Do nations compete economically?

As opposed to the common idea that a country's economic fortunes are largely determined by its success on world markets, Paul R. Krugman, Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holds the view that the world's leading nations are not to any important degree in competition with one another. The following article takes a different view.     

The character of telework and the characteristics of teleworkers

A flexible definition of teleworking suggests that it is more widespread than is generally believed. However, is telework technologically driven? This is tested with data from six countries. As the categories of the definition have distinctive social characteristics, telework seems to reflect traditional occupational practices rather than a major technological shift.     

The demand for imports and exports in the U.S.: A survey

One of the more important issues in applied international economics is the extent to which trade flows adjust to changes in income, relative prices, and exchange rates. In this paper, the literature on the empirical estimation of the demand for imports and exports for the U.S. is surveyed. More precisely, this paper updates earlier surveys by Stern, Francis, and Schumacher (1976) and Goldstein and Khan (1985).     

Art of the Deal: The Merger Settlement Process at the Federal Trade Commission

This paper models the modern merger review process in which an enforcement agency, here the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), interacts with the acquiring firm to determine the outcome of antitrust regulation. Our empirical implementation of a game theoretic analysis tests whether decisions are driven by the costs and benefits of the proposed enforcement initiative as well as whether firms' responses are colored by competitive and institutional considerations. With respect to firms, the results suggest that mergers are driven by the opportunity to capture efficiencies, In contrast, the structural (anticompetitive) characteristics of mergers do not seem to impact firms' litigation decisions. Firms, however, are deterred from fighting the FTC by the potential negative impact on their reputations. In addition, “hostage effects” associated with the size of the noncontroversial portion of acquisitions held up by the FTC's competitive concerns also affect firm decisions.     

Economic reforms,industrial relations and human resources in the People's Republic of China: an overview

In this article, the impact of the post-1978 economic reforms on the Chinese labour-management system on the main sectors of employment (state, collective, private and joint ventures) is systematically discussed. The author concludes that as greater enterprise autonomy becomes more common, the labour-management system will evolve into a more ‘marketised’ hybrid form albeit ‘with Chinese characteristics’.     

Book review

New Technologies and Work: Capitalist and Socialist Perspectives A. Francis & P. Grootings (Eds) London, Routledge, 1989, 335 pp.

New Technology and Manufacturing Management: Strategic Choices for Flexible Production Systems M. Warner, W. Wobbe & P. Brodner (Eds) Chichester, Wiley, 1990, 265 pp.

The Single European Market and the Information and Communication Technologies Gareth Locksley (Ed.) London and New York, Belhaven Press, 1990, 290 pp., £27.50.

Technology and Competition in the International Telecommunications Industry David Charles, Peter Monk & Ed Sciberras London and New York, Pinter Publishers, 1989, 170 pp., £35.00.

Organising for Manufacturing Innovation: The Case of Flexible Manufacturing Systems Harry Boer Enschede, Febodruk, 1990, 253 pp.

Future Work: Seven Critical Forces Reshaping Work and the Work Force in North America Joseph F. Coates, Jennifer Jarratt & John B. Mahaffie Sun Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass, 1990, 2 vols, 445 pp. & 120 pp., $49.50.

Science, Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany John Gimbel Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 1990, 280 pp., £29.50 (hbk).     

Fair Value Measurement and Mandated Accounting Changes: The Case of the Victorian Rail Track Corporation

VicTrack in the State of Victoria in Australia began using fair value to value its assets in 2011. In doing this the company encountered the difficulties normally associated with valuing long‐lived assets that are specific to their use. In this paper, a case study is presented centred on VicTrack in order to provide information on the basic difficulties of determining the fair value of assets that are long‐lived, specific‐to‐use and in markets that are incomplete; and to better understand some of the implications of the switch from historical costs to fair value.