The Virtual and the Imaginary: The Role of Diasphoric New Media in the Construction of a National Identity during the Break-up of Yugoslavia

In the conflicts of the last decade within ex-Yugoslavia, diasphoric communities have played a significant role, on the practical level of providing remittances, arms and often even fighters in the various conflicts, and on a cultural and ideological level in helping to (re)construct a national narrative amongst the various ethnic groups and in helping to spread the viewpoints of these groups into a wider international sphere. New media, particularly the Internet, video and satellite television have transformed the way diasphoric communities relate to their "homelands". These new media make possible a dramatic increase in information flows both to and from the homeland. This in turn helps to increase the fluidity of identity construction and conceptions of collective identity, among diasporas and to a lesser extent among those remaining in the homeland. This article examines the impact of these new information flows on constructions of "the other" within national narratives at a theoretical level and more generally the role of diasporas in participating in the national discourse, despite the distance between them and the homeland. At an empirical level, we focus on the use of videotape among the Croatian community in Australia and the use of the Internet by Croatian and Kosovar Albanian communities around the world.     

WHY ARE SOME PLACES RICH WHILE OTHERS ARE POOR? THE INSTITUTIONAL NECESSITY OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM

We survey perspectives on the economic differences between countries and argue that economic freedom is the key to prosperity. We close by outlining the policy implications. Specifically, removing obstacles to the exercise of economic freedom is an important step towards prosperity.     

Proprietary costs and sealing documents in patent litigation

We study whether the sealing of a defendant’s judicial records during a patent lawsuit filing correlates with the defendant’s level of competition and disclosure. Courts permit sealing of judicial records when competitive damage outweighs the public interest in access to documents and records. We find that defendants with sealed judicial records have higher research and development (R&D), lower industry sales concentration, and more references to competition in their annual reports than defendants without sealed judicial records. We observe faster mean reversion of return on net operating assets when courts seal defendant records. The results suggest that sealing relates to archival measures of competition. Finally, consistent with proprietary costs restraining disclosure, we find that defendants with sealed judicial records are less likely to issue management forecasts, file 8-Ks less frequently, and have longer and less readable 10-Ks.     

Auditor selection within a business group: evidence from Taiwan

Although auditor selection is well documented in the literature, it is unclear whether group characteristics affect firms’ auditor selection decisions. Generally, a business group is the result of diversification by the core firm. Major decisions of the business group, such as auditor selection, are made by the core firm and influenced by the business group’s characteristics. Using operational and ownership linkages perspectives, this study investigates the determinants of a business group’s member firm engaging the same auditor as its core firm. We employ the input–output relationship of products along a supply chain to construct product vertical relatedness measures between member firms and the core firm, and establish logistic regression models to test our hypotheses. Using a sample of publicly listed business groups in Taiwan from 2000 to 2010, our results suggest that a member firm is more likely to engage the same auditor as its core firm when (1) the core firm engages a Big N auditor, (2) the core firm’s auditor is an industry specialist for both the core firm and its member firm, (3) the degree of vertical relatedness increases, or (4) the controlling shareholders’ deviation of voting rights from cash flow rights increases (hereafter deviation). On the other hand, the likelihood of a member firm engaging the same auditor as its core firm when induced by higher deviation could be offset by the influence of stronger business vertical linkages.