Efficiency and technological change at US research universities

This article investigates the determinants of efficiency and technological progress at US research universities. It relies on a unique panel data set of multiple outputs and inputs from 92 universities covering the period 1981–1998. Over that time span, US universities experienced large increases in industry funding and in academic patenting activity. In this context, the directional distance function and a nonparametric representation of the underlying production technology are combined to obtain estimates of productivity growth and technical efficiency. An econometric analysis is then presented to examine the determinants of technical efficiency and the rate of technological progress. The results show how changes in funding sources for US research universities affects research performance.     

Export-led economic growth and the case of Brazil: An empirical research

The world has been globalized much more than ever before and this process integrates the economies of countries. Moreover, one means of integrating the economies of countries is trade. In this instance, the export-led economic growth emerges as a considerable determinant. Export-led economic growth is beneficial for the countries since it facilitates the inflow of foreign exchange, increases production, creates new employment opportunities and enhances the overall commercial volume. In this study, the correlation between export-led economic growth is explored for Brazil. Therefore, according to the findings of this paper as well as econometric and statistical applications, there is a bi-directional causality in Brazil since 1960s between economic development and exports in the long-run (this could also be termed as feedback); furthermore, in the short-run, there is export-led economic growth. The novelty of this paper is that, it is one of the latest studies investigating export-led economic growth for Brazil.     

An empirical approach to the organisational determinants of spin-off creation in European universities

Given the importance in recent years of the phenomenon of academic entrepreneurship in European universities, knowledge about determinants and performance of this technology transfer mechanism may have important managerial and policy implications. Applying the resource-based view at universities, we have tested the influence of five bundles of resources and capabilities on spin-off activity rates as well as on the performance of new spin-offs in a sample of seven European universities. These five bundles are: technology transfer policies and strategies; human capital; stock of technology; resources and capabilities of technology transfer offices; and support measures for academic entrepreneurship. Our results show that excellence of human capital and the presence of university-based financial support measures are strongly associated with both spin-off activity and performance. Another interesting finding is related to the availability of university-based non-economic support measures (training, counselling, etc.), which have no influence on spin-off activity but are significantly associated with performance of new spin-offs. We also discuss some interesting relationships between explanatory variables.     

Risk aversion and business cycles: An empirical analysis

Unlike investors, who tend to maintain highly-diversified portfolios, private entrepreneurs usually lack access to complete risk-pooling for idiosyncratic risks, thus more directly internalize the cost of volatility. Risk aversion, however, modifies the optimal contract between entrepreneurs and lenders by incorporating the risk premium that entrepreneurs demand for the uninsurable risk: the private equity premium. Consequently, real shocks tend to be amplified as changes in entrepreneurs’ net worth affect the private equity premium and so the rental rate of capital, investment and output. This theoretical framework suggests that economies where the private entrepreneurial sector is a relatively larger, and therefore more vulnerable to uninsurable risk, all else equal, should present higher volatility. I test this prediction by (1) conducting a simple reduced-form analysis that shows that output volatility is negatively associated with the relative importance of the corporate vs. the privately-held sector; and (2) estimating the model's structural parameters. Intuitively, countries where private entrepreneurs are predominant and so risk aversion is likely to impose stronger impacts, positive risk aversion coefficients should be found. Results suggest that risk aversion is empirically more relevant for economies like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Korea, Mexico and Thailand than for Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S.     

UK universities and the state: a Faustian bargain?

The universities are now‘one of the last seminationalised sectors of the British economy,’used by government as an instrument of social policy. This situation represents a‘Faustian bargain’which threatens both the quality and the prosperity of universities. One solution would be privatisation of some universities through public flotation. These universities could then contract with government to take state-funded students. Two objections are that the scheme would promote elitism and that it would encourage greater inequality between universities, but the relevant question is whether it would offer an improvement on the present regime.     

An empirical analysis of the Carbon Financial Instrument

This study provides an empirical investigation of the price volatility—trading volume relationship for the Carbon Financial Instrument (CFI). A CFI is a financial contract that is traded on the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and represents the right to emit 100 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. CFI contracts differ from one another on the basis of their allocation year to CCX member firms, referred to as their respective Vintage year. We provide evidence indicating a positive contemporaneous relationship between price changes and trading volume for the different CFI Vintage contracts. Employing bivariate VAR models that adjust for trade duration, we find that CFI price volatility and trading volume are persistent across time. Furthermore, we provide evidence indicating that lagged volume increases price volatility, in addition to lagged price volatility increasing trading volume levels in the CCX market. Our results are in agreement with prior research documenting significant positive price volatility—volume relationships in traditional equity markets.     

An empirical analysis of international labour migration in the Philippines

This study empirically investigates the impact of economic, demographic, and political factors on the size of emigration from the Philippines. In 2007, overseas workers from the Philippines sent remittances in excess of US$14 billion annually to their families back home. Although these remittances are an important source of foreign exchange and play an important role in economic development, the determinants of emigration in the Philippines are not well established. A simple unrestricted error correction model of migration was specified and estimated using data spanning the period 1975–2005. Results indicate that the level of unemployment, adult literacy and population density are the key determinants of emigration in the Philippines. The result also indicates that government instability impacts negatively on emigration in the Philippines. The policy implications of the results are discussed.     

An analysis of university year-round operation

The implementation of year-round operation has often been suggested as a means for accommodating additional demand for student admissions at a university campus of fixed capacity. However, because the student flow process at a university has not been well understood, many institutions have been disappointed to find the actual benefits resulting from the addition of a regular summer program of instruction to be far less than they had expected. This paper demonstrates that, due to established patterns of student attendance, a reasonable expectation of a change to year-round operation is that the undergraduate admission rate will increase by 5 per cent when enrollment is held fixed. Moreover, the summer term will attract only one-third as many undergraduate students as are enrolled during the regular academic year. These computations assume that no attempt is made to exert control over student attendance patterns.A queueing model is developed that relates the admission rate to the proportion of students who belong to various cohorts with common workload requirements and attendance patterns. Data gathered at the University of California, Berkeley campus is used to estimate these proportions for a campus which offers a year-round program. From these estimates are derived values for the overall admission rate and the ratio of summer enrollment to average nonsummer enrollment. These values are then compared with those obtained for a campus of like size which does not offer a year-round program of instruction. The paper concludes that, unless an institution is willing to exert control over student attendance patterns, university year-round operation is probably not economical in a society which places heavy emphasis on the summer as a time when students should vacation or take temporary jobs.     

Human resources and SME performance in services: empirical evidence from the UK

We investigate the relationship between human resources (HR) and superior firm performance, as well as the role of business strategy as a key mediating factor, for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK Tourism Hospitality and Leisure (THL) sector. Our results suggest that high-performing SMEs in the THL sector are managed by more experienced entrepreneurs. We also find that more profitable SMEs combine a highly skilled workforce with technological and know-how-based firm differentiation strategies, and/or product differentiation strategies, which are based on quality of service and personal attention to customers, alongside generous compensation and attention to employee development.     

The interaction between public and private governments: An empirical analysis

Private governments, found in planned developments and condominiums, are increasingly common methods of delivering local services to residents. This paper provides the first empirical study of their impact on local public finance. A novel data set of homeowners' associations allows construction of a panel of private governments in California. Panel methods test whether public expenditures respond to private government prevalence. Estimates indicate that local governments lower spending moderately in response to private government activity, consistent with strategic substitution. The paper then examines various mechanisms to explain this downloading and shows that the substitutability between public and private providers is key to which services are downloaded. Evidence also suggests that the economies of scale in service production in small cities temper the offloading of public services to private governments.     

The customer consequences of returns in online retailing: An empirical analysis

Pressure continues to build on the operations management function to facilitate system and firm level benefits. In the online marketplace, one area of growing interest is that of product returns. Though commonly viewed as a cost center from an operations perspective, operations’ actions have the potential to strongly influence future customer buying behavior in several ways. Using an archival database of actual purchase and returns history provided by a moderately sized online retailer, this study examines the relationship between a customer's experience of product returns, and subsequent shopping behavior. Employing transaction cost, consumer risk, and procedural justice theories, we demonstrate that the returns management process, rather than being regarded as an afterthought to the production and deployment of goods, can significantly and positively influence repurchase behavior. Additionally, we provide evidence that certain customers should be considered for prioritization in the returns process. We suggest ways through which operations managers can take care in discharging their responsibilities in this area – to make returns processing more than simply a “necessary cost of doing business” rather, using it to their advantage in engendering repeat and increased purchase behavior.     

Capability hierarchy in electronic procurement and procurement process performance: An empirical analysis

This paper examines the interrelationship between two hierarchically structured functional capabilities pertinent in the organizational procurement process, and the impact of these capabilities on procurement process performance. These functional capabilities operate at different levels in an organization's procurement process. We draw upon resource- and knowledge-based views of the firm to theorize that in this hierarchy of information technology-enabled procurement capabilities, the higher-level capability – procurement integration competence – enables firms to develop and deploy a lower-level capability – digital procurement competence. Further, we theorize that the lower-level capability impacts procurement process performance directly and completely mediates the relationship between higher-level capability and performance. Thus, although performance is impacted directly only by the lower-level capability, the higher-level capability facilitates the development and use of the lower-level capability. Our research model is tested using survey data from a large sample of 412 manufacturing firms. The results provide strong support for the proposed research model. In particular, we find that as hypothesized, the impact of procurement integration competence on performance is completely mediated by digital procurement competence. Our results suggest that when examined at the procurement process level, the impact of higher-level capabilities may be manifested completely through the lower-level capabilities. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed.     

湖南企业加强产学研结合需求的实证研究

文章从统计数据分析和调研分析角度对湖南企业加强产学研结合的需求进行了实证研究。得出结论:加强产学研结合,是湖南企业解决目前自身创新资源不足与技术短缺,提高技术创新能力的内在需求和解决外部生存压力的现实需要与选择。     

基于MOOC的翻转课堂在高校教学中的应用研究

近年来,随着MOOC及翻转课堂的快速发展,高校传统的教学模式也将面临严峻的挑战,如何恰当地运用这些新型教学模式成为高校教师必须认真思考的问题.通过梳理MOOC及翻转课堂的内涵与特征,分析二者的关系及高校实施翻转课堂的必要性和可行性,提出高校基于MOOC的翻转课堂的实施步骤,并对高校实施翻转课堂提出几点应注意的问题.     

An empirical analysis of self-employment in the U.K.

The paper formulates a self-employment/paid-employment choice problem that draws upon Knight's notion that the individual responds to the risk-adjusted relative earnings opportunities in each sector. Based on a development of such choice-theoretic considerations, an econometric model is developed with the purpose of empirically examining the determinants of self-employment. The model features simultaneous determination of employment status and earnings, which allows for self-selectivity. The model is estimated using a sample of 4762 individuals from the General Household Survey for 1978. The estimation of the earnings equation enables a calculation of the self-employment/paid-employment earnings differential and the estimated probit equation for self-employment/paid-employment status facilitates the prediction of the probability of self-employment. The paper finds that there is positive selection bias in the observed earnings of employees, that the probability of self-employment depends positively on the earnings difference between the two sectors and that education and age are significant determinants of self-employment.     

Rank-ordered logit models: An empirical analysis of Ontario voter preferences

This study provides a Bayesian investigation of rank-ordered multinominal logit models employing conjugate priors for standard multinomial logit models as well as other priors. Also considered is a specification test of the independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption. The proposed techniques are demonstrated in an empirical investigation of Ontario voter preferences before the 1988 Canadian Federal Election.     

Labor unions and productivity: An empirical analysis using Japanese firm-level data

This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between labor union and firm performance in areas such as productivity and profitability by using data on more than 4000 Japanese firms, ranging from listed large firms to unlisted SMEs, in both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sector. The presence of labor unions has statistically and economically significant positive effects on firm productivity. Unions' effects on wages are also positive, their magnitude being slightly larger than those on productivity. The decrease in the number of employees is greater at unionized firms than at non-unionized firms. The difference in employment growth is mainly attributable to the change in the number of part-time workers. In order to enhance productivity, close cooperation between management and unions is essential.     

The stochastic frontier production function and average efficiency: An empirical analysis

This paper provides an empirical estimation of a stochastic frontier Cobb-Douglas production function using micro data from a cross-section of Brazilian manufacturing firms. Following a procedure developed by Aigner, Lovell and Schmidt incorporating both stochastic and efficiency disturbance terms in the estimating model, maximum likelihood techniques are used for the estimation of the stochastic frontier. A measure of mean technical efficiency is also developed and employed with the Brazilian data. Unlike the previous empirical exercises carried out with aggregated data, the efficiency disturbance with the Brazilian micro data estimates is not swamped by the stochastic disturbance.     

高校英语教学中的文化融入探析

文化和语言相辅相成、密不可分,这要求我们在英语教学中必须进行文化教学。然而。在目前英语教学中,没有充分认识到它的重要性。文中从培养文化意识、采取文化教学的保障措施、时时进行文化信息传递和系统地进行文化知识教学等方面,探讨了高校英语课中的文化教学问题。