The assembly industries in Haiti: Causes and effects, 1967–1973

Conclusion We have seen that beginning with 1967 the assembly industries in Haiti have expanded extremely rapidly because of the availability of low cost and trainable labor, of the favorable treatment accorded to American components assembled abroad under Item 807 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States, and to a lesser degree because of extremely generous tax incentives offered by the Haitian government to firms engaged in the sector. The Haitian share of total imports under this item into the United States increased from less than 0.1% in 1967 to 0.75% in 1973. It seems likely that in the medium term, the expansion of this sector will continue and that Haiti, with its labor surplus and the absence of pressures emanating from unions, will remain an attractive site for off-shore assemblies by American firms.     

Employee ambidexterity,high performance work systems and innovative work behaviour: How much balance do we need?

Abstract

This study examines whether and how innovative work behaviour is related to explorative and exploitative activities. Polynomial regression analyses are used to test the relationship between ambidexterity (being engaged in explorative and exploitative activities in equal amounts) and innovative work behaviour, as well as between specialisation (being engaged in either explorative or exploitative activities) and innovative work behaviour. Furthermore, we use moderated polynomial regression analyses to examine a possible moderating effect of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on these relationships. Results indicate that balance at a high level, as well as specialisation, are conducive to innovative work behaviour. A moderating effect of HPWS was not supported by our data.     

Corporate social responsibility and employee outcomes: The role of country context

This study examined the association between employee perceptions of two foci of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and work attitudes in different countries. Using data collected as part of a multinational research project with a core team in the United States, we found that perceptions of externally focused CSR enactment were positively associated with employee engagement and affective commitment. Perceptions of internally focused CSR enactment were positively associated with affective commitment but not with employee engagement. Analyses across countries revealed more cultural than economic differences. For example, perceptions of internally focused CSR enactment were consistently associated with affective commitment across cultural contexts, indicating that they might serve as a general foundation for building commitment. Perceptions of externally focused CSR were more strongly associated with affective commitment in Anglo than in Confucian and Latin American countries, suggesting a need for country-specific tailoring. Based on these results, we provided recommendations for planning and implementation of CSR.     

On the cyclicality of unemployment: Resurrecting the participation margin

This paper considers a real business cycle model with search frictions in the labor market and labor supply which is elastic along the participation margin. Previous authors have found that such models generate counterfactually procyclical unemployment and a positively sloped Beveridge curve. This paper presents a calibrated model which succeeds at generating countercyclical unemployment and a negatively sloped Beveridge curve, despite the presence of a participation margin.     

Forecasting US Air Travelers to Europe,Caribbean and Asia

Travel and tourism are among the most important economic contributors to most, if not all, countries. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the number of international arrivals showed remarkable growth, from 25 million international arrivals in 1950 to 699 million in 2000. This indicates an average annual growth rate of 7%. In the same period, tourism receipts recorded an average annual growth rate of 11%. In 2002, international tourism generated worldwide receipts of US$474 billion, corresponding to US$1.3 billion a day or US$675 per tourist arrival. In view of the important role that international tourism plays in the global economy, this research applied four time-series forecasting techniques to project the trend of US air travelers, a major source market, to Europe, Caribbean and Asia, the three leading outbound markets (second to Canada and Mexico) from the US in the period 2003–2005. Experimental outcomes reveal declining trends. This paper discusses the underlying factors for such trends. Lastly, this paper ends with a detailed discussion on policy implications.     

INCOMPLETE MARKETS IN INFINITE HORIZON: DEBT CONSTRAINTS VERSUS NODE PRICES1

The general equilibrium model with incomplete markets is here extended to infinite horizon economies populated by a finite number of infinitely lived agents. the crucial issue that divides the infinite horizon setting from the finite horizon setting is in the nature of borrowing constraints, which added to spot constraints, define a plausible budget set for individual agents. the paper relates seven alternative definitions of equilibrium and states corresponding equilibrium existence theorems when assets are one-period and purely financial.     

On the existence of equilibria in economies with an infinite dimensional commodity space

We prove an infinite dimensional extension of the Gale–Nikaido–Debreu lemma which includes all necessary limiting processes and allows a proof of the existence of equilibria under standard assumptions in an economy with infinitely many commodities which exactly parallels the proof of Debreu (1959) for the finite dimensional case.     

Risk taking by agents: The role of ex-ante and ex-post accountability

We study the role of accountability in situations where an agent makes risky decisions for a principal. We observe that in the absence of accountability, agents choose less risk averse investments for the principal than investors who invest for their own account. Accountability mitigates the observed decrease in risk aversion. Differences are observed between situations where agents are accountable for their decision (“ex-ante”) and where they are accountable for the outcome (“ex-post”).