infonet-economy

Contrary to expectations, evidence of a death of distance has eluded numerous estimations in the popular gravity model of trade: estimates of the coefficient of distance are markedly higher in studies with recent data. This column shows that this is only so for the poorer countries who are trading with geographically closer partners. This regionalization of trade for low-income...

The “distance effect” measuring the elasticity of trade flows to distance has been to be rising since the early 1970s in a host of studies based on the gravity model, leading observers to call it the “distance puzzle”. We review the evidence and explanations. Using an extensive data set of 124 countries over the period 1970-2005, we confirm the existence of this puzzle and identify...

How should trial experts approach cases of racial profiling? As a British philosopher, albeit one who has lived and worked in the States, all I can offer are some suggestions and some questions to help readers make the most of their expertise. These are motivated by two concerns. First, from a British perspective, American jury selection is alien to our understanding of the ideal...

Est-ce que la représentation assure au niveau européen la garantie de démocratie représentative? Cette question renvoie à la problématique de la crise politique marquée, entre autres, par l'abstentionnisme et le manque de confiance des citoyens envers leurs représentants. Au coeur de ce questionnement se trouve le Parlement européen, seule institution directement élue par les...

Comme ses travaux précédents l'ont démontré, Marcela Iacub affiche une rare maîtrise dans l'art de restituer avec humour et minutie les sinuosités de la raison juridique ― dans un souci « positiviste » de « dire la vérité sur ce que fait effectivement le droit » au-delà des habits idéologiques dont on couvre sa réalité [...]

Terrorism is a threat to democratic government, albeit one with which we may have to live. But what, if anything, does thinking about democracy tell us about terrorism or counter-terrorism? Democracy takes many forms and the inevitable gaps between ideal and reality exacerbate disagreement about what counts, or should count, as an example of democratic government. Nor is the term ‘...