Governments of transition economies are subject to fiscal constraints (e.g. credit constraints). However, exaggerated fiscal discipline might feed into the structural adjustment process. The government designs and times the privatisation programme, yet may find itself in a fiscal squeeze because restructuring moves costs from firms to the public budget. This paper models this problem in a simple dynamic set-up. Several distinct reform strategies, which differ in the speed and level of structural adjustment, are identified. Tight fiscal discipline in early stages of transition may delay or halt privatisation. A different sequencing of policy or different taxation, benefits, and privatisation sales rules, can rectify this problem. 相似文献
Global sourcing largely occurs from so-called emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). In these contexts, substantial leverage effects for sustainability in supply chains (SCs) can be expected by reducing adverse impacts on society and minimising related risks. For this ethical end, an adequate understanding of the respective sourcing contexts is fundamental. This case study of South Africa’s (SA) mining sector uses institutional theory and the notion of institutional uncertainty to empirically analyse the challenges associated with establishing social sustainability. The case study research is informed by 39 semi-structured interviews with top management representatives and various state and non-state decision makers in SA. Our findings suggest that (social) sustainability in the institutional field is mainly shaped by the Social and Labour Plan institution, induced by state actors and mining companies’ practices. However, four weakening factors were identified that adversely affect this regulative institution, drive institutional uncertainty and allow for mining companies’ gradual decoupling. Contrastingly, complementing pressures of non-state actors limit institutional uncertainty and push toward mainstreaming the stipulations of the institution. This study contributes to the business ethics literature by providing an in-depth exploration of institutional uncertainty’s drivers and barriers within an upstream SC setting and shedding light on multiple actors’ interplay and relevance in sector-wide sustainability. The findings are condensed into three main propositions as well as an analytical framework as a basis for follow-up research. This case study helps practitioners understand and manage complexity that results from actor plurality and institutional uncertainty in EMDEs.
Previous research has found that subjective well‐being (SWB) is lower for individuals classified as being in poverty. We extend the poverty‐SWB literature by focusing on aggregate poverty. Using panel data for 39,239 individuals living in Germany from 2005–2013, we show that people's SWB is negatively correlated with the regional (state‐level) poverty ratio while controlling for individual poverty status and poverty intensity. This suggests that poverty is a public bad. The negative relationship between aggregate poverty and SWB is more salient in the upper segments of the income distribution and is robust to controlling for the rate of unemployment and per capita GDP. The character of poverty as a public bad suggests that poverty alleviation is a matter not only of distributive justice, but of allocative efficiency. 相似文献
AbstractPrevious research in non-disaster contexts has shown that the concept of collective efficacy, which is a group’s sense of its ability to achieve a specific objective, assists understanding of community readiness and households’ decisions to take preparedness actions. Collective efficacy expands the concept of social capital, which refers to social resources such as trust, norms and networks, by addressing how likely communities are to activate these resources for specific tasks. This paper empirically investigates the effect of three distinct collective efficacy components on risk perception, fear and self-efficacy regarding natural hazards in Austria. The three components have differing impacts on risk and coping beliefs: (1) Social cohesion decreases risk perception and fear but has no effect on self-efficacy; (2) Efficacy belief in social support increases self-efficacy; (3) Efficacy belief in citizen groups increases risk perception and fear. The combination of efficacy belief in social support and citizen groups seems to be most promising for stimulating protective action, as they together promote both risk and coping appraisal. However, overreliance on social support may have the undesirable effect of creating a false sense of safety among disaster-prone households. The findings demonstrate that collective efficacy provides a meaningful perspective from which to examine risk and coping beliefs but caution against treating it as an umbrella concept, given the differing effects of its components. Future studies are needed to investigate the impact of collective efficacy on other key explanatory factors of protective action, such as response efficacy or non-protective responses. 相似文献
Hashtags (i.e., the # symbol) are gaining increased popularity among social media users. However, despite their intense use, little is known about their meanings. Only a few published studies have investigated fragmented aspects of hashtags and treated them as a functional means to structure content. In this study, we provide evidence that hashtags’ meanings go beyond structuring or spreading content and represent an integral element of contemporary communication via social media. In particular, this study presents a series of six empirical studies, following traditions in grounded theory and measurement theory research, to systematically assess motivations for using hashtags. The results uncover the existence of 10 different motivations for use (amusing, organizing, designing, conforming, trendgaging, bonding, inspiring, reaching, summarizing, and endorsing). In addition, we show how these motivations differ between platforms and also relate to different patterns of social media behavior. The results contribute to a better academic understanding of social media, provide managers with profound insights and can guide marketing tactics with hashtags. 相似文献
The present paper tackles the question whether firms in a middle-wage country offshore production to save labor costs or if they onshore tasks that were offshored from high-wage countries. To distinguish which is the empirically more relevant case, I analyze the effect of importing intermediate inputs on the labor composition using matched employer–employee data and information on trade transactions from the universe of Brazilian firms. Propensity score matching indicates that an intermediate import expansion at the extensive margin leads to employment growth, higher intensities in routine and non-routine manual tasks and an increased share of intermediates exports. These findings thus point out that Brazil's intermediate imports predominantly represent onshored tasks. This result holds regardless of whether intermediate imports from high- or low-wage countries are considered. In line with theoretical considerations, the data show that Brazil's comparative advantage is in medium-complex and routine manual intensive production stages. 相似文献
Wirtschaftsdienst - Die Digitalisierung bringt weitreichende Veränderungen für Unternehmen, Beschäftigte und Verbraucher mit sich. Sie hat Auswirkungen auf nahezu alle Bereiche des... 相似文献
Wirtschaftsdienst - The German education system is under enormous pressure to change. In order to prepare the schools for the future and to enable large investment programmes, the federal... 相似文献