Customs Union and Gains from Trade Under Imperfect Competition: Variation of a Kemp-Wan Theme

In a world where firms are oligopolists, is it possible to create a customs union that raises the welfare of member countries without hurting non-member countries? We give sufficient conditions for an affirmative answer.     

A note on measuring political participation in comparative research

This article presents an application of Prezeworski and Teune's so-called “identity-equivalence method” to a large set of indicators of political participation. By relaxing commonly held assumptions about necessary distinctions among types of participation, it is found that the distinction between “conventional” and “unconventional” modes of participation is unnecessary, while the distinction between “government” and “nongovernment” has some merit. The findings also lend further support to the claims of Prezeworski and Teune that the identity-equivalence method is preferable to the identical indicator method.     

Municipal welfare functions

In this paper the concept of a municipal welfare function is defined. It reflects the evaluation by local authorities of several levels of local expenditures. On the basis of an extensive survey among all Dutch municipal authorities these functions are estimated for about 550 Dutch municipalities with respect to total expenditures and differentiated with respect to several portfolios, like public works, education, etc. The variation of the estimated municipal welfare parameters is explained by objectively measurable municipal characteristics like the number of the inhabitants, age distribution of inhabitants and houses, number of unemployed, regional situation.     

Fiscal Coordination and Political Competition

This contribution investigates fiscal coordination in the framework of two countries asymmetric in respect of their capital–labor endowment. When tax policies are decided by majority voting inside each country, and they are not coordinated at a supranational level, factors of production are inefficiently allocated, at equilibrium. Our main result shows that fiscal coordination, via a minimum capital tax, does not always lead to a Pareto–improvement for the median voter's welfare, with respect to the noncooperative outcome.     

When innovation in education works: stimulating teachers' innovative work behaviour

The twenty‐first century labour market requires employees that proactively shape innovations and solve complex problems. Professionals in the education sector are expected to perform innovative behaviour that not only entails the generation, but also the realization and sustainable implementation of new ideas. In a sample of 458 employees in Dutch secondary and higher vocational education (abbreviated in Dutch to MBO and HBO, respectively), this study investigated the relation between environmental factors (namely task variety, management support and exposure to innovation) and Innovative Work Behaviour (IWB) across the different phases of the innovation process, including a sustainability phase. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that management support and exposure to innovations served as a predictor for all phases of IWB. Teachers with supportive managers and a high degree of exposure to innovations showed higher scores on innovative behaviour across all phases. Linear regressions revealed a significant relationship between task variety and IWB. In the hierarchical model, only management suport and exposure to innovations showed significant relations. Background characteristics, such as gender, age, tenure, number of working hours and type of education, for which we controlled during the analyses, played a role in how much IWB is displayed. It can be concluded that a work environment, in which employees are exposed to innovation and are supported is crucial. Additionally, in view of the role background characteristics play, it is recommended to select teachers with specific profiles for the different phases of the innovation process.     

Consumption as a social integration strategy in times of crisis: The case of vulnerable households

In this article, we focus on consumption in a context of economic hardship. From an empirical perspective, and using a qualitative methodology, we show how disadvantaged individuals and households maintain a level of consumption commensurate with the society in which they are integrated through a type of consumption conceived of here as “resilient”. Resilient consumption is characterized by being a type of expenditure oriented towards maintaining the role of consumer, that is, maintaining a minimum level of purchasing power, modifying to this end both the level and the structure of consumption, both of which are key elements in the resilience process. We identify five main strategies used by households that modify and restructure the consumption of basic goods and necessities in response to economic hardship. Key resilient consumption strategies include: reduction (cutting down on spending), substitution (replacement of one difficulty with another), compensation (pseudo‐consumption or reduced usage), transference (meta‐resilience) and integration (reinterpretation of difficulties as opportunities). We conclude that although consumption is a naturally resilient behaviour, in a crisis context, resilient practices focus on maintaining acquisition capacity in spite of reduced income.     

Employment Dynamics and Linkages in the Rural Economy: Insights from Senegal

Evidence on rural wage employment is thin and lacks nuance for different employment sources, insights on dynamic effects, and an understanding of the channels of effects. We assess conceptually and empirically the direct and indirect welfare effects of entry and continuation in different types of wage employment in rural Senegal. Using panel data, fixed effects and first-difference estimation, we show substantial positive welfare and linkage effects. We find that participation in wage employment increases per capita income by 143%, and reduces poverty, poverty gap and food insecurity by, respectively, 63%, 89% and 48%. While the direct effect on income is larger for non-agricultural and contractual wage employment, the indirect income effects through self-employment are more pronounced for agricultural and casual wage employment. Our results imply that job creation is important for rural development, that wage employment in agriculture can lead to considerable growth multiplier effects, and that synergies exist between large-scale and small-scale agriculture.     

Determinants of energy use in the informal food sector

Although enterprises in the informal food sector require energy to transform, cook and process food, energy-use patterns in this sector are not well understood by policymakers and the local-level authorities who regulate their trading activities. This paper reviews relevant literature and presents empirical data collected in Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa on the use of traditional and modern energy sources by informal food sector operators. Our sample includes male- and female-operated enterprises in the urban centres of three African countries where the informal food sector is important, not only for providing the convenience of affordable and readily prepared meals, but also as a source of income for women and men in developing countries. Multiple fuel-use and energy-stacking strategies are common among informal food enterprises and policy needs to acknowledge this if it is to intervene in ways that will benefit both enterprises and regulators.     

Innovation and performance in the hotel industry

The growing competition in the hotel industry is one of the main challenges of this segment, which increasingly depends on the ability to innovate. Thus, this article aims to analyze the impact of innovation on the performance of employees and hotel organizations. This is an exploratory study, with a quantitative approach using a structured computer-administered questionnaire to 73 managers of hotel chains, located in Brazil, which correspond to 792 hotels. Data analysis used multiple linear regression method with SPSS software to find out the relationship between the factors of innovation (communication, processes, leadership, and strategy) and the performance of employees and hotel organizations. Results show that the factors of communication, leadership, and strategy directly influence the performance of the employees. However, only the leadership factor directly affects the performance of hotel organizations.