INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ITS SPATIAL IMPACT ON SINGAPORE

An efficient infrastructural support has been a key component to attract international investment supporting the export-oriented growth strategy of Singapore in the last thirty years. The current emphasis on information technology reflects not only a deepening process but also the necessity to enhance the productivity, hence the competitive edge of Singapore in the global market economy. Various computerization programs, including those for the civil service, have been implemented with success. It is expected, however, that the spatial impact contributed by the intensive use of information technology would be considerable. In light of recent rising asset inflation and operating costs, it is likely that the labor force could be driven more swiftly towards the services, leading to a premature deindustrialization, unless measures undertaken to counter the process are effective.     

The slowdown in the timing of housing purchases in Japan in the 1990s

Housing prices are high in Japan, resulting in high mortgage payments. Since monthly mortgage payments cannot exceed 25% of current income, households tend to accumulate downpayments in the range of 30–45% of house value. This not only defers their entry into homeownership, but also has significant influence on the type of house eventually purchased. The objective of this study is to understand the changing access to ownership during the 1990s, with emphasis on wealth positions based on savings out of income, private transfers and bequests, and support from parents or other relatives. The source of data is the Ministry of Infrastructure, Land and Transportation survey on household home finance conducted from 1992 to 2000. The methodology employed is duration analysis, with special emphasis on the treatment of liquid asset covariates.     

Reallocation and productivity growth in Japan: revisiting the lost decade of the 1990s

Hayashi and Prescott (Rev Econ Dyn 5(1):206–235, 2002) argue that the ‘lost decade’ of the 1990s in Japan is explained by the slowdown in exogenous TFP growth rates. At the same time, other research suggests that Japanese banks’ support for inefficient firms prolonged recessions by reducing productivity through misallocation of resources. Using the data on large manufacturing firms between 1969 and 1996, the paper attempts to disentangle the factors behind the slowdown in productivity growth during the 1990s. The main results show that there was a significant drop in within-firm productivity, the component that is not affected by reallocation of input and output shares across firms over time, during the 1990s. Although we find that misallocation among large continuing firms represents a substantial drag to overall TFP growth for these firms throughout the sample period, the negative impact of misallocation was least visible during the 1990s. The significant reduction in within-firm productivity growth suggests that, as the Japanese economy has matured, a policy which fosters technological innovations via greater competition, R&D, and fast technological adoption may have become increasingly important in promoting economic growth.

The Regulatory Crisis of the 1990s: Some Solutions

Much of the regulatory crisis arises from over-zealous enforcement. Most methods of countering it are unsatisfactory and expensive. Self-inspection, as under the 'Hoists and Lifts' model, would be much cheaper and more effective.     

The Reassertion of Economics: 1990s Gentrification in the Lower East Side

This article utilizes property tax arrears data to trace the contraction of gentrification at the end of the 1980s and its resurgence in the 1990s in New York City’s Lower East Side. Contrary to the claims made during the recession about the end of gentrification, this article provides an important historical record of the resurgence of gentrification in the 1990s. The paper also argues that this new ‘third round’ gentrification has to be seen as a dramatic reassertion of economics in the central urban land market. That this shift is also expressed within the popular cultural discourses accompanying the process reveals an altered relationship between economics and culture in fin de siècle gentrification. Cet article utilise les données sur les arriérés des impôts sur la propriété pour retracer le déclin de l’embourgeoisement á la fin des années quatre-vingt et son renouveau dans les années quatre-vingt-dix dans le Lower East Side de New York City. Contrairement á ce qui fut dit sur la fin de l’embourgeoisement durant la récession, cet article fournit un dossier historique important qui montre le renouveau de l’embourgeoisement dans les années quatre-vingt-dix. Cet article soutient aussi que ce nouveau ‘troisième tour’ d’embourgeoisement doit ? tre regardé comme une réaffirmation dramatique de l’économie politique dans le marché foncier urbain central. Le fait que ce changement est aussi perceptible dans les discours de la culture populaire qui accompagnent ce processus révèle une relation changée entre l’écomonie politique et la culture dans l’embourgeoisement de fin de siècle.     

Individualism and collectivism: into the 1990s

New, employer-led initiatives in the management of human resources are said to have pitched the emphasis towards the ‘individualistic’ rather than the ‘collectivistic’ aspects of the employment relationship. The marginaliza-tion of trade unions and collective bargaining which this has entailed are but two (albeit fundamental) facets of a wide-ranging set of issues and repercussions. Individualization of employment policies throws up dilemmas and unresolved challenges for managers, trade unions and employees.

In embarking upon a major new empirical research project it has become necessary to revisit and review the utility of the currently available literature. In particular, how well would the traditional approaches to modelling individualism and collectivism cope with the new directions taken by recent managerial initiatives? The results of this analysis contribute the heart of this article. It is suggested that previous approaches ignore key dimensions of change which managers are currently pursuing. A new set of categories is proposed for understanding the mix of individual and collective elements in current developments. It is argued that these more accurately reflect current issues and tensions in management strategy.     

Shop stewards in the 1990s: a research note

Evidence suggests that the unions suffered badly during the 1980s, but how has this affected the lynch-pin of workplace industrial relations, the shop steward? The evidence of this research is that the shop stewards of the 1990s display remarkable stability in their influence and role when compared to earlier surveys.     

Homeworking in Britain: the national picture in the mid-1990s

Previously published research on homeworking in Britain has been locally specific or dated. Yet this form of working is an area of current policy-making concern. By providing national data on the extent and characteristics of homeworking in Britain in the mid-1990s, this article aims to plug the gap.     

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND THE BRITISH ECONOMY IN THE 1990s: MRS THATCHER'S LEGACY

The authors challenge the view that the UK Conservative governments during the 1980s achieved important advances in industrial performance through the abandonment of corporatist policies that allowed management to regain the initiative and push through changes in work organization. The article takes issue with the idea that collective labour institutions necessarily impair economic efficiency, and it points up important connections between Thatcher's offensive against organized labour and the enduring weaknesses in human capital and technology. The article has three sections: the first examines labour markets and industrial relations; the second analyses government regulation; and the third assesses trends and prospects for the future, with emphasis on employment flexibility and labour productivity. The authors conclude with some comments on future prospects in the context of Britain's fuller integration in Europe.     

The work disincentive effects of the disability insurance program in the 1990s

In this paper we evaluate the work disincentive effects of the disability insurance (DI) program during the 1990s using comparison group and regression-discontinuity methods. The latter approach exploits a particular feature of the DI eligibility determination process to estimate the program's impact on labor supply for an important subset of DI applicants. Using merged survey-administrative data, we find that during the 1990s the labor force participation rate of DI beneficiaries would have been at most 20 percentage points higher had none received benefits. In addition, we find even smaller labor supply responses for the subset of ‘marginal’ applicants whose disability determination is based on vocational factors.     

UK Consumer Spending: Prospects for the Late 1990s

Over the last eighteen months, strong growth of personal consumption has fuelled the growth of the UK economy raising fears of a 1980s style consumer boom. The boost to consumption provided by "windfall gains" from building society conversions has added to these fears. In this article, Guglielmo Maria Caporale, Andrew Sentance and Geoffrey Williams discuss the forces behind this recent pick-up in consumption and assess the prospects for consumer spending in the late 1990s.     

Flexibility and labour management: Chinese manufacturing enterprises in the 1990s

The rapid economic growth and structural reform that have taken place in China over the past two decades have had a substantial impact on the system of labour management in Chinese manufacturing enterprises. The purpose of this article is to document and analyse the nature of these changes in state-owned enterprises and joint venture companies. The effect of these changes on work relations, employment relations and industrial relations will form the basis of the analysis. The emphasis in the analysis will be on how work, employment and industrial relations have accommodated the demand for greater flexibility. Labour management in six manufacturing firms in the Shanghai region will be examined. This research is a pilot project for a larger-scale research in 1999. While no attempt is made to generalize the research findings, the research clarifies the extent and limits of flexibility in the current Chinese economy.     

Labour management during recessions: Japanese manufacturing enterprises in the 1990s

In the first half of the 1990s Japan experienced a prolonged recession. How have Japanese firms reacted to the changed economic context? Using identical surveys administered in 1991 and 1995 this article examines changes in labour management and strategy and concludes, despite some significant modifications, that the basic configuration of Japanese labour management has remained intact.     

THE IMPACT OF OWNERSHIP AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE ON MANAGERIAL MOTIVATION AND STRATEGY IN MANAGEMENT BUY-OUTS: A CULTURAL ANALYSIS

This study examines, from a cultural perspective, owner-managers’and other stakeholders’interpretations of the partial fusion of ownership and control through high leverage in eight UK management buy-outs (MBOs). Owner-control and debt-control are interpreted as having positive effects on managerial motivation, organizational decision-making processes and implementation of cost reduction strategies and negative ones on fundamental changes in strategy and acquisition. These interpretations accord broadly with agency theory propositions but show that owner-managers place less emphasis on wealth incentive effects and more emphasis on the enabling and facilitating roles of collective ownership and the freedom it gives from inappropriate corporate control.