The microeconomics of the developmental paradox: on the political economy of food price policy

A longstanding puzzle in comparative economics is the ‘developmental paradox’, the tendency for government support for agriculture to increase with national income and to decrease with the proportion of economic activity and of the population in agriculture. This paper offers a microeconomic explanation for that puzzle. It establishes analytically the microeconomic basis for coalition alignments with respect to food price policy, then numerically simulates the comparative static effects of alternative food policies on coalition structure. A parsimonious household model applied to a heterogeneously endowed society demonstrates how variation in individual welfare effects might beget distinct coalitions in the debate over food price policy and how those policies are inextricably linked to land, population, and technology policies in food agriculture. Moreover, coalition alignments on particular policy debates are path-dependent. In particular, food price policy creates its own political support.     

Settling the Score: The Role of Organizational Justice in the Relationship Between Psychological Contract Breach and Anticitizenship Behavior

This study investigated the role of psychological contract breach, procedural justice, and interactional justice in influencing employees' anticitizenship behaviors. It was posited that the association between contract breach and these negative employee outcomes would be moderated by perceptions of both procedural and interactional justice. In particular, employees' anticitizenship behaviors are hypothesized to be higher following a breach when both procedural and interactional justice are low. One hundred and sixty-five employees from a variety of organizational settings completed measures of contract breach, procedural justice, and interactional justice whereas their respective supervisors completed a measure of anticitizenship behavior. Results revealed a 3-way interaction between contract breach, procedural justice, and interactional justice on anticitizenship behavior. The nature of the interaction was further investigated through simple slope analyses. Consistent with the study's propositions, anticitizenship behavior was higher following a contract breach when both procedural and interactional justice were low. Theoretical and practical implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

Closing the circle: participant views of a 360 degree feedback programme

The use of 360 degree feedback is becoming increasingly commonplace in organisations. It is claimed that this programme offers a more rounded diagnosis of development needs resulting in more effective development plans for individuals and more strategically focused investment in training for the organisation as a whole. These claims are tested in a qualitative and quantitative field study of participants in a 360 degree programme for middle and senior managers at a UK university. Some elements of the programme are found to work better than others, but participants rate their experience of almost all aspects of training and development as significantly better than a matched sample of non‐participants, and this leads to more positive global evaluations of the employer. The implications for the use of 360 degree programmes are discussed with regard to the critical HRM literature.     

Corruption, decentralization and yardstick competition

Several empirical studies have found a negative relationship between corruption and the decentralization of the powers to tax and spend. In this paper we explain this phenomenon using a model of Yardstick Competition. Using data on federal corruption-related convictions in U.S. states, we also provide new evidence that points to the existence of a spatial autoregressive component to explaining corruption. We interpret this as consistent with the theoretical findings.     

The Relationship Between Mission Statements and Firm Performance: An Exploratory Study

This paper examines the relationship between mission statements and firm performance using a sample of 136 large Canadian organizations. Previous writings suggest that mission statements are essential for superior organizational performance results. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. The data from the present study demonstrate that mission statements and some of their specific characteristics are selectively associated with higher levels of organizational performance. The paper concludes with several propositions to guide future research.     

Empirical implementation of nonparametric first-price auction models

Nonparametric estimators provide a flexible means of uncovering salient features of auction data. Although these estimators are popular in the literature, many key features necessary for proper implementation have yet to be uncovered. Here we provide several suggestions for nonparametric estimation of first-price auction models. Specifically, we show how to impose monotonicity of the equilibrium bidding strategy; a key property of structural auction models not guaranteed in standard nonparametric estimation. We further develop methods for automatic bandwidth selection. Finally, we discuss how to impose monotonicity in auctions with differing numbers of bidders, reserve prices, and auction-specific characteristics. Finite sample performance is examined using simulated data as well as experimental auction data.     

Immigrant earnings profiles in the presence of human capital investment: Measuring cohort and macro effects

We argue that when immigrant earnings are considered in the context of post-arrival human capital investment: cohort quality should be defined in terms of the present value of the whole earnings profile; and, an appropriate definition of “macro” effects is obtained using the earnings profile of the native born cohort entering the labor market at the same time as an immigrant cohort. We illustrate this by using Canadian immigrant earnings, where there were large cross-cohort earnings declines in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. We find that changes affecting all new entrants play an important role in understanding immigrant earnings. In contrast, earlier approaches imply that “macro” events explain little of immigrant earnings patterns.     

WHY ARE TRADE BARRIERS SO LOW?

The political economy literature suggests that tariff rates should be high because the gains to producers from protection are enormous while the welfare costs are small. This paper presents and evaluates six possible explanations for the relatively low tariffs we see today in most developed countries.