MNEs and policy networks: Institutional embeddedness and strategic choice

Political strategies are a crucial matter for MNEs in the context of globalization. We argue that MNEs’ influence on political decision-making depends on their insertion into policy networks, which define the institutional framework and the interaction patterns of business/government relations in different issue-areas. Then, we propose a stylized taxonomy regarding the differentiation of MNEs’ political leverage in various domains, at a home country level. Finally, we explore the influence of political power at home on MNEs’ strategic approaches to the host countries, taking into account the bargaining power of local actors in the concerned issue-areas.     

The Effects of Trade Liberalization in Textiles and Clothing on the Greek Market for Cotton Yarn: A Multi-Market Analysis

The Uruguay Round (1987–95) signaled the end of the Multifiber Agreement for textiles and clothing. The quota regime, in place since 1974, was decided, according to the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, to be gradually eliminated by the year 2005. As a result, prices of cotton-yarn in the world markets decreased, affecting producers in all cotton-yarn exporting countries, including Greece. At the same time, the labor cost in western industrialized countries remained high, or even increased, exerting further pressure on yarn producers. The present paper examines these changes for the cotton-yarn industry in Greece. We use a multi-market partial-equilibrium model which allows us to take into account simultaneous input and output price changes, relevant for the industry under study. Findings show that, after the implementation of the program for the gradual elimination of quotas, producers' welfare decreased whereas consumers noted substantial increases in welfare transfers.     

Marginal values of water quantity and quality variations

A model is presented that incorporates water quantity and quality aspects and a market-based system is developed to characterize optimum water allocations between two regions or countries. A methodology is developed to compute an optimal policy that could support an interregional optimum water quantity and quality allocation in case that the relevant authorities of both regions agreed to impose it. The methodology is illustrated using the case of the Nestos river in the Balkans.     

Modelling profits and industrial investment in postwar Greece

This article examines the two contrasting phases of the industrial capital accumulation in postwar Greece. It is argued that the phase of rapid accumulation can be explained by the emergence and consolidation of institutionalized power relations that comprised the Greek social structure of accumulation (SSA). The deindustrialization process that followed can be explained as the result of the demise of the very same institutional setting. A recursive system of two equations models the SSA-profitability-accumulation nexus. The profit rate is found to be highly sensitive to changes in the (quantified) dimensions of the power relations. The capital accumulation rate, in turn, is found to be sensitive to expected profitability, capital cost, and volatility of international trade.     

The pattern and predictors of intentionally inflicted injuries on Greek adults; data from an Emergency Injury Surveillance System (EDISS)

Background Intentional injuries due to violence are both a social and a public health problem in most societies. This study assesses the patterns and some of the sociodemographic determinants of violence-related injuries among Greek adults. Methods Data recorded by the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System (EDISS) during the two-year period 1996-1997 were used. This database relies on all age injury data collected in the emergency departments of three sentinel hospitals, covering both urban and rural population areas. Results Among 52026 recorded injuries, 1322 (3%) were violence related, excluding self-inflicted injuries, while the majority of injuries (28269) were attributed to home and leisure accidents. Weapons of any type were used only in 5% of violence-related injuries. In comparison to home and leisure injuries, the intentionally inflicted injuries occurred more frequently among men, among those 25-54 years old, and were particularly common among migrants and during late night and early morning hours. Violence-related injuries frequently occur in pubs, restaurants, cafeterias and other places of entertainment. However, 52% of violence-related injuries among women occurred at home. Intentional injuries were generally more severe than unintentional ones. Conclusions We conclude that violence is not a negligible public health problem in the Greek population, but is considerably less serious than in most other developed countries. In particular, firearms-related injuries represent a very small fraction of the generally low incidence of violence-related injuries in this Mediterranean country.     

Exploring Convenience Food Consumption Through a Structural Equation Model

In this study the model of convenience orientation suggested by Scholderer and Grunert (2005 Scholderer, J. and Grunert, K. G. 2005. Consumers, food and convenience: The long way from resource constraints to actual consumption patterns. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26: 105–128. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) is applied in order to examine consumer behavior in the context of convenience food usage. The empirical results indicate that sociodemographic characteristics affect behavior both directly and indirectly through perceived time resources and convenience orientation toward meal preparation and clearing up. Findings seem to be important for all the bodies involved in the marketing of convenience food products because they describe the way various consumer characteristics interact, affecting the consumption of such products.     

Unit root testing against an ST–MTAR alternative: finite-sample properties and an application to the UK housing market

A class of smooth transition momentum-threshold autoregressive (ST–MTAR) tests is proposed to allow testing of the unit root hypothesis against an alternative of asymmetric adjustment about a smooth nonlinear trend. Monte-Carlo simulation is employed to derive finite-sample critical values for the proposed test and illustrate its attractive power properties against a range of stationary alternatives. The empirical relevance of the ST–MTAR test is highlighted via an application to aggregate house price data for the UK. Interestingly, house prices are found to exhibit structural change characterized a fitted logistic smooth transition process, with the newly proposed ST–MTAR test providing the most significant results of the alternative smooth transition unit root tests available.     

Economic integration,market discipline and productivity growth in Spain

This paper explores the changes on productivity growth, economies of scale and market discipline experienced by a selected number of Spanish manufacturing industries as a result of the 1986?–?92 integration of Spain into the European Union. Since the intra-union trade liberalization process spanned a seven-year, multi-stage, adhesion period we employ a model with a smooth transition variable to account fully for its impact. An additional model that uses separate sets of dummy variables captures differences in the regression estimates during the transitional and liberalized periods. In both model specifications we find strong evidence of increases in returns to scale and reductions in producers' mark-ups, whereas productivity growth increases are found to be small and uneven.