Does government ideology influence budget composition? Empirical evidence from OECD countries

This paper examines whether government ideology has influenced the allocation of public expenditures in OECD countries. I analyze two datasets that report different expenditure categories and cover the time periods 1970–1997 and 1990–2006, respectively. The results suggest that government ideology has had a rather weak influence on the composition of governments’ budgets. Leftist governments, however, increased spending on “Public Services” in the period 1970–1997 and on “Education” in the period 1990–2006. These findings imply, first, that government ideology hardly influenced budgetary affairs in the last decades, and thus, if ideology plays a role at all, it influences non-budgetary affairs. Second, education has become an important expenditure category for leftist parties to signal their political visions to voters belonging to all societal groups.     

Are unemployment rates in OECD countries stationary? Evidence from univariate and panel unit root tests

This paper revisits the dynamics of unemployment rate for 29 OECD countries over the period of 1980–2013. Numerous empirical studies of the dynamics of unemployment rate are carried out within a linear framework. However, unemployment rate can show nonlinear behaviour as a result of business cycles or some idiosyncratic factors specific to labour market (Cancelo, 2007). Thus, as a testing strategy, we first perform Harvey, Leybourne, and Xiao (2008) linearity unit root test and then apply the newly ESTAR nonlinear unit root test suggested by Kruse (2011). This test has higher power than conventional unit root tests when time series exhibits nonlinear behaviour. Our empirical findings provide significant evidence in favour of unemployment rate stationarity for 25 countries. For robustness purpose, we have also used panel unit root tests without and with structural breaks. The empirical results show that unemployment hysteresis hypothesis is strongly rejected, when taking into account the cross-sectional and structural break assumptions. Thus, unemployment rate is expected to return back to their natural levels without executing any costly macroeconomic labour market policies by the OECD’s governments.     

IR journal and conference literature from the 1960s to the 1990s: What can HR learn from it? Where is it headed?

The industrial relations (IR) literature has changed notably from the early 1960s until the late 1990s. Yet it has retained an externalist flavor — a sense that the key variables determining outcomes are often outside the control of firm-level actors. However, the kind of externalism found in the modern IR literature differs notably from that of the past. Externalism today is seen as labor market and personal variables — often in an econometric formulation — rather than grand social forces. Generally, the IR literature has moved toward sophisticated empiricism and toward a labor economics paradigm. To the extent that the older grand themes remain, they are more likely to be found in IR books rather than in academic journals. Human resource (HR) academics and practitioners can nonetheless benefit from the IR approach, even though the tyranny of tenure review has made journal articles in IR less readable. The IR literature emphasizes that labor–market forces, sometimes stemming from product and financial markets, matter to HR outcomes. And it regards conflict more as a source of information rather than just a cause of lost productivity.     

When is there a Kuznets curve? Some evidence from the ex-socialist countries

This paper investigates when there is a Kuznets curve, that is, under which conditions income inequality eventually declines with economic growth. The analysis was performed on a sample of 26 ex-socialist countries from the former Eastern Bloc, during the post-socialist years. These countries had very similar characteristics when socialism collapsed, but very different experiences with transition afterwards, which makes them a suitable group for analysing the relationship between GDP and inequality. We focus on four factors that may shape this relationship – labour market institutions, the market power of companies, social benefits and taxes. Our findings suggest that the Kuznets curve is present only when control of companies’ market power is effective and taxes are high.     

Sovereign default risk in OECD countries: Do global factors matter?

We study the determinants of sovereign default risk for a group of 23 OECD countries using quarterly data spanning the period between 2000:Q1 and 2016:Q3. Applying the recently developed panel dynamic heterogeneous common correlated effects estimator of Chudik and Pesaran (2015) our study innovates in considering potential endogeneity issues and cross-sectional dependence. We control for both global risk appetite and monetary policy stance, as well as country risk ratings. The results show that common factors are the main drivers of solvency risk for our set of countries. Specially relevant, we find that macroeconomic determinants are not significant predictors of long-term sovereign spreads.     

Is literacy shared within households? Theory and evidence for Bangladesh

A member of a collective-action households may or may not share the benefits of literacy with others in that household; the shared gains from doing so may well be offset by a shift in the balance of power within the family. Using household survey data for Bangladesh, we find strong external effects of education on individual earnings. Holding a range of personal attributes constant, an illiterate adult earns significantly more in the non-farm economy when living in a family with at least one literate member. These effects are strongest, and most robust, for women. Omitted-variable bias cannot be ruled out but would also be consistent with an intra-household externality of literacy.     

What is it going to cost? Empirical evidence from a systematic literature review of audit fee determinants

Management Review Quarterly - The audit market is subject to ongoing regulation to ensure or improve the quality of audit services. For this reason, international research on the audit market is...     

Broad‐based employee stock ownership: What makes it effective in the management of human resources?

Research linking broad‐based employee stock ownership (BESO) with firm performance continues to receive considerable attention both in and outside the field of management. Despite the evidence being generally positive regarding the BESO–firm performance relationship, there has been a relative dearth of research providing insights into the circumstances surrounding the effectiveness of BESO. With this research gap in mind, we formulated and launched this special issue. This guest editor introduction begins with a look at the research on this topic, followed by a brief discussion of each article accepted for publication. We conclude by highlighting the major themes from the collective contributions of the articles and share insights regarding future research in this growing research domain.     

Are the profitability and investment factors valid ICAPM risk factors? Pre-1963 evidence

We empirically evaluate whether the profitability and investment factors from Novy-Marx (2013) and Fama and French (2015, 2018) are compatible with Merton’s (1973) intertemporal CAPM (ICAPM) framework in the pre-1963 period. We show that: (i) the covariance risk price estimates of the profitability factors are positive and statistically significant, which indicates that they have explanatory power with respect to the cross-section of stock returns; (ii) the investment factors carry insignificant covariance risk prices and are therefore not valid ICAPM risk factors; and (iii) the profitability factors forecast the first moment of the aggregate stock return and economic activity with the correct sign, which is consistent with their positive covariance risk price estimates and satisfies the sign restrictions associated with the ICAPM.     

HR managers in five countries: what do they do and why does it matter?

The 1980s saw the need for change in the organizational role of human resource (HR) professionals, from the traditional employee champion and administrative expert to strategic business partner and change agent. The argument posited was that a more challenging environment compels organizations to turn to managing their HRs as a source of competitive advantage and that means an increasing business partnership for HR professionals. However, very few studies examine the execution of these multiple, sometimes contradictory roles, despite the risk that neglecting traditional roles endanger organizational performance in the long term. This five-country comparative study finds that multiple roles are at least moderately executed, and that these HR roles have different impact depending on the aspect of organizational performance. As well, a more challenging environment, defined here as legal constraints and industry challenges, generally does not have a significant moderating effect on the impact of the different HR roles on organizational performance.     

What makes them move abroad? Reviewing and exploring differences between self-initiated and assigned expatriation

Only in recent years have self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) been distinguished from assigned expatriates (AEs). But there is still a lack of empirically based comparative results. Statistical analysis, performed on data from 193 expatriates (N_AE = 67; N_SIE = 126), indicates that self-initiated foreign work experience is significantly more likely to be chosen by women and those having lower job levels. Furthermore, boundaryless and protean career orientation only partially predicted which career path is chosen. SIEs have higher organizational mobility preferences, but do not differ from AEs in their boundaryless mindset and protean career attitude. Implications of these findings for research in expatriation are discussed.     

Prospects for the Euro: Why has it been so weak?

In this article, Stephen Hall and Brian Henry consider the reasons for the Euro's weakness since its introduction and ask what are the likely prospects for a recovery to near-fundamental levels over the medium term. They conclude that the major factor leading to the currency's depreciation since 1999 has been a rise in the risk premium surrounding the Euro. A successful launch of Euro notes and coins may help to eliminate this premium.     

Machine learning in M4: What makes a good unstructured model?

The Makridakis Competitions seek to identify the most accurate forecasting methods for different types of predictions. The M4 competition was the first in which a model of the type commonly described as “machine learning” has outperformed the more traditional statistical approaches, winning the competition. However, many approaches that were self-labeled as “machine learning” failed to produce accurate results, which generated discussion about the respective benefits and drawbacks of “statistical” and “machine learning” approaches. Both terms have remained ill-defined in the context of forecasting. This paper introduces the terms “structured” and “unstructured” models to better define what is intended by the use of the terms “statistical” and “machine learning” in the context of forecasting based on the model’s data generating process. The mechanisms that underlie specific challenges to unstructured modeling are examined in the context of forecasting, along with common solutions. Finally, the innovations in the winning model that allowed it to overcome these challenges and produce highly accurate results are highlighted.     

Corporate identity: What does it mean for museums?

In the commercial sector it is recognised that corporate identity is highly significant not only in differentiating an organisation, but also for its long-term survival. However, no substantial research has previously been undertaken investigating corporate identity in the nonprofit sector. This paper outlines an investigation into the current practice of corporate identity management in museums. A number of distinct elements are identified, which are not adequately addressed by the commercially orientated corporate identity literature. The implications of these issues are considered, and some suggestions made for future corporate identity management activities in the nonprofit sector.     

Are “bounced check loans” really loans? Theory,evidence and policy

This research addresses the controversial bank policy of paying – rather than bouncing – overdrawn checks, debits or ATM withdrawals. We argue that it should fall under lending regulations only if consumers use the program to get intentional loans. In contrast, if the program primarily applies to checking account activity then it should fall under checking account regulations. A model of precautionary balance holding and checking account customer data are used to estimate the likelihood of overdrafting. Predicted overdrafts are compared to actual overdrafts to conclude that 79% are explained by the model and thus thought to be mistakes due to the stochastic nature of household expenditures.     

Health and economic growth in high-income countries revisited: evidence from an augmented production function for the period 1980–2009

This paper uses time series data for seven industrialized countries from 1980–2009 to explore the causality between health care expenditure (HCE) and economic growth. We have set up a classical Cobb–Douglas production function including HCE, labor, capital, and an augmented function additionally including the number of patent applications (as a proxy for technology and research) and the total number of tertiary education students (as a proxy for education). Our results show that there is a long-run relationship between growth and HCE. As regards causality, in the classical production function, evidence for mutual causality between GDP and HCE is noted only in France, Germany and England, causality from HCE to GDP is noted in Italy and Japan, while no causality whatsoever is evidenced in Canada and USA. However, a completely different situation is unveiled when the augmented production function is used with mutual causality being noted in all perused variables. The novelty of our study lies first in that it contributes to the health-growth nexus literature for high-income countries which has been quite controversial and second it sets off new variables whose omission might be one of the reasons of the result dichotomy. Results of this study will be very useful for high-income countries currently afflicted by the economic crisis and embark on HCE curtailments or revisions.     

Are traditional industrial partnerships so strategic for research spin-off development? Some evidence from the Italian case

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on research spin-offs (SOs) and strategic alliances. The research SO phenomenon has attracted significant attention in recent years. Yet, research SOs might present a particular situation regarding their economic development. Therefore, the paper focuses on the relevance of traditional industrial partnerships and introduces a new and complementary approach for studying and analysing the role of alliances for this particular kind of firm. The results of a questionnaire investigation of Italian research SOs with and without a traditional industrial partner are investigated and supported by a linear regression model. Due to recent initiatives – a growing interest in the research SO phenomenon – and the increasing number of established research SOs, Italy is a suitable case study for such an investigation. Nonetheless, the results are generalizable beyond the Italian case. The findings demonstrate thought-provoking – and somehow unexpected – results regarding the role of traditional alliances in shaping the geographical and industrial environment as well as the performance, added value, age and production process of the company. This calls for a broader perspective regarding industrial partnerships and research SOs: it reflects new modes of relations for these particular firms in the form of business ecosystems, either they are physical or they are digital.