Insider-outsider forces in wage and employment determination: The case of Sweden

This paper applies a statistical approach used by Andersen & Hylleberg (1993) in their study of insider-outsider effects in wage-employment determination in the Danish manufacturing sector, to analyse insider-outsider effects in the Swedish private sector. Focusing on the univariate and multivariate trend properties of the data, a bivariate wage-employment error correction model is used as an explicit test-bed for the theoretical predictions of adjustments to anticipated and unanticipated shocks. According to the Blanchard & Summers (1986) insider-outsider model, the former changes are absorbed entirely by wages while the latter changes are reflected fully in employment. As in the case of analysis on Danish manufacturing data, it is found that the evidence based on data related to the Swedish private sector also fails to accept the Blanchard & Summers insider-outsider model in its unqualified version. Nonetheless several important traits of insider-outsider mechanisms seem to be in accordance with the observed evolution of the data.     

Why do transaction costs of agricultural policies vary?

Policy related transaction costs (TCs) is an important issue when evaluating different policy options. However, TCs are often not taken into account in policy evaluations, but may be as important for efficiency as the direct production costs. Different policies may result in different TCs, and the main aim of this article is to explore possible reasons for these differences. We compare the level of TCs for 12 different agricultural policy measures in Norway, and we analyze the causes of the differences along three different dimensions: asset specificity, frequency, and point of policy application. At the national level we find that all three dimensions are of importance when explaining the differences, while variation in TCs incurred by farmers are mainly due to differences in point of policy application and asset specificity. Data show that direct price support has the lowest TCs, while more direct payments for environmental amenities has the highest.     

Entrepreneurial growth: The role of international knowledge acquisition as moderated by firm age

In line with repeated recent calls for research on specific forms of growth rather than on an undifferentiated notion of “total growth,” our study contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurial growth. By this we mean growth through expansion into new geographic markets and/or via the introduction of new products or services. Building on Penrose's theory of the growth of the firm and on the research streams she has in part inspired, we investigate the impact of knowledge acquisition from international markets on entrepreneurial growth both at home and abroad. We further suggest that the effects of international knowledge acquisition on entrepreneurial growth will vary with firm age. Utilizing longitudinal data on 138 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we find that the acquisition of knowledge from international markets fuels growth through market development, and that this effect is stronger for international expansion than domestic expansion. Our results also show that firm age negatively moderates the relationship between international knowledge acquisition and entrepreneurial growth via the introduction of new products or services. Specifically, international knowledge acquisition has a positive effect on growth via new products/services development in young firms, but a negative effect in mature firms. We assume this reflects changes over time in how international knowledge is managed.     

Explaining Firm Emergence: Specialization,Transaction Costs,and the Integration Process

This article explains firm emergence and the role of firms in the market structure using the productive power of specialization. Based on productivity efficiencies through technological specialization, a model for firm emergence is drafted alongside Coasean transaction cost theory. I find that transaction costs cannot explain firm emergence, but the entrepreneurial specialization perspective here adopted provides a promising approach to understanding the firm's function to the entrepreneur and its internal organization and capabilities. It suggests a foundational framework for studying the creation of capabilities and the interplay between markets, firms, and entrepreneurs. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sex and environmental policy in the U.S. House of Representatives

Using LCV score data, we find that female legislators favor stricter environmental policies than do their male counterparts. Moreover, gender-corrected estimates suggest that voters do not push environmental policy towards the middle, but rather select the ideologically closest candidate.     

Technology in the rear-view mirror: how to better incorporate the history of technology into technology education

The history of technology can play an important role in illuminating the fundamentals of technological change, but it is important that technology teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers and researchers can be provided with good analytical tools for this purpose. In this article, we propose a model of techno-historical interplay, as a help in deciding what historical artefacts and systems should be included in technology curricula and teaching as well as in analyzing and conveying to students the fundamental issues of technological change. We want to emphasize particularly three points of importance in employing the model as a tool of analysis. First of all, it is crucial to decide what one wants the technologically literate student to know about technology and technological change. This should include an awareness of the historical and geographical contingency of any technology. Second, on the basis of this decision one should adapt the model as a tool for selecting relevant technologies. Third, the model should be applied as an instrument of analysis of the history of the selected technological artefacts or systems as well as theories of technological development.