Alternative balanced scorecards built from paradigm models in strategic HRM and employment/industrial relations and used to measure the state of employment relations and HR system performance across U.S. workplaces

This paper constructs alternative balanced scorecards based on high‐performance work system (HPWS) and employment relations system (ERS) models. The models are depicted and compared in diagrams and used as framework skeletons for building separate HPWS and ERS scorecards, intended to provide a detailed data picture of the operational health and performance of an organization's employment/HR system and its operations, processes, and inputs/outputs. The scorecards are filled in with nationally representative data from 2,000+ U.S. workplaces using more than 50 employment/HR indicators, as reported by separate panels of managers and employees. The indicators for each workplace are aggregated into an overall HR/employment system score, ranked from low‐to‐high, and graphed as frequency distributions. These distributions provide a unique snapshot picture of the mean and dispersion of the state of employment relations and HR system performance for companies across the United State. They also reveal that “models matter” since the HPWS and ERS scorecards provide distinctly different evaluation assessments.     

Use of Derivatives and Analysts’ Forecasts: New Evidence from Non‐financial Brazilian Companies

This study investigates whether market analysts’ forecasts are influenced by the presence of derivative financial instruments in listed firms. From a sample of firms comprising 1173 derivative users and 7797 non‐users for the 2006–14 period, the results indicate the existence of less error behaviour (bias) on earnings per share forecasts for derivative user firms compared to non‐user firms. This finding suggests that these instruments may be used to protect businesses and provide greater stability in the results of companies that use them. The presence of derivative financial instruments is increasing among listed firms, and management can use them for hedging or speculation (thus mitigating or increasing risk). The literature contains few studies on this issue, and the general understanding relies on the assumption that derivative financial instruments provide relevant information for decision making.     

War and economy. Rediscovering the eighteenth-century military entrepreneur

Abstract

The detrimental effects traditionally assigned to warfare in the development of pre-industrial economies have obscured the prominent role that military entrepreneurs played in economic development in this period. Historiography minimises the extent to which war and the concomitant strengthening of the central state provided a whole new range of opportunities for capital investment, a tendency that has been strengthened by the paradigm of Redlich’s ‘decline of the soldier-entrepreneur’ and the technological determinism of the debate on the Military Revolution among others. The aim of this introduction is to look into the background of this relative lack of interest and to reaffirm the mutual dependence of eighteenth-century state-formation and the business of war.     

Membership has its privileges: the effect of social capital and neighbourhood characteristics on the earnings of microfinance borrowers

In this paper we examine the determinants of self-employment success for microcredit borrowers. Theories of social capital and neighbourhood effects are integrated in an attempt to account for earnings differentials among a unique sample of microfinance borrowers. We posit that social capital – social relations that facilitate individual action – is essential for microentrepreneurial success. Based on a survey and data collected by the authors, it is demonstrated that social capital is a positive determinant of self-employment earnings. The role that neighbourhoods play in fostering social capital and improving microentrepreneurial performance are also highlighted. JEL classification: J23, O17, Z13     

The European high-speed train network: Predicted effects on accessibility patterns

The principal aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the future European high-speed train network on accessibility, by reducing time distance between places and modifying their relative location. We compare the current situation with that foreseen for the year 2010, according to the Outline Plan of the European High-Speed Train Network, in order to analyse which areas will most benefit from construction and improvement of the infrastructure. It is hypothesized that the high-speed train will certainly bring the peripheral regions closer to the central ones, but will also increase imbalances between the main cities and their hinterlands. A weighted average distance indicator is applied for this purpose. This measure identifies the spatial distribution of accessibility in the area of study, emphasizing the infrastructure effects, and locates accessibility changes at the European level. A Geographic Information System (GIS) has been used to carry out this study.     

Politiques publiques et économie sociale en Europe: Le cas de l'Espagne

Cet article examine les différentes politiques économiques susceptibles d'avoir des répercussions sur l'économie sociale en tant que secteur institutionnel.En premier lieu il présente un cadre d'analyse permettant d'appréhender les contenus des politiques et en offre trois typologies.A la lumière de ce cadre dans unpremier temps il fait unbilan global des politiques mises en oeuvre en Europe pour se centrer dans un deuxième temps sur l'Espagne l'un des pays de l'Union où le niveau de développement de ces politiques est le plus avancé .Pour terminer, l'auteur évalue l'efficacité des principales mesures de politique économique mises en oeuvre dans ce pays.
The article considers different economic policies likely to affect the social economy sector as an institutional sector. In a first time it sets up an analytical framework which allows to apprehend the policies contents and offers three typologies. In the light of this framework it first makes a global evaluation of policies implemented in Europe and then focuses on Spain, one of the Union countries with the highest level of development of these policies. Finally, the author evaluates the efficiency of the main measures of economic policy applied in this country.     

Inequality foundations of concentration measures: An application to the Hannah-Kay indices

The aim of this paper is to provide a connection between concentration and inequality. In particular, we show that the general entropy inequality indices are, among inequality measures, those consistent with the whole set of Hannah-Kay concentration indices. We isolate the inequality component underlying concentration measures, obtaining an explicit additive decomposition of the change in concentration into the change in its two components, i.e., inequality and the number of firms. This relationship proves to be valid for the whole set of Hannah-Kay concentration indices, and embodies as particular cases some others previously found in the literature. We are particularly grateful to Emilio Cerdá for helpful comments on the mathematical formulation of the paper. The second author also acknowledges support through the European Commission Project #ERBCHRXCT980248.     

Partial Horizontal Inequity Orderings: A Non‐parametric Approach*

We provide a partial ordering view of horizontal inequity (HI), based on the Lorenz criterion, associated with different post‐tax income distributions and a (bistochastic) non‐parametric estimated benchmark distribution. As a consequence, several measures consistent with the Lorenz criterion can be rationalized. In addition, we establish the so‐called HI transfer principle, which imposes a normative minimum requirement that any HI measure must satisfy. Our proposed HI ordering is consistent with this principle. Moreover, we adopt a cardinal view to decompose the total effect of a tax system into a welfare gain caused by HI‐free income redistribution and a welfare loss caused by HI, without any additive decomposable restriction on the indices. Hence, more robust tests can be applied. Other decompositions in the literature are seen as particular cases.     

A Common Pool Resource Game with Sequential Decisions and Experimental Evidence

We describe a common pool resource game in which players choose how much of the stock to extract in a sequential manner. There are two choices and one represents taking a larger proportion of the stock than the other. After a player makes a choice, the remaining stock grows at a constant rate. We consider a game with a finite number of alternating moves. It is shown that changes in the larger proportion of the stock that the players are allowed to take and the growth rate affect equilibrium, but have little effect on behavior in the laboratory. In addition to observing more cooperation than predicted, we observe that parameters that are strategically irrelevant affect behavior. The results of this research might help policy makers in developing adequate policies to prevent overexploitation of some natural renewable resources.     

宗教与政治：对欧洲和美国的比较分析

通过对美国和欧洲共10个国家(英国、法国、德国、意大利、西班牙、丹麦、荷兰、奥地利、波兰)的16,000名成年人进行的跨国调查(2002及2003年),本文考察了当地的宗教信仰状况,着重于他们对神权、生命的实质及生命的开始等三方面的理解认识,并进一步研究了他们的一些宗教行为(如祈祷及参与宗教活动的频率)和对宗教领袖的信任程度。本文的重点在于分析个人宗教价值观对其就新兴生化科技所持政治态度的影响。为此收集了广泛的研究数据,考察受访者对主要生化科技,如胚胎干细胞应用、转基因食品和克隆等的观点和态度。最后,使用多元回归研究模式的结构方程模型(SEM)分别描述了人们的宗教价值观、对生命的理解、年龄、性别和教育水平等几个变量对于堕胎、胚胎干细胞应用研究和安乐死等三项公共政策争论的影响。