Institutional form (blueprints) and institutional function (process): Theoretical reflections on property rights and land

This paper is concerned with the question how we should understand cases on property rights in general, and on land economics in particular, in which a remarkable level of growth (or other measures of institutional performance) is combined with so-called ‘perverse’ institutions. That is to say institutions that are not proposed by the neoliberal...

Bernstein-von Mises theorem for the Pitman-Yor process of nonnegative type

The Pitman-Yor process is a random probability distribution, that can be used as a prior distribution in a nonparametric Bayesian analy-sis. The process is of species sampling type and generates discrete distribu-tions, which yield of the order n^σ different values (“species”) in a random sample of size n, ifthetypeσ is positive....

Reworking land reform: A credibility approach to property rights in China's forest sector

Why do land reforms rarely achieve their desired effects? This dissertation posits that a key to solve this question lies in a closer understanding of the specific workings of property rights. The idea is developed empirically in China’s forest sector, where one of the world’s largest land-reform undertakings in modern times was initiated under...

Institutional form versus function in a common property context: The credibility thesis tested through an agent-based model

A key debate in the study on land, housing and natural resources revolves around the notion that general institutional forms (such as private, common, public, and likewise formal property rights) lead to a certain institutional performance (as may be expressed in terms of prices, transaction costs or sustainability). However, a modest, yet,...

How information stimulates homeowners’ cooperation in residential building energy retrofits in China

The process of residential energy retrofitting needs to be advanced, especially in the hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) zone of China. Good cooperation from homeowners is the key to the smooth project implementation. Some studies have identified four categories of information as important factors affecting homeowners' decision-making in...

Incentivizing household forest management in China's forest reform: Limitations to rights-based approaches in Southwest China

On the basis that property rights provide effective incentives to their users, rights-based approaches have become well-received for purposes of improved resource management, production, and conservation. Recent reform in China's collective-owned forest sector has also been guided by a rights-based approach in generating new incentives and...

Beyond ‘empty’ forms of formalization: The credibility of a renewed attempt at forest titling in Southwest China

Whereas the prospective benefits of formalization programs are well-understood and received, less attention has been placed on the feasibility of such actions. This paper studies titling under China's Collective Forest Tenure Reform. We employ the Formal, Actual, and Targeted (FAT) Institutional Framework, based on the ‘credibility thesis’,...

Bayesian inference of the multi-period optimal portfolio for an exponential utility

We consider the estimation of the multi-period optimal portfolio obtained by maximizing an exponential utility. Employing the Jeffreys non-informative prior and the conjugate informative prior, we derive stochastic representations for the optimal portfolio weights at each time point of portfolio reallocation. This provides a direct access not...

Data Curation for Preclinical and Clinical Multimodal Imaging Studies

Purpose: In biomedical research, imaging modalities help discover pathological mechanisms to develop and evaluate novel diagnostic and theranostic approaches. However, while standards for data storage in the clinical medical imaging field exist, data curation standards for biomedical research are yet to be established. This work aimed at...

Towards Credible City Branding Practices: How Do Iran’s Largest Cities Face Ecological Modernization?

City branding is not only increasingly practiced in cities in established economies, but also among municipal governments in countries, until quite recently, rather closed off from the outside world. One country with a strong drive to engage in urban (re)development in the post-oil era through enhancing its ‘ecological modernization’ is Iran....

Credibility of Formalization: A Renewed Attempt at Forest Titling in Southwest China

Formalization has regained popularity in development discourses. Also in China significant efforts of titling are witnessed in the forestry sector. Although initial efforts date back nearly four decades ago, since 2008 a renewed attempt under the Collective Forest Tenure Reform (CFTR) has been introduced. This paper examines whether this...

Increasing speed limit compliance in motorway work zones: A human system integration approach

Speeding in motorway work zones lowers the perceived safety of road workers and increases the accident risks of traffic participants. In a work zone, traffic participants share the road with road workers. Road workers are often vulnerable and feel threatened by vehicles passing with high speed. Traffic participants are also at risk since driving...

Design principles to manage engagement in domain-specific social network sites: An Action Design Research to Manage Engagement Through Design of Like-features

The rapid growth of major Social Network Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook over the last five years has led to an increasing audience with mixed interests. Users are now exposed to an increasing amount of information on a wide variety of topics that is shared by others (Crampton, 2015), causing them to retreat into more personal online communities...

An Institutional Analysis of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) In Malaysia: Social Conflict and Credibility

Supporting users with credibility assessments of health Tweets

Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms nowadays with more than 500 million tweets being send on a daily basis. A great variety of topics is discussed on Twitter and health has become a widely mentioned topic on Twitter. Users share updates regarding their own personal health situation and they use Twitter to look up health...