In a large range of political and economic situations, the formation of coordinated groups is driven by two opposite forces: increasing returns to size on the one hand, the heterogeneity of preferences, which hampers coordination , on the other. An important question is whether competitive pressures, such as described by free mobility and free entry, lead to an efficient and stable organization of the society into possibly several self-sufficient groups. This paper discusses theoretical approaches to this question as well as recent empirical studies.
Political stability and security have become important factors of sustainable economic progress for the developingcountries, especially states with the experience of war and instability. Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) as a semi-autonomousregion tried to improve the level of political stability and security status, to gain more foreign direct investment (FDI)and economic growth. Consequently, KRI has become the safest region in Iraq and enjoyed political stability and safety.Therefore, during the last decade, KRI has occurred as a new destination of FDI in the Middle East and has receivednotable progress in most of the economic sectors. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of political stability andsecurity status on the FDI attractions and their consequences on economic development. However, it will investigatethe factors that make the KRI safer than the rest of Iraq.
Mit den immensen Aufgaben und Problematiken der Transformation konfrontiert, wechselten die Mehrparteien-Regierungen in Estland vergleichsweise häufig. Im Jahr 2002 war die insgesamt achte Regierung seit 1992 im Amt. Eine detaillierte Untersuchung der Regierungsstabilität am Beispiel von Estlands bis dato sieben Regierungen erscheint daher angebracht, da das Land trotz der häufigen Regierungswechsel im osteuropäischen Vergleich als erfolgreichstes Transformationsland angesehen wird. Kann Regierungsstabilität auch dann vorliegen, wenn die Regierungen selbst sehr häufig wechseln? Dies ist die eigentliche Fragestellung der vorliegenden Diplomarbeit. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass sich Regierungsstabilität aus mehreren Variablen zusammensetzt, die sich gegenseitig beeinflussen. Angaben über die durchschnittliche Verweildauer einer Regierung im Amt besitzen wenig Aussagekraft, vielmehr müssen die eigentlichen Hintergründe für einen Wechsel beleuchtet werden. ; Confronted with the immense tasks and problems of the democratic transition, the multiparty governments of Estonia change comparatively often. Following the elections of March 2003, a new government is being formed: the ninth since 1992. A detailed examination of government stability and the example of Estonia is accordingly warranted, given that the country is seen as the most successful Eastern European transition country in spite of its frequent changes of government. This article asks whether government stability can exist in a case that exhibits frequent changes of government. It is presumed that government stability is composed of various variables influencing one another. Data about the average tenure of a government is not very conclusive. Rather, the deeper political causes for changes of governments need to be examined.
This article analyses stability and volatility of party preferences using data from the Swiss Household-Panel (SHP), which, for the first time, allow studying transitions and stability of voters over several years in Switzerland. Analyses cover the years 1999- 2007 and systematically distinguish changes between party blocks and changes within party blocks. The first part looks at different patterns of change, which show relatively high volatility. The second part tests several theories on causes of such changes applying a multinomial random-effects model. Results show that party preferences stabilise with their duration and with age and that the electoral cycle, political sophistication, socio-structural predispositions, the household-context as well as party size and the number of parties each explain part of electoral volatility. Different results for withinand between party-block changes underlie the importance of that differentiation.
This paper aims at establishing the link between economic performance, financial depth and financial stability in the European Union from 1998 to 2011. We use the standard framework - both in terms of variables and econometric method - of Beck and Levine (2004) to estimate these relationships. Our results suggest that the traditional result that financial depth positively influences economic performance (or components of aggregate dynamics like consumption, investment or disposable income) is not confirmed for European countries. Furthermore, we use different measures of financial instability (institutional index, microeconomic indicators, and our own statistical index derived from a Principal Component Analysis) and find that financial instability has a negative effect on economic growth.
This paper aims at establishing the link between economic performance, financial depth and financial stability in the European Union from 1998 to 2011. We use the standard framework - both in terms of variables and econometric method - of Beck and Levine (2004) to estimate these relationships. Our results suggest that the traditional result that financial depth positively influences economic performance (or components of aggregate dynamics like consumption, investment or disposable income) is not confirmed for European countries. Furthermore, we use different measures of financial instability (institutional index, microeconomic indicators, and our own statistical index derived from a Principal Component Analysis) and find that financial instability has a negative effect on economic growth.
This paper develops a political model to analyze the stability of income tax schedules. It is assumed that agents perceive any proposed alternative tax policy as more uncertain than the status quo. A tax policy is stable if it is a Condorcet winner. It is well known that in a model without uncertainty the existence of such a policy is very rare. We show, however, that in real cases this might not be a serious problem since small amounts of uncertainty can bring stability to the status quo. It is also shown that linear tax functions can only be stable in economies with very egalitarian income distributions and high taxation levels ; Publicado
This research paper explores the evolution of the Senegalese government immediately after independence and the various factors contributing to its remarkable stability. It begins with a brief look at Senegal's history, both pre-colonial and colonial. The research then discusses the foundations of the Senegalese government structure and party system from just before independence to 1978. The highlighted elements of the story are the role of political parties and single-party dominance, Senghor's platform based on African socialism and négritude, and the formation and failure of the Mali Federation. This work also features party building, social groups that influence politics, the urban-rural cleavage, and some constitutional development. The focus of the research is on Léopold Sédar Senghor, the key figure in the stable governmental establishment in Senegal. It explores his relations with other key figures including Lamine Guèye, the facilitator of socialism's rise in Senegal and a major party leader, and Mamadou Dia, once a friend of Senghor's and his Prime Minister, who attempted a nonviolent coup; he was foiled and jailed in 1962. The various clans of Senegal (based on heredity) and the Islamic Brotherhoods, powerful religious organizations that have much sway over their members' political attitudes, also play an important role. This paper concludes with an exploration of Senghor's dynamic leadership as a foundation for political stability in Senegal, focusing on two major events: the disintegration of the extremely short-lived Mali Federation and the resulting independence of Senegal, and Dia's attempted coup and resulting arrest. The constitution was amended after Dia's jailing in 1962 to remove the post of prime minister, leaving the president as the sole head of government, and increasing Senghor's power and influence. The remainder of the research after the failed coup consists of exploring the ways in which Senghor made his party completely dominant and his role and contributions as president.
This paper aims at establishing the link between economic performance, financial depth and financial stability in the European Union from 1998 to 2011. We use the standard framework - both in terms of variables and econometric method - of Beck and Levine (2004) to estimate these relationships. Our results suggest that the traditional result that financial depth positively influences economic performance (or components of aggregate dynamics like consumption, investment or disposable income) is not confirmed for European countries. Furthermore, we use different measures of financial instability (institutional index, microeconomic indicators, and our own statistical index derived from a Principal Component Analysis) and find that financial instability has a negative effect on economic growth.
In many economic, social and political situations individuals carry out activities in groups (coalitions) rather than alone and on their own. Examples range from households and sport clubs to research networks, political parties and trade unions. The underlying game theoretic framework is known as coalition formation. This survey discusses the notion of core stability in hedonic coalition formation (where each player's happiness only depends on the other members of his coalition but not on how the remaining players outside his coalition are grouped). We present the central concepts and algorithmic approaches in the area, provide many examples, and pose a number of open problems.
Operation Charge of the Knights in the Spring of 2008, which cleared extremist militias out of Basra, created a strategic opportunity for building stability in that troubled Province. Security had improved but the situation was still fragile: attacks on Coalition forces were common, essential services were poor, the City needed cleaning up and revitalising, and the people had to believe that the future was going to be a better place than the present. I was about to assume command of Coalition Forces in South East Iraq in the Summer of 2008 and my team and I were working out how to seize this "Kyros"[1] moment.
This dissertation is a collection of essays in two areas of financial stability. The first part deals with systemic risk in the banking sector. First, it asks whether countercyclical macroprudential policy tools can be an effective way of reducing cyclicality in bank lending. The main finding is that these policies can be counterproductive and may incentivize more intertwined banks, and hence, endanger financial stability. The next paper investigates, and provides some evidence of, the possibility that banks actively change their portfolios in order to influence the likelihood of joint bank failure. The second part of this dissertation studies the connection between public finance and financial stability. Chapter 4 looks into the interaction between bank capital regulation and taxation and finds that banks trade off leverage risk against portfolio risk in response to a higher corporate income tax rates. Finally, Chapter 5 analyses banks' excessive holdings of domestic government debt as one of the sources of the interrelatedness of public finance and bank stability. Two possible explanations of banks' home bias are tested: voluntary government bond hoarding and government induced bond buying.
The new probabilistic damaged stability regulations for dry cargo and passenger ships (SOLAS 2009), which entered into force on January 1, 2009, represent a major step forward in achieving an improved safety standard through the rationalization and harmonization of damaged stability requirements. There are, however, serious concerns regarding the adopted formulation for the calculation of the survival probability of passenger ships, particularly for ROPAX and large cruise vessels; thus eventually of the Attained and Required Subdivision Indices for passenger ships. Furthermore, present damaged stability regulations account only for collision damages, de-spite the fact that accidents statistics, particularly of passenger ships, indicate the profound importance of grounding accidents. The present paper outlines the objectives, the methodology of work and early results of the EU funded, FP7 project GOALDS (Goal Based Damaged Stability, 2009-2012), which aims at ad-dressing the above shortcomings by state of the art scientific methods and formulating a rational regulatory framework, properly accounting for the for the damage stability properties of passenger ships.
This paper develops a political model to analyze the stability of income tax schedules. It isassumed that agents perceive any proposed alternative tax policy as more uncertain than thestatus quo. A tax policy is stable if it is a Condorcet winner. It is well known that in a modelwithout uncertainty the existence of such a policy is very rare. We show, however, that in realcases this might not be a serious problem since small amounts of uncertainty can bring stabilityto the status quo. It is also shown that linear tax functions can only be stable in economies withvery egalitarian income distributions and high taxation levels.
