WHAT'S AN ECONOMICS SEMINAR WORTH? INFORMATION AUTHORS AND ORGANIZERS SHOULD KNOW

Abstract This paper is an empirical study of the publication records of communications to a weekly seminar, continued from 1997. We look at the quality of publications, and also at the determinants of publications. Our results offer lessons for both presenters and organizers of research seminars in academia.     

Product Market Competition and Returns to Talent

This paper investigates how product market competition influences the wages paid to workers and the distribution of talent across industries. We develop a model where firms facing different competitive conditions bid for workers. The model predicts that wages are increasing in talent, decreasing in competition, and the interaction between talent and competition is positive. In addition, the most talented workers will be concentrated in competitive industries and talent dispersion rises with competition. We use linked employee–employer data to test these predictions.     

The role of mentoring in the learning development of the novice entrepreneur

It has been recognized that learning outcomes can be divided into three general categories: Cognitive, skill-based, and affective learning. Moreover, public organizations offer mentoring-inspired support programs to novice entrepreneurs starting a business. This study explores entrepreneurial learning through mentoring. We have coded 53 learning outcomes acquired by novice entrepreneurs through their mentoring relationship. These learning outcomes were analysed using the three general categories and linked with the mentor’s way of promoting learning. Cognitive learning accounts for 62% of total learning outcomes and affective learning makes up 35.9%, which leaves skill-based learning in a marginal position. In addition, methods used by the mentor to ensure mentee learning affect learning content. Mentees were also asked to describe the benefits of their mentoring relationship through discussion groups. From a cognitive learning standpoint, benefits reported by entrepreneurs include an increase in management knowledge and skills, improved vision for their business venture and identifying new opportunities. Benefits resulting from affective learning include a greater sense of self-efficacy, validation of one’s entrepreneurial self-image and a lowered sense of solitude, all factors that could ultimately influence entrepreneur resilience. These results reveal the scope and limitations of mentoring as means to support learning.     

CRITICAL PRICE NEAR MATURITY FOR AN AMERICAN OPTION ON A DIVIDEND-PAYING STOCK IN A LOCAL VOLATILITY MODEL

We consider an American put option on a dividend-paying stock whose volatility is a function of the stock value. Near the maturity of this option, an expansion of the critical stock price is given. If the stock dividend rate is greater than the market interest rate, the payoff function is smooth near the limit of the critical price. We deduce an expansion of the critical price near maturity from an expansion of the value function of an optimal stopping problem. It turns out that the behavior of the critical price is parabolic. In the other case, we are in a less regular situation and an extra logarithmic factor appears. To prove this result, we show that the American and European critical prices have the same first-order behavior near maturity. Finally, in order to get an expansion of the European critical price, we use a parity formula for exchanging the strike price and the spot price in the value functions of European puts.     

The closure of coal mines and local development responses in Coal-Rim Cluster,northern KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

The impact of mine closure can have a devastating effect on the local economies of the towns that they once supported. Drawing on comparative, international material, this article examines the nature and effectiveness of the local economic development responses that have been initiated in the former coal-mining towns in northern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Although a range of innovative locally identified strategies have been embarked upon, considerably greater effort and investment will be needed in order to catalyse significant and meaningful regeneration endeavours.     

Age and factors influencing consumer behaviour

When evaluating a product or service, consumers seek out information to judge whether that specific product will meet certain criteria. The main concern of sales providers is how to increase their purchasers' willingness to buy a product. The authors studied the impact of age on the perceived importance and interaction of three factors known to influence people when buying clothes: price, durability and suitability. A sample of 160 French adults aged 18–90 rated their likelihood of buying an item of clothing in 27 scenarios, in which three levels (low, moderate and high) of each of the above three factors were combined in an orthogonal factorial design. For younger participants, a low price was considered a sufficient reason to buy the item of clothing. For older participants, suitability was a more important factor, while for the eldest people, durability was the most important.     

The importance of the institutional environment on multifunctional farming systems in the peri-urban area of Brussels

The influence of local and regional policies on the uptake of multifunctional farming systems is analysed. The conceptual framework of how regional and local policies can influence farmers’ behaviour is empirically verified by analysing data on uptake of diversification and environmental management by farmers located in the Brussels’ peri-urban area. In a two-stage model, farmers’ participation and behaviour to influence local policy-makers is also examined. It has been found among other things that, in a municipality that attaches greater importance to environmental issues, the uptake of agri-environmental measures is higher and that promotion of local agriculture will encourage farmers to start processing or selling products on their farms.     

Impact of Outward Foreign Direct Investment on Chinese Manufacturing Firms' Financialization and Servitization

This study examines the impact of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on Chinese manufacturing firms' financialization and servitization. Using a difference-in-differences approach with propensity score matching, we found that OFDI encouraged firms' financial and service activities. The effects of OFDI on financialization were stronger for firms specializing in short-term financial assets, operating in labor and technology-intensive sectors, investing overseas to pursue production, resources and markets there, and investing in non-OECD and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries. Meanwhile, firms investing overseas were more likely to provide services at the sale or postsale stages. Outward foreign direct investment has also boosted the service activities of firms operating in the technology-intensive sector by investing overseas to seek resources and markets, as well as investing in non-OECD and BRI countries. Finally, OFDI partially influenced the extent of financialization and servitization of firms by affecting their profit-making ability.