'Men of small standing'? Locating accountants in English society during the mid-nineteenth century

The census enumerators' books for three counties in 1851 are utilized to explore the social standing of accountants in early-Victorian England. The objective is to illuminate sources of differential status within the occupation of accountancy and thereby enhance understandings of the problems of boundary definition and closure which confronted those who organized the profession in England from 1870. It is shown that accountants occupied various strata in local social structures, from the professional class to the pauper. Accountants were, however, predominantly positioned on the margins of the middle class and very few of their number exhibited styles of living which contemporaries identified as characteristic of professional men. The findings confirm that the term 'accountant' encompassed a wide range of occupational experiences and employment statuses and its meaning appears to have been subject to spatial variation.     

Relationship management for innovation: the central role of communication in australia's participation in two hi-tech industries

Individuals make decisions about whether innovations are adopted and transferred to new uses or locations. This Paper argues that relational competence Is critical for innovation management and technology transfer and that personal communication, formal and informal, is the core component in such competence. It shows how “close ties” and communication are critical to innovation, particularly given the changing nature and role of technolop management in the context o f rapidly increasing globalization. This is illustrated with reference to the communication in he mindset and practice of technology partnering in Australia's participation in the aerospace and telecommunications industries.     

Culture,Self-Construal,and Leisure Motivations

The purpose of this study is to examine Canadian and Mainland Chinese students' leisure by investigating the role self-construal plays as an intervening variable between culture and motivation. Separate hierarchical multiple regressions are performed on each motivation with culture entered first followed by a block composed of four types of self-construal: vertical collectivism (i.e., dutiful), horizontal collectivism (i.e., cooperative), horizontal individualism (i.e., unique), and vertical individualism (i.e., achievement oriented). Results suggest that: (a) higher levels of horizontal collectivism are associated with higher levels of introjected reward (i.e., pride), identified (i.e., personally important), integrated (self-identity), and intrinsic (i.e., interesting and enjoyable) motivations; and (b) higher levels of horizontal individualism are associated with higher levels of introjected reward, identified, and integrated motivations.     

Barriers to ‘industrialisation’ for interwar British retailing? The case of Marks & Spencer Ltd

Research on international differences in retail productivity has highlighted formidable environmental barriers to the ‘industrialisation’ of mass retailing as a driver of declining British interwar productivity growth in this sector (and in services more generally). We examine evidence for such barriers, using a case study of a firm that built its interwar expansion strategy on ‘American’ retail methods – Marks & Spencer (M&S). We find that, rather than facing barriers to the adoption of American mass retail practices, M&S reaped major productivity gains from this process. This adds further evidence to an emerging literature rejecting the barriers to industrialisation thesis for retailing.     

AIDing contraception: HIV and recent trends in abortion

Using a difference-in-differences estimation framework and state-level data, we investigate the potential role of HIV/AIDS in contributing to declining abortion utilization in the United States. Our results suggest that the perceived risk of HIV contraction negatively affected unwanted pregnancies. Specifically, a 10% increase in HIV incidence is associated with 0.34–1.1% fewer abortions per live births, an effect that can account for at least one-tenth of the sharp decline in abortions observed from the early 1980s to mid-1990s.     

Entry Solicitation and Deterrence in R&D Competition with Spillovers

The purpose of this note is to examine incumbent behaviour and patterns of entry under R&D competition with spillovers. We find that, in addition to blockading, deterring and accommodating entry, the incumbent may also solicit entry. Entry solicitation occurs when the incumbent strategically alters its R&D commitment in order to take advantage of the spillover generated by the entrant's subsequent R&D investment. Although our results are placed in the context of R&D with spillovers, they are applicable to a wider class of models involving positive externalities, particularly network externalities.
JEL Classification Numbers: L12, O31.     

Clarence Ayres’s Critique of Orthodox Economic Theory

Mainstream economists and liberal politicians are criticizing the Third Way as it is being applied in the Netherlands. They argue that mutual consultation precludes an efficient adaptation to disturbances. The present study analyzes changes in wage and income policy in the Netherlands until 2005. It finds that wage and income policy has proven to be flexible enough to address “new” challenges in the Netherlands. The flexibility is rooted in a culture of tolerance that allows for some breaking of working rules. The latter arises from bounded socialization, that is, the imperfect transmission of information with respect to social working rules that result in similar but not identical copies of institutions.