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Articles 6931 - 6960 of 8025

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Improved Maximum-Likelihood Estimation For The Common Shape Parameter Of Several Weibull Populations, Zhenlin Yang, Dennis K. J. Lin Sep 2007

Improved Maximum-Likelihood Estimation For The Common Shape Parameter Of Several Weibull Populations, Zhenlin Yang, Dennis K. J. Lin

Research Collection School Of Economics

The biasness problem of the maximum-likelihood estimate (MLE) of the common shape parameter of several Weibull populations is examined in detail. A modified MLE (MMLE) approach is proposed. In the case of complete and Type II censored data, the bias of the MLE can be substantial. This is noticeable even when the sample size is large. Such a bias increases rapidly as the degree of censorship increases and as more populations are involved. The proposed MMLE, however, is nearly unbiased and much more efficient than the MLE, irrespective of the degree of censorship, the sample sizes, and the number of …


Un-Balanced Economic Growth, Hing-Man Leung Sep 2007

Un-Balanced Economic Growth, Hing-Man Leung

Research Collection School Of Economics

Since the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor is not always one, and since technical progress is not always Harrod-neutral, it is desirable to have an endogenous growth model that admits all sizes of the elasticity and all known technology modes. We derive an equation to do just that, fully describing the per capita income growth rate at all times. It shows a typical economy needing hundreds if not thousands of years to reach its long term growth rate, leading to the conclusion that even the short run may be very long indeed.


A Hybrid Approach To Case Teaching, Swee Liang Tan, Roy Jin Hou Ng Sep 2007

A Hybrid Approach To Case Teaching, Swee Liang Tan, Roy Jin Hou Ng

Research Collection School Of Economics

We structure case based teaching using a combination of computer-support technology and in-class activities. We create and design an on-line learning tool, Case Study On-line (CSOL) that enables instructor to structure the delivery of teaching resources and set up assignment tasks in the system. The tool enables tasks to be set in a way that they can be completed sequentially, and learning resources can be accessed only when required by students. Upon submission of their assignments, students can promptly receive instructor’s explanations to the tasks. Follow up activities take place in class, with the objective to promote active learning. The …


Dynamic Treatment Effect Analysis Of Tv Effects On Child Cognitive Development, Fali Huang Sep 2007

Dynamic Treatment Effect Analysis Of Tv Effects On Child Cognitive Development, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate whether TV watching at ages 6-7 and 8-9 affects cognitive development measured by math and reading scores at ages 8-9 using a rich childhood longitudinal sample from NLSY79. Dynamic panel data models are estimated to handle the unobserved child-specific factor, endogeneity of TV watching, and dynamic nature of the causal relation. A special emphasis is put on the last aspect where TV watching affects cognitive development which in turn affects the future TV watching. When this feedback occurs, it is not straightforward to identify and estimate the TV effect. We adopt estimation methods available in the biostatistics literature …


Financial Development And International Capital Flows, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang Sep 2007

Financial Development And International Capital Flows, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We develop a general equilibrium model with nancial frictions in which internal capital (equity capital) and external capital (bank loans) have di erent rates of return. Financial development raises the rate of return on external capital but has a non-monotonic e ect on the rate of return on internal capital. We then show in a two-country model that capital account liberalization leads to out ow of nancial capital from the country with less developed nancial system. However, the direction of foreign direct investment (FDI, henceforth) depends on the exact degrees of nancial development in the two countries as well as …


Building Social Trust: A Human Capital Approach, Fali Huang Sep 2007

Building Social Trust: A Human Capital Approach, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Much evidence suggests individuals differ in their predisposition to cooperate, which is essentially a component of human capital. This paper examines the role of individual cooperative tendencies and their interactions with institutions in generating social trust; it also endogenizes cooperative tendencies using a human-capital investment model. Multiple equilibria and inefficiencies exist due to positive externalities. An innovative finding is that, when institutions are more effective in punishing defecting behaviors, more people invest in cooperative tendencies and hence the endogenous social trust is higher, though the equilibrium cooperative tendencies are lower. This paper provides a plausible explanation for many empirical and …


Inefficient Worker Turnover, Nicolas L. Jacquet Sep 2007

Inefficient Worker Turnover, Nicolas L. Jacquet

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper considers the efficiency properties of risk-neutral workers’ mobility decisions in an equilibrium model with search frictions, but no search externalities, when the rent accruing to a match is split through bargaining. Matches are ex ante homogeneous and their true productivity is learnt after the match is formed. It is shown that the efficiency of worker turnover depends on contract enforceability, and that in the absence of complete enforceability the equilibrium fails to be efficient. This is because without complete enforceability firms cannot credibly offer workers contracts that will guarantee them the entire future of all potential future matches.


The Soft Embodiment Of Culture: Camera Angles And Motion Through Time And Space, Angela K. Y. Leung, Dov Cohen Sep 2007

The Soft Embodiment Of Culture: Camera Angles And Motion Through Time And Space, Angela K. Y. Leung, Dov Cohen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Cultural assumptions about one's relation to others and one's place in the world can be literally embodied in the way one cognitively maps out one's position and motion in time and space. In three experiments, we examined the psychological perspective that Asian American and Euro-American participants embodied as they both comprehended and produced narratives and mapped out metaphors of time and space. In social situations, Euro-American participants were more likely to embody their own perspective and a sense of their own motion (rather than those of a friend), whereas Asian American participants were more likely to embody a friend's perspective …


Social Influences On Organizational Attractiveness: Investigating If And When Word Of Mouth Matters, Greet Van Hoye, Filip Lievens Sep 2007

Social Influences On Organizational Attractiveness: Investigating If And When Word Of Mouth Matters, Greet Van Hoye, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Previous recruitment studies have treated potential applicants as individual decision makers, neglecting informational social influences on organizational attractiveness. The present study investigated if and under what conditions word-of-mouth communication matters as a recruitment source. Results (N = 171) indicated that word of mouth had a strong impact on organizational attractiveness, and negative word of mouth interfered with recruitment advertising effects. Word of mouth from a strong tie was perceived as more credible and had a more positive effect on organizational attractiveness. For potential applicants high in self-monitoring, word of mouth had a stronger effect when presented after recruitment advertising. Finally, …


Grist For The Sceptic's Mill: Rwanda And The African Peer Review Mechanism, Eduard Jordaan Sep 2007

Grist For The Sceptic's Mill: Rwanda And The African Peer Review Mechanism, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The article delves into the impact of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to Rwanda's achievement of greater democracy and respect for political freedom. It aims to show the improbability that the APRM can influence the country due to its insufficient ability and volition to pressure further democratization and respect for political rights on Rwandan government, the APRM's optimistic view of political governance, and the APR Heads of State Forum's ratification of a program of action discounting the issues of democracy and political freedom. The author stresses that the weaknesses of APRM may be attributed to the existing reduced authorization …


Protection For Sale Under Monopolistic Competition: An Empirical Investigation, Pao Li Chang Aug 2007

Protection For Sale Under Monopolistic Competition: An Empirical Investigation, Pao Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper proposes a general empirical framework to estimate the protection-for-sale model, where the protection regime shifts according to a sector's market structure (perfectly or monop-olistically competitive). We base the protection structure on Grossman and Helpman (1994) for the subset of perfectly competitive sectors and on Chang (2005) for the subset of monop- olistically competitive sectors. The two protection regimes are simultaneously estimated with joint constraints. The results of the J-test consistently reject the homogeneous (perfect compe- tition) protection-for-sale model often adopted in previous literature and suggest a direction of improvement toward the proposed heterogeneous protection structure model.


Change Of Dean At Smu Law School, Singapore Management University Aug 2007

Change Of Dean At Smu Law School, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

No abstract provided.


Does Tv Affect Child Cognitive Development?, Fali Huang, Myoung-Jae Lee Aug 2007

Does Tv Affect Child Cognitive Development?, Fali Huang, Myoung-Jae Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate whether TV watching at ages 6-7 and 8-9 affects cognitive development measured by math and reading scores at ages 8-9 using a rich childhood longitudinal sample from NLSY79. Dynamic panel data models are estimated to handle the unobserved child-specific factor, endogeneity of TV watching, and dynamic nature of the causal relation. A special emphasis is put on the last aspect where TV watching affects cognitive development which in turn affects the future TV watching. When this feedback occurs, it is not straightforward to identify and estimate the TV effect. We adopt estimation methods available in the biostatistics literature …


On The Segmentation Of Markets, Nicolas L. Jacquet, Serene Tan Aug 2007

On The Segmentation Of Markets, Nicolas L. Jacquet, Serene Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper endogenizes the market structure of an economy with heterogeneous agents who want to form bilateral matches in the presence of search frictions and when utility is nontransferable. There exist infinitely many marketplaces, and each agent chooses which marketplace to be in: agents get to choose not only whom to match with but also whom they meet with. Perfect segmentation is obtained in equilibrium, where agents match with the first person they meet. All equilibria have the same matching pattern. Although perfect assortative matching is not obtained in equilibrium, the degree of assortativeness is greater than in standard models.


Understanding Chinese Business Behaviour: A Historical Perspective, Taieb Hafsi, Li Yan Aug 2007

Understanding Chinese Business Behaviour: A Historical Perspective, Taieb Hafsi, Li Yan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The behaviour of Chinese business has been studied by a variety of strategic management scholars (see in particular Hafsi and Tian, 2005; Peng, 2006; Peng and Heat, 1996). Most of these studies rely on traditional data gathering, either in the form of interviews or published data banks. Very little attention has been given to history as a determinant of strategic behaviour. In this paper, we propose that the cognitive orientation of Chinese managers is dominated by their knowledge and understanding of Chinese history. We take the Three Kingdoms historic novel as a proxy to history to derive basic behavioral norms …


Where Work And Death Meet, M. Thulasidas Aug 2007

Where Work And Death Meet, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

STRESS is as much a part of our cor- porate careers as death is a fact of life. Still, it is best to keep the two (career and death) separate. This message is lost on some hardworking souls here who literally work themselves to death.


Mapping Better Business Strategies With Gis, Tin Seong Kam Aug 2007

Mapping Better Business Strategies With Gis, Tin Seong Kam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The value of location as a business measure is fast becoming an important consideration for organisations. GIS (Geographical Information Systems), with its capability to manage, display, analyse business information spatially, is emerging as a powerful location intelligence tool. In the US, Starbucks, Blockbuster, Hyundai, and thousands of other businesses use census data and GIS software to help them understand what types of people buy their products and services, and how to better market to these consumers. For example, McDonald’s in Japan uses a GIS system to overlay demographic information on maps to help identify promising new store sites. Singapore Management …


To Trust Or To Monitor: A Dynamic Analysis, Fali Huang Aug 2007

To Trust Or To Monitor: A Dynamic Analysis, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

In a principal-agent framework, principals can mitigate moral hazard problems not only through extrinsic incentives such as monitoring, but also through agents’ intrinsic trustworthiness. Their relative usage, however, changes over time and varies across societies. This paper attempts to explain this phenomenon by endogenizing agent trustworthiness as a response to potential returns. When monitoring becomes relatively cheaper over time, agents acquire lower trustworthiness, which may actually drive up the overall governance cost in society. Across societies, those giving employees lower weights in choosing governance methods tend to have higher monitoring intensities and lower trust. These results are consistent with the …


Regression With Slowly Varying Regressors And Nonlinear Trends, Peter C. B. Phillips Aug 2007

Regression With Slowly Varying Regressors And Nonlinear Trends, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

Slowly varying (SV) regressors arise commonly in empirical econometric work, particularly in the form of semilogarithmic regression and log periodogram regression. These regressors are asymptotically collinear. Usual regression formulas for asymptotic standard errors are shown to remain valid, but rates of convergence are affected and the limit distribution of the regression coefficients is shown to be one dimensional. Some asymptotic representations of partial sums of SV functions and central limit theorems with SV weights are given that assist in the development of a regression theory. Multivariate regression and polynomial regression with SV functions are considered and shown to be equivalent, …


A Welfare Analysis Of Capital Account Liberalization, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang Aug 2007

A Welfare Analysis Of Capital Account Liberalization, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We develop a model of a small open economy with credit market frictions to analyze the consequences of capital account liberalization. We show that nancial opening facilitates the in ows of cheap foreign funds and improves production e ciency. Reforms increasing labor market exibility can further improve such e ciency gains. However, capital account liberalization also has important distributional consequences. Speci cally, it may be impossible to use public transfers to fully compensate the loss of those negatively a ected by capital account liberalization. This explains why nancial opening often meets erce opposition even though it leads to e ciency …


Aid Suspensions As Coercive Tools? The European Union’S Experience In The African-Caribbean-Pacific (Acp) Context, Clara Portela Aug 2007

Aid Suspensions As Coercive Tools? The European Union’S Experience In The African-Caribbean-Pacific (Acp) Context, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since the signing of the Cotonou Agreement in 2000, the European Union (EU) has suspended development aid towards a number of African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in response to breaches of Human Rights and democratic principles by activating the so-called Human Rights clause (article 96). The present article analyses the use by the EU of aid suspensions as political tools and their efficacy in achieving the desired policy goals, in an attempt to identify and explain the determinants leading to the success of these measures. The investigation finds that the use of development aid suspensions is frequently effective. Classical …


The Coevolution Of Economic And Political Development, Fali Huang Aug 2007

The Coevolution Of Economic And Political Development, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper establishes a simple model of long run economic and political development, which is driven by the inherent technical features of di¤erent production factors and the political con‡icts among factor owners on how to divide the outputs. The main production factor in economy evolves from land to physical capital and then to human capital, which enables their respective owners (landlords, capitalists, and workers) to gain political power in the same sequence, shaping the political development path from monarchy to oligarchy and …nally to democracy with full su¤rage. When it is too costly for any group of factor owners to …


Increasing Innovation Through Identity Integration., Chi-Ying Cheng, Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, Fiona Lee Aug 2007

Increasing Innovation Through Identity Integration., Chi-Ying Cheng, Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, Fiona Lee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Innovation involves bridging existing knowledge systems from different areas. We propose that individuals who can integrate multiple social identities are better at combining knowledge systems associated with each identity, and thus exhibit higher levels of innovation. Three studies, each probing different types of social identities, provide evidence for this proposition. A laboratory experiment showed that Asian American biculturals who perceived their multiple cultural identities as compatible (high Identity Integration or high II) exhibited higher levels of innovation in creating new Asian-American recipes than biculturals who perceived their multiple cultural identities as conflicting (low Identity Integration or low II). A field …


Smu Celebrates Fourth Batch Of 860 Graduates, Singapore Management University Jul 2007

Smu Celebrates Fourth Batch Of 860 Graduates, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

No abstract provided.


Silence Speaks Volumes: The Effectiveness Of Reticence In Comparison To Apology And Denial For Repairing Integrity- And Competence-Based Trust Violations, Donald L. Ferrin, Peter H. Kim, Cecily D. Cooper, Kurt T. Dirks Jul 2007

Silence Speaks Volumes: The Effectiveness Of Reticence In Comparison To Apology And Denial For Repairing Integrity- And Competence-Based Trust Violations, Donald L. Ferrin, Peter H. Kim, Cecily D. Cooper, Kurt T. Dirks

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Prior research on responses to trust violations has focused primarily on the effects of apology and denial. The authors extended this research by studying another type of verbal response that is often used to respond to trust violations but has not been considered in the trust literature: reticence. An accused party may use reticence in a sincere and even legitimate attempt to persuade a trustor to withhold judgment. Yet, by considering information diagnosticity and belief formation mechanisms through which verbal responses influence trust, the authors argue that reticence is a suboptimal response because it combines the least effective elements of …


Singapore's First Institute For Service Excellence Established At Smu, Singapore Management University Jul 2007

Singapore's First Institute For Service Excellence Established At Smu, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

No abstract provided.


Shared Vision: A Development Tool For Organisational Learning, Siu Loon Hoe Jul 2007

Shared Vision: A Development Tool For Organisational Learning, Siu Loon Hoe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

PurposeThe organizational behavior and management literature has devoted a lot attention to processes and technology in organizational learning. There has been little work to examine the effect of shared vision on organizational learning. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of shared vision as a development tool to build an organizational learning capability.Design/methodology/approachThe existing shared vision and organizational learning literature was reviewed, and the salient points on how shared vision promotes organizational learning discussed.Practical implicationsThe paper offers a view on how leaders can use shared vision to develop organizational learning capability. Practicing managers would then be able …


How Much Should Foreign Talent Be Paid?, Manoj Thulasidas Jul 2007

How Much Should Foreign Talent Be Paid?, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Singapore needs foreign talent — and there’s no need to feel bad about it. It is a statistical fact of life. For every top Singaporean in any field — be it science, medicine, finance, sports or whatever — we will find about 500 professionals of equal calibre in China and India. Not because we are 500 times less talented, just that they have 500 times more people.


They Want To Talk, But Are They Listening?, M. Thulasidas Jul 2007

They Want To Talk, But Are They Listening?, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Every relationship could use a little less action, a little more conversation.


Organisational Learning: Conceptual Links To Individual Learning, Learning Organisation And Knowledge Management, Siu Loon Hoe Jul 2007

Organisational Learning: Conceptual Links To Individual Learning, Learning Organisation And Knowledge Management, Siu Loon Hoe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Organisational learning has over the years been subject of much study by scholars and managers. In the process, the organisational learning concept has been linked to many other knowledge concepts such as individual learning, learning organisation, and knowledge management. This paper draws from existing literature in organisational behaviour, human resource management, marketing, and information management, to further develop the conceptual links between organisational learning and these knowledge concepts. The paper discusses the characteristics of organisational learning and emphasises its link to individual learning, the learning organisation, and knowledge management. It contributes to the conceptual and theoretical understanding of organisational learning …