Do Asian Countries Upgrade in Global Value Chains? A Novel Approach and Empirical Evidence

This paper examines the move into upstream and downstream global value chain (GVC) activities by 11 Asian countries. We use international input–output tables in combination with employment data and measure the number of workers in each country involved in manufactures GVC. Jobs are classified by business function based on occupational information, such as R&D, fabrication, logistics, sales and marketing. In most Asian countries, we find a faster employment increase in R&D and other support services relative to fabrication activities between 2000 and 2011. However, the participation in GVC and the pace of upgrading appears to differ substantially across Asian countries. We use a structural decomposition method to explore the role of trade, consumption and technological change in accounting for changes in countries' involvement in GVC.     

Business strategies and annual report readability

This study investigates the association between firm-level business strategy and the readability of narrative disclosures in annual reports. As business strategy affects the information environment and financial performance of firms, we expect the readability of narrative disclosures to vary with the particular business strategy that a firm pursues. In accord with this expectation, we find that firms with prospector-type business strategies produce less readable narratives, while those with defender-type business strategies produce more readable narratives. We also document that the association between strategy and readability is partially mediated by organisational performance, although the mediation effect is rather modest. These findings are robust when subjected to a series of sensitivity tests.     

‘All you need is brand love’: a critical review and comprehensive conceptual framework for brand love

ABSTRACT

Brand love has received increasing attention given its potential to enhance customer engagement, brand advocacy, commitment and loyalty. Despite its relevance, few studies explore brand love per se, and existing conceptualisations remain sporadic and fragmented. The purpose of the current paper is to critically assess available work on brand love, reviewing conceptualisations, measurements and key proximal constructs. Expanding upon and synthesising earlier work and conceptualisations, we develop and propose a comprehensive conceptual framework for brand love that is innovative for the following reasons. In particular, our model takes a developmental rather than a snapshot approach to capture brand love trajectories as a function of their onset and evolution; incorporates key frameworks and as such builds on interpersonal, parasocial and experiential theories; and acknowledges the important role of brand hate. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Option‐Adjusted Delta Credit Spreads: a Cross‐Country Analysis

This study analyses the determinants of the variation in option‐adjusted credit spreads (OASs) using a unique database and enlarges the traditional analysis to include disaggregated indexes, new variables, and a complete set of markets (USA, UK, and the Eurozone). An extended set of regressors explains almost half the variability of OASs in the three markets. We find that institutional trading activity significantly affects corporate bond spreads, signalling either variation in perceptions of risk or the existence of an indirect measure of liquidity. We also find that US business cycle indicators significantly affect the variability of OASs in the UK and the Eurozone. Finally, we find evidence that stock returns have more influence on high‐yield bonds in the Eurozone than in the USA.     

Would information on consumer confidence have helped to predict UK household expenditure during the recent economic crisis?

The objective is to investigate whether access to data on consumer confidence would have aided forecasts of the growth of UK household consumption expenditure over the recent period of economic crisis. A disaggregated study is performed on the basis that consideration is given not only to household spending in total but also to expenditure on each of durable goods, semi-durable goods, nondurable goods and services. The empirical analysis demonstrates how modifications which are made to the harmonized indicator of the European Commission are able to enhance predictive accuracy. However, the benefit which is derived from consulting consumer survey data does not extend to an earlier interval over which the behaviour of consumer sentiment was far less volatile.     

Does credit composition matter for current account dynamics? Evidence from Turkey

Based on a dynamic approach using the Kalman filter we depict effects of time-varying interactions between different components of credit stock on the current account in the Turkish Economy for the period 2002Q3–2014Q3. We decompose the credit stock into consumer and non-financial corporate sector credit and show empirically that both types of credit stock have negative effects on the current account dynamics.     

Corporate Governance and Dividend Payout Policy: A Test Using Antitakeover Legislation

Managers strongly prefer not to pay dividends as dividend payouts reduce the amount of cash subject to managerial discretion ( Easterbrook, 1984 ; Jensen, 1986 ). Previous empirical tests of the relationship between corporate governance and dividend payout policy employ endogenous measures of this agency problem. Using a relatively exogenous measure that incorporates state antitakeover laws and the differences‐in‐differences approach, our analysis indicates that dividend payout ratios and propensities fall when managers are insulated from takeovers. The impact of antitakeover laws on dividend payouts is more pronounced for firms with poor corporate governance and small firms.     

Quality of Education,Economic Performance and Institutional Environment

This paper addresses two questions. First, how does the quality, rather than the quantity, of education impact economic performance? Second, does the quality of education have a larger impact on economic performance in countries with better institutions (i.e., social and political variables which affect economic outcomes)? Using data from more than fifty countries, we observe that there is a positive relationship between the quality of education and GDP per capita. In addition, we find that the quality of education has a more beneficial effect on GDP per capita in countries with better law and order conditions, government stability, and overall institutional environment. These results remain unchanged under various scenarios.     

Does social learning promote cooperation in social dilemmas?

In this study, we analyze how emergence of cooperation is related to social learning. Cooperation is an example of social behavior. It is frequency-dependent that is the success of a particular behavior depends on the number of individuals adopting each behavioral trait. We study how social learning can affect the evolution of cooperation in social dilemmas represented by two well-known games: Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) and Snowdrift (SD). We show that, in the PD game, increase in the proportion of social learners leads to the alleviation of the social dilemma. Whereas, in the SD game increasing the proportion of social learners does not always lead to the alleviation of the social dilemma, that is there is no simple monotonic relation between social learning and the weakening of the social dilemma.