Agricultural productivity growth in Latin America and the Caribbean: an analysis of climatic effects,catch‐up and convergence*

This paper investigates whether climatic adjusted total factor productivity (CATFP) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is converging, converging to different steady states or exhibit absolute convergence, that is the process does not require (government) interventions to reach its equilibrium path. We use data from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit and from the Food and Agriculture Organization for 28 LAC countries over a 54‐year period (1961–2014) to estimate random parameters stochastic production frontier models to calculate CATFP and then use cross‐sectional regressions and an error correction model to analyse CATFP convergence across countries in the region. The results show that technological progress is the main driver of CATFP growth in the region and there is no absolute convergence, that is CATFP gaps across countries will not decrease over time and least performing countries will not grow faster than better performing ones without targeted policies. However, CATFP across LAC exhibits conditional convergence towards different steady states. Technological progress plays a critical role in raising the steady state level of CATFP with an overall average of 2.22 per cent per annum.     

Measurement of patient-reported outcomes. 1: The search for the Holy Grail

Abstract

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are used to collect information directly from patients. They may cover several different types of outcomes ranging from symptoms, functioning, utility, satisfaction, through to quality-of-life (QoL). They generally consist of self-completed questionnaires that can be administered by means of hard copies or in a range of electronic formats. PROMs vary considerably in terms of the constructs they assess, the care with which they are developed, and their scientific quality. However, none of the PROMs available approach the quality of measurement achieved by measures/instruments used in physics. PROs are examples of latent variables. These are not directly observable, but can be inferred from, for example, responses to a questionnaire. The only measure of a latent variable that approaches the quality of measurement achieved by the physical sciences is the Lexile Framework for Reading. This framework is based on a construct theory that grew out of an analysis of several available reading measures. A specification equation was generated that was able to link the construct theory to scores obtained with the Lexile measure. A fundamental requirement of this quality of measurement is that the data collected with the model fit Rasch Measurement Theory (RMT). It is argued that PROM developers should aspire to match this level of measurement sophistication if their instruments are to provide valid insights into the impacts of disease and its treatment.     

Firm resources,competitive actions and performance: investigating a mediated model with evidence from the in‐vitro diagnostics industry

Building on the resource‐based view (RBV) and competitive dynamics literatures, this paper proposes that considering resources or actions independently offers an incomplete understanding of the drivers of superior performance. Instead, we hypothesize that resources enable competitive actions and that when these actions leverage the firm's resources, superior performance results. We tested these hypotheses with panelized data on the technological resources and competitive actions of firms in the in‐vitro medical diagnostic substance manufacturing industry. The results provide substantial support for our hypotheses, specifically with respect to mediation. Our theory and results underscore how the integration of the competitive dynamics and RBV literatures can significantly improve our understanding of firm performance. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Forecasting recruitment needs of the Russian economy: Qualitative aspects

The article presents a new mechanism for translating labor market’s needs to the vocational education system that promotes the provision of long-term personnel requirements within the framework of the implementation of competence-based educational programs.     

Navigating compromise: How founder authenticity affects venture identification amidst organizational hybridity

Founders of hybrid ventures encounter organizational tensions that can compel compromise in both their organizations' and their own personal values. Such compromises may, in turn, undermine founders' identification with their ventures. In a multi-case study analysis we examine why social entrepreneurs differ in their responses to organizational tensions, both at the firm- and individual-level, and how such differences relate to their venture identification. Specifically, our findings reveal that strategic decisions made in the context of values-based complexity are often accompanied by concerns regarding founder authenticity—that is, judgments about the alignment between founders' actions and the commitments or responsibilities associated with their identities as entrepreneurs. Yet, because founders differ in the basis from which they seek to maintain such alignment, these differences shape both hybridity management and subsequent venture identification. By unpacking such differences, our findings contribute new theory, bridging recent scholarship on founder authenticity with longstanding research on organizational identification and hybrid organizing.     

Growth in prices for mining products in the post-Soviet period and economic deindustrialization

In the context of growing prices for mining products aimed at achieving the world price level, economic deindustrialization occurs due to the changed proportions of the redistribution of natural resource royalties. The ways of the cross-sectoral redistribution of resource royalties and increase in their macroeconomic efficiency by changing forms of industrial production are discussed in the article.     

Foreign investment,corporate governance and performance in the Chinese listed A Share companies

We present a novel lens on the presence and impact of qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) in top shareholdings of the non-financial domestically listed Chinese ‘A’ share firms. The initial results suggest that the presence of a QFII as a top shareholder in these companies is associated with their better performance, using both Tobin’s Q and ROA as the performance measures. Our models include variables representing corporate governance mechanisms, foreign legal person shares, a proxy for international affiliations and a number of time-variant firm characteristics. Economically, the coefficient of impact on the market measure is the more significant, while the effect of having a QFII in top shareholdings on both performance measures is empirically significant. Previously, studies have often ignored the potential for reverse causality beyond using lagged regressors. This is problematic. Therefore, we follow up with a 2SLS instrumental variables and system GMM model to further mitigate this potential and find the empirical relationship holds. Contrary to earlier work on QFIIs and governance post-implementation of the QFII scheme, the findings from our models suggest that the presence of a QFII top shareholder augments market performance holding equal existing corporate governance mechanisms and other controls.     

Prizes and lemons: procurement of innovation under imperfect commitment

The literature on research and development contests implicitly assumes that contestants submit their innovation regardless of its value. This ignores a potential adverse selection problem. The present article analyzes the procurement of innovations when the procurer cannot commit himself to never bargain with innovators who bypass the contest. We compare fixed‐prize tournaments with and without entry fees, and optimal scoring auctions with and without minimum score requirement. Our main result is that preventing bypass is more costly in the optimal auction, and the optimal fixed‐prize tournament is more profitable than the optimal auction.