Housework and the Wages of Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Workers

This article uses samples of young, middle-aged, and older married workers drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine whether the effect of housework time on wages differs among these age groups. Results from OLS, fixed effects, and panel data instrumental variables models show that young and middle-aged wives are the only groups for which the authors find consistent evidence of a housework effect on wages. Each additional hour of housework reduces their wages by 0.1–0.4%. Additionally, the analysis finds evidence that for young workers, housework time is an important determinant of the male/female wage gap. (JEL J16 , J22 , J31 )     

Drainwater Management for Salinity Mitigation in Irrigated Agriculture

Salinity and drainage management options include source control, reuse, and evaporation ponds. This article identifies efficient strategies to maintain hydrologic balance in closed drainage basins and evaluates their impact on regional agricultural profits. Theoretical analysis suggests that economic efficiency requires acknowledgment of the nonseparability between water use and land value. Empirically, our solution involves a modest amount of source control, a substantial amount of reuse, and the elimination of evaporation ponds often associated with large environmental damages, while maintaining grower income. Various policy instruments and options are introduced and discussed, including a system of drainwater charges, marketable permits, and land retirement.     

The involvement and influence of emotions in problematic business relationships

This paper discusses emotions as mediators in business-to-business relationships which is an understudied topic. Yet within consumer marketing, emotions have been widely studied, and calls have been made for business relationship research to take account of managers' emotions. This study addresses the gap by firstly establishing the relevance of emotions in problematic business relationships and secondly showing how emotions are a major component in determining the outcomes of the problematic relationships. Interview data in the form of narratives describing problematic relationships is analyzed and identifies both the emotions experienced by participants and their role in the future course of the business relationship.     

Local Economic Performance and Election Outcomes

This paper uses a logit model to test whether voters will alter their support for incumbents in state level elections, specifically gubernatorial and state house and senate elections, when local (i.e., county) economic conditions are observed. The results signify that voters do hold the incumbent party responsible for economic conditions. Furthermore, voters tend to place more emphasis on unemployment levels than on real personal income indicating that incumbent politicians might want to engage in policies that put people to work rather than on policies that raise income. The results also suggest that voters did not hold their state house and senate representative as responsible for local economic conditions as they did the governor.     

Heterogeneity and the FDI versus export decision of Japanese manufacturers

We investigate whether productivity differences explain why some manufacturers sell only to the domestic market while others serve foreign markets through exports and/or FDI. When overseas production offers no cost advantages, our model predicts that investors should be more productive than exporters. An extension allowing for low-cost foreign production can reverse this prediction. Data for 1070 large Japanese firms reveal that firms that invest abroad and export are more productive than firms that just export. Among overseas investors, more productive firms span a wider range of host-country income levels. J. Japanese Int. Economies 17 (4) (2003) 448–467.