ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE SPATIAL CONTEXT: EVIDENCE ON THE LOCATION OF FIRM BIRTHS IN GREECE

This paper analyses the effect of the spatial context upon entrepreneurship in Greek regions. Cross‐sectional data referring to 4151 births at NUTS III level (prefecture) are used for firm births in four industries, namely manufacturing, commerce, services, and tourism. The formulated hypotheses are in regard to the effect of agglomeration economies, defined here as urbanization and localization economies, and other factors that typically affect the location of start‐ups. Results indicate that strong localization economies exist (both of the Marshallian and the Jacobian type) while, in addition, the spatial context of entrepreneurship affects different industries in different ways.     

THE EFFECT OF POLICING STRATEGIES: EVIDENCE FROM THE USA

Changes in policing strategies in the USA during the 1990s coincided with a significant decline in crime, particularly in New York City. However, academic research has shown that policing strategies played a relatively minor role in reducing crime in comparison with other factors.     

OPEN KNOWLEDGE DISCLOSURE: AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE AND ECONOMIC MOTIVATIONS

Abstract.  This paper reviews current literature on open knowledge disclosure strategies used by firms. It is usually acknowledged that for an innovative firm that does not benefit from a natural protection (such as lead time advance) the best strategy is to keep an innovation secret as long as possible or to protect it through an exclusive patent. However, in apparent contrast to this traditional view, many studies suggest that firms often disclose important parts of their knowledge through scientific publications, conferences, the Internet, etc. This paper aims to provide an overview first of the evidence supporting the existence of open knowledge disclosure and second of the economic motivations that encourage rational, profit seeking firms to adopt these behaviours.     

TIME VARIATION IN THE DYNAMICS OF WORKER FLOWS: EVIDENCE FROM NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE

Vector autoregressive methods have been used to model the interrelationships between job vacancy rates, job separation rates and job‐finding rates using tools such as impulse response analysis. We investigate whether such impulse responses change across the business cycle or over time, by estimating time‐varying parameter–vector autoregressions for data from North America (the USA and Canada) and Europe (France, Spain and the UK). While the adjustment process of the labour market to shocks in Canada and the USA is similar, we find the adjustment process differs much more across the European countries, with greater persistence in shocks relative to the USA and Canada. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE GATT/WTO TO GLOBAL ECONOMIC WELFARE: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

This paper surveys estimates of the value of the GATT/WTO's contributions to global welfare through providing a forum for negotiating reductions in policy‐induced distortions to trade flows, including through the process of accession by new members. After reviewing measures of the price‐distorting effects of trade‐related policies, it assesses estimates from global simulation models of the welfare effects of trade liberalizations prior to the WTO's Doha round, including the net benefits and transfers associated with implementing the Uruguay Round agreement on trade‐related intellectual property rights, and then reviews estimates of the potential welfare effects of a Doha round agreement to cut tariffs and subsidies. Econometric estimates of past trade and related effects of the GATT/WTO are then examined, before turning to estimates of the benefits of WTO accession and of potential benefits from WTO‐sponsored trade facilitation. The paper concludes that while it remains difficult to attribute reforms directly to the GATT/WTO, the overall body of evidence presented supports the economic profession's consensus that this institution has contributed substantially to global economic welfare.     

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF MARRIAGE: A REVIEW OF RECENT EVIDENCE FROM THE UNITED STATES

In this essay I summarise recent evidence demonstrating that marriage is an institution of great social significance, one that offers economic and health benefits to married adults and similar benefits to their children. Many of these benefits can plausibly be ascribed to the changes in behaviour that ensue when men and women commit to one another in marriage.     

THE ELASTICITY OF CAPITAL–LAND SUBSTITUTION IN THE HOUSING CONSTRUCTION SECTOR OF A RAPIDLY URBANIZED CITY: EVIDENCE FROM TURKEY

This paper estimates the elasticity of capital-land substitution for the housing market in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. Using constant elasticity of substitution (CES) and variable elasticity of substitution (VES) production functions and cross-section data, the paper provides new information to compare the housing supply elasticity of Ankara with that of the USA and the UK cases. Our regression results reveal that housing supply in Ankara is highly inelastic due to the uniform construction regime of local authorities. Moreover, we find that there is a considerable spatial differentiation of urban land density measures within the capital city. Because of the incomplete urbanization process, the elasticity of capital-land substitution is significantly higher in the outer parts of the city.     

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FORCES IN SECTORAL WAGE FORMATION: EVIDENCE FROM THE NETHERLANDS

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative importance of internal (sector-specific) and external (labour market) forces in sectoral wage formation in the Netherlands (1967–90). The results show that wages are largely determined by external forces, although internal forces are significant as well. The impact of the number of insiders, which plays a role in unemployment persistance, is not significant. Separate estimation results show that the impact of internal forces and of unemployment is weaker in the industrial sectors than in the service sectors. This casts doubt on the presumption that insider power increases the impact of internal forces on wage formation.     

WHAT EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE IN THE EFFECT OF RETIREMENT ON HEALTH? EVIDENCE FROM GLOBAL AGING DATA

This paper analyzes the reasons for differences in the estimated effect of retirement on health in previous studies. We investigate these differences by focusing on the analysis methods used by these studies. Using various health indexes, numerous researchers have examined the effects of retirement on health. However, there are no unified views on the impact of retirement on various health indexes. Consequently, we show that the choice of analysis method is one of the key factors in explaining why the estimated results of the effect of retirement on health differ. Moreover, we re‐estimate the effect of retirement on health by using a fixed analysis method controlling for individual heterogeneity and endogeneity of the retirement behavior. We analyze the effect of retirement on health parameters, such as cognitive function, self‐report of health, activities of daily living (ADL), depression, and body mass index in eight countries. We find that the effects of retirement on self‐report of health, depression, and ADL are positive in many of these countries.     

THE (NON‐)SIGNIFICANCE OF REPORTING ERRORS IN ECONOMICS: EVIDENCE FROM THREE TOP JOURNALS

We investigate the prevalence and sources of reporting errors in 30,993 hypothesis tests from 370 articles in three top economics journals. We define reporting errors as inconsistencies between reported significance levels by means of eye‐catchers and calculated ‐values based on reported statistical values, such as coefficients and standard errors. While 35.8% of the articles contain at least one reporting error, only 1.3% of the investigated hypothesis tests are afflicted by reporting errors. For strong reporting errors for which either the eye‐catcher or the calculated ‐value signals statistical significance but the respective other one does not, the error rate is 0.5% for the investigated hypothesis tests corresponding to 21.6% of the articles having at least one strong reporting error. Our analysis suggests a bias in favor of errors for which eye‐catchers signal statistical significance but calculated ‐values do not. Survey responses from the respective authors, replications, and exploratory regression analyses indicate some solutions to mitigate the prevalence of reporting errors in future research.     

MANAGEMENT IN CONTEXT: AN ESSAY ON THE RELEVANCE OF CULTURE TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

The recent interest in cultural analysis of organizations is based on the belief that organizations have symbolic aspects that affect organizational behaviour. Underlying this research, however, are different assumptions about the nature of symbols and the role they play in organizations. The majority of writers have assumed that symbols perform an expressive function and are used in a type of action they call 'symbolic action’which they contrast with ‘substantive action’. This dichotomy between symbolic and substantive action has resulted in the development of models that assume culture is a causal factor in organizational change, and should be controlled by the management of symbols. In this article, this approach - the management as symbolic action approach - is examined and found to be inadequate. An alternative approach is developed - the culture-as-context approach - that assumes all actions have a symbolic aspect, all actions are value-laden, symbols are meaningful only in terms of their relations with other symbols, and symbols are dispositions to action, not causes of it. The study of culture is seen, then, as the explication of action in terms of the system of symbolic forms - goals, plans, ideas, roles and traditions - that people use to give meaning and order to their experience. This approach is applied to the interactions of the members of the‘Transition Team’in a Bell Telephone operating company preparing for the deregulation of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, its parent corporation, in 1981. It is demonstrated empirically and explained conceptually that culture leads to a certain class of possible actions which makes certain attempts at change, or reactions to change, probable in a given situation.     

THE ROLE OF FEES IN PATENT SYSTEMS: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

This paper reviews the economic literature on the role of fees in patent systems. Two main research questions are usually addressed: the impact of patent fees on the behavior of applicants and the question of optimal fees. Studies in the former group confirm that a range of fees affect the behavior of applicants and suggest that a patent is an inelastic good. Studies in the latter group provide grounds for both low and high application (or pre‐grant) fees and renewal (or post‐grant) fees, depending on the structural context and policy objectives. The paper also presents new stylized facts on patent fees of 30 patent offices worldwide. It is shown that application fees are generally lower than renewal fees, and renewal fees increase more than proportionally with patent age.     

THE ORGANIZATIONAL CORRELATES AND CONSEQUENCES OF SUBCONTRACTING: EVIDENCE FROM A SURVEY OF SOUTH WALES BUSINESSES

Recent interest in the growth of subcontracting, as part of a broader trend towards greater ‘flexibility’in forms of employment relationship, has not as yet been matched by a full consideration of its organizational and managerial implications. In particular, the question of whether or not subcontracting has an impact upon, or is affected by, the organization's structural characteristics remains largely unexplored. the aim of this article is to report findings from a detailed study of subcontracting practices across a sample of British industry, which focuses upon the relationship between subcontracting and organizational characteristics. the results indicate several important points about the practice. Firstly, that there is wide variation in the use of subcontracting across industry, although the overall extent is limited. Secondly, that variation in the practice is significantly related to basic firm characteristics - namely, industrial sector, type of production system and pattern of ownership and control. Thirdly, that, on balance, subcontracting is associated with more, not less, structural complexity. Finally, that this greater complexity is found in particular types of firms - notably, outside the manufacturing sector, in mass and process production systems and amongst British independents and subsidiaries, rather than in their foreign competitors.     

THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC REGULATION IN THE ISTANBUL TAXICAB MARKET

This paper discusses the regulation of the Istanbul taxicab market and its consequences. While price and entry regulations are common to many taxi markets, there are significant differences in their institutional frameworks. We examine the problems of the Istanbul market and offer recommendations to improve its efficiency.     

THE DEMAND FOR GASOLINE: EVIDENCE FROM HOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATA

In this paper we investigate the demand for gasoline in Canada using recent annual expenditure data from the Canadian Survey of Household Spending, over a 13‐year period from 1997 to 2009, on three expenditure categories in the transportation sector: gasoline, local transportation, and intercity transportation. In doing so, we use three of the most widely used locally flexible functional forms, the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) of Deaton and Muellbauer (1980), the quadratic AIDS (QUAIDS) of Banks et al. (1997)—an extension of the simple AIDS model that can generate quadratic Engel curves—and the Minflex Laurent model of Barnett (1983), which can also generate quadratic Engel curves. We pay explicit attention to economic regularity, argue that unless regularity is attained by luck, flexible functional forms should always be estimated subject to regularity as suggested by Barnett (2002), and impose local curvature to produce inference consistent with neoclassical microeconomic theory. Our findings indicate that the curvature‐constrained Minflex Laurent model is the only model that is able to provide theoretically consistent estimates of the Canadian demand for gasoline. Our estimates show that the own‐price elasticity for gasoline demand in Canada is between ? 0.738 and ? 0.570 —less elastic than previously reported in the literature. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.