Do mass layoffs affect voting behaviour? Evidence from the UK

How bad are mass layoffs politically? We study this question across both regional and individual-level datasets. Using a difference-in-difference framework with differential timing on constituency-level data for the UK, we find no evidence that mass layoff announcements negatively affect incumbents – either locally or nationally – in the General Elections 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Using individual data on party preferences, we demonstrate that our results are not an artefact of the UK majority voting system and associated tactical voting. We also find no evidence that the null results can be explained by increased outmigration of affected individuals or changes of candidates by political parties. We find evidence that economic expectations are not strongly affected by mass layoffs, which, although a surprising finding by itself, might help to explain the absence of an effect on political outcomes.     

Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis

Surprisingly, little is known about the cross-country effect of information and communication technology (ICT) on wealth inequality. At the same time, there is some tentative evidence suggesting that information and communication technology is positively correlated with income inequality. However, whether and how ICT affects wealth inequality is less explored, particularly because of the lack of reliable data on wealth inequality. This paper, therefore, fills this gap and contributes to this new literature by investigating the effect of ICT on wealth inequality in a sample of 45 developed and developing countries over the period 2000–2017. ICT is measured with six different indicators (including internet penetration, mobile penetration, ICT service exports, the ICT index, ICT quality, and ICT quantity), while wealth inequality is measured with three different indicators (comprising billionaire wealth to GDP, the Top 1% wealth share, and the Top 10% wealth share). The empirical analysis is based on the Generalised Method of Moments, and the results show that ICT increases wealth inequality. Furthermore, we show that democracy mitigates the increasing effect of ICT on wealth inequality. This result suggests that improving democracy in both developed and developing countries is an effective mechanism for mitigating the effects of ICT on wealth inequality. Therefore, we encourage efforts to implement democratic institutions that ensure respect for citizens' freedoms, greater democratic accountability, and executive constraints that allow for a more egalitarian distribution of wealth.     

What is the objective of professional licensing? Evidence from the US market for lawyers

According to public interest theory, professional licensing solves the lemon problem generated by asymmetric information. In contrast, the capture theory claims that licensing aims at increasing professional salaries by restricting supply. This paper shows that the two theories can be identified using data from one regulated profession and provides an empirical application to the US market for entry level lawyers. The empirical results support capture theory.     

Does corporate social responsibility matter in the food industry? Evidence from a nature experiment in China

Using the melamine contamination incident in China as an exogenous shock, this paper studies how the investors respond to corporate social responsibilities (CSRs) of listed firms in food industry. We find that investors’ or consumers’ concerns for CSR in the food industry could be significantly influenced by the mounting attention given to CSR-related events. This study offers important policy implications. First, the government, as well as supervisors, should release appropriate policies to improve various firms’ activities on CSR, especially in the food industry. Second, firms, particularly those in the food industry, can obtain long-term benefits by strengthening their CSR-related activities.     

Do the urban poor face higher food prices? Evidence from Vietnam

Whether there is a poverty penalty, in terms of food prices, is unsettled in the literature after more than four decades of study. Unit values from household surveys suggest that prices vary with income while outlet surveys typically find food prices varying with store type but not with neighborhood income. Most outlet surveys are from rich countries, with just one spatially limited study from a developing country. In this paper we use especially collected food price data from metropolitan areas of Vietnam to test whether the urban poor face higher food prices. Food prices in low-income neighborhoods are 1% lower, on average, than in other neighborhoods. Unit values give a different answer to the question of whether the poor face higher prices and are not suited to answer such a question.     

Does the digital economy generate a gender dividend for female employment? Evidence from China

Using data from the China General Social Survey, the China Family Panel Studies, and a unique dataset of enterprises' online recruitment, this research examines the effect of the digital economy on female employment. The empirical results suggest that the digital economy significantly promotes female employment. Consistent with our theoretical analysis, the estimates indicate that this relationship holds because the digital economy promotes the formation of egalitarian gender perspectives, promotes the use of digital technology, and increases labor demand emphasizing the necessity for female-preference occupations. The dividend of the digital economy is tilted toward vulnerable groups in the labor market, including the low-skilled, older, and rural workforce, and only exerts an employment promotion effect on women without parenting burden. Further examination reveals evidence that digitalization has not led to a holistic improvement in the quality of female employment. Digitalization lengthens the working hours of severely underemployed female workers, and improves women's occupational status and job satisfaction; however, it has a minimal impact on protecting employees' rights and interests or reducing overtime workers' work intensity. Nonself-employed, full-time, and part-time workers all benefit from the development of the digital economy, while self-employed workers do not. In addition, a weakening effect of digitalization on the gender employment gap is not evident, which relates to the digital economy generating a female dividend in terms of promoting gender equality and increasing labor demand but resulting in a digital gender divide in the use of digital technology.     

Which types of multi-stage marketing increase direct customers' willingness-to-pay? Evidence from a scenario-based experiment in a B2B setting

The present study investigates empirically which types of multi-stage marketing by a business-to-business supplier affect its direct customers' willingness-to-pay. We conceptually develop comprehensive and selective multi-stage marketing as well as multi-stage awareness as distinct types of this concept. Their properties lead to differentiated hypotheses concerning their effects on direct customers' relationship value perceptions and perceived price importance which in turn influence willingness-to-pay. The paper also demonstrates how the direct customers' power position toward their own customers affects the effectiveness of a supplier's multi-stage marketing endeavors. We conduct a scenario-based, experimental study among 103 knowledgeable purchasing managers in customer companies to the adhesives industry, measuring willingness-to-pay, perceived relationship value, and price importance with a limit conjoint analysis. Multi-level modeling is used to test our hypotheses. The results show that comprehensive multi-stage marketing significantly increases purchasing agents' willingness-to-pay, mostly through their relationship value perception, and especially when the customer company is in a less powerful position toward its own customers. For managers, our study highlights the benefits of comprehensive multi-stage marketing over the other multi-stage marketing types.     

Do computers improve the drawing of a geometrical figure for 10?year-old children?

Nowadays, computer aided design (CAD) is widely used by designers. Would children learn to draw more easily and more efficiently if they were taught with computerised tools? To answer this question, we made an experiment designed to compare two methods for children to do the same drawing: the classical ‘pen and paper’ method and a CAD method. We asked two groups of 14 children to draw a geometrical figure: the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF). The first group drew it with a pen on a sheet of paper (‘paper’ group) and the second on a computer screen with CAD software (‘computer’ group). Two drawing conditions were studied: ‘Copying’ the figure and drawing from memory. Results showed that the ‘computer’ group was better at copying the figure but that both groups performed equally well when the figure was drawn from memory. These preliminary results suggest that using a CAD tool could help children while they copy a model, but that it does not improve their ability to draw the same figure using their own, internal model.     

Is the internet penetration pro-poor? Evidence from a panel data analysis

The impacts of internet use on income and poverty status are contentious despite extensive research efforts. This paper re-examines these influences using five-wave panel data extracted from the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS). A two-step system called Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) is the primary metric for estimating internet-income and internet-poverty correlations. The analysis revealed that internet use assisted rural households, including the poor ones, in fostering their livelihoods in the 2008–2016 period: (1) internet access increased the average annual household income per capita by 4.5 million Vietnamese dongs, accounting for at least 17% of the overall income; (2) it decreased the probability of being poor by around 4%. This study suggests that the universalisation of the internet, along with improvements in digital literacy and digital applications provided for rural dwellers, particularly the needy, should be essential for poverty reduction programmes in the context of developing countries.     

Is direct seeded rice a boon for economic performance? Empirical evidence from India

The direct-seeded rice (DSR) establishment method can improve productivity and labor efficiency while taking into account the soil and hydrologic conditions of the field, the availability of appropriate land equipment, and irrigation-drainage systems. Using plot- and household-level data, we analyze the impacts of DSR adoption in two rice-growing states of India. We account for observed and unobserved heterogeneity using endogenous switching regression. We analyze the yield and costs effects of DSR adoption. Our study shows a small but significant effect of DSR adoption on yield and costs. We find increase in rice yields (by 3.74%) for DSR adopters; an increase in rice yields (by 6.79%) if the DSR method were adopted on puddled transplant rice (PTR) parcels. We find a 7.51% reduction in total costs for DSR adopters; a decrease in total costs (by 3.71%) if the DSR method was adopted on PTR parcels. DSR farmers can significantly reduce their fertilizer and land preparation costs. Hence, the decision to adopt DSR may help households with limited resources to reduce their cost of production without compromising the yield.     

Does the market for ideas influence the rate and direction of innovative activity? Evidence from the medical device industry

Prior work argues that the “market for ideas” supports an open system of innovation, allowing for efficient development of technology across firms. Although this literature has described important features of this market, how it influences the rate and direction of innovation remains an open question. We exploit an exogenous shock to a subset of U.S. medical device firms to study this question. We first document the breakdown in the market for ideas after a federal investigation made it more difficult for the leading orthopedic firms to work with physician‐inventors. We then present evidence of a dramatic decline in the rate of innovation for these firms. Further, a marked shift in direction occurs toward lower‐quality inventions and away from product categories where physician knowledge is critical. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does a cassava research-for-development program have impact at the farm level? Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo

This paper evaluates the impact of a cassava research-for-development program on farm level outcomes. The program was implemented in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2001 to 2009. We apply propensity score matching, Rosenbaum bounds on treatment effects, Altonji et al. method of selection on observables and unobservables and endogenous switching regression to farm survey data collected during the 2009 cropping season. We use these methods to test whether the R4D program has a statistically significant effect on outcomes of interest and if these are not driven by selection on unobservables. Using propensity score matching, we find statistically significant positive effects on household participation in cassava markets, adoption of improved varieties and crop management practices and household food adequacy; and no statistically significant effects on yields and profits. The results show that bias due to selection on unobservables is not severe enough to invalidate the impact estimates. Bias may still be a problem that is present in the analysis. But there is evidence that it is not substantial. Although the program does not have a statistically significant positive effect on yields and profits, the significant program effects on market participation, variety adoption, and food adequacy merit further promotion of the program since these positive outcomes tend to be pre-conditions for realizing long-term yield and profit benefits.     

Is Netflix a threat to the cable TV industry? Evidence from Brazil

In recent years, the Brazilian cable TV industry has experienced a sharp downturn. In parallel, the over-the-top platform Netflix gained popularity and Brazil has become one of its biggest markets. The objective of this paper is to investigate the competitive effects of Netflix's entry on the incumbent cable TV industry. We explore the regional variability of Netflix's popularity (measured by Google Trends) and combined this information with official data of the cable TV market. Using a two-way fixed effects estimator with state-month observations (covering the period of 2012–2019), we showed that the increase in one standard deviation in Netflix popularity is associated with a 3.62% reduction in the density of cable TV subscribers and with a 19.69% reduction in the number of small firms that operate cable TV.     

The use for the competition theory of the industrial investment decisions—a case study of the Taiwan IC assembly industry

This study empirically analyzes model accuracy, and applies grey forecasting to handle non-linear problems, insufficient data resources and forecasting involving small samples, and to construct the co-opetition diffusion model for the Lotka–Volterra (L.V.) system. Furthermore, this study examines historical data comprising revenue trends in the Taiwanese IC assembly industry during the past ten years and selects from a range of forecasting models.Empirical study uses MAPE to precisely analyze revenue trends in the L.V. dynamic co-opetition diffusion model relation to the IC assembly industry. The nine companies will be selected from 4 to 11 of the modeling, the results of the LV model 64 accuracy test, its accuracy is higher than 95% accounted for 59 times, five times better than the grey prediction, showing LV competing diffusion model not only with grey prediction, and better than the traditional grey forecasting model to make a higher accuracy of the predicted value. Like grey forecasting, MAPE can promptly respond even given insufficient data. Additionally, MAPE is able to provide more accurate forecasting values than the traditional Grey forecasting model. This study demonstrates the applicability of the dynamic co-opetition theory forecasting model to the Taiwanese IC assembly industry and provides management with a reference for use in decisions aimed to increase managerial competitiveness.     

Does the growth of mobile markets cause the demise of fixed networks? – Evidence from the European Union

The increasing usage of mobile communication and the declining demand for fixed line telephony in Europe make the analysis of substitutional effects between fixed and mobile networks a key aspect for future telecommunication regulation. Using a unique dataset which contains information on all 27 European Union members from 2003 to 2009, we analyze substitutability between fixed and mobile telecommunication services in Europe by applying dynamic panel data techniques. We find strong empirical evidence for substitution from fixed to cellular networks throughout Europe. In addition, the paper reveals resulting policy implications.     

Do External Knowledge Sourcing Modes Matter for Service Innovation? Empirical Evidence from South Korean Service Firms

To source external knowledge, firms in the service area use various sourcing modes simultaneously suitable for their internal needs or external environments. Each external knowledge sourcing mode has distinctive characteristics, and as such, they can offer different advantages and/or disadvantages to the firms. Thus, the effects of external knowledge sourcing on service innovation may vary depending on the sourcing modes. The current study aims to empirically examine the different effects of various external knowledge sourcing modes on service innovation. The study identifies three external knowledge sourcing modes: joint development, technology purchasing, and external information acquisition. Three hypotheses are established to examine the relationships between the extent of utilizing each mode and service innovation performance in terms of new service introduction. The data for analysis are selected from the “Korean Innovation Survey 2006: Service Sector” (KIS 2006). It is regarded as South Korea's version of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS). The KIS 2006 data set covers joint development, technology purchasing, and external information acquisition activities of corporations in the service sector in South Korea. The study empirically analyzes the data set using a negative binomial regression model. The results first demonstrate that the extent of the joint development has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with the service innovation performance. Second, the results indicate that, on the other hand, service innovation performance decreases with the increase to the extent of the technology purchasing when the extent is below the threshold. On the other hand, it increases with the increase to the extent of the technology purchasing; this occurs when the extent exceeds the threshold. Third, the results show that external information acquisition has a positive effect on service innovation performance. These findings support that the extent of utilizing each mode has different relationships with service innovation performance. The findings suggest that service firms need to utilize joint development at a moderate level, active technology purchasing, and as much external information acquisition as possible to maximize service innovation performance. In practice, this finding can help managers of service firms select appropriate external knowledge sourcing modes and determine the optimum level of use for each mode. This study also can help firms build up strategies for external knowledge sourcing.     

Do regions matter? An integrated institutional and semiglobalization perspective on the internationalization of MNEs

Traditional research suggests a relationship between country‐level institutions and the location choices of MNEs. However, more recent theory suggests MNEs also focus on regions (semiglobalization). Therefore, this study examines institutional effects in the context of semiglobalization by considering the influences of three formal institutions (i.e., regulatory control, political democracy, capital investments) of countries and geographic regions on MNEs' location choices of internationalization. We use a sample of Japanese MNEs operating in 45 countries within eight regions. The results show that their degree of internationalization into a country is influenced by both country and regional institutional environments. Additionally, a semiglobalization perspective provides better explanatory power than does the country‐level perspective. These results present a new perspective on how MNEs consider institutional environments in their international strategy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does Temporal Aggregation Explain the Persistence of the S&P/Case‐Shiller Indices? Evidence from a Longitudinal Specification

Temporal aggregation is a repeat sale index construction methodology that consists of aggregating paired‐transactions in a moving‐average window. In particular, the methodology is used to calculate the popular S&P/Case‐Shiller home price indices. In this article, I focus the insights of the literature on measurement error to demonstrate that temporal aggregation produces idiosyncratic biases in predictive regression slopes. I further estimate a dynamic instrumental variable (IV) panel for the 20 S&P/Case‐Shiller metro areas. The main empirical finding is that temporal aggregation is a short‐lived statistical disturbance that does not explain the homogenous robust persistence of the indices.     

Is There a Public Sector Training Advantage? Evidence from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey

Using matched employer–employee data from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (2004), we find a significant training ‘advantage’ exists for public sector workers over private sector workers even after accounting for differences in the composition of the two workforces. This finding is robust to all but one change in specification, designed to account for worker sorting effects which can lead to unobserved workplace‐based effects being correlated with individual worker characteristics. Using the average characteristics of workers within an establishment as a control for these sorting effects all but eliminates the estimated public sector training advantage, which has otherwise been an empirical regularity of many individual‐based training models.