High-quality bias in vertically differentiated oligopolies—a note on skills, trade, and welfare

In a vertically differentiated Cournot oligopoly where the high-quality variant of the good requires the use of high-quality labor, firms may either all supply the same quality or differentiate their product. In differentiated configurations the number of firms choosing to supply the high-quality variant is generally above the optimum. The opening of trade between symmetric countries entails a pro-competitive effect that raises welfare through a reduction in average quality. This result contrasts with previous findings concerning the opening of trade in vertically differentiated oligopolistic industries (Gabszewicz, Shaked, Sutton, and Thisse,International Economic Review 22 [1981]; Shaked and Sutton, in Kierzkowski, ed.,Monopolistic Competition and International Trade, Oxford 1984).     

Financial Risk Propensity,Business Cycles and Perceived Risk Exposure

We analyse whether individual financial risk propensity changes over time with background financial conditions, as well as personal and subjective portfolio risk exposure. We elicit risk propensity from six different self‐assessed facets collected in a long panel data set from the DNB Household Survey, annually covering the period 1995–2015. Risk propensity is generally higher during periods of economic growth and lower during periods of recession, but is untrended when elicited, using questions referring to safe investments. Our risk propensity measure is also higher following positive stock market returns or subjectively large risk exposure in own past investments.     

Judicial Efficiency and Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Extensive research exists on the individual determinants of being an immigrant entrepreneur, concerning both social environment and human capital. However, the role of the judiciary has not been investigated yet. Analyzing more than 160,000 new micro enterprises owned by immigrants, our paper aims to fill this gap by focusing on the relation between justice and immigrant entrepreneurship. Results show that judicial efficiency is one of the determinants of self‐employment, although some differences among immigrant groups are identified. Therefore, the study confirms the key role of judicial enforcement in promoting not only growth but also the integration of these new citizens.     

Crowdfunding for the development of smart cities

In recent years, many cities have experienced new forms of collaboration that have an impact on citizens and entrepreneurs. The integration of this field of study with civic crowdfunding can influence economic growth and community building, which may be beneficial for both policymakers and practitioners alike. Civic crowdfunding is a financial model through which citizens, in collaboration with government and local authorities, fund projects to provide a community service. The development of smart cities is related to civic engagement, empowerment, and participation intended to be part of crowdsourcing or entrepreneurial activities. In this sense, cities play a vital role as drivers of (open) innovation and entrepreneurship. Based on these considerations, this study proposes an explorative and qualitative approach to investigate the civic crowdfunding phenomenon and its ability to promote community development. Our exploratory analysis of six projects highlights the challenges and opportunities of civic crowdfunding for the creation, development, and improvement of more inclusive cities.     

The role of trade and offshoring in the determination of relative wages and child labour

Incorporating family decisions in a two-period model of the world economy, we predict that trade liberalization raises the skill premium and reduces child labour in developing countries where the adult labour force is sufficiently well educated to attract production activities from abroad that will increase the demand for skilled relative to unskilled labour. Elsewhere, liberalization will reduce the skill premium, but it will not necessarily raise child labour. Our prediction is not rejected by the data, and it explains why child labour is negatively associated with trade openness in those developing countries where the labour force was relatively well educated when the liberalization took place, but not elsewhere.     

Public service motivation and public sector employment preference: Comparing Italian and British students

ABSTRACT

Previous research has suggested that an individual’s public service motivation (PSM) is positively linked to a preference for public sector employment. The authors explore this link using a sample of British and Italian undergraduate students. They found a positive relationship between PSM and public sector job preferences among Italian students but not with the British students. The UK has implemented more NPM-style reforms than Italy and this could be impacting on public sector recruitment. Implications for recruitment and retention the public sector are discussed.     

Which are the determinants of green purchase behaviour? A study of Italian consumers

Green purchase behaviour is receiving a growing attention in the academic community, as understanding it is crucial for the growing number of companies developing and marketing green products. In order to provide a broader and novel picture of the phenomenon, this study extends the widely used Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model in several ways, through a large survey of Italian consumers. First, three dimensions of green purchase behaviour are considered, namely, the willingness to pay a premium price, the green purchase frequency and the green purchase satisfaction. Second, several antecedents are considered simultaneously. Third, new (consumer creativity) or so far marginally studied (materialism and green practices) antecedents are included. Fourth, the mediating roles of green purchase satisfaction and willingness to pay a premium price in the link between the considered antecedents and the frequency of green purchase are investigated. Results show that the three dimensions of green purchase behaviour have different antecedents, so highlighting that green purchase behaviour is a multi-faceted phenomenon that should not be studied as a single general concept. Personal norms and value for money emerged to be very relevant predictors. The significant effects of creativity, materialism and green practices provide evidence that extending the TPB model with these three antecedents is useful to more deeply understand green purchase behaviour. Green purchase satisfaction is the strongest predictor of purchase frequency and mediates the effects of personal norms and value for money.     

Promote or Perish? A brief note on academic social networking sites and academic reputation

ABSTRACT

This commentary explores some of the reputational issues of using academic social networking sites (ASNS) such as ResearchGate, ResearcherID, ORCID, Academia.edu, Google Scholar, and Mendeley for academic self-promotion and considers whether the adage of ‘Publish or Perish’ has been recently overshadowed by the new imperative of ‘Promote or Perish’?     

Integrated reporting and cost of capital: The moderating role of cultural dimensions

Since its introduction, integrated reporting (IR) has triggered a rich debate covering several aspects, from the structure and the features of a document to the effects of its publication. Very recently, scholars have examined the negative relationship between IR and the cost of capital for firms, completely missing the opportunity to understand whether this fact is contingent on the cultural context that adopting companies operate in. We fill this gap by resorting to a panel sample of 211 adopters from 31 countries over the period spanning 2009–2017, counting 1,455 observations. Our evidence confirms that adopters, on average, benefit from a 1.4% decrease in the cost of capital. Yet, more importantly, IR effectiveness is exalted in countries with low power distance, strong collectivism values, and high level of masculinity, while uncertainty avoidance, long‐term orientation, and indulgence do not seem to play any moderating role.     

A semiparametric random effects approach to unobserved heterogeneity in count data models of organizational founding

The paper discusses a semiparametric random-effects approach to the problem of unobserved population heterogeneity in organizational research based on models for pooled cross-sectional time series count data. The analytical value of this approach rests in its ability to produce estimates of the structural parameters that do not depend on any specific assumption about the distribution of the heterogeneity components in the population. The practical value of the method proposed is illustrated in an empirical application to processes of organizational founding, and to the relation between density dependence and unobserved heterogeneity in spatially distributed organizational populations. The empirical evidence produced suggests that future studies of organizational founding at the population level will have to account for variation in observed as well as unmeasured (or unobservable) variables.