Handling Missing Data by Re-approaching Non-respondents

When handling missing data, a researcher should be aware of the mechanism underlying the missingness. In the presence of non-randomly missing data, a model of the missing data mechanism should be included in the analyses to prevent the analyses based on the data from becoming biased. Modeling the missing data mechanism, however, is a difficult task. One way in which knowledge about the missing data mechanism may be obtained is by collecting additional data from non-respondents. In this paper the method of re-approaching respondents who did not answer all questions of a questionnaire is described. New answers were obtained from a sample of these non-respondents and the reason(s) for skipping questions was (were) probed for. The additional data resulted in a larger sample and was used to investigate the differences between respondents and non-respondents, whereas probing for the causes of missingness resulted in more knowledge about the nature of the missing data patterns.     

Testing tariff endogeneity in Japan: A comparison of pre- and post-war periods

This paper tests an endogenous tariff model for Japan (1890–1970). Using a vector autoregression (VAR), I find that tariff changes are endogenous in the post-war period. Rather than being designed to promote economic activity, this suggests that tariffs respond to macroeconomic disturbances.     

The role of employee participation in generating and commercialising innovations: insights from Chinese high-tech firms

To date, employee participation finds very little recognition in China in research as well as in management practice. It seems to fundamentally contradict traditional values in Chinese culture. The effect of employee participation on innovation is completely unknown, not only for China, but also for many other emerging economies. In contrast, employee participation finds a lot of recognition in the western world for quite some while. Research suggests that employee participation is particularly relevant for innovations in skilled labour contexts, which are becoming increasingly important also for China. Based on a survey of 620 medium-sized and large companies we are investigating the effect of employee participation on innovation generation and commercialisation in China. In the formulation of our hypotheses we take the moderating effects of incentives into account. The contribution of this article is to give evidence on the explanation power of the western concept of employee participation outside the western world. This allows for a better understanding of the robustness of the concept towards cultural context factors.     

The effect of rent control on commute times

This paper adds to the empirical literature on rent control. We hypothesize that rent control affects commute times. New Jersey census tract data (from the Urban Institute/Geolytics Neighborhood Change Database) show a positive and statistically significant relationship between rent control and commute times for 1980, 1990 and 2000. For 1980 and 1990, we confirm that it is a lack of household mobility that is behind the longer commutes. For 2000, detailed rent control data allow an examination of the consequences of the specific type of vacancy decontrol legislation. The most restrictive ordinances have the strongest effect on commute times.