Conflict analysis of the NAFTA negotiations

The 1991–92 negotiations for a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are modelled at two points in time during the negotiation process from a Mexican perspective. The first model in February 1992 captures the positions of the parties on several key issues. The second model in April 1992 concentrates on the energy issue, which is of particular importance to Mexico. The formal model provided a framework for structuring the negotiation, and a communications medium for discussing and recording it. The analyses were fairly accurate as predictors of events and could have been effective in giving advice to the negotiations.     

THE RELATIVE EFFICIENCY OF CHARTER SCHOOLS

ABSTRACT ** :  This analysis compares the technical efficiency of charter school primary and secondary campuses with that of comparable campuses in traditional Texas school districts. Charter schools are hybrids—publicly funded, but not required to meet all the state regulations releant for traditional schools. Student performance is measured using value added on standardized tests in reading and mathematics, and efficiency is measured using the input distance function. The analysis suggests that at least in Texas, charter schools are substantially more efficient than traditional public schools.     

The experiential domain: developing a model for enhancing practice in D&T education

Creativity and innovation are leading topics for the twenty-first century, not only in individual, cultural or social contexts but also within a wider perspective in business or economic development. For that reason, creative and innovative activities have started to feature in many design-based programs in second level education. Design and Technology (D&T) education has a special importance in promoting creativity and innovation, particularly when conceptual and material aspects of the design process reciprocally support one another. In the classroom, it is common for pupils to take part in creative and innovative activities in pairs or small groups. However, the complex and non-linear nature of these design-based activities calls for dynamic, collaborative problem solving. While collaborative settings and virtual learning environments in D&T education are receiving considerable attention in current research literature, we know very little about shared interactions in design-based activity. Accordingly, there is a need to examine both the collaborative and individual evidence of design-based activity by turning our attention to the interactions around that evidence as teachers and pupils engage in these activities. The purpose of this paper is to examine a pedagogical approach focusing on the social and cognitive interaction of teachers and pupils which is supported by technology and situated in the context of design-based activity. This research found that such interactions not only augmented the design process but led to a conceptual model which demonstrates evidence-based progress through the active configuration of knowledge and understanding.     

Mutual Fund Performance: Measurement and Evidence1

The paper provides a critical review of empirical findings on the performance of mutual funds, mainly for the US and UK. Ex‐post, there are around 0‐5% of top performing UK and US equity mutual funds with truly positive‐alpha performance (after fees) and around 20% of funds that have truly poor alpha performance, with about 75% of active funds which are effectively zero‐alpha funds. Key drivers of relative performance are, load fees, expenses and turnover. There is little evidence of successful market timing. Evidence suggests past winner funds persist, when rebalancing is frequent (i.e., less than one year) and when using sophisticated sorting rules (e.g., Bayesian approaches) ‐ but transactions costs (load and advisory fees) imply that economic gains to investors from winner funds may be marginal. The US evidence clearly supports the view that past loser funds remain losers. Broadly speaking results for bond mutual funds are similar to those for equity funds. Sensible advice for most investors would be to hold low cost index funds and avoid holding past ‘active’ loser funds. Only sophisticated investors should pursue an active ex‐ante investment strategy of trying to pick winners ‐ and then with much caution.     

Review of Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein

Journal of Business Ethics -     

A reflexive journey through curriculum space(s)

ABSTRACT

Tourism education has the power to transform how students see and think about tourism and, ultimately, how they act within and for tourism. Yet students are likely to have different outcomes depending on the curriculum space(s) they journey through. In this article, I present a Reflective Topical Autobiography that explores the ways in which my praxis has been shaped and moulded by tourism education. Drawing on my experiences of journeying through three different curriculum spaces, I will illustrate the dynamic relationship that exists between the curriculum, pedagogy and learning. In doing so, I aim to further elucidate the benefits associated with values-based teaching and learning.     

US federal redistributive income policies

The purpose of this paper is to present a statiscial model of inequality that allows us to analyse simultaneously the impact of several major redistributive expenditure policies, as well as analysing the impact of income taxation on inequality. The paper includes multivariate exogeeity tests to determine whether the policies have ‘caused’ the observed income distribution or if there is feedback, i.e. inequality in the distribution has lead to enhanced (or diminished) redistributive policies. The direction of causality for these policies has not, to ourr knowledge, been previously examined. This paper examines the usual redistributive vehicles of transfer payments, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as analysing the impact of the personal income tax system on inequality. Using time series analysis we can allow for lagged effects of these policies as well as current period effects. This lagged effects specification may be sugggestive of behavioural responses to policy changes.     

The Vatican and the International Monetary System

This paper considers the Note issued by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2011 calling for reform of the international financial and monetary systems. Three main themes are identified: (a) the inequality of global economic growth over the last century, (b) the failings of economic liberalism as a guide for the conduct of policy and (c) the need for a degree of transfer of sovereignty from individual states to the global level. This paper articulates the meaning of these themes in economic terms and illustrates the nature of the changes in thought and practice that the Note considers necessary in the interests of the common good.