EFFECTS OF REGIONAL COOPERATION AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED FIRMS ON THEIR GROWTH IN JAPANESE INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS

We examine the effects of regional inter-firm cooperation on firm growth by estimating the firm growth function, using the data of a questionnaire survey for three major industrial clusters in Japan, namely, Tama, Kinki and Hokkaido. We focus on the specific content of cooperative activities for two aspects: that is, three production stages of R&D, commercialization, and marketing for cooperation and different types of alliance partners. The findings for our study areas demonstrate: i) vertical cooperation, the most prevalent with suppliers and customers, does not contribute to firm growth; ii) the clusters do not enjoy "urbanization economies arising from agglomerating a variety of different industrial sectors"; iii) the alliances with "universities" and "cross-industry exchange organizations" show positive effects on firm growth; and iv) both contributions and limitations are identified for the cluster-promotion policies in Japan.     

CANNABIS USE AND ITS EFFECTS ON HEALTH,EDUCATION AND LABOR MARKET SUCCESS

Cannabis is the most popular illegal drug. Its legal status is typically justified on the grounds that cannabis use has harmful consequences. Empirically investigating this issue has been a fertile topic for research in recent times. We provide an overview of this literature, focusing on studies which seek to establish the causal effect of cannabis use on health, education, and labor market success. We conclude that there do not appear to be serious harmful health effects of moderate cannabis use. Nevertheless, there is evidence of reduced mental well‐being for heavy users who are susceptible to mental health problems. While there is robust evidence that early cannabis use reduces educational attainment, there remains substantial uncertainty as to whether using cannabis has adverse labor market effects.     

CGE EVALUATION OF A UNIVERSITY'S EFFECTS ON A REGIONAL ECONOMY: AN INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT OF EXPENDITURE AND KNOWLEDGE IMPACTS

In recent years many universities have commissioned studies of the effects of their institutions on their local economies. Typically, these impact studies have concentrated on the demand-side stimuli to the regional economy that the university generates. Normally, the studies are undertaken with comparative-static input-output models. The present study employs a dynamic multiregional computable general equilibrium model to investigate supply-side as well as demand-side effects. There are a range of supply-side effects that have been investigated in the spatial econometrics literature. The supply-side impacts of the university that we examine in particular are a rise in the average skill level of the local workforce, and successful R&D outcomes. CGE modelling allows simulation of the associated productivity effects, while the dynamic features of the model allow for consequent effects on a region's population and capital stock growth rates to be taken into account.     

MULTIPLER EFFECTS AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE: APPLYING ECONOMIC BASE ANALYSIS TO SMALL ECONOMIES

Multiplier models (economic base, input-output, Keynesian) implicitly assume that pre-impact and post-impact interindustry transaction patterns are, for all practical purposes, identical. However, in very small regional economies this assumption is invariably violated because the economy undergoes a structural transformation during the impact process. That is, the economy often clearly shifts away from one functional type (e.g., service-oriented) toward another functional type (e.g., manufacturing-oriented) during the economic impact. Using marginal economic base analysis this paper outlines a model for predicting small-area impacts that captures not only the traditional multiplier effect but other effects related to (i) employment-based structural shifts and (ii) nonemployment-based contextual shifts. Algebraic and numerical derivations are given for the expected employment shifts in a hypothetical impacted economy. All numerical results follow from an earlier statistical analysis of the Arizona Community Data Set (ACDS).     

EVENT STUDY METHODS AND EVIDENCE ON THEIR PERFORMANCE

Abstract. The paper outlines widely used methods of estimating abnormal returns and testing their significance, highlights respects in which they differ conceptually, and reviews research comparing results they produce in various empirical contexts. Direct evidence on the performance of different methods is available from simulation experiments in which known levels of abnormal return are added. The market model is most commonly used to generate expected returns and no better alternative has yet been found despite the weak relationship between beta and actual returns. Choice of procedure for significance testing depends on the characteristics of the data. The evidence indicates that in many cases the best procedure is to standardise market model abnormal returns by their time series standard errors of regression and use the t -test. Alternatively a rank test appears to be at least as powerful. If errors are cross-correlated or increase in variance during the test period, other methods discussed should be used.     

MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF TWINS: A COMPARISON OF ECONOMIC AND BEHAVIOURAL GENETICS MODELS

ABSTRACT The purpose of this note is to compare the performance of the model of DeFries and Fulker [hereafter ‘the DFF model’] with the conventional fixed effects model in the analysis of data on twins in the study of economic well-being. Unlike the fixed-effects model that has traditionally been estimated in the economics literature, the DFF model provides explicit controls for genetic and shared environmental factors. The weight of the evidence from estimation of the two models considered is that the impact of education in Australia, holding constant genetic and shared environmental factors, is of the same order of magnitude as that estimated in studies that do not take account of these factors: at most ability and shared environmental factors contribute 1 to 2 percentage points to the gross return to education. The similarity of the results computed for the different models employed is reassuring, and suggests that reliable controls for the omitted genetic and shared environment variables are obtained through these indirect methods.     

DURATION DEPENDENCE VERSUS UNOBSERVED HETEROGENEITY IN TREATMENT EFFECTS: SWEDISH LABOR MARKET TRAINING AND THE TRANSITION RATE TO EMPLOYMENT

The effect of a treatment on the hazard rate of a duration outcome may depend on the elapsed time since treatment. In addition, treatment effects may be heterogeneous across agents. The former gives rise to duration dependence of the treatment effect, whereas unobserved heterogeneity gives rise to spurious duration dependence of the observable hazard rate. We develop a model allowing for duration dependence and unobserved heterogeneity in the treatment effect. The model incorporates a Timing of Events model and allows for selectivity on unobservables. We prove identification, exploiting variation in the timing of treatment and outcome. In the application we analyze the effects of the Swedish vocational employment training program on the individual transition rate from unemployment to work. We demonstrate the appropriateness of the approach by studying the enrollment process. The data cover the population and include multiple unemployment spells for many individuals. The results indicate a large, significantly positive effect on exit to work shortly after exiting the program. The effect at the individual level diminishes after some weeks. When taking account of the time spent in the program, the effect on the mean unemployment duration is small. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MEASURING HUMAN CAPITAL AND ITS EFFECTS ON WAGE GROWTH

Abstract Ever since Mincer, years of labour market experience were used to approximate individual's general human capital, while years of seniority were used to approximate job‐specific human capital. This specification is restrictive because it assumes that starting wages at a new job depend only on job market experience. In this paper, I investigate the effects of human capital on wage growth by using a more flexible specification of the wage equation, which allows for a rich set of information on past employment spells to affect the starting wages. In addition, I endogenize the labour mobility decision. In order to illuminate the effects of human capital accumulation patterns on wage growth, I compare counterfactual career paths for representative individuals.     

ON THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF SOME SMALL, UK-BASED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FIRMS*

The paper reports on the discovery of some small but successful information technology firms. These firms, which are geographically and structurally highly mobile, were found in a recent survey of information technology firms in the north-west of England. Detailed investigation of the firms as case studies, revealed that they have many distinctive and interesting properties. Eleven distinguishing characteristics in addition to small size are identified; among them being lack of hierarchy, pervious boundaries, and extreme mobility including growth by replication. In the discussion, some differences in the organization of the firms are identified, it being argued that although all the firms lack hierarchy and tend to adopt very extreme forms of matrix organization, they do this to a greater degree the less they are dependent on technology for the creation of their products, and/or on the extent to which they retain proprietary products in their range. the paper concludes with a consideration of other work on new technology firms and argues that these findings are not unique. However, it is also argued that small firm researchers have not been very creative in their use of the available frameworks to account for the existence of the firms analysed in this paper, or to understand that it is the contingencies they face which allow them to be highly mobile and adaptable.     

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PROVISION OF PENSIONS

As the population of an economy ages saving declines and, through that channel, economic growth can decline too. Returns to physical capital fall, making the provision of pensions more and more difficult. The income of the working population deteriorates and they respond by having fewer children. This intensifies the problem even further.     

EFFECTS OF PUBLIC TRANSIT ON AUTOMOBILE OWNERSHIP AND USE IN HOUSEHOLDS OF THE USA

This study develops econometric models to predict the effect of access to and distance to public transit on automobile ownership and miles driven. Ordered logit model is used for automobile ownership and multiple regression model is used for vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
Inverse square root of transit distance is used as a measure for transit accessibility. Important findings in the analysis are (i) the number of licensed drivers is the primary determinant of the number of automobiles owned, (ii) the presence of children is not a significant factor in automobile ownership and VMT, and (iii) the VMT of multi-vehicle households is more sensitive to transit than one-vehicle households. Transit simulations are performed by improving the distance to and access to public transit. The results showed that total VMT in National Ambient Air Quality Standard non-attained metropolitan statistical area is reduced by 11% (approximately 60 billion miles) with 0.1 miles simulation.     

TOP MANAGEMENT TURNOVER AND CEO SUCCESSION: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF TURNOVER ON PERFORMANCE

One strategic action which is often taken by firms in need of a turnaround is to bring in a new chief executive officer (CEO). Many observers argue, however, that having done this the new CEO must replace large numbers of top managers in order to effect a change in the firm's interactions and subsequent performance. Critics of this perspective insist that just the opposite is true. Substantial levels of turnover may only serve to further disrupt the organization decreasing performance still more. This controversy is addressed in the following study using a sample of 84 firms all of which experienced CEO succession during the year 1980. Analyses rely on a three-year-period pre-succession and three-year period post-succession. Three hypotheses are proposed. First, poor performance prior to CEO succession leads to greater turnover afterward. Second, that turnover is curvilinearly related to performance after the succession. And, finally, that successor type (i.e. whether the CEO was an inside or outside candidate) is related to the level of turnover in upper level management positions in the post-succession period. the results from tests of these hypotheses are presented, and the implications of these findings are discussed.     

WORDS, DEEDS AND OUTCOMES: A SURVEY ON THE GROWTH EFFECTS OF EXCHANGE RATE REGIMES

Abstract.  Recent studies on the growth effects of exchange rate regimes offer a wide range of different, sometimes contradictory results. In this paper, we systematically compare three prominent contributions in this field. Using a common data set, a common specification and common estimation methods, we argue that the contradictory findings can be explained by the fact that these studies use regime classifications which reflect fundamentally different aspects of exchange rate policy.     

THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES: AN INTEGRATED CAUSAL MODEL AND PATH ANALYSIS*

Research on employee-owned organizations to date has utilized alternative theoretical perspectives and has examined varying attitudinal outcomes. This study reviews previous research and attempts to integrate the findings into a causal model that combines the results of prior studies. the resulting causal model was tested empirically with a sample (N= 181) of employees from a firm that adopted an employee ownership programme. Financial value of the ESOP was positively related to satisfaction with the ESOP plan, but was not related to other attitudinal variables. Perceived influence from ownership was positively related to ESOP satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. ESOP satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment were negatively related to turnover intention. ESOP satisfaction and turnover intention were related to actual employee turnover behaviour over an extended time period.