulation model that explores landed institutions and the land value flows resulting from different development strategies. Part II, a subsequent article in this Journal, sets forth the models.     

John Hobson, Thorstein Veblen and the Phenomenon of Imperialism

Abstract . Although Hobson (1858–1940) and Veblen (1857–1929) both wrote extensively on imperialism, a systematic comparison of their views has yet to be undertaken. This is corrected with reference to three issues: their respective condemnation and explanation of, and remedy for, imperialism. The contexts in which they wrote is outlined and it is shown that on the basis of a shared definition of imperialism: (1) they both condemned imperialism on economic and political grounds, although Veblen's hostility was arguably the greater; (2) they both advanced dualistic explanations of imperialism, but whereas Hobson developed more fully and emphasized economic rather than ideological forces, the reverse was the case for Veblen; and (3) they agreed that modern imperialism could be remedied by the establishment of an international system of law and order. Veblen, however, was far less confident that this would solve totally the problem of imperialism and hence argued for the abolition of both capitalism and patriotism. The convergencies and divergencies in their analyses of imperialism may reflect the British liberal and American radical traditions that the politically involved Hobson and the iconoclast Veblen, respectively, operated within. There is a lesson for our time in their views.     

Max Weber's Authority Models and the Theory of X-Inefficiency: The Economic Sociologist's Analysis Adds More Structure to Leibenstein's Critique of Rationality

Abstract . Harvey leibenstein's theory of X-efficiency holds that behavioral considerations, such as motivation of workers or the quality of managerial decisions, are the major restraints on the productivity of modern organizations. It envisions economic behaviors which are not fully rational; that is, behaviors which fall far short of the maximization postulate so central to neo-classical microeconomics. The theory is significant for it, contrary to the prevailing view, seeks to explain suboptimality primarily as a function of factors internal to the Jirm rather than those that are objectively external, such as the market structure in which the firm finds itself. The X-efficiency framework is enhanced by the application of several salient concepts in the economic thought of Max Weber. He, in contrast to most of his contemporaries, engaged in economic analysis, but he never accepted the maximization postulate. He considered such formal economic rationality to be a very rare, almost an exceptional case of economic behavior the norm was something substantially less rational. Weber therefore categorized economic activity by its degree of rationality and linked such activity to types of authority exercised in its pursuit.     

Value Freedom' and the Scope of Economic Inquiry: 1. Positivism's Standard View and the Political Economists

Abstract . According to what might well be regarded as the standard view among economic methodologists, the economist qua economist makes no value judgments concerning policy ends and their means of attainment. However, in restricting the proper aims of economic inquiry to epistemic goals only, the proponent of the standard view has neglected to ask why we seek to realize such goals; who needs economic knowledge?; for what?; what are people's fundamental needs, problems? In opposition to the standard view I argue that there is no good reason to exclude the promotion of human welfare, enhancement of the quality of human life, etc., sociologically, psychologically and philosophically defined, as well as analyzed from the viewpoint of economics, as legitimate goals of the economist in his professional capacity.     

Statistical model for earthquake economic loss estimation using GDP and DPI: a case study from Iran

As earthquakes can result in multi-dimensional negative consequences such as human loss and building damage, the ability to make accurate economic loss estimations immediately after the occurrence is crucial. Unfortunately, in many earthquake-stricken countries such as Iran, governments are often unable to quickly or accurately assess post-earthquake losses. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to extend the model developed by Chan et al. (Nat Hazards 17:269–283, 1998) to two independent variables to develop an earthquake economic loss estimation method based on the economic and socio-economic indices gross domestic product (GDP) and disposable personal income (DPI) and a seismic hazard probability function. A global cell map is also considered to assess the GDP and DPI based on the population in each cell affected by the earthquake. In the final stage, using the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, 18 earthquake damaged areas in Iran are taken as case study to estimate the economic losses using the new model presented in this paper.

     

The Socioeconomic Position of Gay Men: A Review of the Evidence

Using data from national surveys, studies of gay men, and obituaries, the socio-economic position of gay men is examined. The evidence shows that gay men have higher incomes than heterosexual men, and that they are highly concentrated in certain occupations. The difference between the occupational distribution of gay and straight men is as great as that between men and women. The economic position of gay men appears to result from several factors in addition to discrimination. Gay economic power and gay preferences for economic dealings with other gays serve to shield them from antigay bias.     

The early stages of financial distress

More firms enter financial distress as a result of poor management than as a result of economic distress. Management actions are a significant determinant of recovery and improvement in the industry-adjusted market value for firms entering financial distress as a result of poor management, but not for firms entering as a result of economic distress. In the early stages of financial distress, median firm operating income measured on an unadjusted basis and after controlling for other factors which alter firm performance increases significantly. The results support Jensen’s hypothesis that financial distress triggers corrective action which improves firm performance. (JEL G300) This paper is based on my dissertation at the University of Houston. I appreciate the helpful comments from Ronald F. Singer (chair), David W. Blackwell, Raul Susmel, and Julio Peixoto, and seminar participants at the Southern Finance Association meeting.     

Measuring Socioeconomic Effects When Using Income as Quality of Life Indicator

Abstract . By generalizing Stigler and Becker's idea of maintaining the “capital stock intact,” and incorporating it with other contributions to welfare economic analysis, this paper presents a modified conceptual framework for measuring and adjusting impacts of socioeconomic and environmental factors when income or consumption expenditure is used solely as a quality of life indicator. Such measurements and adjustments are made for differences in public needs and in the process of satisfying these needs. Application of this conceptual framework is illustrated, using statistics on police protection and crime rates.     

Structural-Functional Dynamics in the Analysis of Socio-economic Systems: Development of the Approach to Understanding the Processes of Systemic Change

Theory can be equated with analogy. Both attempt to convey the unfamiliar and/or the complex through use of more familiar and/or simple constructs. The theoretical analogies of “modern” economics have been by and large patterned after a prestigious and powerful Newtonian model, i.e. they have been of the mechanical genre. It has been argued, however, that models of a biological, or evolutionary, nature would be more appropriate to analyzing economic processes and systems. This article is the first of two aimed at suggesting a form for such an evolutionary model. In this article, the analytical concepts of structure and function and their interrelationships are discussed as they apply to non-human biological systems. Resulting feedback effects which produce dynamic change are placed within the context of the evolutionary model of stratified stability. This model explains developmental change as always tending toward more complex but more stable levels of structure, and thus unidirectional. However, the process of societal change is non-teleological in that the particular path of change is not deterministic.