Optimal collective dichotomous choice under quota constraints

Summary. This paper presents optimal collective dichotomous choices under quota constraints. We focus on committees that have to decide whether to accept or reject a set of projects under quota constraints. We provide a method for optimal ranking of projects which is suitable for solving this problem. The main result generalizes a number of earlier results in the subject. To outline the applicability of our method, we demonstrate its usage in the area of information filtering. Received: February 14, 2000; revised version: January 19, 2001     

Social Security Strategies and Redistributive Effects in European Social Transfer Systems

This paper evaluates the linkage between social security strategies and redistributive effects in EU social transfer systems. It is argued that the various European systems produce different patterns of redistribution that may be explained by the adoption of different mixes of social security strategies. In support of this argument, several ideal-typical strategies are characterized and a classification of European social transfer systems is introduced. Subsequently, the redistributive effects of the systems are assessed and the relationship to their class assignment is investigated. We conclude that the redistributive effects differ markedly between systems of different classes, indicating that redistributive patterns are heavily influenced by the adopted strategy mix.     

Following the Crowd—Does Crowdfunding Affect Venture Capitalists’ Selection of Entrepreneurial Ventures?

Given the increasing popularity of crowdfunding as a new means to finance entrepreneurial ventures, we assess whether and how crowdfunding campaign‐specific signals that affect campaign success influence venture capitalists’ selection decisions in ventures’ follow‐up funding process. Our study relies on cross‐referencing a proprietary data set of 56,000 crowdfunding campaigns that ran on Kickstarter between 2009 and 2016 with 100,000 investments in the same period from the Crunchbase data set. Drawing on signaling theory and the microfinance literature, our empirical findings reveal that a successful crowdfunding campaign leads to a higher likelihood to receive follow‐up venture capital (VC) financing, and that there exists an inverted U‐shaped relationship between the funding‐ratio and the probability to receive VC funding. Further, we find statistical evidence that an endorsement by the platform provider has a likewise positive impact on the receipt of VC. Contrary to our expectations, word‐of‐mouth volume seems to be a negligible factor when it comes to follow‐up VC financing. Our results support the view that crowdfunding signals are factored into the VC’s funding decision in order to evaluate the potential of entrepreneurial ventures.     

Does backward participation in global value chains affect countries’ current account position?

Review of World Economics - This paper addresses the impact of countries’ backward participation in global value chains (GVCs) on their current account balances. Our results, based on a large...     

Determinants of the growth aspiration: a quantitative study of Venezuelan entrepreneurs

The article examines the determinants of the growth aspiration of Venezuelan entrepreneurs. We use the GEM database and build an econometric model based on a set of exogenous variables grouped into three large categories: contextual or environmental factors, individual factors and business variables. Given the Venezuelan specific characteristics, we place a particular focus on understanding the differences between entrepreneurs belonging or not to the BoP. The primary findings of this work are the identification of the variables that explain growth aspiration, namely, belonging to the BoP, gender, education, motivation and years of study and some additional variables where individual factors interact with the contextual factor BoP. The second finding is that there are significant differences for the entrepreneurs belonging and not belonging to the BoP, with a threshold where the entrepreneurs of the BoP become averse to continuing to aspire to growth. Practical and policy implications are elaborated with the results.     

Corporate social responsibility and bank risk profile: evidence from Europe

This study analyzes the impact of risk profile on sustainability reporting and its quality in European banks. Financial institutions (FI) play a social role in the financial inclusion process and incorporate environmental considerations into credit risk assessment, making corporate social responsibility (CSR)-related issues vital for risk management systems. FI with lower capital risk, higher liquidity risk, higher profitability in banking, and higher sensitivity to market risk tend to issue CSR reports. The findings suggest that FI with lower profitability in banking disclose higher quality CSR financial services sector (FSS)-specific information, whereas FI not submitting CSR reports for external assurance or having their CSR reports assured by certain auditors issue lower quality CSR/FSS-specific information.     

Credit and inflation under borrower?s lack of commitment

In this paper we study the effects of monetary policy on privately supplied credit in model economies where money is needed for transaction purposes and agents who default on their loans cannot participate in the credit market but are allowed to accumulate money. In our deterministic benchmark economy where agents alternate in productivity, credit has the role of smoothing consumption. We show that deflation crowds out credit completely. The reason is that deflation increases the value of being excluded from the credit market and eliminates the incentive to repay loans. When inflation is positive but low, credit, consumption smoothing and welfare increase with inflation, until inflation reaches a threshold at which the allocation is efficient and money becomes superneutral.     

It’s a matter of congruence: How interpersonal identification between sales managers and salespersons shapes sales success

In recent years, marketing research and practice have recognized the importance of managing frontline employees’ identification. However, investigations so far have focused on identification at the collective level of the self, such as organizational identification, thereby largely neglecting important interpersonal identification processes at the relational level. Using a large-scale dataset comprising information from sales managers and salespeople as well as company data on customer satisfaction and sales performance, the authors make a first attempt to address this neglect by exploring important phenomena of interpersonal identification in the sales manager–salesperson dyad. Results show that initial increases in the level of identification congruence between sales managers and their respective salespeople yield positive incremental effects on sales performance and customer satisfaction. Findings also show that interpersonal over-identification and identification incongruence are negatively related to both outcomes. Results demonstrate how sales managers could mitigate these negative effects.