Through a series of examples, we illustrate some important drawbacks that the action model logic framework suffers from in its ability to represent the dynamics of information updates. We argue that these problems stem from the fact that the action model, a central construct designed to encode agents’ uncertainty about actions, is itself effectively common knowledge amongst the agents. In response to these difficulties, we motivate and propose an alternative semantics that avoids them by endogenizing the action model. We discuss (...) the relationship between this new framework and action model logic, and provide a sound and complete axiomatization of several new logics that naturally arise. (shrink)

The empirical relationship between a firm’s social performance and its financial performance is still not well established in the literature. Despite more than 30 years of research and more than 100 empirical studies on the issue, the results are still mixed. We argue that the heterogeneous results found in previous studies are not due exclusively to problems related with the measurement instruments or the samples used. Instead, we posit that a more fundamental problem related with the endogeneity of (...) social strategic decisions could be driving most of the empirical findings. We show that, using a panel data of 658 firms from 1991 to 2005, how some of the results found in previous research change, and some are even reversed when endogeneity is properly taken into account. (shrink)

One of the most prominent social influences on human decision making is conformity, which is even more prominent when the perceptual information is ambiguous. The Bayes optimal solution to this problem entails weighting the relative reliability of cognitive information and perceptual signals in constructing the percept from self‐sourced/endogenous and social sources, respectively. The current study investigated whether humans integrate the statistics (i.e., mean and variance) of endogenous perceptual and social information in a Bayes optimal way while estimating numerosities. Our (...) results demonstrated adjustment of initial estimations toward group means only when group estimations were more reliable (or “certain”), compared to participants’ endogenous metric uncertainty. Our results support Bayes optimal social conformity while also pointing to an implicit form of metacognition. (shrink)

Since Darwin it is widely accepted that natural selection (NS) is the most important mechanism to explain how biological organisms—in their amazing variety—evolve and, therefore, also how the complexity of certain natural systems can increase over time, creating ever new functions or functional structures/relationships. Nevertheless, the way in which NS is conceived within Darwinian Theory already requires an open, wide enough, functional domain where selective forces may act. And, as the present paper will try to show, this becomes even more (...) evident if one looks into the problem of origins. If there was a time when NS was not operating (as it is quite reasonable to assume), where did that initial functional diversity, necessary to trigger off the process, come from? Self-organization processes may be part of the answer, as many authors have claimed in recent years, but surely not the complete one. We will argue here that a special type of self-maintaining organization, arising from the interplay among a set of different endogenously produced constraints (pre-enzymatic catalysts and primitive compartments included), is required for the appearance of functional diversity in the first place. Starting from that point, NS can progressively lead to new (and, at times, also more complex) organizations that, in turn, provide wider functional variety to be selected for, enlarging in this way the range of action and consequences of the mechanism of NS, in a kind of mutually enhancing effect. (shrink)

When organizations solve collective action problems or realize values, they do so by means of institutions. These are commonly regarded as self-stabilizing. Yet, they can also be subject to endogenous processes of decay, or so we argue. We explain this in terms of psychological and cultural processes, which can change even if the formal structures remain unchanged. One key implication is that the extent to which norms, values, and ideals motivate individuals to comply with institutions is limited.

Reichenbach’s early solution to the scientific problem of how abstract mathematical representations can successfully express real phenomena is rooted in his view of coordination. In this paper, I claim that a Reichenbach-inspired, ‘layered’ view of coordination provides us with an effective tool to systematically analyse some epistemic and conceptual intricacies resulting from a widespread theorising strategy in evolutionary biology, recently discussed by Okasha (2018) as ‘endogenization’. First, I argue that endogenization is a form of extension of natural selection theory (...) that comprises three stages: quasi-axiomatisation, functional extension, and semantic extension. Then, I argue that the functional extension of one core principle of natural selection theory, namely, the principle of heritability, requires the semantic extension of the concept of inheritance. This is because the semantic extension of ‘inheritance’ is necessary to establish a novel form of coordination between the principle of heritability and the extended domain of phenomena that it is supposed to represent. Finally, I suggest that – despite the current lack of consensus on the right semantic extension of ‘inheritance’ – we can fruitfully understand the reconceptualization of ‘inheritance’ provided by niche construction theorists as the result of a novel form of coordination. (shrink)

In recent years the social nature of scientific inquiry has generated considerable interest. We examine the effect of an epistemically impure agent on a community of honest truth seekers. Extending a formal model of network epistemology pioneered by Zollman, we conclude that an intransigently biased agent prevents the community from ever converging to the truth. We explore two solutions to this problem, including a novel procedure for endogenous network formation in which agents choose whom to trust. We contend that (...) our model nicely captures aspects of current problems in medical research and gesture at some morals for medical epistemology more generally. (shrink)

(June 2013) “The mind-body problem in cognitive neuroscience”, Philosophia Scientiae 17/2, Gabriel Vacariu and Mihai Vacariu (eds.): 1. William Bechtel (Philosophy, Center for Chronobiology, and Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science University of California, San Diego) “The endogenously active brain: the need for an alternative cognitive architecture” 2. Rolls T. Edmund (Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Oxford, UK) “On the relation between the mind and the brain: a neuroscience perspective” 3. Cees van Leeuwen (University of Leuven, Belgium; Riken Brain Science (...) Institute, Japan) “Brain and mind” 4. Kari Theurer (Trinity College) and John Bickle (Philosophy, Mississippi State University) “What’s old is new again: Kemeny-Oppenheim reduction at work in current molecular neuroscience” 5. Bernard Andrieu (Staps Université de Lorraine) “Sentir son cerveau? Les dispositifs neuro-expérientiels en 1er personne” 6. Corey Maley and Gualtiero Piccinini (Philosophy, University of Missouri – St. Louis) “Get the latest upgrade: Functionalism 6.3.1” 7. Paula Droege (Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University) “Memory and consciousness” 8. Gabriel Vacariu and Mihai Vacariu (Philosophy, University of Bucharest) “Troubles with cognitive neuroscience”. (shrink)

This article further studies ex ante efficient auctions in the setting of Stegeman (1996 Participation costs and efficient auctions, Journal of Economic Theory 71, 228–259.), where there exist entry costs for bidders who know their valuations. An alternative method is established to address efficient auctions. This method illustrates the intuition why the ex ante efficient allocation is Bayesian implementable through the Stegeman (1996) auction (a second-price auction with a reserve price equal to seller’s valuation and no entry fee). More importantly, (...) our method leads to an alternative ex ante efficient auction that implements uniquely the efficient entry. Thus, this alternative auction solves the entry indeterminacy problem of the Stegeman (1996) auction, which generally induces inefficient entry equilibria besides the efficient ones. (shrink)

In this paper, prediction markets that encourage traders to bet on matters of life and death are used to explore the varieties and dynamics of moral repugnance. We define moral repugnance as morally charged feelings of revulsion that correspond (correctly, incorrectly, and indeterminately) to moral reasons and contexts. Rich variations of moral repugnance and their dynamic qualities are presented by investigating the contextual frames in which they arise. These contextual frames constitute interacting conditions composed of information about states of affairs, (...) moral reasons, and feelings of revulsion. Through careful study of two medical prediction markets that encourage betting on death, we can observe the interaction between these causal conditions to see how the varieties of moral repugnance emerge. We also present three interesting results that arise from analyzing the dynamics of moral repugnance in response to prediction markets. First, a prediction market can elicit several conflicting types of moral repugnance at the same time. Second, moral indeterminacy can arise in two different ways when judging prediction markets. Finally, some prediction markets can generate a moral endogeneity problem, a disruptive feedback loop between a given prediction market and the morally relevant outcome it predicts. (shrink)

In the first parts of this study on the concept of the biological clock it has been investigated how it is used in the field of biorhythmology. The analysis of the contents of the concept is preceded by a survey of the current research in this field.There are two general hypotheses with respect to the ultimate origin of rhythmic phenomena: the Endogenous Timer Hypothesis and the Exogenous Timer Hypothesis. Within the Endogenous Timer Hypothesis two contrasting viewpoints with respect to the (...) structure of the biological clock can be distinguished, which have been called: the Discrete Entity view, and the Organizational view.It has been shown that in the application of the general clock-idea upon the organism a logical distortion is present. The organism is conceived tobe a clock and tohave a clock simultaneously.In anticipation of the analysis of the explanatory value of the concept of the biological clock in part II, it has been put forward that in a number of cases time-measurement can be considered as a superfluous element in the explanation of the phenomena involved.Finally it has been demonstrated that in the case of the Exogenous Timer Hypothesis the concept of the biological clock is not relevant. The Exogenous Timer Hypothesis has been compared with the Endogenous Timer Hypothesis with respect to the criterion of the principle of parsimony, orOccam's razor. (shrink)

In this article, we examine the empirical association between firm value and CSR engagement for firms in sinful industries, such as tobacco, gambling, and alcohol, as well as industries involved with emerging environmental, social, or ethical issues, i.e., weapon, oil, cement, and biotech. We develop and test three hypotheses, the window-dressing hypothesis, the value-enhancement hypothesis, and the value-irrelevance hypothesis. Using an extesive US sample from 1995 to 2009, we find that CSR engagement of firms in controversial industries positively affects firm (...) value after controlling for various firm characteristics. To address the potential endogeneity problem, we further estimate a system of equations and change regression and continue to find a positive relation between CSR engagement and firm value. Our findings support the value-enhancement hypothesis and are consistent with the premise that the top management of US firms in controversial industries, in general, considers social responsibility important even though their products are harmful to human being, society, or environment. (shrink)

We draw from upper echelons theory to investigate whether the presence of a chief sustainability officer (CSO) is associated with better corporate environmental performance in highly polluting industries. Such firms are under strong pressure to remediate environmental damage, to comply with regulations, and to even exceed environmental standards. CSOs in these firms are likely to be hired as legitimate agents to lead and successfully implement environmental strategy aimed at reducing pollution levels. Interestingly and contrary to our expectations, we found that (...) the presence of a CSO is associated with higher levels of pollution emissions. Nonetheless, we found that the CSO has a positive influence on a firm’s environmental performance if faced with strict environmental regulations. We argue that the enforcement of environmental regulations enhances monitoring and accountability of pollution emissions. The sample for this study comprised all the S&P 500 firms required by the Environmental Protection Agency to annually report their toxic emissions to the Toxic Release Inventory. Data were collected for a 6-year period from 2006 to 2011. We used a panel data regression and employed propensity score matching to correct for potential endogeneity problems. (shrink)

Theoretical studies suggest that, when determining the workplace safety level, CEOs face a trade-off between ex ante safety-improving expenditures and the expected losses due to ex post injury and illness occurrences. We examine whether firms with higher CEO inside debt holdings have safer workplaces. Using establishment-level employee workplace injury and illness data, we find that CEOs’ inside debt holdings are negatively associated with employee workplace injury and illness cases. This relationship is more pronounced if workers’ compensation premiums are more sensitive (...) to injury claims and for firms with more government business and less pronounced for firms with higher levels of secured debt. We provide some evidence that our main result stems from CEOs increasing safety investments. Our empirical results are shown to be robust under a batch of robustness tests and when considering potential endogeneity problems. Our findings suggest that CEOs with higher levels of inside debt holdings are more sensitive to wealth loss due to employee injury and illness, leading to a safer workplace. (shrink)

The current study investigates whether tournament incentives motivate chief executive officer to be socially responsible. Furthermore, it explores the role of sub-national institutional contingencies [i.e., state-owned enterprises vs. non-SOEs, foreign-owned entities vs. non-FOEs, cross-listed vs. non-cross-listed, developed region] in CEO tournament incentives and the corporate social responsibility performance relationship. Data were collected from all A-shared companies listed in the stock exchanges of China from 2014 to 2019. The study uses the baseline methodology of ordinary least squares and cluster OLS regression. (...) Moreover, firm-fixed effects regression, two-stage least squares regression, and propensity score matching deal with the endogeneity problem and check the robustness of the results. The results provide reliable evidence that tournament incentives motivate CEOs to be more socially responsible. On the other hand, sub-national institutional contingencies positively affect the association between CEO tournament incentives and CSRP. The findings have important implications for companies and regulators who wish to enhance CSP by providing incentives to top managers. (shrink)

In the past 20 years, China’s educational advantage has undergone a gender reversal. The average educational level of women is higher than that of men. However, the gender difference in housework is gradually expanding, and women are still the main undertakers of housework. Based on the China Family Panel Studies, this study explores the impact of the educational gap between husband and wife on the inequality of housework division and its mechanism. OLS regression model was used to estimate the impact (...) of marital education gap on household inequality. It is concluded that the higher the education level of the husband is than that of the wife, the greater the gender inequality in housework. This conclusion is significant at the level of 0.01. On this basis, the instrumental variable method was used to overcome the endogenous problems and a more accurate conclusion was reached. Every unit of increase in the education gap between husband and wife would increase the degree of household inequality by 0.281 percentage points. Quantile regression provides strong evidence for the results. When the gender time ratio of housework is in the range of 0.8–0.95, the education gap will have an impact on the gender division of housework. After the robustness test and heterogeneity analysis of the model, an intermediary variable was established to discuss the mechanism of the model. The income disparity and the working time gap were proved to be intermediary variables. This study believes that in modern society, the education gap between husband and wife will affect the inequality of housework division by changing the relative income and relative working time of husband and wife. Although the educational advantages of women in the whole society have not changed their role in the division of housework. However, with the narrowing of the educational gap between husband and wife, the degree of inequality in the division of housework has been alleviated, indicating that the improvement of women’s education level has alleviated the inequality in the division of housework to a certain extent. (shrink)

In recent years, the “financial-like” behavior of non-financial enterprises has contributed to the “off real to virtual,” which has seriously restricted the virtuous cycle of finance and economy. This study selects non-financial enterprises listed on Chinese A-shares from 2008 to 2019 as the research sample, and empirically analyzes the impact of CEOs’ financial background on the shadow banking business of non-financial enterprises and its mechanism. The results show that: CEOs’ FB has a positive effect on shadow banking business of non-financial (...) enterprises; among which, the positive effect generated by non-banking FB is stronger. The conclusions still hold after robustness tests by replacing the measurement of variables, controlling for other shocks, changing the parameter estimation method, and considering the endogeneity problem. The mechanism analysis reveals the positive effect mainly by reducing the level of entity investment by enterprises. The heterogeneity analysis finds that, on the one hand, with respect to the internal micro characteristics of enterprises, the positive effect is more significant in state-owned enterprises, non-manufacturing enterprises, and non-growth stage enterprises. On the other hand, with respect to the external macro environment, the positive effect is more significant in periods of easy monetary policy, in industries with a higher competition or in regions with a better institutional environment. This study reveals the intrinsic mechanism of CEOs’ FB and non-financial enterprises’ shadow banking business, enriches the study of the influencing factors of non-financial enterprises’ shadow banking business, and provides micro-level empirical support to alleviate the “off real to virtual” of the economy. (shrink)

This article illustrates instrumental variable (IV) estimation by examining an unexpected finding of the research on career adaptability and job satisfaction. Theoretical and empirical arguments suggest that in the general population, people’s abilities to adapt their careers are beneficial to their job satisfaction. However, a recent meta-analysis unexpectedly found no effect when personality traits are controlled for. We argue that a reverse effect of job satisfaction on career adaptability, originating from affective tendencies tied to personality, might explain this null effect. (...) Our argument implies that the estimates obtained with traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions are biased by endogeneity, a correlation between an explanatory variable and the error term in a regression model. When experimental manipulations are impossible, IV estimations, such as two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions, are one possible solution to the endogeneity problem. Analyzing three waves of data from a sample of 836 adults, the concurrent and time-lagged effect of job satisfaction on career adaptability was revealed to be more consistent than the reverse. Our results provide an explanation, rooted in affective dispositions, as to why recent meta-analytical estimates unexpectedly found that career adaptability does not predict job satisfaction at the interindividual level. We also discuss IV estimation in terms of its limits, weight the interpretation of its estimates against the temporality criterion for causal inference, and consider its possible extension to analyses of change. (shrink)

The executives of listed firms play an important role in the fulfillment of corporate social responsibility. Based on behavioral consistency theory, this study examines the association of CSR performance among multiple firms for the same executive served at different times. By tracking the movement of executives across Chinese listed firms over the period 2010–2019, we find that there is a significantly positive association between the predecessor and the successor firm’s CSR performance for the same executive, implying that an individual’s value (...) and preference for CSR maintain consistency within a certain period of time. We also find that a longer employment gap and lower internal control effectiveness will damage the association of CSR performance between the predecessor and the successor firm. Our results are robust to testing in subsamples and controlling the endogeneity problems. Our conclusion provides a new perspective to understand the influence mechanism of CSR performance in the context of inter-firm executive mobility and provides empirical evidence for listed firms to improve their decision-making in hiring and evaluating executives. (shrink)

This study empirically demonstrates significant regional peer effects due to tax avoidance. We used peer companies’ idiosyncratic stock returns as an instrumental variable to address potential endogeneity problems. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that for companies with a stronger intensity of regional tax collection and management, a higher degree of informatization, and companies with a low management shareholding ratio, the regional peer effects of enterprise tax avoidance are more significant. Finally, we determined that the managers’ information learning, reputation consideration, and (...) information communication are key mechanisms propagating peer effects. The conclusions of this paper enrich and expand the peer effect theory of corporate tax avoidance, thereby providing a theoretical basis and empirical evidence for tax authorities in supervising corporate tax avoidance. (shrink)

This paper investigates the correlation between the quality of corporate social responsibility disclosure and financial performance. It also investigates the moderating role of chief executive officer power in the relationship between the quality of CSR disclosure and firm value in Chinese listed companies. The evidential research used the up-to-date sample of unbalanced findings for the period of 2014–2020, from the registered Chinese firms in the Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchanges as samples for the study. As a starting point technique, the (...) STATA 15 has been used to test pooled ordinary least squares regression on a sample of Chinese listed companies. We use 1-year lagged regression and two SLS regressions to monitor the potential endogeneity problem. The imbalanced data set was received from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research web page, which is the most significant source of information for Chinese publicly listed firms. Data on CSR information items and media reporting are compiled manually. The findings of the study revealed that there are positive FP consequences for the companies engaged in the quality of CSR disclosure. We also report that higher CEO power negatively enhances the quality of CSR disclosure effect on the FP of FV. The research investigates the impact of CSR disclosure and FP by presenting evidence of the moderating role of CEO power. Therefore, it is suggested that a higher law for CSR engagement and disclosure be implemented in China, and robust measures for the implementation of CEO power, although there are financial advantages to be gained. A key relevance to the empirical quality of CSR disclosure research can be recognized as the moderating role of CEO power in the quality of CSR disclosure, FP, and FV in the context of Chinese study. The findings are robust with the use of an instrumental variable method. (shrink)

The article attempts to examine the impact of banks' specifics and board of directors' characteristics on directors' remuneration (REM) of 38 Indian listed banks from 2010 to 2019. The current study is based on secondary data that are extracted from the Prowess IQ database. Fixed effect model is used for analysing the data and generalised method of moment is applied for dealing with endogeneity problem. Finally, the sample is classified into three groups in order to check the robustness (...) of the results. Results revealed that return on assets, size, and market capitalisation positively and significantly impact directors' REM of Indian listed banks. While banks' age, capital adequacy, current ratio, and board of directors' composition have an insignificant impact on directors' REM of Indian listed banks. The findings of the study provide new evidence about the impact of banks' specifics and board of directors' characteristics on directors' REM in the Indian banking sector. The findings suggest that firms' specifics are significant determinants of directors' REM. (shrink)

This paper investigates the impact of diversity on corporate philanthropy. Compared to previous studies that have considered the influence of board diversity and CEO gender on corporate philanthropy, this study introduces the concept of operational diversity, which is the implementation of diversity programs at management, employee, and supply chain levels, and further, it explains why operational diversity influences corporate philanthropy, by using the premises of resource dependence theory. Second, this study also investigates the influence of board diversity on corporate philanthropy. (...) Third, this study uses a large sample of U.S. firms over the period of 1991–2009 and tries to mitigate possible omitted variables and endogeneity problems that are often overlooked in previous research. We demonstrate that firms with operational diversity programs are likely more dependent on a broad variety of resources and give more to community as a strategic maneuver; hence, operational diversity is a better indicator for predicting future corporate giving than board diversity alone. However, having a woman or a member of a minority as a company’s chief executive officer is not sufficient to impact its charitable giving. A battery of robustness tests support our conclusion and confirm that our results are not driven by a firm’s general corporate social responsibility (CSR) score, gender or independence of board members, or firm ownership. This paper will assist researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders in deepening their understanding of the predictors of corporate giving. (shrink)

The problem of the ontological limit of Artificial Intelligence and transhumanism in contrast with the ontology of Homo sapiens is discussed. Beyond the so-called exogenous or endogenous integration, the scenario of a technological singularity seems to materialize in entities that synthesize biology and technology, for example, by means of a download or transbiomorphosis that translates the neural networks of our mind into the memory of a computer. This is a hybridization that warns us about the advent of new species (...) that could leave Homo sapiens behind. If the human/machine synthesis is the limit desired by the transhumanist program, this limit seems to have crossed, in turn, the very ontological limit of the human, on which science, philosophy and religion had so far more or less agreed –each presenting their own cards. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the research of the information service of open data in the context of influence on the development of the regional economy. The concepts of "ecosystem", "open data", their essence and significance as endogenous and exogenous factors are considered. The state of development of separate elements of the open data ecosystem formed in Ukraine is characterized. The foreign experience of organizing such information resources has been analyzed. The main problems are identified, such as weak integration of (...) regional information resources into a single open data system, insufficient use of the potential of domestic IT professionals. The directions of improving the ecosystem of the open data of Ukraine are proposed. (shrink)

In this paper, we sketch out a simple scheme to evaluate different ways in which Western society has coped with the momentous and hidden problem of envy; afterward, we consider the consequences for the constitution of the social space that these changes entail. We will argue that envy, when considered as a primal feeling, can shed light on René Girard’s notion of metaphysical desire and on diasparagmos rituals. Then, taking into account Jean-Pierre Dupuy’s endogenous fixed point thesis—concerning the constitution (...) of autotranscendent social structures that configure themselves around an attractor, a fixed point, revealed to be a product of the process of constitution, an effect and not a cause—we will consider envy as the main feedback in the system. Starting from this theoretical scenario, we will envisage three steps—on a line sketched according to mimetic theory—marked by the particular conditions and role of the feedback. We will show what kind of balance was guaranteed to Athens (taken as an exemplar archaic society, starting from its self-representation as given by Sophocles in Oedipus the King) by the complementary rituals of pharmakos and ostrakos; what equilibrium was offered to Christian medieval social structures by the doctrine of the deadly sins; and, finally, we will take a look at our own secularized society. Our aim is to apply René Girard’s theory systematically, to show how the philosophy of history that we can infer from his works can help us to detect a curious and at the same time quite dramatic change as far as the homeostatic equilibrium of our society is concerned. Thanks to this exercise, we will be able to show how the transcendental social space— by which we mean the region of possible outcomes, in terms of constraints and possibilities, of a human life in a social context—is constituted through the victimage mechanism as defined by Girard and how this constitution is affected by the performative unveiling of the mechanism itself. (shrink)

This paper deals with problems economists face in formulating a pure economic theory of justice. It is shown that constitutional economics as an approach giving opportunity to endogenize equity in an economic calculus, is only of limited use. It is criticized furthermore that economists neglect the basic problern of universalistic versus local justice. They have not contributed much to the problems of implementation and enforcement of norms of justice either. Yet some applications cover the full range of social relations, and (...) Iead to an interdisciplinary design of research where the findings of other disciplines are integrated in economic research and methodological advantages of economic theory contribute to noneconomic disciplines. (shrink)

As the aging population problem intensifies, many emerging economies are caught in labor shortage and rising labor costs, thus improving the corporate labor investment efficiency is crucial for these countries. In this context, we take China as an example to explore the influence of the current booming digital finance on corporate LIE. This paper, which enriches the existing literature, is one of the few studies that explores the link between macroeconomic policies and firms’ LIE. Our research adopts the baseline (...) methodology of ordinary least squares regression, and the data comprise 23,503 observations for Chinese A-share listed businesses from 2011 to 2020. In addition, we use fixed effects regression, instrumental variables method and substitution of independent variables to deal with endogeneity and test the robustness. The outcomes suggest that DF may significantly increase corporate LIE. Further results from the path mechanism study suggest that DF could alleviate financing constraints and optimize human capital structure, both of which have a favorable effect on the LIE. Last but not least, the heterogeneity results imply that DF can more effectively encourage LIE of firms in economically underdeveloped regions and of private nature. The study recommends that emerging economies should pay attention to strengthening regulation to avoid financial risks while vigorously promoting DF. In addition, enhancing the level of human capital and optimizing human capital allocation are also essential. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework to investigate ‘CSP-FP relationship’ as a social construction on financial markets. The construction of such a relationship has become a crucial business problem since the legitimacy-building process of actors implied in markets related to corporate social responsibility evaluation and management is closely associated to the belief that ‘ethics and/or social responsibility pay’ – at least in the long run. Consequently, actors’ behaviours and beliefs on these markets can no (...) longer be considered as external to the CSP-FP debate, but should be integrated as an endogenous variable. Moreover, the diffusion of these behaviours and beliefs could also contribute to the effective realization of such a relationship on financial markets and, to some extent, in the business arena. These facts offer the opportunity to reframe theoretically the classical and over-studied debate around ‘the CSP-FP link’ and to propose a new framework describing the various processes of performativity through which actors enact and construct the positive relationship between CSP and FP. (shrink)

Until recently, the problem of traumatic brain injury in sports and the problem of performance enhancement via hormone replacement have not been seen as related issues. However, recent evidence suggests that these two problems may actually interact in complex and previously underappreciated ways. A body of recent research has shown that traumatic brain injuries, at all ranges of severity, have a negative effect upon pituitary function, which results in diminished levels of several endogenous hormones, such as growth hormone (...) and gonadotropin. This is a cause for concern for many popular sports that have high rates of concussion, a mild form of TBI. Emerging research suggests that hormone replacement therapy is an effective treatment for TBI-related hormone deficiency. However, many athletic organizations ban or severely limit the use of hormone replacing substances because many athletes seek to use them solely for the purposes of performance enhancement. Nevertheless, in the light of the research linking traumatic brain injury to hypopituitarism, this paper argues that athletic organizations’ policies and attitudes towards hormone replacement therapy should change. We defend two claims. First, because of the connection between TBI and pituitary function, it is likely many more athletes than previously acknowledged suffer from hormone deficiency and thus could benefit from hormone replacement therapy. Second, athletes’ hormone levels should be tested more rigorously and frequently with an emphasis on monitoring TBI and TBI-related issues, rather than simply monitoring policy violations. (shrink)

Accountants and auditors are often faced with ethical dilemmas, which they have to process using resources available to them. Although they may be sensitive to the ethicality of the issues and have the cognitive ability to work through a judgment process, the final action they take may be dependent on a number of motivational factors, endogenous to the issue. Agency issues are a continuing area of concern providing accountants with an ability to shirk their responsibilities and hide confidential information, which (...) may affect their career prospects if disclosed. This ongoing study explores these notions within a stakeholder context and uses a post test only field experiment to gain evidence to support the existence of an agency problem and that membership to one of a number of motivational typologies directly affects the way accountants respond to ethical issues. This association causes them to adopt informational heuristics that may result in less than optimal decisions. This study identified two specific endogenous constructs, namely social consensus and venal intent that discriminate between motivational types and which possibly provide psychological underpinnings explaining membership orientation. (shrink)

In this dissertation, I present a novel account of the components that have a peculiar epistemic role in our scientific inquiries, since they contribute to establishing a form of coordination. The issue of coordination is a classic epistemic problem concerning how we justify our use of abstract conceptual tools to represent concrete phenomena. For instance, how could we get to represent universal gravitation as a mathematical formula or temperature by means of a numerical scale? This problem is particularly (...) pressing when justification for using these abstract tools comes, in part or entirely, from knowledge which is not independent from them, thus leading to threats of circularity. Achieving coordination between some abstract conceptual tools and the concrete phenomena that they are supposed to represent is usually a complex process, which involves several epistemic components. Some of these components eventually provide stable conditions for applying those abstract representations to concrete phenomena. It is in this sense of providing certain conditions of applicability that different philosophical traditions, as well as some contemporary reappraisals, view these components as constitutive or a priori. In this work, I present a new gradualist, contextualist, and relational approach to understand these constitutive components of scientific inquiry. It is gradualist inasmuch as the degree to which some component is constitutive depends on three quantifiable features: quasi-axiomaticity, generative potential, and empirical shielding. Since the quantification of these three features impinges on the history and practice of using these components in a scientific context, my approach is a contextualist one. Finally, my approach is relational in a double sense: first, it identifies ordinal relationships among epistemic components with respect to their constitutive character; second, these relationships are relative to a scientific framework of inquiry. After introducing my account and a classic example of constitutively a priori principles, i.e., Friedman’s (2001) analysis of Newtonian mechanics, I turn to my own case studies to demonstrate the advantages of my approach. Firstly, I discuss Okasha’s (2018) view of endogenization as a pervasive theoretical strategy in evolutionary biology and suggest that the constitutive character of the core Darwinian principles progressively increases with endogenization. Secondly, I apply a conceptual distinction between two varieties or scopes of coordination – general coordination and coordination in measurement – to Ohm’s work on electrical conductivity. This distinction allows me to pinpoint to what extent components along different dimensions (e.g., instrumentation, measurement, theorising, etc.) were constitutive of the forms of coordination which Ohm relied on. Thirdly, I discuss the epistemic function of the Hardy-Weinberg principle in the history and practice of population genetics. I assess this principle in terms of my account and identify approximation and stability as two components that are highly constitutive, in that they contribute to justifying its use in population genetics. Finally, applying my account to these case studies enables me to identify at least three qualitatively different types of constitutive components: domain-specific theoretical principles, material components, and domain-independent assumptions underlying reasoning abilities. In the light of my results, I draw some general conclusions on epistemic justification and scientific knowledge. (shrink)

Using Gebharter’s representation, we consider aspects of the problem of discovering the structure of unmeasured submechanisms when the variables in those submechanisms have not been measured. Exploiting an early insight of Sober’s, we provide a correct algorithm for identifying latent, endogenous structure—submechanisms—for a restricted class of structures. The algorithm can be merged with other methods for discovering causal relations among unmeasured variables, and feedback relations between measured variables and unobserved causes can sometimes be learned.

India is a rising power in the multipolar world. This book showcases India's endogenous political ideas and strategic thinking, both of which are the key resources that underpin and drive this rise. Kautilya's Arthashastra is a major source of these ideas. It is a premodern treatise on statecraft and a foundational text of political science. So far, political science and international relations theory have largely ignored Kautilya, or, at best, labelled him merely as the 'Indian Machiavelli'. Such a characterisation vastly (...) undervalues the riches and depth of the contributions of Kautilya - a contemporary of Aristotle - whose contributions can be compared more appropriately to those of Artistotle's politics. Kautilya's contributions are recognised by such masters of western political theory as Max Weber and Hans J. Morgenthau. But in South Asia, Kautilya has remained adrift of the academic mainstream and has been given little prominence in public life, both intellectually and politically. Despite such scholarly negligence, everyday life in India - in terms of the institutions and process that constitute it - has remained deeply grounded in the political heritage of pre-modern India, succinctly codified in Kautilya's Arthashastra. These themes are explored in this book through such bridge concepts as the 'modernity of tradition' and the 're-use of the past' in tackling contemporary political problems. These concepts are the key factors that explain the resilience and stability of India's hybrid political institutions and democratic system. 'Kautilya's Arthashastra: an Intellectual portrait - Classical Roots of Modern Politics in India' is an indispensable key to understanding contemporary India and a major contribution to South Asian area studies, comparative politics and global political theory. (shrink)

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) served as a test case for determining the role of extant vocabulary knowledge, endogenous attention, and phonological working memory abilities in cross-situational word learning. First-graders (Mage = 7 years; 3 months), 44 with typical development (TD) and 28 with DLD, completed a cross-situational word-learning task comprised six cycles, followed by retention tests and independent assessments of attention, memory, and vocabulary. Children with DLD scored lower than those with TD on all measures of learning and (...) retention, a performance gap that emerged in the first cycle of the cross-situational protocol and that we attribute to weaknesses in initial encoding. Over cycles, children with DLD learned words at a similar rate as their TD peers but they were less flexible in their strategy use, demonstrating a propose-but-verify approach but never a statistical aggregation approach. Also, they drew upon different mechanisms to support their learning. Attention played a greater role for the children with DLD, whereas extant vocabulary size played a greater role for the children with TD. Children navigate the problem space of cross-situational learning via varied routes. This conclusion is offered as motivation for theorists to capture all learners, not just the most typical ones. (shrink)

The concept of self-generated action is controversial, despite extensive study of its neural basis. Why is this concept so troublesome? We analyse the concept of self-generated action as employed by and. There are two definitions of self-generated action; as operant action and as underdetermined action. The latter draws on subjective experience. Experiments on action awareness suggest that experience may not be a good guide for defining self-generated action. Nevertheless, we agree with Passingham and colleagues that self-generated actions exist distinct from (...) operant actions. But defining ‘self-generated’ by the degree of involvement of an endogenous process risks regress. We sketch an alternative account of self-generated action that tries to avoid these problems to make self-generated actions accessible to experimental science. (shrink)

Insofar as empirical inquiry involves the coevolution of descriptive language and theoretical commitments, a satisfactory model of empirical knowledge should describe the coordinated evolution of both language and theory. But since we do not know what conceptual resources we might need to express our future theories or to provide our best future faithful descriptions of the world, we do not now know even what the space of future descriptive options might be. One strategy for addressing this shifting-resource problem is (...) to track the predictive and linguistic dispositions of inquirers rather than to track their theories and conceptual resources directly. Sender-predictor games, a variant of Skyrms–Lewis sender-receiver games, provide very simple models for the coordinated coevolution of predictive and linguistic dispositions. Such models explain how it is possible for (1) predictive and descriptive dispositions of inquirers to coevolve, (2) term-wise incommensurable, but nevertheless descriptively faithful languages, to sequentially evolve, and (3) a sort of underdetermination to occur where inquirers might satisfy their descriptive and predictive aims by revising their linguistic dispositions, their theoretical dispositions, or both. Such models also provide an elementary characterization of what it might mean for descriptions of the world to be faithful and hence for empirical inquiry to be successful. In doing so they provide a relatively weak, but perfectly clear, endogenous account of epistemic norms. (shrink)

Thought-intrusions, automatic inferences, and other unintended thought are beginning to play an important role in the study of psychiatric disease as well as normal thought processes. We examine one method for study of task-unrelated imagery and thought . TUIT likelihood was shown to be reliably measured over a wide range of vigilance tasks, to have high short-term and long-term test-retest reliability, and to be sensitive to information processing demands. Likelihood of TUITs was shown to be different as a function of (...) aging, hyperactivity, time of day, and level of depression. Thus, we now can reliably measure the influence of endogenous and exogenous influences on TUITs. In addition, TUIT measurement was proposed as a minimally interfering and natural second task for determining resource utilization in a primary task. Finally, this method was offered as a reliable approach to quantification of such mental states as obsessions and drug craving and addiction. (shrink)

This study investigates the effect of individual auditors from more religious hometowns on audit quality, utilizing social identity and social norm theories via a sample of Turkish companies listed on the Borsa Istanbul and their associated individual auditors between the years 2010 and 2019. The sample includes a unique hand-collected dataset and secondary data gathered from various sources. The main findings demonstrate that individual auditors from more religious hometowns provide higher quality audit work in terms of the magnitudes of discretionary (...) accruals, audit reporting aggressiveness, and the presence of small profits. In order to overcome potential endogeneity and selection problems, this study employs the Heckman two-stage estimation procedure, instrumental variables, system generalized methods of moments regressions, and propensity score matching-difference and differences method. The results of these additional tests also support the main results. When controlled for the religiosity levels of the province where clients operate and the religiosity levels of the province where individual auditors attended and graduated from universities, the results remain similar. The employment of alternative audit firm size and quality proxies also provides additional supportive evidence. The findings are robust when alternative variables of interest and alternative audit quality measures, such as sanction and restatement, are employed in the main models. (shrink)

We provide the first comprehensive and robust evidence on the relationship between CSR disclosure quality and the costs of corporate bonds in China. We find that firms with high CSR disclosure quality are associated with lower costs of corporate bonds. Our findings are robust to endogeneity issues arising from reverse causality, omitted variable bias, and the interdependencies between price and non-price terms. The negative relationship between CSR disclosure quality and the costs of corporate bonds is stronger in weak corporate (...) governance firms and in firms located in regions with weak institutional environments. We also find that firms’ misconduct significantly mitigates the influence of CSR disclosure quality. In the additional analyses, we provide evidence that CSR disclosure can offer incremental information beyond the credit ratings. Regarding non-price terms, we conclude that firms with higher quality of CSR information are less likely to be subject to collateral terms, but they tend to include more restrictive covenants. Further analyses also show that compared with low-quality or mandatory CSR disclosure firms, bond investors perceive firms with CSR disclosures rated above “A” categories or voluntary CSR disclosure as less likely to cause asymmetric information problems and thus charge lower risk premiums. Overall, this study demonstrates that CSR disclosure quality is an important determinant that affects both price and non-price bond contract terms. (shrink)

The case of pain asymbolia is a case study that provides evidence of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between bodily experience, affective experience, and self-awareness. On one account pain asymbolia is the result of an affective deficit. Sensory signals of bodily damage are not associated with characteristic negative affect. Cochrane endorses this account as part of his version of a “conceptual act” theory of affective experience. In contrast, I propose an active inference account of affect in general and pain asymbolia (...) in particular. In the active inference framework the self is inferred as the endogenous cause of bodily and affective experience in the process of organismic regulation. This preserves Cochranes ambition to ground affect in bodily regulation but avoids the problem for affective deficit accounts of asymbolia that cannot do justice to the neural correlates. (shrink)

In this article, we propose that giving in cash and non-cash differ in their relation with the giving firm’s future corporate financial performance and only cash giving is associated with future CFP. Using a novel dataset from ASSET4 that differentiates corporate giving over a sample period of 2002–2012, we examine three competing hypotheses: agency cost hypothesis that cash giving reflects agency cost and destroys value for shareholders, investment hypothesis that cash giving is an investment by management that aims for better (...) future return, and information hypothesis that cash giving has informational value to shareholders as cash is a critical resource at a firm and giving is a decision by managers who are insiders. We find that indeed, only cash giving is positively associated with future CFP and firm value, measured by Fama–French five-factor abnormal risk-adjusted stock returns, future return on assets, and Tobin’s Q. In addition, we find that the positive association exists only between excess, i.e., unexpected, but not expected cash giving and future CFP. Our empirical findings support the information hypothesis, but neither the agency hypothesis nor the investment hypothesis, and are robust to a number of endogeneity tests, including orthogonalized cash giving, instrumental variable regression using geography-based instruments, and propensity score matching. Furthermore, we show that the positive association between future CFP and unexpected cash giving is only pronounced at firms with good governance and relatively higher sales growth where agency problems are less likely, and at firms with no alternative mechanisms to demonstrate the strength of cash flow. Additionally, we do not find evidence that suggests in-kind giving to possess any informational value. (shrink)

Finding suitable analysis techniques for networks generated from social processes is a difficult task when the population changes over time. Traditional social network analysis measures may not work in such circumstances. It is argued that agent-based social networks should not be constrained by a priori assumptions about the evolved network and/or the analysis techniques. In most agent-based social simulation models, the number of agents remains fixed throughout the simulation; this paper considers the case when this does not hold. Thus the (...) aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the network signatures change when the agents’ population depends upon endogenous social processes. We argue for a much wider attention from the social simulation community in addressing this open research problem. (shrink)

We examine how social diversity and inclusiveness on corporate boards affect corporate performance and monitoring in Sri Lanka, a country subject to decades of polarization, civil war, and even genocide. Barely more than a decade after the civil war, we find that board social diversity on the basis of ethnicity, religion, language, gender, and nationality of the board members is positively related to corporate performance, both in terms of stock market performance and accounting returns, and to corporate financial stability. The (...) main positive effects of social diversity derive from ethno-linguistic inclusiveness. The results are confirmed by an instrumental variable approach that addresses endogeneity issues. We find no evidence that inter-personal and moral conflicts or communication problems among board members negatively affect firm performance. (shrink)

Mechanical reductionism, which deals entirely with homogeneous variables, will constrain and enable the activities of richly heterogeneous living systems, but it cannot determine their outcomes. Such indeterminism owes to problems with dimensionality, dynamical logic, intractability, and insufficiency. The order in any living structure arises via an historical series of contingencies that were selected endogenously by stable autocatalytic processes in tandem with, and usually in opposition to, conventional external influences (natural selection). The development of living communities thereby resembles a Heraclitean dialectic (...) between processes that build up and those that tear down. Investigating this unconventional dynamic requires metaphysical assumptions that are complementary to those that have guided science over the past three centuries. The new dynamics can be represented in terms of weighted networks of interacting processes, which facilitate the statement of testable hypotheses. Network analysis thereby implements and tests ideas that heretofore could only be addressed as verbal propositions. (shrink)

Does environmental management help foreign firms outperform local firms in emerging economies? While existing research suggests that environmental management may or may not benefit firm performance, the question is particularly under-investigated in the emerging economy context. Using the data on foreign investment into China, this study explores whether foreign firms that are under greater environmental pressure, at home or at the host, outperform comparable local firms in an emerging host country. In making this comparison, we use propensity-score matching and a (...) difference-in-differences approach to handle the problem of endogeneity inherent in comparing the performances of foreign versus local firms. We find empirical support that foreign firms perform better than local firms when they are under high environmental pressure in the emerging host country, and this result is driven by the foreign firms originating from countries with high environmental pressure. (shrink)

While holist views such as ecocentrism have considerable intuitive appeal, arguing for the moral considerability of ecological wholes such as ecosystems has turned out to be a very difficult task. In the environmental ethics literature, individualist biocentrists have persuasively argued that individual organisms—but not ecological wholes—are properly regarded as having a good of their own . In this paper, I revisit those arguments and contend that they are fatally flawed. The paper proceeds in five parts. First, I consider some problems (...) brought about by climate change for environmental conservation strategies and argue that these problems give us good pragmatic reasons to want a better account of the welfare of ecological wholes. Second, I describe the theoretical assumptions from normative ethics that form the background of the arguments against holism. Third, I review the arguments given by individualist biocentrists in favour of individualism over holism. Fourth, I review recent work in the philosophy of biology on the units of selection problem, work in medicine on the human biome, and work in evolutionary biology on epigenetics and endogenous viral elements. I show how these developments undermine both the individualist arguments described above as well as the distinction between individuals and wholes as it has been understood by individualists. Finally, I consider five possible theoretical responses to these problems. (shrink)

Mixed-strategy equilibria are typically rather unstable in evolutionary game theory. “Monocyclic” games, such as Rock–Paper–Scissors, have only mixed equilibria, some of which are “stable” in the sense that sequential best replies lead to them; yet, even these games are prone to stable cycles under discrete-time simultaneous best replies, giving an unusual equilibrium-selection problem. This article analyzes such games in a random-utility setting where changing strategies is costly, and the speed of the dynamic is, thus, endogenous. The stochastically stable outcome (...) is determined by the cost of switching strategies; when switching costs are high, mixed equilibria are selected, whereas when switching costs are low, cycles are selected. (shrink)

The human brain consists of approximately 100 billion electrically active neurones that generate an endogenous electromagnetic field, whose role in neuronal computing has not been fully examined. The source, magnitude and likely influence of the brain's endogenous em field are here considered. An estimate of the strength and magnitude of the brain's em field is gained from theoretical considerations, brain scanning and microelectrode data. An estimate of the likely influence of the brain's em field is gained from theoretical principles and (...) considerations of the experimental effects of external em fields on neurone firing both in vitro and in vivo. Synchronous firing of distributed neurones phase-locks induced em field fluctuations to increase their magnitude and influence. Synchronous firing has previously been demonstrated to correlate with awareness and perception, indicating that perturbations to the brain's em field also correlate with awareness. The brain's em field represents an integrated electromagnetic field representation of distributed neuronal information and has dynamics that closely map to those expected for a correlate of consciousness. I propose that the brain's em information field is the physical substrate of conscious awareness - the cemi field - and make a number of predictions that follow from this proposal. Experimental evidence pertinent to these predictions is examined and shown to be entirely consistent with the cemi field theory. This theory provides solutions to many of the intractable problems of consciousness - such as the binding problem - and provides new insights into the role of consciousness, the meaning of free will and the nature of qualia. It thus places consciousness within a secure physical framework and provides a route towards constructing an artificial consciousness. (shrink)