Pricing Organic Nitrogen Under The Weak Disposability Assumption: An Application to the French Pig Sector

The nonparametric approach Data Envelopment Analysis is used in order to measure individual technical inefficiency. Different models are evaluated using a 1991 FADN data set of French pig farms. Organic nitrogen is considered as a byproduct of animal breeding. Used as plant nutrient, organic manure becomes an input in crop production which is pollutant when excessive amounts enter surface and groundwater. In the latter case, the usual hypothesis of strong disposability of organic nitrogen is refuted because the elimination of pollution is costly. In this paper, we introduce a hypothesis of weak disposability of organic nitrogen and compare the technical efficiency measures obtained with and without this assumption. Then, using the duality between the restricted cost function and the input-output distance function and following Färe and Primont (1995), we derive a shadow price of organic nitrogen which can be compared to the unit cost of different existing manure treatments.     

Magnitude and evolution of gender and race contributions to earnings inequality across US regions

This paper studies individual characteristics of earnings inequality within the population of blacks and whites in the United States over the period 2005–2017. Beyond education and age serving as a proxy for professional experience, applying a new Shapley income decomposition methodology enables us to isolate and measure two discriminative factors in earnings differences: race and gender. We show that these two factors explain a significant share of total earnings inequality, as defined by the Gini index, for all the geographical administrative divisions used. Whatever the division, the share of earnings inequality associated with gender greatly exceeds that of race. While gender earnings inequality has fallen over time, inequality associated with race has tended to increase since 2010 and is stronger in the Southeast of the country.     

Economic Growth: The Case of Irreversibility of Investment with Bargaining Power of Workers

In this paper, we develop a model of endogenous growth with search frictions in the labor market. We show that the growth rate of the economy may be durably altered in a case of investment irreversibility and bargaining power of workers. Labor market conditions mitigate this rent-seeking effect of workers.     

Why Do We Read On‐Pack Nutrition Information so Differently? A Typology of Reading Heuristics Based on Food Consumption Goals

While prior research has extensively studied nutrition labeling use and consumer errors of judgment in the nutrition evaluation process, less attention has been paid to the consumer motivations that simplify the reading of on‐pack nutrition information. To address this gap, this study examines how food consumption goals affect consumer reading of this information. On the basis of a qualitative study, eight food consumption goals have been identified and classified into four types of motivations which impact reading behaviors: “Food Optimization,” “Food Regulation,” “Food Gratification,” and “Food as Mere Necessity.” From this typology, we derive eight on‐pack nutrition information reading heuristics as well as specific inference biases resulting from these simplifying reading strategies. This research also provides guidelines for policymakers so that nutritional messages given to consumers will be more targeted in order to promote better reading of on‐pack nutrition information at the point of sales.     

Family and Lone Founder Ownership and Strategic Behaviour: Social Context,Identity, and Institutional Logics

There is controversy in the literature about the effects of ownership on strategy and performance. Some scholars have taken agency explanations as definitive, arguing that closely held firms outperform. Empirical studies, however, show conflicting findings for firms with concentrated ownership: lone founder firms outperform, family firms do not. Such conflicts may be due to the failure of agency theory to distinguish between the social contexts of these different types of owners. We argue that explanations of performance must take into account not simply ownership, but who are the owners or executives and how their social contexts may influence their strategic priorities. Family owners and CEOs, influenced by family stakeholders in the business, are argued to assume the role identities and logics of family nurturers and thus strategies of conservation. By contrast, lone founders, influenced by a wider set of market‐oriented stakeholders, are argued to embrace the identities and logics of entrepreneurs and strategies of growth. Family founders and founder‐executives are held to blend both orientations. These notions are supported in a study of Fortune 1000 companies.     

Competing in the global aerospace supply chain: The case of the Canadian aerospace industry

In light of the vertical disintegration of the global aerospace industry, this paper reports on a study that was commissioned by Industry Canada to evaluate whether Canadian aerospace firms have been able to develop the new set of manufacturing and managerial capabilities required to compete in the global aerospace supply chain. A strategic management framework was used to assess the fit between the key success factors of the external environment and the resources and capabilities of the firms studied. The results indicate that although smaller aerospace firms seem to possess technological and engineering skills that are vital strengths in the aerospace industry, better marketing efforts would enable them to enlarge their client base and intensify their participation in the global aerospace supply chain.     

International trade and income distribution: reconsidering the evidence

This article reassesses the link between international trade and income distribution. We argue that one way to assess the influence of international trade upon income distribution is to take account of each country’s specific trade patterns by measuring the changes in the factor content of trade. The econometric specification is based on changes in Gini indices (over non-overlapping 4-year intervals), computed exclusively from series drawn from the same source. Our results show that a change in the factor content of trade has a significant impact on income distribution. The sign and magnitude of this impact is conditional on the national income level. We find that an increase in the labor content of trade raises income inequality in poor countries, but reduces it in rich countries (the reverse is true for the capital content of trade). In particular, we show that in the 1980s and 1990s, international trade may have contributed significantly to widening income inequalities in developing countries.     

What crises could teach us about complexity and systemic management: The case of the Nestucca oil spill

In this article we attempt to uncover some systemic management principles for the better management of complex issues. Taking a pragmatic approach we have expanded the case methodology proposed by John Dewey to the case study of a major crisis. By proposing that crises allow for a better apprehension of complexity, we study the changes which were carried out or not, to this day, after the 1988 Nestucca oil spill that occurred in Canada only three months prior to the Exxon-Valdez disaster. After conducting a linear and systemic analysis of the crisis, we propose that the changes institutionalized thus far spring mostly from what we call “behavioral” and “paradigmatic” learning which are weak for addressing complex issues. Proposing that 15% of the people we have interviewed where able to derive a “systemic learning” from this crisis, we suggest several unlocking strategies that allow these systemic lessons to be institutionalized.     

“Friendly” Complaining Behaviors: Toward a Relational Approach

The relational approach is often presented as a strategy to retain customers, but it may also be an appropriate approach to encourage customers to complain, as a review of literature shows. Using information contained in complaints and giving the right answers (distributive, procedural and interactional) to such complaints is essential. Relational marketing may also be used to induce customers (but not all of them) to complain about the attributes of certain products/services. This article focuses on these issues and should stimulate further research in this new field.