欠发达地区新农村建设与农村公共产品供给

农村公共产品的供给对欠发达地区新农村建设意义重大，而现阶段欠发达地区农村公共产品供给却存在着供给观念滞后、供给主体单一、城乡之间供给的不公平性以及监督管理体制的缺失等突出问题。如何解决这些问题。主要应从转变观念、引入市场机制和社会力量、建立城乡一体化的公共产品供给体系、创新农村行政管理制度等方面入手。以此推动欠发达地区新农村建设的进程。     

State Trading Enterprises as an Impediment to Improved Market Access: The Case of the Korean Rice Market

The trade and welfare effects of tariffs are well known. Less well known, and more difficult to analyze, are the economic effects of state trading enterprises (STEs). Despite STEs in importing countries having the potential to limit market access, they are no longer on the agriculture agenda in the Doha Round Negotiations in the WTO, because some Members have asserted that importing STEs do not distort international trade. We evaluate this assertion through the use of a theoretical model of an STE, which is calibrated to data for the Korean rice market. We show that this STE does distort international trade by restricting market access relative to a Cournot benchmark, and that it affects the domestic and international distribution of social welfare. This finding permits the conclusion that an important opportunity is being missed in the negotiations to improve market access, because importing STEs are not on the agenda.     

Tourism as an alternative source of regional growth in Portugal: a panel data analysis at NUTS II and III levels

The role of tourism is of vital economic importance, particularly for small countries with a privileged geographical location and favourable weather conditions. This paper examines the importance of tourism as a conditioning factor for higher regional growth in Portugal by employing the conditional convergence hypothesis of Barro and Sala-i-Martin, associated with the endogenous growth theory. The panel data estimation approach provides evidence of the positive impact of tourism (through the accommodation capacity) on the growth in per-capita income among the Portuguese regions, increasing the rate of convergence. Therefore, tourism can be considered as an alternative source for stimulating higher regional growth in Portugal, if the supply characteristics of this sector are improved.     

A theoretical model of the relationship between value added elements and end product

This paper focuses on the development of a theoretical scheme describing the transformation of primary incomes into end consumption and savings in the Russian economy. This scheme is basically a system of interrelated tables reflecting the distribution of primary incomes across the institutional sectors and their further reallocation and use. The scheme makes allowances for the specific features of the Russian economy and existing statistics. In terms of methodology, it is coordinated with the interindustry balance in current buyer prices and, from the theoretical standpoint, describes the connection between Quadrant II and Quadrant III of the balance. Therefore, the proposed system of tables is treated in the paper as Quadrant IV of the interindustry balance. The theoretical scheme is used by the authors as a necessary basis for constructing an empirical model of the relationship between value added and end product, which will be published in the next issue of this journal.     

A History of the D–Mark's Real External Value

An equilibrium time path of the real effective exchange rate of Germany's currency in the post Bretton Woods period is calculated. For this purpose, a NATREX model for the long–run determination of this specific variable is developed. A cointegration analysis gives evidence in favour of the model and provides the equilibrium values. The theoretical and empirical results are used to analyse in detail movements in the real exchange rate of the D–Mark. Estimation results suggest, among other things, that the D–Mark has mostly been overvalued and that it often adjusted with some delay to changes in the fundamentals.     

Work Relationships in Telephone Call Centres: Understanding Emotional Exhaustion and Employee Withdrawal

This paper examines the nature of employment and the conditions of work in five telephone call centres in the telecommunications industry in Australia. Call centre work typically requires high levels of sustained interpersonal interaction with customers which can lead to burnout and employee withdrawal. Customer service staff can also become targets of customer hostility and abuse. In addition, this form of work tends to involve extensive employee monitoring and surveillance with little job discretion or variety of tasks. The paper draws upon survey data from 480 telephone service operators to identify the factors that are associated with emotional exhaustion and the frequency of absence amongst the employees. A modelling of the data using LISREL VIII revealed that a number of job and work-setting variables affected the level of emotional exhaustion of employees. These included interactions with the customer, a high workload and a lack of variety of work tasks. Moreover, higher rates of absence were associated with emotional exhaustion.     

The effects of network groups on minority employee turnover intentions

Companies in the United States are concerned with retaining minority employees to maintain or increase the diversity of their workforce. Here we assess the value of one approach companies have used to retain minority employees: “network” groups. Based on data obtained from a large company with extensive network groups, this study compares the turnover intentions of minority employees who have joined one of the company's network groups to those who have not joined one of the company's network groups. The data show that employee network groups can be useful in helping companies retain managerial‐level minority employees. Extensive recommendations are provided to help organizations maximize the effectiveness of network groups. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Benefits and barriers of telework: perception differences of human resources managers according to company's operations strategy

Telework as an integration of Information and Telecommunication Technologies with Human Resources management, means a new job organisation paradigm for companies working in the New Economy. However there are very few empirical studies that have analysed the perception differences of telework benefits and barriers in industrial and service companies. This paper contributes with empirical data to the relationship between the use of telework techniques and the implementation of this new work organisation with the company's operations strategy. The paper uses data from Spanish companies to test the relationship between innovation, employee training, and other production strategy performance parameters with the feasibility of telework adoption.     

Software innovativeness: outcomes on project performance, knowledge enhancement, and external linkages

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between product innovativeness and groups of outcomes flowing from the computer software product development process and the associated knowledge acquisition process. Data from interviews of managers in 94 software projects are analysed, and three groups of outcomes are measured: project performance, knowledge enhancement, and the strengthening of linkages to external actors/sources. The high innovative products show higher project performance for all measures of project performance compared with low innovative products. Similar results were found for all measures of personnel knowledge enhancement outcomes. Changes in the importance of linkages to nine different external sources of knowledge used by the firms during the knowledge acquisition process, also show some positive outcomes with respect to rising innovativeness levels. Strengthening of external linkages is found for 66% of the investigated linkages between one or two innovativeness levels. Of these, the linkages to hardware manufacturers, co-operation partners, and universities and other research institutions show strengthening when high innovativeness products are compared with low-level products. As the project performance and knowledge enhancement outcomes are due, in part, to knowledge gained within linkages to external actors/sources, managers could consider whether giving special attention to managing these linkages would be a winning innovation strategy for their particular firm.