R&D and economic growth

This paper examines the association between research and development (R&;D) and the growth rate of output per capita at a national level. Do countries that allocate a larger share of output to R&;D grow faster than otherwise similar countries? After reviewing past literature, I examine the association between R&;D and economic growth in 20 OECD countries using a multivariate regression. There is not found to be a strong association between the two. But when considering only G-7 countries, there is reported to be a positive association between industry R&;D expenditures and economic growth.     

population growth,economic inequality,and homicide

Empirical research and theorizing on cross-national variations in homicide have been limited by an exclusive focus on the direct effects of national structural characteristics on the rates of homicide. This study is designed to extend this growing body of literature by advancing a conceptual model accounting for an important underlying feature of societies that indirectly elevates national homicide rates. Specifically, it is proposed that a high rate of population growth may have a direct role in bifurcating the distribution of national wealth. Population growth should therefore indirectly increase homicide rates through this mediating factor. This hypothesis is tested with data from 50 nations circa 1990. The data support the expected relationship, indicating (net of several controls) that rapid population growth is an underlying barrier to low homicide rates across nations. The main theoretical implication is that the often observed inverse relationship between level of development and rates of homicide appears to be indirectly driven by differential population dynamics.     

Long-run economic growth: An interdisciplinary approach

Economic growth and development is a complicated process that falls into the domain of many disciplines in social sciences and humanities. It is natural then to study fundamental aspects of economic growth synthesizing research in relevant fields. In this short paper, we argue that this has rarely been the case in the economic growth literature. We briefly discuss past growth theories and empirics, and present a broad framework to compare and evaluate work on economic growth from an interdisciplinary perspective. His Ph.D. in economics from Kiel University, Germany. His current research interests include causes and effects of inflation and financial crises in Turkey. He received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. His research is primarily in the area of international economics.     

Conceptualizing institutions

Being part of the life of institutions requires a considerable amount of conceptual knowledge. In institutional settings, we must learn the relevant concepts to act meaningfully, and these concepts are internal in a peculiar way, namely, they are strictly relative to the rules of a given institution because they are constituted by those rules. However, institutions do not come out of nothing: They are inscribed in a social setting and this setting determines, at least in a broad sense, what is the nature of the institution. Our social life therefore creates more or less defined contexts for meaningful institutional activities, and these contexts in their own turn involve concepts. In this paper, I address this question by distinguishing between three kinds of concepts relevant for an institution and trying to identify the different relations that these concepts have with constitutive rules. I then proceed to explain how this distinction can improve our understanding of practical reasoning in institutional context.     

Rationality in games and institutions

Synthese - Against the orthodox view of the Nash equilibrium as “the embodiment of the idea that economic agents are rational” (Aumann, 1985, p 43), some theorists have proposed...     

Political Theory and Political Practice

What is the role of political theory in the real world of politics? Opinions have varied about this, ranging from Plato’s arguments for philosopher-kings to Marx’s relegation of political philosophy to the realms of mere ideology. This paper contrasts the competing claims of intellectualism vs pragmatism in politics. It explores the ends/means relation as one account of how ideas and actions might be connected. This relation is found to be inadequate, and with it the more ambitious claims of intellectualism. But an argument is advanced for the qualification of pragmatism with a more modest account of the role of ideas in politics.     

Public policy and human service institutions

This paper discusses reasons for the apparent lack of interest by both the policy sciences and psychology in human service institutions and provides examples of the relationships between policy and politics and policy and economics in human service institutions. It suggests that two basic assumptions, labeled the professionalism myth and the individualism myth, have been major contributors to this state of affairs. Both the neglect given these institutions and the failure to examine the universe of alternatives in policy formulation are emphasized. Finally, the paper raises the question: Where has psychology been?     

Reporting subscores for institutions

Recently, there has been an increasing level of interest in reporting subscores for components of larger assessments. This paper examines the issue of reporting subscores at an aggregate level, especially at the level of institutions to which the examinees belong. A new statistical approach based on classical test theory is proposed to assess when subscores at the institutional level have any added value over the total scores. The methods are applied to two operational data sets. For the data under study, the observed results provide little support in favour of reporting subscores for either examinees or institutions.     

Government interference in religious institutions and terrorism

ABSTRACT

Many states have adopted policies that monitor or attempt to control religious institutions in various ways. This ranges from limiting foreign-born clerics to approving the sermons presented in these institutions. These policies are often justified as measures to limit religious strife or terrorism by minimising extremism in the country. Are they effective? Or are they counterproductive, and promote resentment and violence? Using data from the Religion and State dataset and the Global Terrorism Database, I find that intensified government interference in religious institutions can lead to an increase in terrorism in a country.     

Mental institutions and similar phenomena called schools

Mental institutions and public schools appear to have many conceptual and functional similarities. While their intended end product is a mature, independently functioning individual, they often operate in ways that would seem contradictory to their philosophy. This article explores certain “atrocities to the self” that result from programs that are intended to be beneficial but, in reality, often result in dehumanization.     

Penitentiary institutions: Transforming processes and well-being

Although penitentiaries represent places whose necessary function is to limit anomy and deviance, a formally managed and closed organizational system prohibits the ability to make changes. Anyway, without changes these organizations may become ‘inadequate or alienating’ (Jaques, 1955 Jaques, E. (1955). Sistemi sociali come difesa contro l'ansia persecutoria e depressiva [Social Systems as Defense against Persecution- and Depression-Related Anxiety]. In M. Klein, P. Heimann, R. Money-Kyrle (Eds.), Nuove vie della psicoanalisi [New ways in psychoanalysis] (pp. 609–633). Milan, Italy: Il Saggiatore. Italian Translation 1966. [Google Scholar]). In the present issue we discuss relevant changes that occurred in the Italian penitentiary system and we highlight how this transformation can only occur as a result of dynamism and evolution skills; characteristics that are not often identified as prisons' distinctive features. We propose that a ‘cultural reorganization’, developed in close collaboration with the human resources of the organization, is necessary. It follows that these changes require a profound restructuring of the organizational culture and several modifications at different levels are involved: a. institutional regulation, b. roles and identities of penitentiary professionals, and c. evaluation of the appropriateness of the punishment. For these reasons it's essential to concentrate our attention on the ongoing transformational processes involving penitentiary institutions, carried out with the goal to achieve higher suitability of the penitentiary institutions to serve the community given the present socio-cultural context and the different needs of both the operators and the inmates.     

Naturalist Political Realism and the First Political Question

Many political realists reject the idea that the first task for political philosophy is to justify the existence of coercive political institutions (CPIs). Instead, they say, we should begin with the factual existence of CPIs, and ask how they ought to be structured. In holding this view, they adopt a form of political naturalism that is broadly Aristotelian in character. In this article, I distinguish between two forms that this political naturalism might take ‐ what I call a ‘strong’ form, and a ‘weak’ form ‐ and argue that both ought to be rejected. 1     

The functions of institutions: etiology and teleology

Synthese - Institutions generate cooperative benefits that explain why they exist and persist. Therefore, their etiological function is to promote cooperation. The function of a particular...     

Belonging and Doing: Political Churches and Black Political Participation

The importance of the political church in Black political participation has brought to the attention of scholars the differences among Black churches and their effect on Black mobilization. The Black church has on many occasions transformed itself into a politicized organization. These political churches become settings that encourage political knowledge and skills ( Tate, 1993 ) and communicate political activity as a norm ( Calhoun-Brown, 1996 ). The earlier work on political churches has established the importance of these organizations for voter turnout and other forms of political participation. What has been left unexamined is the nature of the political churches themselves. This project disentangles these churches by looking at the heterogeneity within the structures of the political churches. In general, we seek to understand which of the internal activities of the political church tend to foster acts of political participation. We hypothesize that cost- underwriting activities and obligation-creating activities within the church setting have the greatest impact on participation. By examining a robust and expansive operationalization of the political church construct, we find that these types of political church activities matter more than other activities. In specifying how churches may work to directly affect the participation of their members, we seek to expand the scope of general comprehension of political churches.     

Religious institutions and the prevention of mental illness

It is estimated that fifteen percent of the population is in need of some kind of mental health service at any given time, thus constituting a primary health problem. The President's Commission on Mental Health (PCMH) recognized that religious institutions can help to prevent mental illness by providing support in the community. This paper presents types of programs the PCMH found that were supportive and describes the program of one church to illustrate additional ways that clergy and their congregants, working collaboratively with professionals and agencies, can contribute significantly to the prevention of mental illness.is in the private practice of clinical social work and an M.T.S. student at Wesley Theological Seminary.     

儒家的政治思想与美德政治观

儒家政治哲学是中国古代哲学的政治思考的主要部分,自孔子以来就提出了德与政的一系列讨论,孔子以为政者的“自正”转变了西周春秋政治“政以正民”的方向,孟子则引入“他正”的“批评政治”,并被朱子继承。以美德政治为古代中国政治特色,就刻画传统中国政治而言是不充分的,必须同时强调批评政治,才能反映古代中国政治与传统的实际。儒家与西方人文主义的政治观相接近,而与立宪主义有较大区别。     

Religious Political Parties and the Limits of Political Liberalism

Political parties have only recently become a subject of investigation in political theory. In this paper I analyse religious political parties in the context of John Rawls’s political liberalism. Rawlsian political liberalism, I argue, overly constrains the scope of democratic political contestation and especially for the kind of contestation channelled by parties. This restriction imposed upon political contestation risks undermining democracy and the development of the kind of democratic ethos that political liberalism cherishes. In this paper I therefore aim to provide a broader and more inclusive understanding of ‘reasonable’ political contestation, able to accommodate those parties (including religious ones) that political liberalism, as customarily understood, would exclude from the democratic realm. More specifically, I first embrace Muirhead and Rosenblum’s (Perspectives on Politics 4: 99–108 2006) idea that parties are ‘bilingual’ links between state and civil society and I draw its normative implications for party politics. Subsequently, I assess whether Rawls’s political liberalism is sufficiently inclusive to allow the presence of parties conveying religious and other comprehensive values. Due to Rawls’s thick conceptions of reasonableness and public reason, I argue, political liberalism risks seriously limiting the number and kinds of comprehensive values which may be channelled by political parties into the public political realm, and this may render it particularly inhospitable to religious political parties. Nevertheless, I claim, Rawls’s theory does offer some scope for reinterpreting the concepts of reasonableness and public reason in a thinner and less restrictive sense and this may render it more inclusive towards religious partisanship.