Unemployment duration and unemployment insurance: a comparative analysis based on Scandinavian micro data

Based on pooled register data from Norway and Sweden, we findthat differences in unemployment duration patterns reflect dissimilaritiesin unemployment insurance (UI) systems in a way that convincinglyestablishes the link between economic incentives and job searchbehaviour. Specifically, UI benefits are relatively more generousfor low-income workers in Sweden than in Norway, leading torelatively longer unemployment spells for low-income workersin Sweden. Based on the between-countries variation in replacementratios, we find that the elasticity of the outflow rate frominsured unemployment with respect to the replacement ratio isapproximately one in Norway and 0.5 in Sweden.     

Stable and enforceable: a new fiscal framework for the Euro area

Since the great financial crash, the need for new fiscal rules to prevent unsustainable fiscal policies is universally recognised. In practice such rules, including those in the Stability and Growth Pact, have proved to be impossible to enforce. Thus, to avoid unsustainable fiscal policies reappearing, and to prevent monetary policy from being undermined by undisciplined governments, there is a need for a framework capable of imposing fiscal discipline. This paper considers an intertemporal assignment, where fiscal policy focuses on long-term objectives and monetary policy on short-term stabilisation. We argue for public sector debt targets as a practical way to achieve such a set up, and an excess debt protocol is constructed to give enforceable form to those targets. The ideas of “fiscal space” and optimal debt levels are used to provide a mechanism for identifying a stable region within which the debt targeting regime should operate. Making these factors explicit would both improve the credibility of planned fiscal policies and reduce risk premia on borrowing costs. We finally show how Europe’s competitiveness pact, and debt restructuring operations, can be used to maximise the available fiscal space.     

Introverts abroad? Long-term visitors' adaptations to the multicultural tourism context of Costa Blanca,Spain

Many people from North-Western Europe have quite long stays in Mediterranean Spain, partly related to phenomena such as ‘wintering’, seasonal movements and sabbatical holidays, for the most part dwelling in their own houses or apartments. This paper explores intercultural relations of long-term visitors and it raises some questions on differentiation and dedifferentiation in the consolidated holidaymaking context of Costa Blanca (Alicante, Spain). The paper includes visitors' assessments of certain central aspects of their (temporary) life in Spain, based on an exit survey. It is revealed that long-term visitors have far more varied and wide-ranging adjustments to their new and/or temporary surroundings than is usually assumed in news media and in some previous scholarly works. The study also demonstrates that generalised views depicting long-term visitors as secluded and living predominantly in compatriot enclaves are too simple, especially in long-established holiday destination areas. A considerable proportion of long-term visitors make an effort to relate to the language, culture, and social conditions of the host society. It is argued that a more nuanced and complex analysis is needed in order to describe the varied life situations of sojourners and other long-term visitors in Mediterranean Spain.     

Trade in High-Tech Services

This paper examines the size, scope, and potential implications of trade in high-tech services in the U.S. The results suggest that many service activities are tradable, tradable service activities tend to employ more educated workers and pay higher wages, and high-tech services account for a large share of service activities that are tradable. Service exporters are more prevalent in high-tech industries with larger establishments and higher wages. Within industries, service exporters tend to be larger, pay higher wages, and are more productive. Tradable service activities seem consistent with U.S. comparative advantage and, as a result, less likely to be vulnerable to offshoring. Consistent with this, recent employment growth in tradable service industries is not significantly different than employment growth in non-tradable service industries.     

Outsourcing of Information Systems Functions in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: A Test of a Multi-Theoretical Model

In this paper determinants of information systems (IS) outsourcing are deduced from transaction cost economic theory, resource-based theory and power theory. They are summarized in a theoretical framework which is tested using a sample of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany. The results show that internal performance and know-how deficits vis-à-vis external service providers are key determinants that explain why different IS functions are outsourced to varying degrees in SMEs. Moreover, the determinants of IS functions were found to partially differ between IS functions. Revised reprint of an article from WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK 43(4)2001:339–350.

达特茅斯大学塔克商学院价值最大化与公司目标

也许对于所有的工业化国家来说,公司治理问题都是一个热点讨论问题。具体到学术圈和商业圈,讨论的焦点主要落在如何能够提高董事会对公司经理监管的政策和程序上,目前关于全球公司治理观点的主要分歧是公司的基本目标。除了该问题本身的复杂性之外,分歧的原因主要在于讨论的结果可能影响到各个观点冲突方的自身利益。     

Evaluating the risk of patent infringement by means of semantic patent analysis: the case of DNA chips

In this paper, we are going to present a method for detecting the risks of patent infringement by evaluating similarities between patent documents on the basis of semantic patent analysis. This approach enables the user to visualize similarities in the contents on a semantic patent map by means of multi‐dimensional scaling. The effectiveness of the semantic patent map has already been demonstrated by Dressler (2006) with regard to patents of seal technology, in which documents are commonly kept short and the extracted contents are concise. This paper will open out to the field of biotechnology, where patents can easily comprise several hundreds of pages. The method presented here conveys an interdisciplinary approach and combines computer‐aided natural language processing with domain‐specific expertise of biochemical processes. This is illustrated by an authentic case of infringement involving two manufacturers of DNA chips. Our experiment will show how the infringement case is visualized on a patent map based on semantic patent analysis. This experiment can be compared with the search for a needle in a haystack, the two competitive patents representing significantly conflicting ‘needles.’ From an approximate number of 4,000 patents in the current US Class 435/6, a set of patents was selected that included the ‘needles’ mentioned. This paper will point out how such mutual interference can be detected by way of semantic patent analysis, and what advice may be given to R&D managers who are faced with the risk of patent infringement.     

Fundraising,race, and discourse: The challenges and opportunities' of social construction

Fundraisers have turned their attention to minority communities as potential resources despite the fact that minority communities are both underserved by and underrepresented in nonprofit organizations. This paper argues that the current approach to minority fundraising, which uses broad racial categories, is limiting. Minority fundraising practice and research face three distinct challenges (racial categorization, socially constructed markets, and privilege) that can be addressed through a focus on language, specifically discourse analysis.     

The meaning of risk-taking – key concepts and dimensions

Dealing with and taking risks are central issues of current societies which had been characterised by heightened debates and conflicts about risk (Beck, Giddens). Even though there is good knowledge available, policies and strategies to reduce people’s risk-taking are often less successful than expected. Experts are puzzled about common people not following good advice presuming people’s lack of understanding. While this might be true in many cases a growing body of research shows, rather than being merely ignorant or misinformed, people often have good knowledge when taking risks. A growing body of research provides knowledge about the complexities, dynamics and contradictions of people’s risk-taking. However, there have been little attempts to systematise this body of knowledge. This article contributes to such an enterprise. It suggests distinguishing between different motives for risk-taking, different levels of control and a number of ways how reflexivity about risk is rooted in the social realm. It also explores how risk-taking is part of developing and protecting a valued identity. The article concludes, across different domains there is good evidence for how structural and cultural forces combine and shape risk-taking while people take risks to develop a valued identity and to protect it. Advancing expert’s understanding of risk-taking and change people’s risk-taking require considering and approaching the larger social contexts and individual risk practices in everyday life.     

Differentiation of innovation strategies based on pharmaceutical licensing agreements: Insight from Korean pharmaceutical firms

The paper aims to show how licensing behaviour can be used to differentiate distinct innovation strategies. Information on in-licensing and out-licensing agreements is used to guide the development of a framework that details the licensing firm’s relational preference for internal and external orientation. Using firm-level data of the Korean pharmaceutical firms, the study categorised the distinct strategic orientations of firms based on the proposed matrix model. The results indicated that firms with higher R&D (research and development) expenditures have a tendency to greater external exploitation of technological knowledge than firms with low R&D spending. The study provides potential avenues for targeting of licensing partners from the perspective of firms seeking to in-license or out-license their innovations.