Multinationals, skills, and wage elasticities

The increase in foreign direct investments raises concerns about labor market consequences in many countries. It is feared that multinational firms are inclined to shift jobs abroad and increase job volatility. We use firm-level data to examine if multinationality and foreign ownership affect the wage elasticity of labor demand. Unlike previous studies, we distinguish the effect on different skill groups of employees. We find no general difference in wage elasticity between foreign and domestic firms but the wage elasticity is higher in multinational firms than in national firms, in particular for medium-skilled workers.     

The resource-based view of the firm: Ten years after

The article reflects on the diffusion of the ‘resource-based view of the firm’ into academic and practitioner thought. The contributions of many people are noted. In closing, I offer some speculations about the future use of these ideas.     

The sector perspective in social development

Agricultural society, industrial society, and post-industrial society are well-known terms for societies at different stages of development. All three are named after the dominant sector in the economy. These terms reflect a sector perspective in social development. This article discusses four different types of sector models, against the background of the future prospects that the respective models give rise to. The image of the future is influenced by the choice of sector classification.     

Multinationals,competition and productivity spillovers through worker mobility

Multinational firms are believed to impact the productivity of domestic firms through worker mobility. Fosfuri et al. (J Int Econ 53:205–222, 2001) suggest that worker mobility and technological spillovers are more likely to materialize when the local and the multinational firm do not compete fiercely in the product market. We assess empirically the importance of the hypothesis by using the Finnish longitudinal employer–employee data. Consistent with the predictions of the model, we find that competition is negatively related to worker mobility but only in high-tech industries where productivity spillovers are present. Thus, our results detail a channel through which competition may negatively affect the productivity of purely domestic firms .     

Can social spending cushion the inequality effect of globalization?

This paper examines whether social spending cushions the effect of globalization on within‐country inequality. Using information on disposable and market income inequality and data on overall social spending, and health and education spending from the ILO and the World Bank/WHO, we analyze whether social spending moderates the association between economic globalization and inequality. The results confirm that economic globalization—especially economic flows—associates with higher income inequality, an effect driven by non‐OECD countries. Health spending is strongly associated with lower inequality, but we find no robust evidence that any kind of social spending negatively moderates the association between economic globalization and inequality.     

Determinants of indebtedness among young adults: Impacts of lender guidelines,explicit information and financial (over)confidence

For most people, borrowing money is a necessary aspect of life in the 21st century. Wisely handled, loans give consumers access to consumption too expensive for most individuals to purchase with cash, such as homes and cars. However, history shows that taking on too much debt can be detrimental for the individual consumer as well as society as a whole. In this paper, we investigate determinants of over‐indebtedness among young adults. We perform three studies in a setting focused on buying and borrowing money for a home. We show that, compared with an overall mortgage amount, explicit information about monthly payments reduces the tendency to take on too much debt (Study 1), that the amount borrowed depends on standards regarding the loan amount communicated through guidelines from the lender (Study 2), and that borrowers who are overconfident about their financial abilities tend to borrow more than less confident individuals (Study 3). These determinants and their policy implications are discussed.     

Getting a job when times are bad: recruitment practices in Sweden before,during and after the Great Recession

Research on recruitment shows that networks matter and are effective as search channels. The aim of this article is to analyse how recruitment practices varies over time, and specifically, how it has varied before, during, and after the Great Recession 2008–2009. The findings are that recruitment practices change both in the short term, in relation to labour supply, which we can call a cyclical effect, but also in accordance to a long-term, structural effects. Informal recruitment practices, such as recruitment through ‘friends and acquaintances’ and ‘employer made contact’, seem to increase during bad times. In the long run, the recruitment practices ‘direct application’, ‘friends and acquaintances’ and ‘formal private’ increase in relation to recruitment through the Swedish Public Employment Agency (SPEA). A reason for this may be that the labour market in the new knowledge economy demands a heterogenic workforce with high demands on non-cognitive skills and customisation. Here the new network recruitment practices seem to fit in.     

Price Knowledge During Grocery Shopping: What We Learn and What We Forget

Past research on consumer price knowledge has varied considerably partly due to differences in how and when price knowledge is measured. This paper applies a multi-point, multi-measure approach to reconcile differences in past price knowledge research by examining systematic relationships between time of measurement and type of measures applied. Examination of consumer price knowledge before, during, and after store visit sheds light on what is measured at the individual points in time: episodic price knowledge and/or reference prices? With a between-subjects design interviewing 1,204 respondents, the authors investigate three price knowledge measures (price recall, price recognition, and deal spotting) demonstrating that these are hierarchically related. Results suggest that reference prices dominate before store visit, but also that episodic price knowledge, surprisingly, is still accessible at the store exit. These findings enable the authors to reconcile diverging results from past research, showing how consumer price knowledge evolves and suggesting that the vast majority of consumers learn about prices, whether consciously or unconsciously, during grocery shopping. Thus, when applying a multi-point, multi-measure approach, consumers appear to know more about prices than suggested by past research. Determinants of price knowledge are also examined and the results indicate that price knowledge builds up not only because of active search but also due to accidental exposure to prices and with low degrees of conscious processing. Implications for managers are discussed.     

Consumers’ multifaceted deal knowledge in a grocery retail setting

Despite its relevance to retailers, studies of consumers’ deal knowledge have been few. This study explores consumers’ deal knowledge before, during, and after the store visit applying a between-subjects field-study design with 1204 respondents. In particular, the authors investigate perception of deal price status, typical deal price knowledge, and deal-spotting ability. Results show reasonably stable knowledge of typical deal prices, while knowledge of deal price status and deal-spotting ability improves significantly during grocery shopping. Surprisingly, consumers’ deal knowledge is not conditional on purchasing a special thus indicating that most consumers, consciously or unconsciously, scan for promotion signals when shopping groceries. In addition, the results suggest consumers are not easily fooled, as the vast majority is able to spot ‘good’ and ‘bad’ deals, while also possessing typical deal price knowledge. Furthermore, the findings suggest that consumers store internal reference deal prices. Retailers are therefore well advised to consider mixed depth and creative discount patterns to prevent ‘perfect’ perceptions of typical deal prices.