The effect of corruption on the manufacturing sector in India

This article investigates the effects of corruption on the performance of the manufacturing sector at the state level in India. We employ conviction rates of corruption-related cases as an instrument for the extent of corruption, address the underreporting problem, and examine the impact of corruption on the gross value added per worker, total factor productivity, and capital-labor ratio of three-digit manufacturing industries in each state. Our estimation results show that corruption reduces gross value added per worker and total factor productivity. Furthermore, we show that the adverse effects of corruption are more salient in industries with smaller average firm size.     

Metaheuristic algorithms for the multistage hybrid flowshop scheduling problem

We consider the multistage hybrid flowshop scheduling problem, in which each stage consists of parallel identical machines. The problem is to determine a schedule that minimizes the makespan for a given set of jobs over a finite planning horizon. Since this problem class is NP-hard in the strong sense, there seems to be no escape from appealing to heuristic procedures to achieve near-optimal solutions to real life problems. First, a series of new global lower bounds to be used to estimate the minimum makespan are derived. Then, two new metaheuristic algorithms first sequence and then allocate jobs to machines based on a particular partition of the shop. The optimization procedure is based on simulated annealing and the variable-depth search. Computational experiments show the efficiency of the proposed procedures.     

A probabilistic model of location choice with neighborhood effects

This paper tries to develop a probabilistic model of location choice by many types of individuals who interact among themselves in the presence of neighborhood effects. Equilibrium is defined as an allocation of individuals among locations such that for every type of individuals the selection probability for each location is equal to the proportion of individuals actually choosing the location in question. The existence of equilibrium is proved under usual continuity assumptions. The equilibrium is shown to be unique and stable in the presence of neighborhood effects, if the degree of externality is sufficiently small.     

Interregional Inequalities in Indonesia: A Sectoral Decomposition Analysis for 1975–92

In this paper we examine interregional income inequalities in Indonesia from 1975 to 1992, Williamson's weighted coefficient of variation is used to measure interregional income inequality. We also perform a sectoral decomposition analysis to investigate the extent to which industrial sectors contribute to the overall weighted coefficient of variation. One major finding is that, although interregional income inequality remained fairly stable in non-mining GDP during the study period, it has undergone a significant change in structure. The contribution of the tertiary sector to inequality, though still dominant, has gradually declined. The secondary sector, meanwhile, is playing an increasingly important role, reflecting its growing share of GDP. Inequality is much smaller in consumption expenditure than in non-mining GDP. Its consistently high levels in fixed capital formation reflect the uneven distribution of investments over space in Indonesia.     

A note on land use in a square city

This paper considers a two-dimensional rectangular city with a grid road system, including a square city as a special case, and then derives a simple equilibrium traffic pattern in the case of constant road width. We maintain that while land-use decisions using market rents would lead to overallocation of land to transportation in our square city as in the Solow Vickrey long narrow city, the tendency towards excessive road-building is stronger near the city boundaries than at the city center in our two-dimensional case, contrary to the conclusion drawn from the Solow Vickrey model.     

Bartlett correction to the likelihood ratio test for MCAR with two‐step monotone sample

Assuming that two‐step monotone missing data is drawn from a multivariate normal population, this paper derives the Bartlett‐type correction to the likelihood ratio test for missing completely at random (MCAR), which plays an important role in the statistical analysis of incomplete datasets. The advantages of our approach are confirmed in Monte Carlo simulations. Our correction drastically improved the accuracy of the type I error in Little's (1988, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83 , 1198–1202) test for MCAR and performed well even on moderate sample sizes.     

Expenditure Inequality in Indonesia, 2008–2010: A Spatial Decomposition Analysis and the Role of Education

Based on the 2008–2010 Susenas panel data, this study examines expenditure inequality from spatial perspectives in Indonesia, using three decomposition methods: (i) a conventional Theil index decomposition; (ii) an alternative Theil index decomposition proposed by Elbers et al. (2008); and (iii) the Blinder?Oaxaca decomposition. Our results show that overall inequality in per capita expenditure increases between 2008 and 2010, which coincides with a rising trend in the official Gini coefficient. The contribution of inequality within urban and rural areas to total inequality is larger than that of inequality between urban and rural areas. Looking within urban and rural areas, urban inequality is significantly higher than rural inequality. Java‐Bali in particular records very high urban inequality. Overall, urban inequality increases, urban–rural inequality remains stable, rural inequality decreases, and inequality at the national level increases. Although urban–rural inequality has a relatively low share in overall inequality, the share is not small enough to ignore its impact. Furthermore, when using the alternative decomposition method, the contribution of urban–rural inequality increases substantially. The present study also found that educational differences appear to have played an important role in expenditure inequality within urban areas and between urban and rural areas.     

The Effect of "Front-Loading" Problem-Solving on Product Development Performance

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the link between problem‐solving capabilities and product development performance. In this article, the authors apply a problem‐solving perspective to the management of product development and suggest how shifting the identification and solving of problems—a concept that they define as front‐loading—can reduce development time and cost and thus free up resources to be more innovative in the marketplace. The authors develop a framework of front‐loading problem‐solving and present related examples and case evidence from development practice. These examples include Boeing's and Chrysler's experience with the use of “digital mock‐ups” to identify interference problems that are very costly to solve if identified further downstream—sometimes as late as during or—after first full‐scale assembly. In the article, the authors propose that front‐loading can be achieved using a number of different approaches, two of which are discussed in detail: (1) project‐to‐project knowledge transfer—leverage previous projects by transferring problem and solution‐specific information to new projects; and (2) rapid problem‐solving—leverage advanced technologies and methods to increase the overall rate at which development problems are identified and solved. Methods for improving project‐to‐project knowledge transfer include the effective use of “postmortems,” which are records of post‐project learning and thus can be instrumental in carrying forward the knowledge from current and past projects. As the article suggests, rapid problem‐solving can be achieved by optimally combining new technologies (such as computer simulation) that allow for faster problem‐solving cycles with traditional technologies (such as late stage prototypes), which usually provide higher fidelity. A field study of front‐loading at Toyota Motor Corporation shows how a systematic effort to front‐load its development process has, in effect, shifted problem‐identification and problem‐solving to earlier stages of product development. They conclude the article with a discussion of other approaches to front‐load problem‐solving in product development and propose how a problem‐solving perspective can help managers to build capabilities for higher development performance.