The ethical problems between law and power： A conceptual framework of business moral conduct

The concept of business ethics ranges from respect of the obligatory law, to attention to mutually shared ethical rules, to the collective well being, and as far as philanthropy. Due to such a heterogeneity of interpretations, it proves useful to attempt to define the concept of moral problems by establishing their contents and limits. Such a matter proves to be of primary importance： Firstly, to be able to establish which situations have underlying questions of ethical implications; Secondly, to be able to evaluate the moral conduct of the company. The objective of this present work is twofold： （1） Identify the distinctive components of an ethical problem; （2） Prepare a support instrument for management to use in the monitoring process of the ethical dimension of the company.     

Pricing Policy and Partial Collusion

We study the pricing policy equilibria emerging in a partial collusion duopolistic framework where firms in the first stage of the game choose non-cooperatively the pricing strategy (perfect price discrimination or uniform pricing), and from the second stage onward collude on prices. We show that for intermediate discount factors and high firms’ asymmetry, the unique equilibrium is characterized by only the smaller firm choosing price discrimination. In the case of intermediate discount factors and low firms’ asymmetry, there are two possible equilibria: both firms price discriminate or no firm price discriminates. When the discount factor is particularly high or particularly low both firms price discriminate in equilibrium.     

If not only GDP,what else? Using relational goods to predict the trends of subjective well-being

In the last decade, a lively interdisciplinary discussion has grown around the evidence that, in the long-run, people’s subjective well-being is not significantly correlated with income growth. In other words, GDP growth does not predict the long run growth of subjective well-being. In this paper, we argue that there exists a different predictor of subjective well-being that works pretty well: sociability, i.e. the quality and quantity of social relationships (also referred to as relational goods). More precisely, we illustrate the role of sociability as a predictor of well-being, presenting the available evidence at both the within-country and the worldwide level. In particular, we discuss recent evidence from US cross-sectional data (General Social Survey, 1975–2004), cross-country time series (World Value Survey 1980–2005), and German panel data (German Socio-Economic Panel, 1996–2007). We conclude by indicating the most relevant open issues and suggesting future lines of research.     

A portfolio approach in the e-purchasing of materials

By improving the procurement process purchasing departments are becoming more and more strategic in order to increase overall companies performances. In the last years, web-based tools have effectively supported this trend by offering to buyers useful tools in order to help their activities. Purchasing departments have now to choose the right tool for the right purchase in the right supply market; for this reason it is important for them to adopt a portfolio approach exploiting all the different solutions offered by the technology according to the different situations.In this perspective, this paper identifies four most common purchasing approaches adopted by companies, which drivers are considered to choose among these, and which level of performances companies achieve through the identified approaches.Empirical evidence is based on a survey research involving 162 US companies.     

Growth, Technological Change, and ICT Diffusion: Recent Evidence from OECD Countries

In this paper we present an overview of GDP and productivitygrowth patterns in OECD countries over the past decade, on thebasis of harmonized data. Our evidence suggests that fast-growingcountries generally shared three characteristics: improvementsin labour utilization; a generalized enhancement in human capital;and rapid shifts in the composition of physical capital towardsinformation and communication technology (ICT) equipment. Particularly,we show that technological change embodied in new ICT capitalgoods has been a primary source of output and productivity growthin ICT-using sectors. The international comparison allows relatinggrowth patterns to institutional and policy indicators, therebyoffering some preliminary insights into the potential sourcesof growth disparities. Cross-country evidence yields some tentativesupport to the idea that institutional factors affecting competitionin the product market are likely to affect productivity patterns,especially in a period of rapid diffusion of a general-purposetechnology (such as ICT).     

Estimating deferred taxation on dividends in business groups

In a group of companies corporate income taxation is levied on basic earnings and then on dividends paid to holding companies. The entity of this taxation depends on the tax regime, so that income may be taxed twice, first in the hands of the subsidiaries, then in the next years in the hands of holding companies. Therefore, consolidated profits may not be wholly paid to shareholders (who are the ultimate owners) and deferred taxes have to be computed in order to determine the true profitability of a group of companies. Using input–output theory, we developed a framework to estimate deferred taxation on dividends in business groups. Such relationships can be particularly useful when cross‐shareholdings exist to determine deferred liabilities under several accounting standards. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Link between Institutional and Economic Integration: Insights for Latin America from the European Experience

The European experience illustrates that institutional integration interacts with economic integration at the regional level. In this paper we ask how economic and institutional integration are linked and whether there is a causal link between the two. We present an original indicator of institutional integration and study how it developed vis-à-vis diverse measures of economic integration. In particular, we ask what insights can be drawn from the European process of regional integration, which started in the 1950s, for regional integration in Latin America today. We find that Latin America is currently less economically integrated not only than the European Union today, but for certain economic variables even than the European Union in the 1960s. A VAR analysis illustrates that the link between institutional and economic integration has worked both ways throughout the European experience. There is also evidence that stronger institutional integration has indeed led to deeper economic integration.     

On the measurement of intra-industry trade: Some further thoughts

Zusammenfassung Zur Messung des intra-industriellen Handels. Einige weitere Gedanken. — Der Autor untersucht, was für und was gegen das Argument des Korrekturbedarfs bei der Messung des intra-industriellen Handels (IIH) spricht, und kommt zu dem Ergebnis, da\ eine Korrektur sowohl aus theoretischen als auch aus empirischen Gründen abzulehnen ist. Der unkorrigierte Index von Grubel und Lloyd hat sich als der beste der gegenw?rtig verfügbaren Indizes erwiesen, wenn er auch ziemlich stark auf das Ausma\ der Datendisaggregierung reagiert. Empirische Studien scheinen darauf hinzudeuten, da\ die Ebene der 4- bis 5-stelligen SITC am besten geeignet ist, um den IIH zu messen. Selbst an Hand dieser stark disaggregierten Daten ist der auf bilateraler Basis berechnete IIH sehr beachtlich, besonders wenn er mit dem hier vorgeschlagenen neuen Index gemessen wird. Dieser Index wird aus theoretischen überlegungen abgeleitet und ist nicht mit dem überlappen des Handels verknüpft.

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Résumé Des mésures du commerce intra-branche: Quelques réflexions supplémentaires. — Dans cette étude l’auteur examine les points positifs et négatifs de l’argument d'une ?nécessité de la correction? en mesurant le commerce intra-branche. Il conclue que la nécessité devrait être rejetée à cause de la théorie et l’évidence empirique. On trouve que l’indicateur de Grubel et de Lloyd est le meilleur de ceux qui sont au moment disponibles. Il réagit néanmoins de mesure considérable au niveau de la disagrégation des données. L’évidence empirique semble montrer que le niveau de 4 ou 5 chiffres CTCI est le plus adéquat pour mesurer le commerce intra-branche. Même avec ces données très hautement disagrégées le commerce intra-branche est tout considérable, particulièrement si mesuré par le nouvel indicateur du commerce intra-branche qui est proposé ici. Cet indicateur est dérivé des considérations théoriques et n'est pas lié aux échanges croisés.

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Resurnen Sobre la medición del comercio intrasectorial: algunas ideas más. — En este trabajo se examinan las ventajas y desventajas del argumente de la necesidad de corrección al medir el comercio intrasectorial y se concluye que deberia ser rechazado en base a razones teóricas y empiricas. El indice no corregido de Grubel y Lloyd es el mejor de los indices existentes; sin embargo, es sensible al nivel de desagregacón. La evidencia empírica parece indicar que el nivel de 4 a S digitos de la SITC es el nivel más apropiado para medir el comercio intrasectorial. Incluso medido a este nivel altamente desagregado, el comercio intrasectorial computado bilateralmente résulta bastante importante, especialmente si es medido con el nuevo indice propuesto aqui. Este indice es derivado de consideraciones teóricas y no esta ligado a la superposition del comertio.

     

Informational cascades with endogenous prices: The role of risk aversion

In this paper, we show that long run market informational inefficiency and informational cascades can easily happen when trades occur at market clearing prices. We consider a sequential trade model where: (i) the investors’ set of actions is discrete; (ii) dealers and investors differ in risk aversion; (iii) investors’ information is bounded. We show that informational cascade occurs as soon as traders’ beliefs do not differ too sharply. Thus, prices cannot fully incorporate the private information dispersed in the economy.     

Intangible capital,relative asset shortages and bubbles

Purely technological factors can be a fundamental force behind the emergence of asset price bubbles in developed economies. We analyze an economy in which the production technology utilizes both physical and intangible capital, where the latter cannot be used as collateral for borrowing. Technological change, in the form of increased importance of intangible capital in production, sharpens the borrowing constraints of entrepreneurs, leading to a scarcity of high-yield assets relative to low-yield ones. This can create the conditions for asset bubbles. Additionally, due to the financial frictions, standard dynamic efficiency tests are not valid, and bubbles are not Pareto improving.