Overview of the Dissertation. The general aim of this dissertation is to solve the aggregation problem of rating information stemming from a variety of raters or rating sources. In particular, we are interested in the consensus and the agreement informa- tion across raters/rating sources. This problem represents a major research issue for different rating areas. In this dissertation we solve this problem for two common rating processes. These two processes are the credit rat- ing process where financial institutions or external rating agencies evaluate credit customers or firms and the bookmakers’ evaluations of teams’ or play- ers’ performances in a sports competition. In order to obtain consensus as well as (dis)agreement information across different raters/rating sources, we investigate a general model framework modeling these two common rating processes.
Overview of the Dissertation. The remaining chapters of this dissertation are organized as follows. Chapter Two provides an overview of the institutional structure of the GATT including a summary of the objectives of the international trading community for the governance of agricultural trade policy and a review of the WTO enforcement and dispute settlement mechanisms. Provisions of the Agreement on Agriculture addressing tariffs and more traditional non-tariff barriers that impact agricultural trade are described. Then an economic definition of technical barriers is offered which identifies some unique characteristics of these measures. The Uruguay Round SPS and TBT Agreements, which specifically address technical barriers, are discussed. These two Agreements provide criteria to identify when technical barriers can be considered questionable, and broadly constitute the multilateral institutional constraints on the use of such measures. In Chapter Three, the political economy of direct and regulatory government interventions in markets is presented. First, the efficiency and distributional consequences of intervention through technical barriers are discussed. Given the legitimate uses of technical barriers, these effects will change as the relative levels of questionable economic-based versus legitimate externality-based protection vary. Next, a political economy paradigm for decision-making is exposited in which the levels of interventions are endogenous in the economy, arising as individual agents and policymakers act as rational maximizers given their preferences and the institutional structures of society. Theoretical political economy models and empirical studies that use political economy to explain intervention in agricultural markets through trade barriers and domestic farm commodity support programs are reviewed. Procedures and results of the 1996 USDA Survey of Technical Barriers to U.S. Agricultural Exports (hereafter “the Survey” or “the USDA Survey”) are provided in Chapter Four. Despite the efforts of the international trading community to limit the questionable use of technical barriers, an analysis of the 1996 USDA data indicates that such barriers are widely used to provide economic-based protection. A series of simple statistics and cross-tabulations are calculated to characterize and quantify the apparent misuse of these measures. Questionable technical barriers to U.S. agricultural exports are categorized according to their legal classification, regulatory goal, mar...
Overview of the Dissertation. In the first paper, “The Battle over Gerrymandered Districts: How Americans Balance Fairness and Partisanship,” I ask, to what extent do citizens value democratic institutions — particularly, free and fair elections — versus their preferred partisan and policy outcomes? Are citizens willing to sacrifice fair and competitive elections for preferred policy outcomes or is their commitment to democracy robust to elite-level ideological polarization? These are particularly important questions because citizens are supposed to be the last line of defense against democratic backsliding and especially against abuse of power by incumbents who seek to undermine free and fair elections (Bermeo 2003; Xxxxxx 2011; Xxxxxxxx and Way 2010; Xxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxx 2018; Xxxxxxxx 1997). Moreover, because citizens care about policy outcomes and not only democratic institutions, a large literature suggests that ideological polarization can undermine support for democracy and lead citizens to support anti-democratic incumbents who better reflect their policy preferences (Xxxxxx, Xxxxxxx, and Xxxxxx 2004; Xxxxxxxx et al. 2018; Xxxxxx 1997; Bermeo 2003; Xxxxx et al. 2019; Xxxxxx and Svolik 2020; Xxxxxxxx and Ziblatt 2018; Linz 1978, 1990; Sani and Xxxxxxx 1983; Xxxxxxx 1976; Svolik 2020). I explore these questions in the context of redistricting proposals in the United States using a conjoint survey experiment with over 2,100 U.S. residents. I argue that people’s pref- erences regarding redistricting are dependent on their partisanship and policy preferences, but also their preferences regarding fair elections. How individuals balance these potentially competing preferences depends on the level of polarization between political parties. I find evidence that people’s preferences regarding redistricting are influenced by partisan concerns as well as preferences regarding fair elections. Moreover, the effects are conditional on the level of polarization between political parties. In addition to contributing to the literature on electoral reform by considering reforms that are often excluded by the existing literature (those having to do with the drawing of electoral boundaries) as well as better understanding citizen preferences about these reforms, this paper also contributes to several other literatures. First, I contribute to the comparative literature on support for democracy and democratic stability (e.g., Bermeo 2003; Linz 1978, 1990; Sani and Xxxxxxx 1983; Xxxxxxx 1976; Svolik...
Overview of the Dissertation. In this dissertation I focus on the question of how coordination influences both individual and group performance. This question is investigated by examining how three different interdependency types (functional, cognitive and affect-based) both separately, as well as integratively, influence performance. Furthermore, I also investigate how the alignment of these three interdependency relationships among group members affects four aspects of effectiveness (goal attainment; extra-role behavior; satisfaction, and learning-goal attainment). For this thesis research, I tested my hypotheses using three different datasets, resulting in three empirical studies. In chapter three, the main effects of the different interdependency types on individual performance are investigated within a Dutch railroad company. The study reported in chapter three made use of data that were collected specifically with this current research in mind. The different interdependency types and their (main and integrative) effects on performance of research and development teams are studied in chapter four. This chapter focuses completely on the network theory aspect of interdependency. The data used to test the hypotheses were collected by Xxxxxxx (2001). In chapter five the interdependency types and their relationship with performance are studied using student workgroups. These data were collected in collaboration with others at the business school of Groningen University. Using datasets that were constructed with other research questions in mind than the current ones (chapter 4 and 5) has its positive and less positive side effects. On the positive side, these examinations can thus be considered conservative tests of the theory. In addition, they allow me the ability to triangulate constructs across multiple methods and measurement techniques (Xxxxxxx & Xxxxxx, 1984). The minor drawback is that I am not able to test all hypotheses in each dataset. Finally, a note to the reader. Chapters three and four are based on papers that were written for and presented at different conferences, and chapter five is based on a working paper. Because I use separate papers as the basis for the different empirical chapters, you may find some repetition between the chapters. If you want to avoid that as much as possible, I would suggest you read chapter three and then skip the introduction and theoretical framework in the following chapters four and five. In chapter six, the overall findings of this resear...
Overview of the Dissertation. The dissertation is structured as follows. Chapter 2 provides historical background and describes the advocacy landscape of the global movement against child marriage. After summarizing the current state of affairs with respect to international instruments, the chapter reviews the history of the issue by examining INGO documents, government publications, declarations, conventions, factsheets, and policy recommendations. This chapter emphasizes differences in issue framing for two periods of the movement. The early movement, in the 1990s, focused on human rights framing, while the period after 2008 turned primarily to framing that depicts child marriage as problematic for development. What most crucially differentiates these two periods is the emergence of what Xxxxxxxx calls the “girling of development” (2011: 532). Although the human rights aspect is embedded in development discourse, there was a clear discursive shift regarding what makes child marriage an important issue. The focus of Chapter 3 is my findings related to globalized conceptions of adolescent girls and child marriage, based on my interviews and analysis of documents. I present three themes representing how girls have been framed in recent international development discourse: “girls as saviors of humanity,” “girls as vulnerable,” and “girls as capable.” These themes rely on two different bases for opposing child marriage: the moral and the instrumental. The moral framing of child marriage, on the one hand, conceptualizes girls as “sacred children” who are vulnerable and thus in need of protection from marriage, particularly with older men; they should have the rights to enjoy childhood, obtain education, and realize their inherent potential. The instrumental basis for opposing child marriage, on the other hand, conceptualizes it as a problem mainly because it hinders economic development. It arose in an atmosphere in which investing in girls is increasingly seen as “smart economics” in that girls are believed to yield higher returns on development investments. As marriage leads to dropping out of school, raises barriers to participation in the labor market, and so on, child marriage was reconceptualized as an obstacle to development. Thus, Chapter 3 tells the story of how moral dimension was complemented by, and to some extent subordinated to, instrumentalist conceptions of the problems with child marriage.
