A POST-KEYNESIAN AGE MODEL TO FORECAST ENERGY DEMAND IN SPAIN

This paper develops an extended input–output model for the estimation of energy demand and related issues. It is built on the last Spanish Symmetric Input–Output Table (IOT, 2005). It has been tested for the period 2005–2008 and used for forecasting energy demand for the years 2009–2012 under different economic scenarios. The model shares some traits of the computable and applied general equilibrium models where quantity and price systems are interwoven. The differences lie in the theories explaining output and prices. Our quantity system is based on Keynes’ principle of effective demand (broad energy multipliers are derived). The price system is based on the classical (Sraffian) theory of prices of production, akin to post-Keynesian full-cost prices. The general price system can be manipulated to account for the specificities of energy prices. Historical trends of energy coefficients are computed by extrapolation of past IOTs and calibration.     

Targeting biomed cluster from a mature pharma industry: the Medicon Valley experience

This paper analyses the emergence and development of the Medicon Valley biomedicine cluster from an evolutionary perspective. We focus on the co-evolution and synergies among the drivers of the cluster's emergence. Targeting biomed involves some challenges and complexities, which are particularly strong in this case, owing to its specificities (bi-national nature, predominant context of horizontal policies, pre-existent pharma industry). The main aim is to analyse the role of the different institutional players in this policy process. The study suggests that targeting emerges from regional coordination bodies. It also reveals a smart specialisation strategy ‘avant la lettre’ and shows a number of critical insights for the implementation of this policy approach.     

The Frustrations of Geopolitics and the Pleasures of War: Behind Enemy Lines and American Geopolitical Culture

This paper considers the film Behind Enemy Lines, made before 11th September 2001 but rush released soon after, as a cultural and commercial product which provides insights into American geopolitical culture. It argues that the movie's storyline is an articulation of a Jacksonian tradition in American geopolitical culture involving a drama of remasculinization. It also argues that the film is a mythic rendition of morally ambiguous American military engagement with the Bosnian war. Finally, it examines the film as an expression of the structure of feeling of post-9/11 American militarism. That structure of feeling is characterized by impatience with the pragmatics of multilateral diplomacy, and strong desire for the pleasures of the unilateral action and morally righteous violence.     

Objective quality and business performance in service environments: moderating effects of entrepreneurs' knowledge and involvement

This study considers two main research issues: the relationship between objective quality and business performance and the moderating role of an entrepreneur's knowledge (education and experience) and involvement (exclusiveness in professional dedication) in that relationship. A sample of 103 rural tourism entrepreneurs in Spain serves as the study setting. Results indicate the positive influence of an establishment's quality on performance. Moreover, both knowledge and involvement have direct effects on performance, but involvement influences performance to a greater extent and even reaches profits. Positive moderating effects of experience and exclusiveness also emerge, as does an unexpected negative moderating effect of education.     

MEASURING POVERTY ACCOUNTING FOR TIME

In this paper we make a methodological proposal to measure poverty accounting for time by proposing a new family of intertemporal poverty indexes that aims at reconciling the way poverty is measured in a static and a dynamic framework. Our index is able to consider the duration of the poverty spell and the social preference for equality in well‐being given that, in contrast with others that have been previously proposed, it is sensitive to the level of inequality between individual complete poverty experiences over time. Moreover, other indices in the literature can be interpreted as special cases of our more general measure. An empirical illustration shows the relevance of considering the distribution of poverty experiences among the population in an international analysis.     

Costly investment, complementarities and the skill premium

We propose a new framework to analyse the relationship between the relative high-skilled labour endowment, the skill premium and economic growth. Building on Acemoglu and Zilibotti (2001), we introduce physical capital; internal costly investment in both capital and R&D; and complementarities between intermediate goods. We only find a positive relationship between the relative labour endowment and both the skill premium and economic growth within determined intervals of relative labour endowment values, which vary with the absolute productive advantage of high over low-skilled labour. The model thus accommodates theoretically mixed empirical results on the relative labour endowment-skill premium relationship. We further find that the impact on both the relative labour endowment and the skill premium of a rise in investment costs or in the complementarities degree depends on: (i) the absolute productivity advantage of high over low-skilled labour; and (ii) the relative labour endowment.     

Store brand and store loyalty: The moderating role of store brand positioning

Despite extensive research, the relationship between store brand loyalty and store loyalty remains uncertain. Recent research suggest a nonmonotonic relationship between store brand loyalty and store loyalty: positive up to a certain store brand loyalty level, after which it becomes negative (inverted U). However, existing arguments suggest this relationship may relate to the competitive positioning of store brands, especially their price?Cquality positioning. The more quality-oriented the store brand positioning, the more favorable the effect of store brand loyalty appears to be on store loyalty. An empirical study, focused on retailers that simultaneously offer several store brands with different price?Cquality positions, corroborates this proposition. The store brand loyalty level at which store brand loyalty induces a negative effect on store loyalty occurs earlier when the store brand positioning stresses price instead of quality.     

Earnings Management and Cultural Values

Using theory and empirical data from social psychology to measure for cultural differences between countries, this research studies the effect of individualism, defined as the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups ( Hofstede 1980 ), and egalitarianism, defined as a society's cultural orientation with respect to intolerance for abuses of market and political power ( Schwartz 1994, 2004 ) on earnings management. This research finds a significant cultural influence on earnings management. Specifically, the results show that countries scoring high on individualism tend to have lower levels of earnings management. Using the Schwartz (1994, 2004 ) framework, this study finds that egalitarianism is negatively related to earnings management. The analysis shows that, besides the formal investor protection, it is relevant to consider cultural differences to explain earnings management. This analysis also supports the idea that culture may be an important element in the discussion of global convergence towards a single corporate governance model, or the implementation of corporate governance codes inspired by codes from societies with different cultural values.     

Contracts,compacts and the common law Some problems with New Right theories of human resource management Contracts,compacts and the common law

The study of HRM in Spain is flourishing. We have seen the major international journals begin to reflect the work of Spanish academics in this area. The standard is high and the international network of Spanish scholars is increasingly developed. This paper attempts to review the work that is published in English and to see how Spanish HRM systems are represented externally. It tries to locate the discussion of the HRM research in Spain within its academic and social context. The authors argue that there are some characteristics marking this debate and development, which suggest that the study of HRM in Spain is hugely Americanized in terms of methods and content. The lack of synergies with sociology and political economy are evident. Moreover, the shortage of rigorous qualitative research, apart from that on employment relations and the sociology of work, raise some serious issues. The manner in which a discourse of HRM in Spain has evolved leaves many questions and issues unaddressed. While evaluating what we believe to be a relevant selection from HRM publications on Spain in English by Spanish authors in the last 15 years we do not attempt to present them all here. Instead, we try to isolate some representative articles. In sum, the paper aims to fill a gap in the Spanish HRM literature by studying the main debates, the research issues that are given priority and the methodological options. As a conclusion, we can say that it is necessary to encourage academic discussions regarding the features of the management of HR in Spain. In this sense it should be noted that the mainstream HRM approaches formulated in American Business Schools do not necessarily fit within the Spanish context.