Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Early Meetings and Activation

We analyse three Danish experiments with combinations of early and intensive active labour market policy. We find that frequent individual meetings between newly unemployed workers and their caseworkers have substantial (and significant) effects on employment rates in both the medium and long run. Group meetings or an “activation wall” show positive but insignificant effects. Based on information on the costs of running the experiments, active labour programmes, and public transfer payments, we analyse the impact on government budgets and we show that individual meetings improved budgets with up to 4,500 euros per unemployed worker. We also look at the impact for subgroups.     

25 Years of Giddens in accounting research: Achievements, limitations and the future

Twenty five years ago, Giddens’ structuration theory (ST) was introduced into accounting research as a reaction to the history-less, apolitical and technical-efficiency focus of traditional functionalist research. A quarter of a century later, this growing stream of research consists of some 65 published papers and has become one of the dominant alternative approaches used to explore accounting as an organizational and social practice. We review this literature based on the following two research questions; (i) what are the major achievements of this literature, and in what respects has it contributed to our understanding of accounting in relation to other alternative streams of accounting research, such as those grounded in critical theory, actor-network theory (ANT), new-institutional sociology (NIS) and practice theory? and; (ii) what are the limitations of the ST strand and, considering these (and its relative strengths), how should it be advanced in the future? Overall, we find that the mobilization of ST as a general ontological framework has generated three major and largely unique contributions, namely; (i) the introduction of a duality perspective; (ii) the conceptualization of accounting as an interwoven totality comprised of structures of signification, domination and legitimation, and; (iii) an ontological basis for theorizing how, when and why socially embedded agents may produce both continuity and change in accounting practices. However, we also conclude that it is difficult to identify a particular and distinctive empirical imprint of the ST literature, and that some of the theory’s ‘competitive advantages’ are far from fully exploited. Based on these identified strengths and weaknesses of the ST perspective, we consider an array of directions for future scholarly effort.     

Forecasting clients’ reactions: How does the perception of strategic behavior influence the acceptance of advice?

Because they want high quality information, people often follow advice from advisors with high levels of expertise and confidence, and a reputation for accuracy. However, clients cannot always be sure that an advisor is actually using a knowledge advantage to act in the client’s best interests. In two studies we investigated the influence of an advisor’s perceived degree of self-interested intention on the client’s intention to accept and use their advice. We report two experiments in which clients received the same advice from a supposed representative of either a profit or a non-profit organization. The results of our first study suggest that clients who were confronted with an advisor from an organization with a profit-oriented background ascribed higher levels of self-interested intentions to the advisor and perceived the advisor to be less trustworthy. Furthermore, clients were less willing to rely on the advisor’s recommendation, and this effect was mediated by the perceived trustworthiness of the advisor. In our second study we conceptually replicated the findings of Study 1 using behavioral measures, and also differentiated three different facets of trustworthiness (competence, benevolence and integrity) in the interaction between advisor and client.     

WHY HAS HOME OWNERSHIP FALLEN AMONG THE YOUNG?*

We document that home ownership of households with “heads” aged 25–44 years fell substantially between 1980 and 2000 and recovered only partially during the 2001–5 housing boom. The 1980–2000 decline in young home ownership occurred as improvements in mortgage opportunities seemingly made it easier to purchase a home. This article uses an equilibrium life‐cycle model calibrated to micro and macro evidence to understand these developments. A trend toward marrying later mechanically lowers young home ownership after 1980. We show that the large rise in earnings risk that occurred after 1980 can easily account for the remaining decline in young home ownership.     

Black Education: Myths and Tragedies

This article explores elements of apologetics in conventional economics. It argues that much of the latter is apologetics in the form of the ideology or utopia of laissez-faire, and many of its representatives are apologists of the latter. The article first examines instances of unconditional laissez-faire apologetics and extreme apologists. Then it presents cases of qualified laissez-faire apologetics and moderate apologists. Lastly, it identifies some examples of laissez-faire non- and anti-apologetics and critics expressing discontent with apologetic economics. The article aims to contribute to a fuller understanding of the relationship between economics and social science overall and ideology, politics, and related non-scientific elements.     

Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s*

We document the results of a repeat survey, which updates Agell and Lundborg (1995) , on wage rigidity in a sample of 159 Swedish manufacturing firms, conducted during the severe Swedish recession of the 1990s. It is found that not even a prolonged period of very high unemployment and quite low inflation softened workers’ resistance to wage cuts. We discuss possible reasons for this. In addition, we report new evidence on underbidding, efficiency‐wage mechanisms, and unemployment persistence.     

(S, s) Inventory Policies in General Equilibrium

We study the aggregate implications of (S, s) inventory policies ina dynamic general equilibrium model with aggregate uncertainty. Firms in themodel's retail sector face idiosyncratic demand risk, and (S, s) inventory policies are optimal because of fixed order costs. The distribution ofinventory holdings affects the aggregate outcome in two ways: variation inthe decision to order and variation in the rate of sale through the pricingdecisions of retailers. We find that both mechanisms must operate toreconcile observations that orders are more volatile than, and inventoryinvestment is positively correlated with, sales, while remaining consistentwith other salient business cycle characteristics. The model exhibits strongamplification for some shocks and persistence to a limited extent.     

Identifying Technology Commercialization Opportunities: The Importance of Integrating Product Development Knowledge

New product development (NPD) is a knowledge‐intensive activity, perhaps even more so in recent years given the shift toward more open innovation processes, which involve active inward and outward technology transfer. While the extant literature has established that knowledge is critical for NPD performance, knowledge generated through NPD can have an additional impact on external technology exploitation—as when firms go beyond pure internal application of knowledge to commercialize their technologies, for example, by means of technology outlicensing. Grounded in the knowledge‐based view of the firm, this paper examines how the integration of domain‐specific knowledge, procedural knowledge, and general knowledge generated through NPD affects a firm's proficiency in identifying technology commercialization opportunities. Additionally, analysis of how technology opportunity identification relates to technology commercialization performance is provided. Empirically, the paper draws on survey data from 193 Swedish medium‐sized manufacturing firms in four industries active with NPD, and regression analyses and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses. The results highlight the importance of integrating domain‐specific and general NPD knowledge to proficiently identify technology licensing opportunities. The empirical findings also provide strong support for a subsequent link between technology opportunity identification and technology commercialization performance. Altogether, these results point to strong and previously unexplored complementarities between inward and outward technology exploitation, that is, between NPD and technology licensing. As such, the results provide important theoretical implications for research into the fields of knowledge integration, technology exploitation, opportunity identification, and technology markets. Moreover, the results have significant managerial implications concerning how knowledge generated through NPD can help firms to achieve both strategic and monetary benefits when trying to profit from technology. In particular, to set up proficient technology commercialization processes, it appears beneficial for firms to integrate knowledge that is gained through the ordinary activities of developing and commercializing products. Specifically, the integration of domain‐specific knowledge and general knowledge helps firms to match their technologies with new applications and markets, which is often the critical barrier to successful technology commercialization activities. Managers are thus encouraged to integrate domain‐specific knowledge and general knowledge from NPD to reap additional benefits in profiting from investments in innovation and technology.     

Stationary equilibria in bargaining with externalities

This paper studies infinite-horizon bargaining between a seller and multiple buyers when externalities are present. We extend the analysis in Jehiel and Moldovanu by allowing for both pure and mixed equilibria [Jehiel, P., Moldovanu, B., 1995a. Cyclical delay in bargaining with externalities. Rev. Econ. Stud. 62, 619–637]. A characterization of the stationary subgame perfect equilibria in generic games is presented. Equilibria with delay exist only for strong positive externalities. Since each buyer receives a positive payoff when the seller makes an agreement with some other buyer, positive externalities induce a war of attrition between buyers.     

The inefficiency of price quantity bargaining

In bargaining between a buyer and several sellers on prices and quantities, strategic inefficiencies arise. By reallocating quantities between agreements, the buyer can increase its share of the surplus. With two symmetric sellers producing substitutes, the quantity in the first agreement will be higher than the efficient quantity, and the quantity in the last lower, thus implying that sellers are strategically discriminated. When asymmetries are not too large and sellers produce substitutes, the buyer first agrees with the seller with the lowest marginal cost and only the most efficient order of agreement is an equilibrium outcome. When goods are complements, both equilibrium quantities are lower than the efficient levels.