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Excessive Focus (excessive + focus)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	33%

Selected Abstracts

The impact of the euro on Europe's financial markets

FINANCIAL MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS & INSTRUMENTS, Issue 3 2003
Gabriele Galati
This paper presents an overview of the impact of the introduction of the euro on Europe's financial structure over the first four years since the start of EMU. It analyzes changes in money markets, bond markets, equity markets and foreign exchange markets. Euro's role in originating or catalyzing trends has been uneven across the spectrum of financial markets. From the supply side, banks and investors in fixed income markets have become more focused on the characteristics of individual borrowers rather than the nationality of the issuer and have built up expertise to evaluate credit risk. European equity markets have also been affected by the enhanced ability of investors to build strategies with a pan-European perspective as prices increasingly reflected risk factors specific to industrial sectors rather than individual countries. On the borrower side, EMU has increased the attractiveness of market-based financing methods by allowing debt issuers to tap institutional portfolios across the euro area. Lower barriers to cross-border financial transactions have also increased the contestability of the market for financial services, be it at the wholesale or the retail level. The introduction of the euro has also highlighted the shortcomings of existing institutional structures and areas where excessive focus on narrowly defined interests may stand in the way of realizing the full potential benefits from the new environment. Diverging legal and institutional infrastructures and market practices can impede further financial market development and deepening. Hence, the euro has put a premium on cooperation between national authorities and institution as a means of achieving a more harmonized financial environment. The impact of EMU on depth in foreign exchange markets has been less clear-cut, as volatility, spreads, trading volumes and liquidity appear not to have changed in a substantial way. Overall, it seems that the new currency has made some progress towards the goal of becoming a currency of international stature that would rival that of the US dollar. However, a number of the necessary next steps towards achieving this goal are also among the trickiest to implement. [source]

,Civil Society' and the Limits of Democratic Assistance

GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 3 2005
Ivelin Sardamov
A correlation between the strength of civil society and democratization is often assumed to imply a causal relationship between the two variables. In fact, this correlation may be spurious, both phenomena being shaped by deeper social processes related to modernization and individualization. An excessive focus on ,civil society assistance' may paradoxically hamper the deeper changes necessary for the development of a vigorous associational life and of democratic representation. It would therefore be more prudent to focus democratic assistance on the establishment of stable and efficient social and political institutions, and on the maintenance of key social infrastructures crucial to political legitimacy. [source]

Reforming pensions: Principles, analytical errors and policy directions

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009
Nicholas Barr
Abstract This article, sets out a series of principles for pension design rooted in economic theory: pension systems have multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be framed in a second-best context, different systems share risks differently, and systems have different effects by generation and by gender. That discussion is reinforced by identification of a series of widespread analytical errors , errors that appear in World Bank work, but by no means only in World Bank work: tunnel vision, improper use of first-best analysis, improper use of steady-state analysis, incomplete analysis of implicit pension debt, incomplete analysis of the impact of funding (including excessive focus on financial flows, failure to consider how funding is generated, and improper focus on the type of asset in trust funds), and ignoring distributional effects. The second part of the article considers implications for policy: there is no single best pension design, earlier retirement does little or nothing to reduce unemployment, unsustainable pension promises need to be addressed directly, a move from pay-as-you-go towards funding in a mandatory system may or may not be welfare improving, and implementation matters , policy design that exceeds a country's capacity to implement it is bad policy design. We illustrate the ranges of designs of pension systems that fit the fiscal and institutional capacity constraints typical at different levels of economic development. The potential gains from simplicity imply that a country capable of implementing an administratively demanding plan does not necessarily gain from doing so. New Zealand has a simple pension system through choice, not constraint. [source]

Improving homework compliance in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2002
Robert L. Leahy
Generalized anxiety disorder is a chronic condition characterized by beliefs that worry prepares and protects, but that excessive worry is out of control. In this article, I review the cognitive-behavioral model of generalized anxiety, focusing specifically on problems related to excessive worrying. Noncompliance in self-help homework is reflected in the patient's excessive focus on negative feelings, difficulty identifying automatic thoughts, demand for immediate results, and the belief that worries are realistic. Interventions for these problems are illustrated in the case of the treatment of a patient characterized by persistent worries, low self-confidence, procrastination, and avoidance. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 58: 499,511, 2002. [source]

Decentralization in Kerala: Panchayat government discretion and accountability,

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2009
Varsha Venugopal
Kerala is regarded as one of the most decentralized states in India. Through a ,big bang' approach, Kerala implemented a significant fiscal decentralization program and then built the capacity of its local governments. We employ a diagnostic framework to analyze its local government discretion and accountability in political, administrative and fiscal domains. We find that Kerala's local governments have a very high degree of discretionary power accompanied by a high degree of accountability towards citizens. But the areas of administrative accountability and financial management need to be strengthened. Also there may have been excessive focus and investment on social accountability mechanisms at the cost of local government discretion and formal public sector accountability mechanisms. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The Role of Short-Termism in Financial Market Crises

AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 4 2009
John Nesbitt
The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution short-termist behaviours have had in various financial market crises. The early warning signs and drivers of short-termism are investigated, as well as ways to mitigate short-termist behaviour and consequences in the future. Short-termism as defined for the purposes of this paper is the excessive focus on short-term performance, earnings and other metrics at the expense of attention being given to the development of a long-term strategy that promotes sustainable long-term value creation. [source]