Convex Time Budgets and Individual Discount Rates in the Long Run

The purpose of this study is to use experimental data to estimate individual discount rates and test for hyperbolic discounting over a long time horizon. To do this, we employ the convex time budget experimental approach with cash payments over a 20 year time horizon. To date, there are few experimental studies that explore discount rates beyond a 1 year time horizon. Previous experimental studies that focus on short time horizons find high discount rates, which may not be applicable to decisions that affect outcomes in the distant future. Our findings are quite similar to the average rate of 4.9% found by Grijalva et al. (Environ Resour Econ 59:39–63, 2014), who similarly use a 20 year time horizon, but use the multiple price list elicitation method along with payment via government savings bonds. We find annual discounts rates in the range of 1.9–5.5%, depending on the specific model used. We also find evidence for declining discount rates, and that this hyperbolic pattern of behavior is related to the confidence subjects have in receiving distant-future payments.     

The Impact of Distance (External) and Organizational Factors (Internal) on the Knowledge Chain of Multinational Corporations: South Africa as a Host Country

The geographic dispersion of multinational corporations (MNCs) implies that while it gives them access to new and different knowledge from diverse localities, it also adds to the costs and complexities of managing that knowledge and its effective dispersal across geographies. The purpose of this article is to examine how knowledge is transferred within MNCs and provide a framework for this process, particularly focusing on the role that distance (external) and organizational (internal) factors plays therein. A qualitative study is utilized, focusing on two technology companies from different cultural home countries and the technology transfer process with their South African subsidiaries. We find that the standardization of knowledge impacts the creation and diffusion of knowledge; expatriates impact on the creation, diffusion, and adoption; and, finally, relevance and localization impact on the adoption and utilization of knowledge. We present a conceptual framework around trust and rationalization as regards transferring knowledge within MNCs and find some evidence of the impact of distance, particularly cultural, on the methods employed in this transfer. The article illustrates the practical ways in which MNCs organize their internal resources and overcome various dimensions of distance in ensuring knowledge transfers. By choosing companies from such divergent home countries (one industrialized and one newly industrialized, with very different cultural settings) and examining their knowledge transfers with their South African subsidiaries, we are able to unpack various dimensions of distance and how organizational mechanisms affect this process. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Patterns of white-collar unionization in the steel industry

In the steel industry the influence of the employers and the steel workers' unions has probably played a more significant role in defining the direction and growth of white-collar unionism than the attitudes of the white-collar workers themselves.     

Long-term contracts,expectations and wage inertia

This paper develops a macro model of contractual wage setting that is used to test the importance that increased contract length has in generating wage inertia. Using an errors-in-variables format to isolate the effect of price and productivity shocks, it is shown that the sensitivity of union wages to unanticipated disturbances would increase by only a small amount in the absence of long-term, three-year, labor contracts. Our results suggest that formal contracts are not a major source of nominal wage rigidity and the price surprises play a relatively small role in generating business cycles.     

Distributive industry in the UK to the year 1995

This article summarises the impact of various changes on a specific industry. For two rates of UK economic growth, 590 selected issues were rated by experts for probability, priority, and relevance. Implications for the distributive industry were derived. Major conclusions included: annual UK GNP growth is likely to remain below 2%, shopping hours will be greatly extended, and the number of specialist shops providing high levels of service will increase.     

THE LOCATION OF MAINCROP POTATO PRODUCTION IN BRITATN-AN APPLICATION OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING

In any dynamic economy the allocation of resources, particularly land, is in need of continual reappraisal in order to reduce their misallocation. For some years now linear programming and similar operational research techniques have been applied to solving problems of this nature within the agricultural economy. In this paper interregional competition within the potato industry is analysed using the framework of the transportation algorithm. Problems of specification and data compilation are discussed. Three models are then formulated, their solutions illustrated, and comparisons made with the present distribution of production in order to arrive at conclusions as to possible areas of adjustment. Finally, some of the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology used are outlitled.     

Pay dispersion and workforce performance: moderating effects of incentives and interdependence

The compensation literature is replete with arguments, but lacking in empirical tests, regarding the effects of pay dispersion on organizational outcomes. Pay dispersion may increase effort and provide incentives for high workforce performance levels, but may also inhibit cooperation and goal orientation among employees. Drawing on several theoretical perspectives (individual motivation, institutional theory, organizational justice, and neoclassical economics), this study predicts that pay dispersion will be associated with higher levels of workforce performance when accompanied by formal individual incentive systems and independent work, while pay compression is desirable in the absence of individual incentive systems and when work is interdependent. Survey research studies in two industrial sectors (the motor carrier and concrete pipe industries) were conducted to address these issues. Interactive regression results were generally supportive of the predictions across several measures of workforce performance (accident rates, safety violations, and productivity). Implications of these studies for strategy implementation in terms of compensation theory and practice are addressed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.