Customer behavior in electronic commerce: The moderating effect of e-purchasing experience

This study analyzes the perceptions which induce customers to purchase over the Internet, testing the moderating effect of e-purchasing experience. We distinguish between two groups: (1) potential e-customers, who are considering making their first e-purchase, and (2) experienced e-customers, who have made at least one e-purchase and are thinking about continuing to do so. The perceptions that induce individuals to purchase online for the first time may not be the same as those that produce repurchasing behavior. Our findings demonstrate that customer behavior does not remain stable because the experience acquired from past e-purchases means that perceptions evolve. The relationships between perceptions of e-commerce change with purchasing experience, whilst the influence of Internet experience is stable for all users. The implications are especially interesting for e-commerce providers whose business models depend on e-customer behavior.     

Adaptation of Agroforestry Systems in South-Eastern Mexico through Integration of Farmer and Bioeconomic Evaluations

Agroforestry systems have been promoted as sustainable land-use systems for regions where shifting agriculture is the traditional predominant land-use. Although environmentally sustainable, agroforestry systems require investment to establish that may affect their economic sustainability. In the southern Yucatan Peninsula 47 agroforestry plots of two timber and 10 fruit tree species were established with 22 farmers in three communities covering two rainfall zones and five soil types. Some fruit trees had wide adaptability to different soil, rainfall and management conditions, e.g. Manilkara zapota; others were restricted to the best soil, rainfall management conditions, e.g. Persea americana. The Meliaceae timber trees responded little to rainfall and soil, but stem borer attack was markedly lower in less intensively managed systems. Level of system maintenance greatly affected costs, but also opportunities for intercropping and obtaining immediate income. All levels of managements had negative net present value (NPV) for the three-year establishment phase, but so does traditional maize production. Farmers preferred to inter-crop their agroforestry systems, but were often limited by site quality. Determining sustainable agroforestry options for farmers requires multiple decisions related to species adaptability to the site, farmer production objectives and farmer capacity to invest in different management strategies. One production technology did not fit all.     

Mobbing and its determinants: the case of Spain

The objective of this article is to analyse empirically the problem of mobbing in Spain. Based on the fifth Spanish survey on working conditions, we find that during 2003, around 5% of workers declared being mobbed at their workplace. Some personal, job characteristics and working conditions are found to be significant at explaining the probability of being a mobbing victim. Finally, we find differences in the variables affecting such probability depending on the victim's gender.     

CAPITAL MAINTENANCE AS A KEY DEVELOPMENT TOOL

We construct optimal growth models where labor resources can be allocated either to production, technology adoption or capital maintenance. We first characterize the balanced growth paths of a benchmark model without maintenance. Then we introduce maintenance activity via the depreciation rate of capital. We characterize the optimal allocation of labor across the three activities. Although maintenance deepens the technological gap by diverting labor resources from adoption, we show that it generally increases the long run output level. Moreover, we find that equilibrium maintenance and adoption efforts respond in opposite directions to policy or technology shocks. Finally, we find that the long‐term output response to policy shocks is slightly higher in the presence of maintenance.     

Economic Performance and Leadership Accountability: An Econometric Analysis

Logit models of leadership duration test whether different agents are responsible for constitutional and unconstitutional transfers of power. Lagged values of per capita real investment have a significantly negative impact on unconstitutional transitions. This suggests that the elites of less developed countries determine the timing of unconstitutional transfers as they are the ones with investment capabilities. Lagged values of per capita real consumption are associated with the well-being of an average citizen. However, consumption exerts an unexpected positive influence on constitutional transitions when political regime differences are not taken into account. This significant effect disappears with the inclusion of parliamentary and presidential regime dummies.     

Environmental disclosures and compulsory accounting standards: the case of spanish annual reports

This paper analyses environmental reporting practices found in the annual reports published by 51 large companies operating in Spain, with the aim of determining which factors in the firms analysed – belonging to ecologically sensitive sectors – explain the quantity and characteristics of the environmental information published and its evolution. Moreover, the paper takes into account the implementation of the Spanish compulsory accounting standard of 25 March 2002 and its impact on the environmental reporting behaviour. The results of the content analysis for the period 2001–02 show a significant increase in the environmental information compared with the 1992–94 period. For the first year in which the environmental accounting standard was in force (2002), the results show a high percentage of environmental disclosures in the notes to the annual accounts, although the degree and level of disclosures is very heterogeneous, in both form as well as quantity and quality. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Financial efficiency and economic growth: The case of Spain

This paper explores the connection between financial efficiency and economic growth. First, a theoretical model is presented in which financial efficiency enhances economic growth by means of increasing the marginal productivity of a broad concept of capital. Next, some data from the Spanish economy from 1962 to 1995 are explored using cointegration techniques. The main results point to a prominent role of bank institutions in channeling funds from savings to investment. Operative inefficiency of banks has damaged economic growth by providing a smaller amount of funds to the process of development. These results also suggest the existence of imperfections in Spanish capital markets. Finally, some indicators of financial repression such as negative interest rates and inflation seem to have had a deleterious impact on economic growth.This paper is part of a broader research project financed by Fundación FIES, CECA. Comments by Caneda, Cuñado, Martínez Chacón, Pérez de Villarreal, Termes, and Villaverde are gratefully acknowledged.     

Making sense of immigration policy: Argentina, 1870–1930

The aim of this article is to disentangle the different forces that shaped Argentinian immigration policy from 1870 to 1930. A new index of immigration policy is presented, showing how immigration restrictions increased over time but, in contrast with the US, Argentina remained open to mass migration until the 1930s. The quantitative evidence presented here suggests that there were economic reasons to restrict immigration prior to the 1930s, namely rising inequality, the closing of the frontier, and the declining relative quality of immigrants. A political economy interpretation helps to understand the long‐run evolution of immigration policy. Labour interests could not be translated into Parliament in a direct way. A large share of workers did not have the right to vote simply because they were foreigners. Inequality influenced immigration policy through social unrest since those negatively affected by massive immigration developed alternative actions: general strikes, labour unrest, and violence. Contrary to what economic theory would have predicted, anti‐immigration legislation came from Argentinian capital and landowners who feared political and social unrest.     

Board structures,liberal countries,and developed market economies. Do they matter in environmental reporting? An international outlook

Previous empirical evidence has shown the effect of most corporate governance mechanisms on corporate social responsibility and environmental disclosure. However, there is scant empirical evidence that examines the influence of liberal countries, developed market economies, and board structures on environmental disclosure. Thus, this research aims to explore how liberal and developed countries and board structures affect environmental reporting. We hypothesise a linear and positive association between companies located in countries with liberal and developed market economies and environmental reporting. Moreover, we hypothesise that one‐tier board structures negatively affect environmental disclosure. Focusing on 13,100 companies domiciled in 39 different countries from 2005 to 2015, it is established that those companies located in liberal and developed economies are more likely to disclose environmental information, whereas one‐tier boards have a negative effect.