First-Degree Würde: A Means to What End?! An Examination of Human Dignity and Moral Status in Kantian Ethics and Utilitarianism! ! Kantian Ethics! ! In Chapter 10 of his famous book Leviathan, philosopher Thomas Hobbes writes on the topic of the worth of a person. He writes, “The ‘value,’ or ‘worth,’ of a man is, as of all other things, his price; that is to say, so much as would be given for t...

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the recent impact of fiscal decentralization in Europe on total expenditure for specific government functions as well as on total government size. A panel dataset for the years 2000 to 2009 for European countries has been constructed from EUROSTAT data. The effects of decentralization interact with the degree of vertical imbalances and tend to be neg...

As a result of a chemical genetic screen for modulators of metalloprotease activity, we report that 2-mercaptopyridine-N-oxide induces a conspicuous undulating notochord defect in zebrafish embryos, a phenocopy of the leviathan mutant. The location of the chemically-induced wavy notochord correlated with the timing of application, thus defining a narrow chemical sensitivity window during segmen...

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive survey of the theory of international tax competition. Starting with the standard framework, it visits the non-cooperative equilibrium of tax competition, analyses aspects of partial and regional coordination, repeated interaction, stock-flow-effects, agglomeration effects and time consistency issues in dynamic models. We discuss profit shifting in the...

The annexation of Crimea and the beginnings Russian aggression in Donbass area have sparked widespread use journalistic discourse scholarly considerations concept hybrid threats. With threats such as spreading false information manipulating it a way that undermines public's trust government compromises politicians. By attempting to undermine social contract binds state its constituents, actor s...

Abstract Why have economic reforms aimed at reducing the role of the state been successful in some cases but not others? Are reform failures the consequence of leviathan states that hinder private economic activity, or of weak states unable to implement policies effectively and provide a supportive institutional environment? We explore these questions in a study of privatization in postcommunis...