Physical appearance and peer effects in academic performance

A large literature examines the role of peer effects in shaping student academic outcomes. This article adds to that literature by introducing a new kind of peer effect – the effect of classmate physical appearance. We document that college students are assigned higher grades when in a classroom with peers who are rated as very attractive. This effect is strongest for female students and appears to be concentrated among the courses of younger and male instructors.     

Insider and Outsider Strategies of Influence: The BRICS’ Dualistic Approach Towards Informal Institutions

ABSTRACT

The challenge of ‘emerging’ countries in the 21st century has been conducted in a much more peaceful manner than in past eras when power transitions were most commonly accompanied by war. The hallmark of this peaceful transition has been the elevation of the G20, a forum in which established and emerging powers jointly deal with global economic issues and which – despite or precisely because of its informal character – has become the prime forum for global economic governance. Significantly, however, this new openness and flexibility of the international system and its increasing informalism have not only provided an avenue for emerging powers to be integrated into the inner circle of global economic governance, but have also allowed them to set up alternative institutions. By forming their own exclusive BRICS group in parallel to their membership in the G20, emerging powers have pursued a dualistic strategy that allows them to be simultaneously institutional ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. The article focuses on this seemingly ambiguous international behaviour and explains why the BRICS have opted for this dualistic approach. Far from being socialised into the established system, the oppositional psychology of the past has not disappeared completely.     

Constructing an entrepreneurial life: liminality and emotional reflexivity in identity work

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the identity work of a budding entrepreneur through a longitudinal case study based on his ongoing personal reflections as he tries to construct an entrepreneurial life. In particular, we investigate the role of emotional reflexivity and liminality, concepts that give us analytical purchase in exploring the complex dynamics of this identity work. The liminal condition of multiple identity positions enables our informant to experiment with and integrate several parallel identity narratives as he tries on socio-political constructions of ‘the entrepreneur’ for size; and it is the permanence of the liminal condition that makes emotional reflexivity necessary so he can handle the constant lack he experiences. The contribution of our work lies in exploring how the operation of the discourse of enterprise never closes on the centre of subjectivity that is imputed in that discourse, and how our subject, through emotional reflexivity, deals with this fundamental lack.     

EIOPA – Eine Überschreitung des europäischen Rechtsrahmens und die sich daraus ergebenden praktischen Konsequenzen

The EIOPA (European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority) is a regulatory EU-body, which was founded on the 1st of January, 2011. The EIOPA was established as a result of the financial crisis that took place in 2007/2008, and it is part of a newly created EU-financial system. This essay deals with questions around the legality of the EIOPA, and looks into its legal basis and the scope of its authorities, which are limited by the case law of the European Court of Justice, as well as European and constitutional principles. When considering these aspects, the regulation, on which the EIOPA is based, seems to be partly incorrect. This essay therefore deals with the legal consequences of such faultiness.     

A capability perspective on indigenous autonomy

This paper argues that the capability approach can add to the concept of autonomy (as defined in international law) as a means to provide larger freedoms to indigenous peoples. We show that autonomous regimes established within nation-states – by opening up a space for self-governance – provide a means to facilitate indigenous peoples’ pursuit of their own paths of development. However, such regimes frequently face, and their effectiveness can be reduced by, various problems such as tensions between individual and collective rights, the definition of the ideal scope of autonomies, and the lack of proper implementation. This is illustrated with case studies from Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua. We argue that the capability approach, and in particular its focus on the freedom to choose a life path one has reason to value, can be used to address such problems confronting autonomous regimes.     

When discretion is better: Initial conditions and the timeless perspective

The predictive ability of technical trading rules and the presence of calendar anomalies are well known, but theoretically anomalous, features of equity markets. We show that while some rules exploit calendar effects they are primarily being driven by other factors.     

Navigating the Complexities of Grounded Theory Research in Advertising

Grounded theory is a well-established methodology within the social sciences and more recently within the field of advertising. This article looks at how it has been used in advertising research and in particular two key areas: the consumption of advertising and the world of advertising creatives. The article concentrates on common mistakes found in grounded theory papers submitted for publication in leading journals. It offers 10 important points for consideration that should help authors improve the quality of their research by avoiding such errors. The article concludes by suggesting potential areas of advertising where grounded theory may be applied in future research.     

Long‐Run PPP under the Presence of Near‐to‐Unit Roots: The Case of the British Pound–US Dollar Rate*

Empirical tests typically provide evidence that the British pound–US dollar exchange rate and the relative wholesale price index contain exact unit roots and exhibit cointegration. However, the cointegrating vector is significantly different from [1, ?1], thus raising doubts on the validity of the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis. Following Elliott (1998 ), we show that if the exchange rate and relative price series contain near‐to‐unit roots in the context of a bivariate system, then any inference on the “cointegrating” vector and consequently on PPP, which is based on standard cointegration estimation methods, will be misleading. We then argue that the existing evidence against the PPP hypothesis in the British pound–US dollar market can be attributed to the finite sample bias of the standard cointegration estimators, arising from an endogenous and “nearly” nonstationary regressor. We also show that when robust procedures are employed the evidence favors the PPP hypothesis.