Business services,the new engine of French regional growth

This article analyses the evolution of employment in the French regions, putting the accent on business service firms. A ‘shift and share’ type of analysis shows that a primary decentralisation in tertiary activities seems to emerge in the 1990s, essentially pertaining to ancillary producer services. An explanatory analysis backs up the general validity of the regional economic base theory: the basic activities, to which business services can quite legitimately be attached, certainly play a leading long-term role on global employment dynamics. Finally it shows that over the past 20 years, the regional offer of services to businesses has been the major discriminating variable between regions, greatly influencing the evolution of basic employment and thus confirming the vital driving force of this sector in regional dynamics.     

The Effects of Comparative Advertising Mediated by Market Position of Sponsoring Brand

An experimental test of the relative effectiveness of comparative and non-comparative advertising was performed. Mock print ads for fast food chains were constructed and presented to respondents in a simulated magazine mode. The market position of the sponsoring brand was manipulated in both comparative and non-comparative formats. Multiple criterion variables were operationalized corresponding to all stages of the hierarchy-of-effects paradigm. On balance, for the nine hypotheses tested, results revealed that non-comparative advertising was demonstrably more effective than comparative advertising.     

Diversified growth and competition: the experience of twelve large UK firms

This paper looks at the causes and competitive consequences enterprise diversification with reference to the experience of twelve large UK firms. It is noted although the majority of these firms diversified intially for defensive reasons, continuing diversification was often undertaken to enable the firm to maintain a satisfactory rate of earnings growth. In accordance with this goal, most of the twelve firms had acquired market leaders in diverse areas. A second conclusion therefore, is that diversification can add to the total market power available to the firm. The use of this power however, appears to depend upon the management philosophy and nature of resource allocation found within the firm.     

IDENTIFYING THE RESPONSE OF FERTILITY TO FINANCIAL INCENTIVES

While using financial incentives to increase fertility has become relatively common, the effects of such policies are difficult to assess. We propose an identification strategy that relies on the fact that the variation in wages induces variation in benefits and tax credits among ‘comparable’ households. We implement our approach by estimating a discrete‐choice model of female participation and fertility using individual data from the French Labor Force Survey and a detailed representation of the French tax–benefit system. Our results suggest that financial incentives have had a significant effect on fertility decisions in France. As an example, we simulate the effects of an additional, unconditional child credit of 150 euros per month. The effects are strongest for the third child. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hinterland transportation in Europe: Combined transport versus road transport

The dominance of road for hinterland services could be challenged by using rail-road or waterway-road transport because of costs, congestion and growing environmental constraints. A common dynamic that is very favorable to the development of combined transport is shared among the actors of the transport chain but with different starting positions considering the ports of the Northern Range.But combined transport must still demonstrate that it can compete with road transport. Road transport and combined transport are not directly comparable because they do not offer the same physical transport service. The organizational patterns of road and combined transport are investigated. The example of hinterland services to and from the port of Le Havre to the Paris region is a particularly interesting case because of the very short distance. It is shown that the competitiveness of combined transport in terms of price varies greatly according to the way road transport it competes with is organized and that the commercial policy of combined transport operators plays a key role for explaining this competitiveness. Additional services such as additional dwelling times and specific custom advantages are paramount of importance to encourage the shift from road transport to combined transport.     

Learning to choose a commodity-money: Carl Menger's theory of imitation and the search monetary framework

This paper studies Carl Menger's theory of the emergence of a commodity money. We propose an interpretation of Menger's learning by imitation process based on the search theoretical formal framework. We show that there exists a tension between the importance of intrinsic properties of commodities and the pure conventional self-fulfilling expectations of agents. This confirms the role of imitation in the emergence of monetary equilibria in search theory. We conclude that Menger's approach may support the idea that the fundamental property of a commodity-money (namely its great liquidity) is the result of its emergence process and not necessarily of its original intrinsic properties.     

Does intellectual monopoly stimulate or stifle innovation?

This study develops an R&D-based growth model with vertical and horizontal innovation to shed some light on the current debate on whether patent protection stimulates or stifles innovation. We analyze the effects of patent protection in the form of blocking patents. We show that patent protection changes the direction of innovation by having asymmetric effects on vertical innovation (i.e., quality improvement) and horizontal innovation (i.e., variety expansion). Calibrating the model and simulating transition dynamics, we find that strengthening the effect of blocking patents stifles vertical innovation and decreases economic growth but increases social welfare due to an increase in horizontal innovation. In light of this finding, we argue that in order to properly analyze the growth and welfare implications of patents, it is important to consider their often neglected compositional effects on vertical and horizontal innovation.     

A Risk-Return Analysis of a Firm's Working-Capital Position

In this paper, a method is proposed by which management is able to analyze the risk-return tradeoff for various levels of liquid assets for the firm and for different maturity compositions of its debt. Together, these factors determine its working-capital position. Certain probability concepts are employed; and information is provided about the risk of cash insolvency for alternative strategies. In addition, the opportunity costs of these strategies are determined. With the framework proposed, more rational working-capital decisions are possible. The firm is able to achieve a working-capital position that provides the appropriate margin of safety in relation to the cost involved in attaining that position