The Relationship Between Insurance and Economic Development: 85 Empirical Papers for a Review of the Literature

The objective of this article is to propose a review of 85 empirical papers examining the relationships between insurance and economic development, that is, the insurance‐growth nexus. When looking at the economic importance of the insurance sector, most papers in the past have looked at the demand side (the level of economic development is an explanatory variable among other factors that affect the demand for insurance). Because the role of the insurance sector and its contribution to development is at the agenda of international organizations and because the importance of the relationship between financial development and economic growth has been well recognized and emphasized in the field of economic development, more recent papers have examined the causality links between insurance and economic development and the role of insurance as a significant determinant in the process of economic growth.     

Procedural justice in managerial performance evaluation: Effects of subjectivity,relationship quality,and voice opportunity

This study investigates the effect of subjectivity in performance evaluation on managerial perceptions of procedural justice. Using survey data from a sample of 317 managers, we examine two forms of subjectivity: use and weight of subjective performance measures and ex post flexibility in the weighting of multiple performance measures. We also examine the interaction effects of two contextual factors, superior–manager relationship quality and voice opportunity, on the association between subjectivity and perceived procedural justice. The results suggest that only the superior's use of ex post flexibility in weighting multiple performance measures adversely affects managers' perceptions of procedural justice. Moreover, superior–manager relationship quality reduces the negative effects of ex post flexibility in weighting multiple performance measures on procedural justice, whereas voice opportunity amplifies this negative effect. These findings have practical and theoretical implications, as they shed new light on the trade-off between the informative benefits and perceived unfairness of incorporating subjectivity into performance evaluation.     

Upstreamness,Wages and Gender: Equal Benefits for All?

This article provides first evidence on the impact of a direct measure of firm‐level upstreamness (i.e. the steps before the production of a firm meets final demand) on workers’ wages. It also investigates whether results vary along the earnings distribution and by gender. Findings, based on unique matched employer–employee data relative to the Belgian manufacturing industry for the period 2002–2010, show that workers earn significantly higher wages when employed in more upstream firms. Yet, the gains from upstreamness are found to be very unequally shared among workers. Unconditional quantile estimates suggest that male top earners are the main beneficiaries, whereas women, irrespective of their earnings, appear to be unfairly rewarded. Quantile decompositions further show that these differences in wage premia account for a substantial part of the gender wage gap, especially at the top of the earnings distribution.     

On the optimality of information sharing between integrated and vertically separated competitors

A manufacturer relies on an exclusive subcontractor for production and competes horizontally against an integrated rival that produces in-house. The exclusive agent is privately informed about the marginal cost of production. When marginal costs are correlated across companies, information sharing benefits both companies due to reduced uncertainty, but it affects the contracting terms within the vertical hierarchy and creates horizontal externalities between companies. We show that the manufacturer who suffers from agency cost benefits more from sharing information than his rival performing in-house production only when costs are highly correlated, and in this case, information sharing may actually benefit consumers.     

The rise and fall of spatial inequalities in France: A long-run perspective

This paper studies the evolution and determinants of spatial inequalities in France. To this end, we use a unique database providing data on value-added, employment, and population over the entire set of French “Départements” in 1860, 1896, 1930, 1982, and 2000. These data cover three sectors: Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Services. Firstly, we confirm the existence of a bell-shaped process of spatial concentration in Manufacturing and Services over time. In contrast, labor productivity has been converging across departments. Secondly, we find considerable agglomeration economies over the whole period. The spatial distribution of these gains is determined mainly by market potential in the first sub-period, 1860–1930, and higher education in the second, 1930–2000.     

The Value Relevance of Reputation for Sustainability Leadership

This study investigates whether the market valuation of the two summary accounting measures, book value of equity and net income, is higher for firms with reputation for sustainability leadership, when compared to firms that do not enjoy such reputation. The results are interpreted through the lens of a framework combining signalling theory and resource-based theory, according to which firms signal their commitment to sustainability to influence the external perception of reputation. A firm’s reputation for being committed to sustainability is an intangible resource that can increase the value of a firm’s expected cash flows and/or reduce the variability of its cash flows. Our findings are according to expectations and show that the net income of firms with good sustainability reputation has a higher valuation by the market, when compared to their counterparts.     

A Socio-technical Approach for Group Decision Support in Public Strategic Planning: The Pernambuco PPA Case

This article describes a socio-technical approach to public strategic planning. A multi-methodological framework with decision support systems (DSS) of problem structuring, multi-criteria decision analysis and strategic thinking was used in a decision conferencing process to support the key-players of the Pernambuco State Department of Social Development and Human Rights, in Brazil, to elaborate its 2008–2011 Multi-Annual Plan (PPA). This interactive process took place in June 2007, with thirty technical and political actors meeting in 5 consecutive days to discuss what should be the fundamental objectives/development axes of the PPA and to generate, assess and classify intervention programmes to achieve the objectives. Structuring objectives and programmes started by a group causal mapping session supported by the Decision Explorer DSS. Then, a multi-criteria group value model, created on-the-spot by means of the M-MACBETH DSS, helped the politicians in evaluating the overall benefit of each programme. The doability of the programmes was also appraised with MACBETH and, finally, the programmes were classified into four benefit versus doability categories defined in a $2\times 2$ strategic graph: “pearls” (programmes with high benefit value and easy to implement), “oysters” (high benefit but difficult to implement), “bread and butter” (easy to implement but of low added value) and “white elephants” (low benefit and difficult to implement). The group agreed that at least all pearls and oysters should be selected. The programmes were prioritised based on their value-for-effort and the robustness of the selection was analysed with the PROBE DSS a posteriori.     

The impact of human capital on the early success of necessity versus opportunity-based entrepreneurs

This paper examines whether founders’ backgrounds influence new firm survival in the early years after startup, focusing, in particular, on the impact of unemployment-driven entrepreneurship. For entrepreneurs who left their previous employment to found a new firm, both general and specific human capital play a key role in enhancing early survival chances. However, various forms of human capital have little effect on early survival of unemployment-driven entrepreneurs, who rely mostly on previous entrepreneurial experience to persevere. Results suggest that pre-entry capabilities play an important role in the early success of opportunity-based entrepreneurs, but have little influence on the early success of necessity-based ones.