Post-Hayekian socialism a la Burczak: Observations

Burczak (Socialism after Hayek, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006) presents a proposed form of stakeholder socialism to overcome the critique by Hayek of Marxist socialist systems. This involves financing the beginning of worker-owned and managed cooperatives through a wealth tax, with a generous social safety net, within a market economy in a democratic political system with civil liberties. While such a system may overcome worker alienation, avoid many of the informational and incentive-based inefficiencies identified by Hayek, and have some special efficiencies of its own, it will likely suffer from the financing problems most cooperatives face within predominantly market capitalist economies as they try to grow larger. The most likely location for an effort at such a system might be in a smaller country that has had some experience with workers’ management, such as the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia.      

The Performance Persistence of Closed-End Funds

The purpose of this study is to extend the research on mutual fund performance persistence to net asset value and market price performance of domestic closed‐end funds. While research has assessed the performance persistence of open‐end mutual funds, it has not assessed the performance persistence of closed‐end funds. Yet, the unique characteristics of closed‐end funds allow stronger arguments for their persistence than the arguments previously submitted for open‐end mutual funds. The results show evidence for risk‐adjusted performance persistence.     

Climate‐related Risk and Financial Statements: Implications for Regulators,Preparers, Auditors and Users

Interest among investors in understanding climate‐related risk from companies’ management has increased in recent years. Despite this, climate‐related risks are currently predominantly discussed outside the financial statements, if at all. However, as set out in the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB)/International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) Practice Statement 2 Making Materiality Judgements (APS/PS 2), qualitative external factors such as the industry in which the entity operates and investor expectations may make such risks ‘material’ and warrant disclosures when preparing financial statements, regardless of their numerical impact. The AASB and the AUASB expect that directors, preparers and auditors will be considering APS/PS 2 when preparing and auditing financial statements. This paper provides an outline of the guidance and motivation behind the issuance of the bulletin on climate‐related risk disclosures, key takeaways and recommendations, and the AASB's and AUASB's suggestions on the type of evidence that would be useful for standard setters.     

Dancing robots: integrating art,music, and robotics in Singapore’s early childhood centers

In recent years, Singapore has increased its national emphasis on technology and engineering in early childhood education. Their newest initiative, the Playmaker Programme, has focused on teaching robotics and coding in preschool settings. Robotics offers a playful and collaborative way for children to engage with foundational technology and engineering concepts during their formative early childhood years. This study looks at a sample of preschool children (N = 98) from five early childhood centers in Singapore who completed a 7-week STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) KIBO robotics curriculum in their classrooms called, “Dances from Around the World.” KIBO is a newly developed robotics kit that teaches both engineering and programming. KIBO’s actions are programmed using tangible programming blocks—no screen-time required. Children’s knowledge of programming concepts were assessed upon completion of the curriculum using the Solve-Its assessment. Results indicate that children were highly successful at mastering foundational programming concepts. Additionally, teachers were successful at promoting a collaborative and creative environment, but less successful at finding ways to engage with the greater school community through robotics. This research study was part of a large country-wide initiative to increase the use of developmentally appropriate engineering tools in early childhood settings. Implications for the design of technology, curriculum, and other resources are addressed.     

Implementation intentions in the entrepreneurial process: concept,empirical findings,and research agenda

Prior studies find sizable gaps between entrepreneurial intentions and subsequent actions. We extend models of entrepreneurial intentions by drawing on action phase theory to better understand how entrepreneurial intentions translate into actions. Our study focuses on the effects of implementation intentions on taking entrepreneurial action. The analysis uses two waves of survey data on 422 individuals, from the Swedish general population, who had an explicit interest in starting a business and who reported on their actions 6 months later. We test and find support for a moderated mediation model in which implementation intentions mediate the effects of goal intentions on taking entrepreneurial action. We further find the mediated effect to be even stronger for those confirming a strong intention to start a new business. We provide an in-depth discussion of the concept of implementation intention and an extensive research agenda.     

Jeffrey M. Hornstein. A Nation of Realtors(R): A Cultural History of the Twentieth-Century American Middle Class. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2005. xi + 252 pp. ISBN 0-8223-3528-X, $79.95 (cloth); 0-8223-3540-9, $22.95 (paper).

For many people who study the culture of American business,a mention of real estate will conjure up Sinclair Lewis’sfictional creation George F. Babbitt, the title character ofthe 1922 novel Babbitt. I was reminded, when reading JeffreyHornstein’s A Nation of Realtors^®, that Lewis at onepoint used a different working title: "Population 300,000."Between these two titles lay the relationship between the characterof the Realtor and the community that the Realtor, and his peers,     

Lumpy investments, factor adjustments, and labour productivity

This paper describes firms’ output and factor demandsbefore, during, and after episodes of lumpy investment. By usinga rich employer–employee panel data set for two manufacturingindustries and one service industry, we focus on simultaneousvariations in output, capital, materials, man hours, labourproductivity, and the skill composition and hourly cost of labour.Investment spikes are followed by roughly proportional changesin sales, labour, and materials, and significant increases incapital intensity. The changes in labour productivity that areassociated with the investment spikes are small, which indicatesthat productivity improvements are not related to instantaneoustechnological change through investment spikes. Focusing onsectoral differences, capital adjustments are found to be smootherin the service industry than in the two manufacturing industrieswhich may be related to differences in labour intensities betweenthe industries.     

The transatlantic business community faced with US direct investment in Western Europe, 1958–1968

This article examines the position of US and European business in the debate about American direct investment in Western Europe in a historical perspective, from the establishment of the Common Market to the introduction of US regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI) a decade later. Based on abundant and diverse archival documents, it sheds new light on the process of Americanisation and contributes to existing research on transnational networks, by revealing the active role industrial leaders on both sides of the Atlantic played in shaping the political responses to problems raised by the American firms’ massive presence in the Common Market.     

Antecedents of Innovation Strategies in New Technology‐based Firms: Interactions between the Environment and Founder Team Composition

This research contributes to the ongoing stream of research on the integration of technical and business knowledge for successful innovation, but does so with a unique focus—that of new firm founder teams. This is in contrast to much of the existing literature, which focuses on organizational units in large firms. As part of their strategy for success, new technology‐based firms need to find an optimal balance between exploration and exploitation in their innovation activities. However, the resource constraints they typically face make it difficult for them to pursue both at the same time, which means that at any given point in time they are likely to opt for either exploration or exploitation rather than both. The purpose of this research is to investigate what influences new technology‐based firms to select one innovation strategy over another. Data collected in 145 new technology‐based firms are used to test hypotheses about how environmental conditions and founder team composition interact in their contributions to choice of innovation strategy. Based on hierarchical regression analysis of the data, the research findings suggest that teams consisting of individuals who have dissimilar backgrounds are more likely to adapt their innovation strategy to the characteristics of the environment than teams of individuals with similar backgrounds. Conversely, teams consisting of individuals with similar backgrounds are more likely to continue to follow their preferred strategy. However, as competitive intensity or environmental dynamism increases, such teams are likely to deviate from their preferred strategy.