Testing the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek theory with a natural experiment

I use the historical episode of near‐elimination of commuting from the West Bank into Israel to test three key predictions of the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek model of trade and find strong support for them. On the production side, I use variation between districts and find that wage changes were not correlated with the size of the shock to the labour force (factor price insensitivity) and that districts that received larger influx of returning commuters shifted production more towards labour‐intensive industries (Rybczynski effect). On the consumption side, data are consistent with identical homothetic preferences, which, combined with the production results, supports the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek theorem on the factor content of trade.     

Suppressing resistance to low-skill migration

Just like any other trade activity, migration tends to generate gains to all parties involved, the migrants as well as the native population, if markets are well-functioning. But typically these gains tend to be rather small. However, when the labor market is mal-functioning, migration may exacerbate the imperfections in the market. Consequently, it could lead to losses to the host-country population, which can be quite sizable.An additional problem raised by migration is the toll it imposes on the welfare state. As a democracy, the host-country cannot exclude migrants from various entilement programs and public services. As a consequence, the modern welfare state could find it more and more costly to run its various programs when they attract low-income migrants.These considerations may help explain why there is strong resistance to migration. Consequently, to be able to benefit from migration, one may want to improve the functioning of the markets (with a compensation to wage earners that compete with unskilled migrants) and to downsize the scope of the state entitlement programs.The current version was prepared while the first author was visiting the Research Department and the second author was visiting the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund.     

Capital income taxation under majority voting with aging population

An old person typically has a mixed attitude toward the welfare-state benefits, when they are financed by capital taxes, because her income derives mostly from capital. We develop a majority-voting model which focuses on the effect of aging on this dilemma. Surprisingly, the theory predicts that tax rates on capital income could actually rise as the population ages, even though older individuals would be expected to own more capital than the young and thus vote against higher taxes. We then confront the key prediction of the model with panel data for ten European Union countries, over the period 1970–1996. We investigate the asymmetric effect of aging on the taxation of capital and labor. The implications of the model are shown to be consistent with panel data. JEL no. H0, H5, P1     

Internationalization and Performance of Retail Firms: A Bayesian Dynamic Model

This paper offers a fresh approach to the literature examining the effect of internationalization on retail-firm performance. We draw on the organizational learning theory to test the moderating effect of four variables which are hypothesized to affect the performance of internationalizing retailers through facilitating the transfer of learning in international markets. The study innovates by introducing a new performance metric, and an advanced methodology to account for the dynamic aspects of organizational learning. Testing our hypotheses on a sample of international retailers, we find that the relationship between internationalization and performance is U-shaped, and moderated by mergers and acquisitions, age at entry to international markets and country of origin. The findings extend prior research by providing more comprehensive evidence regarding the conditions under which internationalization leads to improved performance. The authors conclude by outlining the implications for practice.     

Benchmarking the Asia Pacific tourism industry: A Bayesian combination of DEA and stochastic frontier

This study measures and compares the efficiency of leading tour operator and hotel companies across several Asia Pacific countries. We use an innovative methodology that is based on combining the stochastic frontier and data envelopment analysis in a Bayes framework. We show from the results that Australia, Singapore and South Korea are the most efficient in both their tour operator and hotel industries. We further show that international hotels in the region have a slightly higher efficiency than local hotels. We provide a listing of the most efficient tour operators and hotels in each country and discuss the implications of our findings.     

Does Triple Bottom Line reporting improve hotel performance?

Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting is a comprehensive approach to achieve sustainability as it integrates reporting on environmental, social and financial issues. While society is pushing hotels to increase their commitment to TBL reporting, opinions are divided as to whether TBL reporting affects hotel performance. The present study uses the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to address this important question. Our results, based on a sample of Slovenian hotels, support the hypotheses that more extensive reporting on environmental, social and financial issues lead to better hotel performance. We show that reporting on environmental issues has a slightly higher impact on performance than reporting on social and financial issues. We discuss the implications of the study and provide directions for future research.     

Debt and capital accumulation in a two-sector model with non-traded goods

The paper examines optimal debt and capital accumulation for an open economy which faces an imperfect international capital market. The major finding is that the optimal pattern of debt and capital accumulation is affected by relative factor intensities. Factor intensities determine whether substitution or complementary relationships exist between debt and capital. The relationship between the country's net wealth and its two components financial and productive are also determined by factor intensities.     

Political entrepreneurs and electoral capital: the case of the Israeli State Economy Arrangement Law

This article looks at a specific institutional change in Israel. In 1985, Israeli politicians adopted the “State Economy Arrangement Law” (SEAL), commonly regarded as part of the budgetary legislation in Israel. This law became an alternative channel through which applicants could circumvent the necessity of applying to the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) for the implementation of certain policies. This law enabled an accelerated, flexible regulatory process that short circuited democratic discussion in the Knesset and obviated the intervention of Israeli consumer organizations. This article suggests that this institutional change should be analyzed as part of a process where institutional reality influences individual and collective beliefs, thus triggering an individual and collective learning process that eventually leads to institutional change, specific policies and outcomes in terms of economic performance. The article also claims that the SEAL legislation is an equilibrium that results from the actions of political entrepreneurs (or agents of change) who operate to maximize their own electoral capital against the backdrop of certain structural and cultural conditions, both local and international. They operate in an environment characterized by the inability of the government to function effectively (non-governability) and the development of an alternative political culture.

Spillover analysis across FinTech,ESG, and renewable energy indices before and during the Russia–Ukraine war: International evidence

This study is epicentral to analyze the impact of the Russia–Ukraine war on the financial markets, specifically focusing on the connectedness and spillover dynamics of FinTech, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), renewable energy, gold, and Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) indices in developed and emerging countries. Data are collected from Thomson Reuters, ranging from May 8, 2020, to May 11, 2022, and a time-varying parameter vector autoregression (TVP-VAR) and the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) t-Copula (DCC-GARCH t-Copula) are used to analyze the data. The results show that FinTech, ESG, and MSCI are net transmitters in developed countries, whereas gold and renewable energy are net receivers pre- and during war periods. ESG and MSCI are net transmitters in emerging countries, while FinTech, renewable energy, and gold become net receivers in both periods. The hedging ratio sheds light on the costs and weights of efficient pair investments that might change in the context of each region and under the combined scenario. The study has important implications for merchant bankers, policymakers, investors, hedgers, and risk managers.