Just the facts: An initial analysis of subprime’s role in the housing crisis

Using two large proprietary datasets from New England, this paper establishes some basic facts about the subprime crisis. First, while unaffordable interest-rate resets are often blamed for setting off this crisis, most subprime borrowers who defaulted did so well in advance of their reset dates. Defaults on subprime adjustable-rate mortgages are more sensitive to declining housing prices than are defaults on fixed-rate loans, however, and the data support a number of alternative explanations for this finding. Second, many borrowers with good credit scores took out subprime loans as the housing boom gathered steam. It is hard to construct a prima facie case that these borrowers were inappropriately steered into the subprime market, however, because the loans that these borrowers took out were too risky for prime treatment. Finally, 70% of Massachusetts homes recently lost to foreclosure were originally purchased with prime mortgages. But subprime refinancing is especially prevalent among owners who were likely to have extracted substantial amounts of equity before they defaulted.     

Competition and market power in the European airline industry: 1976–90

In this paper, we study the market power of European airlines in an oligopoly structure with product differentiation for the period 1976–1990 and test the monopoly hypothesis (Captain, 1993). The paper analyzes the level of competition among eight major European airlines and finds little evidence for market power in the industry over that period. One of our main findings is that the high prices in Europe are not entirely due to the bilateral agreements (leading to possible monopoly power), but rather are a result of very high cost structures in the industry. These results are broadly in agreement with those of Roeller and Sickles (1994) which analyzes these issues in the European Industry by estimating a structural, two-stage game. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The oxymoron of ‘sustainable oil production’: the case of the Norwegian oil industry

Many oil companies have adopted the concept of sustainable development and claim that their production is sustainable. This might seem odd given that the oil industry depletes a non‐renewable resource and that oil production also contributes to climate change. This paper analyses how the industry attempts to resolve this paradox, using the Norwegian oil industry as a case study. It is demonstrated how four rhetorical operations are used. By employing the topic of definition, the industry argues that it is sustainable because it (1) strives to cut its emissions and (2) manages oil resources with a long‐term perspective until such time as technology will provide solutions. The industry then uses the topic of comparison to (3) discredit other energy sources as ‘unrealistic’ options and (4) compare the production in Norway with more polluting oil production elsewhere. Understanding this type of rhetoric is crucial for validating or criticizing the sustainability claims of the industry. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

‘Repeat commercializers,’ the ‘habitual entrepreneurs’ of university–industry technology transfer

Among academic faculty, is there a class of ‘repeat commercializers’ who account for a disproportionate share of commercialized technologies arising from university research? In a survey of 172 engineering, mathematics, and science faculty members from a major Canadian university, we found evidence that a class of repeat commercializers does exist. Further, we found that the 12% of the faculty who are repeat commercializers account for 80% of the commercialized innovations. Interviews with repeat commercializers in the same faculties at the same university suggest that repeat commercializers parallel habitual entrepreneurs in that they have the ability to commercialize (i.e. the ability to generate and identify commercializable inventions and the ability to acquire resources for the commercialization of their inventions) and the aspiration to do so (i.e. commercialization-friendly attitudes). Since repeat commercializers account for such a large percentage of commercialization activity, it is important that programs and policies associated with technology transfer address the needs of this subpopulation of the faculty.     

All in All,it’s Just Another Plaque on the Wall: The Incidence and Impact of the Investors in People Standard*

ABSTRACT The Investors in People Standard was introduced in 1991 in order to provide a national benchmark of training and development activity. This article, using data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey ( Department for Trade and Industry, 1999 ), conducts five tests with regard to the incidence and impact of the Standard. The first test evaluates the types of workplace that have secured accreditation. The second and third tests compare the nature of training practice in accredited and non‐accredited workplaces, based on data from the WERS 98 main management survey and also the survey of employees. The fourth test evaluates the proportion of workplaces that have secured accreditation, yet are failing to engage in good practice. The final test evaluates the characteristics of workplaces that fall into this latter category. The results demonstrate considerable variation between different types of workplace with regard to the likelihood of accreditation having been secured. They also demonstrate that, on average, training practice is better in accredited workplaces than in non‐accredited workplaces, but a large minority of accredited workplaces are failing to engage in good practice. Among workplaces that have accreditation, smaller workplaces stand out in particular as failing to engage in good training practice.     

Rewriting China’s Recent History: Fluctuations in State Economic Control, 1949–1984

China's political and economic systems are often discussed in combination. It is generally believed that under the political system of centralization, the economic system had to be a state monopoly. This article challenges that view by providing an economic perspective. The period 1949–1984 is selected to explore the causes of successive periods of strengthening and weakening of the state's monopoly power over the economy. Scholars have generally assumed that the period of state monopoly originated from socialist ideology or the personal will of the leaders. But economic conditions severely limited the options available. After the new China was established, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not try to create a fully socialist economy in the short run. Instead, the CCP formulated a New Democracy platform that pragmatically allowed many types of enterprise to function side by side, including private industry, household ventures, and state‐owned enterprises. The original plan of the CCP was to allow private enterprise to develop in order to build up capital to rebuild the war‐damaged economy so that a strong foundation could be established for creating a socialist economy. But the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 and an influx of Soviet capital caused a shift from a mixed economy to state capitalism by 1956. From that point on, Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders had to change course again and again as fiscal crises limited available options. A reversal occurred in 1958 when the Soviets withdrew both their advisors and their capital subsidies, leaving the state capitalist system weakened. The crisis in the Chinese economy from 1959 to 1961 required decentralization of economic authority and efforts to promote rural capital formation. The next shift occurred after 1963 as the economy was organized to prepare for a possible military invasion. The required mobilization of industrial resources in remote regions of China inevitably reinforced state management of the economy. The final reversal occurred in the late 1970s, when imports of Western technology and equipment created another fiscal crisis for the central government, which then had to shift the burden of capital formation from the state to private entities. The reform of the rural household contract system, the adjustment of economic structures, and an increase in exports to gain foreign exchange all took place as part of “de‐monopolization” reforms. The reforms that occurred after 1979 were not an aberration or a radical break from the past. They were part of a pattern that evolved from 1949 to 1984, with fluctuations dependent on the weakening and strengthening status of state finances. The shifts that occurred during this period have either been ignored by observers, or they have been misinterpreted as being motivated by ideology. In fact, new policies were created to enable the government to adjust to changes in the internal and external environment.     

Women’s position in the household

Women’s labor market position has changed dramatically during the past century, while changes in the home have followed at a slower pace. Marriage and motherhood and responsibilities for most household labor still affect women’s choices about whether and under what conditions to work for pay. The U.S. government does not have a coherent set of policies about work/family life, lagging far behind Canada and western Europe. Employer policies can be helpful but are more available to workers at higher income levels and are more likely to be used by women than men. Thus, women continue to make “choices” under seriously constrained conditions.     

Caveat emptor – let the buyer beware! environmental labelling and the limitations of ‘green’ consumerism

In recent years, the idea of ‘green’ or ‘political’ consumers expressing their political beliefs in everyday life has been widely embraced. Eager to satisfy the needs of this new market segment, firms have allocated substantial resources to environmental management, social accountability, corporate citizenship, occupational health and safety etc. During the 1990s, the industrialized world also witnessed a growing number of environmental labels, expected to guide the political consumers in their shopping decisions. Evaluations of these environmental labelling (eco‐labelling) programmes indicate that some labels and product groups receive a great deal of attention while others remain in obscurity. To understand these differences, the paper will discuss some of the factors that determine the market impact of environmental labelling. It is concluded that the concept of the ‘green’ consumer is over‐simplified and fails to capture the actual complexity of consumer values, attitudes and behaviour. The results are based on existing literature and our own empirical findings. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Quality management practices and their relationship to buyer’s supplier ratings: a study in the Korean automotive industry

This research explores if quality management practices are different among suppliers whose performance is rated high, medium, or low by a common buying company and identifies which specific practices contribute to the differences. The entire population of first-tier suppliers to a Korean auto assembler was surveyed to measure use of quality management practices. Useable returns were received from 25% of the suppliers surveyed. To measure conformance quality and overall rating, suppliers were categorized into high, medium, and low performing groups based on the buying company’s data. Multivariate analysis of variance was done using general linear model (GLM-MANOVA) to explore differences in the high-, medium-, and low-performing supplier groups based on their use of quality management practices. No statistically significant differences were found when suppliers were categorized based on conformance quality. However, when categorized based on overall rating, the highest rated suppliers were found to emphasize process management and employee satisfaction to a greater degree than the lowest rated suppliers.     

‘Totally Un‐Australian!’: Discursive and Institutional Interplay in the Melbourne Port Dispute of 1997–98*

ABSTRACT We examine how discourses are mobilized and deployed by actors in an inter‐organizational domain during a critical industrial relations event. We identify the ways that business interests and union interests in the Melbourne Port industrial dispute of 1997–98 related to each other. We weave concepts from domain theory and organizational discourse theory in deriving the concept of the discursively ordered domain. This suggests that the main processes that occur in a domain are actors’‘mapping’ texts onto discourses and discourses onto interpretive schemes which make certain courses of action rational and sensible. Methodologically, we join an institutional‐historical analysis and a text‐based discourse analysis to gain a well‐rounded understanding of the situation. We extract several discursive frameworks which the major actors mobilized to make sense of the situation, and draw linkages to the actions that those positions made possible. The main findings are that actors in the two networks performed complex mapping in different ways, the material and symbolic outcomes of the dispute are products of those mapping processes, and the material and discursive aspects of the domain interweave. We discuss the value of the concept of discursively ordered domain for mutually enriching domain theory and discourse analysis and for understanding critical events such as major industrial disputes in new ways.     

Effectiveness and Empowerment in Women’s Shelter: A Study of Working Women’s Hostels in Bangalore,India

Policy debates on shelter for women have focused on family structure, gender roles and the importance of shelter in women’s economic development. They emphasize the need for shelter that is generally effective and empowering for women. Although valuable, these general policy proposals are often unable to account for the particular situations in specific cultural contexts in which family structure, roles and economic development are reshaped by women’s migration, and where cultural mandates for, and family‐based control of, women’s shelter are re‐articulated. Through a study of 12 working women’s hostels in Bangalore, India, which includes a survey of 126 residents and 4 focus groups, this article analyses the functions that hostels serve for women and explores the aspects of hostels that are effective and empowering. While only partially effective and empowering in ways that are specified within the current debates, hostels offer a significant policy opportunity to help women both expand their personal, social, economic and political universe without losing contact with the familiar and nurturing networks of family, and gain autonomy over their shelter and lives. The article discusses how hostels can provide a stepping stone for policy and programmatic interventions toward decent, secure and empowering shelter for women. Les débats politiques sur l’hébergement des femmes se sont concentrés sur la structure familiale, les rôles des sexes et l’importance de l’habitat dans le développement économique des femmes. Ils ont souligné le besoin d’un hébergement qui procure généralement à celles‐ci satisfaction et possibilités. Bien qu’appréciables, ces propositions générales sont souvent incapables de tenir compte de situations particulières, dans des contextes culturels spécifiques où la migration des femmes remodèle la structure familiale, les rôles et l’évolution économique, parallèlement au réajustement entre les directives culturelles et le contrôle familial à l’égard de l’hébergement féminin. À travers une étude sur 12 foyers de travailleuses de Bangalore (Inde), comprenant une enqu? te auprès de 126 pensionnaires et 4 groupes‐témoins, cet article analyse les fonctions que les foyers apportent aux femmes et explore les aspects de ces lieux porteurs de satisfaction et de possibilités. M? me si cet apport n’est que partiel, selon les modalités énoncées dans les débats actuels, les foyers donnent à la politique une véritable occasion d’aider les femmes àétendre leur univers personnel, social, économique et politique sans perdre contact avec les réseaux familiers et formateurs de la famille, tout en acquérant une autonomie sur leur résidence et leur existence. L’article explique comment les foyers peuvent constituer un premier pas vers des programmes organisés visant à un hébergement décent et sécurisé pour les femmes qui les rendent autonome.     

From ‘start-up’ to ‘re-boot’: Product lifecycle strategies and competitive advantage in the computer industry

The PC sector, following the packaging and car manufacturing industries, will increasingly be forced to acknowledge and account for its product base throughout the commodity's life, and beyond. The environmental problems being posed by electronic waste have been recognized and both the EU and the individual Member States are discussing solutions which may or may not include legislative action. In anticipation, product take-back programmes are beginning to emerge within the industry and the economics and logistics of re-use and recycling are at the forefront of this debate. The issues in store for this sector are examined and specific initiatives by organizations considered. It is asked whether a ‘closing of the product loop’ will generate a competitive advantage for these companies and what impact an industry-led ‘consortia’ initiative may have.     

A Look at the ‘Hidden Side’: Turkish Women in Berlin’s Ethnic Labour Market

Recent studies show that ethnic economies are an increasingly vital part of the larger national economy. This is especially true in the case of the Turkish ethnic economy in Germany. This article sheds light on a ‘hidden aspect’ of Berlin’s Turkish ethnic economy: the structure and role of Turkish female labour and female self-employment. It begins with a general discussion on the significance of the gender concept in the international debate on ethnic economies – including findings on minority and immigrant women in self-employment in Europe. The second section of the article focuses on Berlin, using an analysis of the official labour market data at hand to sketch the gendered structure of Berlin’s labour market. The third section presents exploratory empirical data concentrating exclusively on female Turkish entrepreneurs and employees. The results indicate that some of the gendered traits of the ethnic economies described in the international literature also appear in the Berlin survey: the under-representation of women as entrepreneurs and their difficult position in the overall labour market. Furthermore, the data suggest that the concept of ‘ethnic business’ as typically presented in the literature turns out to be a ‘male’ concept and is hardly applicable to the case of the Turkish women in Berlin. The common features of the concept (ethnic clientele, suppliers, labour or involved kin, orientation towards the ethnic community) applied only partially to the Turkish women entrepreneurs. — Des études récentes ont démontré que les économies ethniques sont une partie de plus en plus vitale de l’économie nationale. Ceci est particulièrement vrai dans le cas de l’économie ethnique turque en Allemagne. Cet article explore un ‘aspect caché’ de l’économie ethnique turque à Berlin: la structure et le rôle de la main d’oeuvre féminine turque et des femmes travailleuses indépendantes turques. Il commence par une discussion générale sur la signification du concept du genre dans le débat international sur les économies ethniques – y compris les données concernant les travailleuses indépendantes immigrantes et de minorité ethnique en Europe. La seconde partie de l’article est consacrée à Berlin, et donne un aperçu de la structure du marché du travail de Berlin par rapport au genre grâce à une analyse des données disponibles du travail officiel. La troisième section présente des données empiriques exploratoires concernant les employées et les femmes entrepreneurs turques exclusivement. Les résultats indiquent que certains des traits de genre des économies ethniques décrits dans les bibliographies internationales se retrouvent dans l’enquête sur Berlin: la sous-représentation des femmes entrepreneurs et leur position difficile dans le marché du travail dans son ensemble. De plus, les données suggèrent que le concept de ‘commerce ethnique’, comme il est habituellement présenté dans les travaux sur ce sujet, est un concept ‘masculin’ et qui ne peut guère ? tre appliqué au cas des femmes turques de Berlin. Les points communs du concept (la clientèle ethnique, les fournisseurs ethniques, la place de la famille ou des employés ethniques, une orientation vers la communauté ethnique) ne s’appliquent que partiellement aux femmes entrepreneurs turques.