Lisa Knoll

Left prefrontal cortex activation during sentence comprehension covaries with grammatical knowledge in children.

Childrens language skills develop rapidly with increasing age, and several studies indicate that they use language- and age-specific strategies to understand complex sentences. In the present experiment, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral measures were used to investigate the acquisition of case-marking cues for sentence interpretation in the developing brain of German preschool children with a mean age of 6 years. Short sentences were presented auditorily, consisting of a transitive verb and two case-marked arguments with canonical subject-initial or non canonical object-initial word order. Overall group results revealed mainly left hemispheric activation in the perisylvian cortex with increased activation in the inferior parietal cortex (IPC), and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) for object-initial compared to subject-initial sentences. However, single-subject analysis suggested two distinct activation patterns within the group which allowed a classification into two subgroups. One subgroup showed the predicted activation increase in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) for the more difficult object-initial compared to subject-initial sentences, while the other group showed the reverse effect. This activation in the left IFG can be taken to reflect the degree to which adult-like sentence processing strategies, necessary to integrate case-marking information, are applied. Additional behavioral data on language development tests show that these two subgroups differ in their grammatical knowledge. Together with these behavioral findings, the results indicate that the use of a particular processing strategy is not dependent on age as such, but rather on the childs individual grammatical knowledge and the ability to use specific language cues for successful sentence comprehension.

Preschool children’s interpretation of object‐initial sentences: Neural correlates of their behavioral performance

The acquisition of the function of case-marking is a key step in the development of sentence processing for German-speaking children since case-marking reveals the relations between sentential arguments. In this study, we investigated the development of the processing of case-marking and argument structures in children at 3, 4;6 and 6 years of age, as well as its processing in adults. Using EEG, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to object-initial compared to subject-initial German sentences including transitive verbs and case-marked noun phrases referring to animate arguments. We also tested childrens behavioral competence in a sentence-picture matching task. Word order and case-marking were manipulated in German main clauses. Adults behavioral performance was close to perfect and their ERPs revealed a negativity for the processing of the topicalized accusative marked noun phrase (NP1) and no effect for the second NP (NP2) in the object-initial structure. Childrens behavioral data showed a significant above-chance outcome in the subject-initial condition for all age groups, but not for the object-initial condition. In contrast to adults, the ERPs of 3-year-olds showed a positivity at NP1, indicating difficulties in processing the non-canonical object-initial structures. Children at the age of 4;6 did not differ in the processing patterns of object-initial vs. subject-initial sentences at NP1 but showed a slight positivity at NP2. This positivity at NP2, which implies syntactic integration difficulties, is more pronounced in 6-year-olds but is absent in adults. At NP1, however, 6-year-olds show the same negativity as adults. In sum, the behavioral and electrophysiological findings demonstrate that children in each age group use different strategies, which are indicative of their developmental stage. While 3-year-olds merely detect differences in the two sentence structures without being able to use this information for sentence comprehension, 4;6-year-olds proceed to use mainly a word-order strategy, processing NP1 in both conditions in the same manner, which leads to processing difficulties upon detecting case-marking cues at NP2. At the age of 6, children are able to use case-marking cues for comprehension but still show enhanced effort for correct thematic-role assignment.

Exploring the Linkages Between Carbon Markets and Sustainable Innovations in the Energy Sector: Lessons from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

The European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is a central instrument of European climate policy and the first large-scale multi-national greenhouse gas trading programme in the world. It was referred to as the “grand new policy experiment” (Kruger and Pizer 2004). One of the central promises of emissions trading is to provide a price signal on the basis of which companies can calculate whether any shortage of emission allowances should be met with buying more allowances in the trading scheme or with reducing CO2 emissions. From these micro-rational calculations the most efficient CO2 abatement at the macro-level will ideally emerge, as emissions will be reduced where the costs for reducing them is lowest – “an epoch-making means of cost-effective control which can solve future global environmental problems” (Svendsen 1999: 232). Emissions trading thus has a potential to trigger sustainable innovations in the sense that companies face incentives to improve their CO2 performance (Stankeviciute et al. 2008). Still, the EU ETS has been criticised for many short-comings, among others for not providing triggers of innovation decisions in companies due to weak price signals. In a recent study on German companies in the CO2 market the authors point out that most of the CO2 reduction measures in Phase I of the EU ETS were only an unintended effect of emissions trading (Detken et al. 2009: 6–7). However, while the price of CO2 allowances was high in the first year of the EU ETS, some electricity providers mentioned having an incentive to supply electricity from gas-fired plants rather than from more carbon-intensive coal-fired plants (MacKenzie 2009: 169).

Understanding carbon trading: Effects of delegating CO2 responsibility on organizations’ trading behaviour

The establishment of a carbon market assumes that there is an effective means of transforming price information into technical carbon reduction measures. However, empirical evidence reveals that the links between price information and carbon management strategies are far from obvious. To understand how delegating CO2 responsibility affects CO2 trading behaviour, this article proposes a neo-institutionalist approach to answering the question of why companies became sellers, buyers or a combination of both during phase I of the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Original data from a survey on companies that participated in this scheme were collected and analysed. It was assumed that the trading scheme offered two ways to delegate decisions regarding emissions trading: decoupling from technical knowledge and financialization (i.e. delegating to financial departments) or coupling using technicalization (i.e. delegating to manufacturing departments). The results support the hypothesis that a company that adopts a decoupling strategy is more likely to buy certificates to fulfil their emissions targets. Adopting a coupling strategy indicates that a company is more likely to become a seller, all else equal. Professional identity is the theoretical basis for this relationship. Delegating carbon management to different departments represents either a stronger coupling or a stronger decoupling from core technological processes. Policy relevance The transaction data from phase I of the EU ETS open new questions and possibilities regarding the reasons that drive selling and buying in companies. It is important to look not only at the traditional sources of transaction costs, but rather also at the reasons for these tensions. One important source is the professional education of the people in charge of the EU ETS. Tailored information that directly addresses the different professional backgrounds of managers working in both financial departments and more technical departments might help to lower these types of transaction costs. In todays context, important emitter countries, such as China and Korea, have launched their own emissions markets, copying many aspects of the EU ETS. For the positive development of these markets and as a way of establishing a global emissions market, these new schemes should learn from the EU ETS experience.

Die Kontinuierung des Emissionshandels

Die marktformige Umgestaltung der Umwelt- und Klimaschutzregulierung der letzten zwei Jahrzehnte ist beachtlich. Die Etablierung des Emissionshandels als Idee und als regulatives Instrument zur Senkung von Treibhausgasemissionen steht in Zusammenhang mit einem Prozess der Finanzialisierung immer weiterer gesellschaftlicher Teilbereiche (Thrift und Leyshon 2007, S. 98). Der vorliegende Aufsatz wird sich der Frage nach der offentlich-moralischen Dimension des Emissionshandels widmen und argumentieren, dass es der spezifisch heterogene diskursiv-legitimatorische Verweisungshorizont des Konzepts ist, der sein Fortbestehen sichert. Damit erweitert das hier vorgetragene Argument Analysen, die den Emissionshandel allein als erfolgreiche Durchsetzung der Markttheorie, als okonomietheoretische Performanz (MacKenzie 2009) oder als okonomisches in vivo-Experiment (Callon 2009) verstehen. Der Erfolg des Emissionshandels – so wird dargelegt – lasst sich nicht allein durch okonomisches Wissen und Technologien begrunden.

Konventionen und Kompromisse auf Finanzmärkten

Finanzmarkte nehmen in der Wirtschaftssoziologie eine Sonderstellung ein. Dies hat einerseits damit zu tun, dass sich die Wirtschaftssoziologie, insbesondere seit Harrison White (1993), speziell mit Produzentenmarkten befasst, die White von klassischen Finanzmarkten unterscheidet. Der genuine Beitrag der Wirtschaftssoziologie erscheint so auf den Bereich der Produzentenmarkte festgelegt, denn es sind die Produzentenmarkte, die vom neoklassischen Marktverstandnis abweichen und nach anderen (wirtschaftssoziologischen) Analysestrategien verlangen.

Age differences in the prosocial influence effect.

Abstract Social influence occurs when an individuals thoughts or behaviours are affected by other people. There are significant age effects on susceptibility to social influence, typically a decline from childhood to adulthood. Most research has focused on negative aspects of social influence, such as peer influence on risky behaviour, particularly in adolescence. The current study investigated the impact of social influence on the reporting of prosocial behaviour (any act intended to help another person). In this study, 755 participants aged 8–59 completed a computerized task in which they rated how likely they would be to engage in a prosocial behaviour. Afterwards, they were told the average rating (in fact fictitious) that other participants had given to the same question, and then were asked to rate the same behaviour again. We found that participants age affected the extent to which they were influenced by other people: children (8–11 years), young adolescents (12–14 years) and mid‐adolescents (15–18 years) all significantly changed their ratings, while young adults (19–25 years) and adults (26–59 years) did not. Across the three youngest age groups, children showed the most susceptibility to prosocial influence, changing their reporting of prosocial behaviour the most. The study provides evidence that younger peoples increased susceptibility to social influence can have positive outcomes.

Luc Boltanski und Laurent Thévenot: Über die Rechtfertigung

Uber die Rechtfertigung (UR) ist in vielerlei Hinsicht ein ungewohnliches soziologisches Werk. Es bringt klassische Moralphilosophie mit Alltagskoordination in Zusammenhang, konstatiert eine Gemeinwohlorientierung im Disput, und macht sich fur die Kritikfahigkeit der Akteure stark.

Frank Dobbin: Forging industrial policy

Dobbin zeigt in seiner Studie, wie sich unterschiedliche staatliche Industriepolitiken im historischen Prozess herausbilden. Um dies zu zeigen, untersucht er wie im 19. Jahrhundert in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, in Frankreich und in Grosbritannien das grose Infrastrukturprojekt des Eisenbahnausbaus verwirklicht worden ist.

Albert O. Hirschman: Abwanderung und Widerspruch

Albert O. Hirschman gehort zu den Wissenschaftlern, die sich auf erfrischende Weise nicht von disziplinaren Grenzen aufhalten lassen. Als studierter Okonom, Widerstandskampfer im faschistischen Europa und Praktiker der Entwicklungspolitik hat er in seiner spateren akademischen Laufbahn die disziplinaren Grenzen zwischen Okonomie, Politikwissenschaft und Soziologie beflissentlich ubertreten.