Berlin Fashion Week：An Inspiring Blend of Genres and Formats

The sheer numbers are impressive：since it opened its doors for the very first time in January 2003,Berlin Fashion show has experienced steady growth.Berlin Fashion week from July 8th to14th was another milestone in this range of growths figures：More than 200,000professional visitors were attracted by over 200 events, 100 of which were fashion shows.     

中东地区何以经济落后：经济停滞的历史机理

虽然一千年以前中东地区经济发展并不落后,但到了十八世纪,其经济发展滞后的特征已很明显。这一转变的原因是,当其对手西方世界向现代社会转化时,中东宗教的法律框架中的某些元素却停滞不前。对进化起阻碍作用的制度包括限制了资本积累的伊斯兰继承法;伊斯兰教法中公司概念的缺乏以及随之而来的市民社会的薄弱;还有穆斯林宗教与社团组织,它将大量资源限制在非生产性的组织之内来提供社会服务。这些阻碍经济发展的障碍在十九世纪的激进改革中大多都得以克服。但伊斯兰教法仍是一个阻碍中东经济发展的因素。该地区私人经济部门的薄弱以及人力资本的匮乏,是传统伊斯兰教法的两个突出后果。     

Tourist-income multipliers for Turkey

Differential tourist-income multipliers were calculated for Turkey using conventional input-output methodology and standard linear equations. High values were obtained for the ratio multipliers demonstrating the importance of secondary effects to the Turkish economy. Results indicated that tourists who spent more on retail purchases and less on hotels and restaurants, had a greater propensity to generate more direct and induced income. Information on relative impacts and touristspending patterns could therefore be useful to the policy makers.     

Explaining the economic trajectories of civilizations: The systemic approach

A civilization constitutes a durable social system of complementary traits. Some of the complementarities of any given civilization are between elements of “material” life and ones commonly treated as integral to “culture.” Identifying the mechanisms responsible for a civilization's observed trajectory involves, therefore, causal relationships that cross the often-postulated “cultural–material” divide. Complementarities make it difficult to transplant institutions across civilizations on a piecemeal basis. They imply that reforms designed to jump-start an economy will fail unless they are comprehensive. Civilizational analysis can benefit, therefore, from attention to institutional complementarities, including ones involving both cultural and material variables.     

‘Shopping for Voice’: Do Pre‐Existing Non‐Union Representation Plans Matter When Employees Unionize?

The transition to unionization in three workplaces with pre‐existing non‐union employee representation plans (NERPs) is contrasted to three matched sites, which had only individual representation. Pre‐existing collective voice arrangements had substantial effects on the process and outcomes of unionization. While the individual representation sites presented a conventional process of mobilization and attachment to the union, the NERP sites revealed a more equivocal outcome. The union was used in an instrumental manner to increase NERP power and to achieve worker demands already articulated by the NERP. NERP leaders became union leaders. There remained significant attachment to the NERP and a reluctance to fully embrace unionization.     

Behavioral norms in the Islamic doctrine of economics: A critique

At the heart of the contemporary Islamic doctrine of economics lies a set of behavioral norms derived from the first Islamic society in seventh century Arabia. This paper demonstrates that these norms cannot be expected to serve as the spearhead of a drive for modern economic development. For one thing, the proposed norms are unlikely to enjoy widespread adherence in large societies where it is difficult to achieve a common perception of reality, elicit generalized altruism and overcome the free rider problem. Secondly, many Islamic norms are ambiguous, and some interfere with institutions designed to improve the workings of markets.     

Mitigating the tyranny of public opinion: Anonymous discourse and the ethic of sincerity

Public opinion breeds tyranny by forcing individuals to refrain from voicing their genuine thoughts and feelings. The means used to mitigate such tyranny include the separation of governmental powers, the ethic of tolerance, and the secret ballot. Yet neither individually nor collectively do these devices prevent the emergence and persistence of social taboos. This paper proposes two additional corrective devices. One is an electronic instrument that would enable public officials to deliberate on socially sensitive matters behind a veil of anonymity. The other is an ethic that would enhance the utility citizens derive from truthfulness on political matters. A draft of this paper was discussed at a Liberty Fund Conference on the “Ethical Foundations of Constitutional Order,” held in Arlington, VA, on July 9–12, 1992. Many of the conference participants offered frank criticisms that resulted in improvements. Jerry Harvey read the paper with exemplary care, making no effort to hide his reservations; I benefited greatly from his wise comments. I profited also from two reports commissioned by this journal, both anonymous.     

A Simple Induction Approach and an Efficient Trinomial Lattice for Multi-State Variable Interest Rate Derivatives Models

This paper presents an alternative approach for interest rate lattice construction in the Ritchken and Sankarasubramanian (1995) framework. The proposed method applies a parsimonious induction technique to represent the distribution of auxiliary state variables and value interest rate derivatives. In contrast to other approaches, this technique requires no numerical interpolations, approximations and iterative procedures for pricing interest rate options using a simple backward induction and, therefore, provides significant computational advantages and flexibility with respect to existing implementations. Also, the proposed trinomial interest rate lattice specification provides for a further reduction in computational costs with additional flexibility. The results of this work can be extended to a class of derivatives pricing models with path dependent state variables and generalized to multi-factor models.