Distributive trade and regional productivity growth

The paper aims to investigate the relationship between distributive trade (wholesale and retail trade) and productivity growth across Italian provinces. In most studies, the potential determinants of productivity in the distributive trade have been investigated, while the impact of these activities on economic growth of the whole system has received less attention. By using panel data during the time period 2000–2013, the paper tests if the increase in the share of employees in distributive trade over the given period has promoted the productivity growth. This study applies both a random-effects model and, among the dynamic panel data estimators, a generalized method of moments estimator (GMM). In order to control both the issue of endogeneity, due to the presence of some potentially endogenous variables among the explanatory variables, and the problem of instrument proliferation, the GMM estimator is implemented together with a statistical method, which reduces the number of instruments when the set of endogenous variables is wide. The findings show that the distributive trade has a strong positive impact on the productivity growth. Moreover, this link is reinforced when we control the potential endogeneity. The results also support the idea that distributive trade can promote provincial convergence.     

青岛的帆船之梦正在疾行

"我为青岛在推进帆船运动上所投入的精力,以及决心,感到敬佩和震惊."身为<基尔新闻报>主编的博肯穆尔说.     

The elephant in the room of dynamic capabilities: Bringing two diverging conversations together

A critical issue has been absent from the conversation on dynamic capabilities: the two seminal papers represent not only different but contradictory understandings of the construct's core elements. Here, we explore the reasons for this, using author cocitation analysis to inform our analysis. Our findings suggest that the field is being socially constructed on the basis of two separate domains of knowledge and that underlying structural impediments have impeded dialog across the domains. In light of this evidence, then, we take up the challenge to find a solution to this dilemma. By employing a contingency‐based approach, we show that there are ways to unify the field that rely, paradoxically, on integrating the two contradictory views, while still preserving the assumptions that led to their differences. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attitudes to risk and attitudes to uncertainty: experimental evidence

In a series of experiments the interactions among individual attitudes towards risk and uncertainty, the sign of the outcome domain, and the way uncertainty is represented are tested. This is done in a unified framework, eliciting individual values by means of a second price auction. Results confirm the presence of the well-known fourfold pattern of risk attitude (risk aversion for gains and risk seeking for losses at high probability, and risk seeking for gains and risk aversion for losses at low probability) and show that this pattern can also be extended to uncertainty. In the valuation of losses the modal pattern is decreasing risk and uncertainty aversion as the probability of loss increases, while increasing risk and uncertainty aversion is observed for gains. Moreover, it is found that the size of reaction to uncertainty does not depend on the outcome domain, and that it persists in the face of an incentive-compatible mechanism to elicit preferences.