Female participation in African labor markets: The role of information and communication technologies

This article investigates the effects of information and communication technologies (ICT) on female labor force participation in a sample of 48 African countries. We specify and estimate linear regression and dynamic panel data models with fixed effects (FE) and system-generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) estimation over the period 2001–2017. The three main results are that ICT use (mobile phone and internet) significantly stimulates female labor force participation in Africa; this effect is enhanced by financial development and female education; the effect of ICT on female employment in Africa is strongest in the industrial sector. These results remain robust to the provision of social, cultural, and institutional variables.     

A simplified pricing model for volatility futures

We develop a general model to price VIX futures contracts. The model is adapted to test both the constant elasticity of variance (CEV) and the Cox–Ingersoll–Ross formulations, with and without jumps. Empirical tests on VIX futures prices provide out‐of‐sample estimates within 2% of the actual futures price for almost all futures maturities. We show that although jumps are present in the data, the models with jumps do not typically outperform the others; in particular, we demonstrate the important benefits of the CEV feature in pricing futures contracts. We conclude by examining errors in the model relative to the VIX characteristics. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 31:307–339, 2011     

Factors affecting brainstorming: towards the development of diagnostic tools for assessment of creative performance

To test a model of creative behaviour in teams, twenty five problem-solving groups were assembled from a Business School graduate programme, trained in creative problem-solving techniques and given a realistic product development task. Self-assessment ratings were collected for factors perceived as influencing performance. Three experienced trainers rated the ideas produced. Four major factors were identified from the self-assessed statements, each mentioned as positive and negative influences. The study provides a foundation for developing diagnostic tools for assessing creative performance in problem-solving teams, and gives pointers to factors which are important for improving performance.     

Fritz Redlich, 1892-1978: The Man and the Scholar

A bstract . Fritz Redlich (1892-1978) played a leading role in the development of the analytic approach in history and in establishing the new institutional history that combines entrepreneurial and business history and sociology. A member, in economics , of the German historical school , he spent 16 years in the chemical industry before the triumph of Nazism forced him to emigrate from Germany in 1936. After teaching at various colleges until 1942, he spent the rest of his life doing research in the libraries of Harvard University , producing several notable works in economic history , including a classical study of American banking , and pioneering in entrepreneurial history.     

The Impact of International Trade and Protection on Australian Manufacturing Employment

The labour market consequences of trade and protection have only recently come under the scrutiny of labour economists. This paper seeks to accomplish two things - to survey the recent research and to provide estimates of the effect that reductions in effective rates of assistance afforded to Australia's manufacturing industries have had on employment. Recent labour market developments reveal a downward trend in manufacturing employment levels. The declines appear to have been associated with lower levels of assistance. However, the estimates of the effect of lower levels of protection are generally small - about a one per cent reduction in employment for each ten per cent reduction in the effective rate of industry assistance. In addition, the manufacturing employment developments appear to be only weakly linked to real wage resistance. Overall, an overriding impression from the find ings presented in this paper is the strength of the structural adjustments ongoing in Australia     

The meaning of the tindemans report

In INTERECONOMICS No. 3, 1976, we published an Interview with Professor Dr Walter Hallstein, former President of the EEC Commission, on the Belgian Prime Minister’s, Leo Tindemans’, “Report on the European Union”. Meanwhile the Report has been discussed on occasion of the last European Council meeting in Luxembourg whose unfortunate outcome pointed out in a dramatic way the weakness of the political will of the Community. In the following article the President of the Council, Gaston Thorn, explains his views of the significance of the so-called “Tindemans Report”.     

SheBelieves,but does she? Complicating white women’s understandings of the postfeminist-neoliberal empowerment discourse

Abstract

Though the academic literature focused on postfeminism, neoliberalism, and the relationship between the two is considerable, there is little exploration of these conjoined discourses as they relate to leisure culture in general, and women’s sporting lives in particular. At the level of lived experience, scholars have yet to empirically examine how women engage and are affected by the empowerment discourse punctuating many aspects of postfeminism. This study uses the U.S. Soccer Federation’s 2015 SheBelieves Campaign as an empirical site for critically examining women’s attitudes toward, and experiences of, issues of empowerment, feminism, and sexism associated with what scholars have labelled the postfeminist-neoliberal moment (McRobbie, 2009 McRobbie, A. (2009). The aftermath of feminism; gender, culture and social change. London, England: Sage. [Google Scholar]; Rottenberg, 2014 Rottenberg, C. (2014). The rise of neoliberal feminism. Cultural Studies, 28(3), 418–437. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2013.857361[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Working at the intersection of leisure studies, feminism, and physical cultural studies, this research provides a window into the complicated, and sometimes contradictory, ways women view and experience neoliberal empowerment discourses within and through sporting elements of their leisure lifestyles.