Negative interest rate policy and the yield curve

We evaluate the implications of the ECB's negative interest rate policy (NIRP) on the yield curve. To capture various shapes of the short end of the yield curve induced by the NIRP, we introduce two policy indicators, which summarize the immediate and longer horizon future monetary policy stances. We find that the four NIRP events lowered the short-term interest rate by the same amount. The impact is dampened at longer maturities for the first two event dates, due to lack of forward guidance. By contrast, for the last two dates, forward guidance drives the largest effects in two years.     

Regional disparity of embedded carbon footprint and its sources in China: a consumption perspective

Carbon emission reduction could be achieved through extensive cooperation between relevant groups such as businesses, governments and consumers. Generally, carbon emissions stem from consumer behaviour. To tackle the increasingly serious energy crisis and climate change in China, it is thus vital to control carbon emissions generated by the country's urban consumers. From a consumption perspective, we utilize a self-organizing feature map model to analyse the spatial differentiation of per capita embedded carbon footprint (ECF) in urban China. We found that the spatial differentiation is significant with the per capita ECF of the east coastal area at a high level and that per capita disposable income is the key factor affecting ECF. Based on these findings, potential business opportunities to develop low-carbon products are discussed.     

Employee satisfaction trajectories and their effect on customer satisfaction and repatronage intentions

Does improving employee happiness affect customer outcomes? The current study attempts to answer this question by examining the impact of employee satisfaction trajectories (i.e., systematic changes in employee satisfaction) on customer outcomes. After accounting for employees’ initial satisfaction levels, the analyses demonstrate the importance of employee satisfaction trajectories for customer satisfaction and repatronage intentions, as well as identify customer-employee contact as a necessary conduit for their effect. From a macro perspective, employee satisfaction trajectories strongly impact customer satisfaction for companies with significant employee–customer interaction, but not for companies without such interaction. From a micro perspective, employee satisfaction trajectories influence customer repatronage intentions for frequent customers, but not for infrequent customers. These effects are robust to controlling for previous customer evaluations and recent employee evaluations. Overall, these findings extend the dominant view of examining static, employee satisfaction levels and offer important implications for the management of the organizational frontline.

     

Understanding the Solar Home price premium: Electricity generation and “Green” social status

This study uses a large sample of homes in the San Diego area and Sacramento, California area to provide some of the first capitalization estimates of the sales value of homes with solar panels relative to comparable homes without solar panels. Although the residential solar home market continues to grow, there is little direct evidence on the market capitalization effect. Using both hedonics and a repeat sales index approach we find that solar panels are capitalized at roughly a 3.5% premium. This premium is larger in communities with a greater share of college graduates and of registered Prius hybrid vehicles.     

The Impact of School Lunches on Primary School Enrollment: Evidence from India's Midday Meal Scheme

At the end of 2001, the Indian Supreme Court issued a directive ordering states to institute school lunches – known locally as “midday meals” – in government primary schools. In this paper we provide a large‐scale assessment of the enrollment effects of India's midday meal scheme, which offers warm lunches, free of cost, to 120 million primary school children across India, and is the largest school feeding program in the world. To isolate the causal effect of the policy, we make use of its staggered implementation across Indian states in government but not private schools. Using a panel dataset of more than 420,000 schools observed annually from 2002 to 2004, we find that midday meals result in substantial increases in primary school enrollment, driven by early primary school responses to the program. Our results are robust to a wide range of specification tests.     

Indian call centres and business process outsourcing: a study in union formation

In this exploratory study of union formation in the Indian call centre/business process outsourcing sector, the authors draw upon evidence from the first detailed survey of members of the recently formed UNITES, and from extensive interviews. This paper engages with mobilisation theory and analyses of trade union formation.     

Feeling trusted by business leaders in China: Antecedents and the mediating role of value congruence

This paper examines the antecedents of felt trust, an under-explored area in the trust literature. We hypothesized that subordinates’ felt trust would relate positively with their leaders’ moral leadership behaviors and negatively with autocratic leadership behaviors and demographic differences between leaders and themselves. We also hypothesized the above relationships to be mediated by the leader-member value congruence. Results supported our hypotheses that value congruence mediated between autocratic leadership behaviors and demographic differences and subordinates’ felt trust, but not moral leadership behaviors, which had direct effects on subordinates’ perception of feeling trusted. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Trends and volatilities in foreign patents registered in the USA

This study analyses the patent trends and volatilities for the top 12 foreign patenting countries in the US market from 1975 to 1997. Japan is ranked first in terms of foreign patents registered in the USA, followed by Germany. Patent registrations from each of these countries have increased steadily over time, but at different rates. Using monthly time series data for 1975–1997, the time-varying volatility of Australian, Japanese and German patents registered in the USA is examined in detail. The asymmetric AR(1)-GJR(1,1) model is found to be suitable for Australia and Japan, while the best fitting model for Germany is the symmetric AR(1)-GARCH(1,1) model.     

Technology Gap,Reverse Technology Spillover and Domestic Innovation Performance in Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from China

This research adds to the literature studying the effects of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on domestic innovation performance and the moderating effect of a technology gap between host and home countries. New definitions of observed technology gap and expected technology gap are proposed. An observed technology gap captures the existing differences in technology level between establishments, regions or countries. An expected technology gap is an indication of the effort of imitating and learning from technology leaders. The corresponding measures and effects of observed and expected technology gaps on OFDI‐induced reverse technology spillover are analyzed. OFDI in developed countries promotes innovation performance. However, OFDI in emerging markets hampers innovation performance. It is also found that regions with a wider observed technology gap and a narrower expected technology gap can benefit more from OFDI.