The Rise and Fall of Foreign Direct Investment in Laos, 1988‐2000

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has played an important role in the development of Laos since the country embarked on an economic transition and business liberalisation programme in the late 1980s. However, in recent years Laos has witnessed a marked contraction in its cumulative FDI inflows. This article provides a profile of FDI activity in Laos over the past decade and identifies the various factors behind the rise, and subsequent decline, in foreign investment inflows during the 1990s. The article concludes by suggesting some of the ways in which Lao policy makers might seek to revive the country's flagging FDI sector.     

Interpreting cross-section and time-series tests of convergence: the case of labor productivity in manufacturing

This paper investigates whether a disaggregated measure, labor productivity in manufacturing, is converging across eight OECD countries during the period 1950–1998 using both cross-section and time series tests of convergence. The evidence indicates convergence using either test for the full sample, but tests over subperiods suggest that the dynamics of the underlying series change from economies in transition in the early years to economies in balanced, but parallel, growth paths in the later period. The results confirm that the appropriate test for convergence depends on the underlying structure of the data.     

Unethical,neurotic, or both? A psychoanalytic account of ethical failures within organizations

This paper aims to integrate insights from psychoanalytic theory into business ethics research on the sources of ethical failures within organizations. We particularly draw from the analysis of sources and outcomes of neurotic processes that are part of human development, as described by the psychoanalyst Karen Horney and more recently by Manfred Kets de Vries; we interpret their insights from a stakeholder theory perspective. Business ethics research seems to have overlooked how “neurotic management styles” could be the antecedents of unethical behavior within organizations. After showing the connection between five managerial neuroses and the corresponding potential ethical failures within organizations that have been already identified within business ethics research, we suggest three organizational strategies to counteract these failures. First, we argue that managers should pay greater attention at the complexity of human motivation, avoiding the simplistic view of compliance‐based approaches. Second, we discuss the importance of developing a conversation around values within organizations, enabling healthy individual growth and limiting the emergence of neurotic processes. Finally, we discuss the role of the business ethicist in facilitating such a process, suggesting a parallel between the role of the business ethicist and that of the psychoanalytic therapist.     

The prevalence and co-occurrence of psychiatric conditions among entrepreneurs and their families

Small Business Economics - Psychiatric conditions and sub-threshold psychiatric temperaments may influence entrepreneurs’ affect, cognition, energy, motivation, circadian rhythms, activity...     

Natural Resources and Missing Inputs in International Productivity Comparisons*

Standard theory for cross-country productivity comparisons assumes all countries use the same factor inputs in production. This assumption is violated when including natural resources, such as oil, gas and gold, because countries do not extract the full set of resources. In this paper we propose a solution by viewing it as a “missing goods” problem and assigning missing inputs a reservation price equal to the world resource price. We show that this has a substantial impact on relative productivity levels for countries heavily reliant on natural resources for generating their income. Under our new productivity measure, resource-rich countries are no longer uncommonly productive.     

Organizational downsizing as convergence or reorientation: Implications for human resource management

This article proposes that there are two basic approaches to organizational downsizing. Downsizing as reorientation is the proper approach when organizations undertake major downsizing programs. In this approach, many elements of the organization are questioned and changed simultaneously. The goal is a fundamentally different, not just smaller, organization. Downsizing as convergence is part of continuous improvement, and its goal is to refine and streamline all ongoing organizational processes. Each of these approaches to downsizing involves a particular pattern of downsizing tactics, implementation processes, and organizational changes. Thus, each approach to downsizing generates different implications for human resource management.     

The optimal quantity of money: A reconciliation

Despite the apparent disagreement of Samuelson's (1958) overlapping generations model and Townsend's (1980) turnpike model on the optimal quantity of money, in both: (i) those endowed at the start with goods prefer a constant money stock, and (ii) those endowed at the start with fiat money prefer deflation.     

Trickling Down the Rising Tide: New Estimates of the Link between Poverty and the Macroeconomy

This paper uses pooled time-series regressions of regional data to reexamine the link between poverty and the macroeconomy. The use of disaggregated data provides additional degrees of freedom and permits the inclusion of controls for demographic changes and increased income inequality. The results indicate a stronger relationship between poverty rates and the macroeconomy in the 1980s than that found in prior research and confirm that the dramatic reduction in unemployment during the late 1990s was instrumental in reducing poverty rates. The estimated results for the 1990s imply a 0.4-0.9% increase in the poverty rate for each 1% increase in the unemployment rate.