Did Italy Need More Labour Flexibility?

The dramatic impact of the 2008 crisis on the Italian economy led to policy responses including structural reforms and labour market liberalisation to reverse the worrisome output and employment trends. A key action by the Italian government, the evocatively named Jobs Act of 2014, has deeply changed Italian industrial relations. The Jobs Act has introduced a new contract type that substantially limits workers’ rights to reinstatement in case of fi rms invalidly fi ring them. This article frames the Jobs Act within the overall liberalisation process begun in Italy in the 1990s, providing an initial evaluation of its impacts. Using detailed data sources, we show that the expected boost in employment cannot be detected, the share of temporary contracts over open-ended ones has increased and the number of part-time contracts has risen. This evidence suggests that the Jobs Act is failing to achieve its main goals.     

Disparitäten in der Entwicklung der Gemeindesteuern

Generally, taxes are the most relevant source of revenue for German municipalities. In the period from 2004 to 2014, tax revenues were growing at remarkable rates. However, statistical analyses show that not all municipalities were benefitting in the same way, and thus state-wide averages are of limited value, since they tend to whitewash inner-state inequality. Disparities are even significant in states with strong economic fundamentals. According to absolute measures, disparities are growing at the national level. This can be explained by a few tax-strong outliers. In contrast, relative inequality remains static. The alarming finding is that intertemporal mobility among municipalities in the allocation of tax revenues is limited, and thus tax-weak municipalities face a cloudy outlook.     

Knowledge spillovers and new ventures’ export orientation

We draw on the knowledge spillover literature to suggest that a country’s proportion of export-oriented new ventures represents an outcome of knowledge spillovers that stem from foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade (export spillovers) as well as a source of knowledge spillovers (entrepreneurship spillovers). To test the hypotheses, we use macrolevel data from 34 countries during the period 2002–2005. We find that the relationship between FDI and international trade on the one hand and a country’s proportion of export-oriented new ventures on the other differs for higher- and lower-income countries. In addition, a country’s proportion of export-oriented new ventures affects the subsequent emergence of new businesses.

Deutschlands Chancen im Handel mit Dienstleistungen

Der Dienstleistungssektor hat in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten erheblich an Bedeutung gewonnen. Wo ist Deutschland im internationalen Dienstleistungshandel einzuordnen? Welche Faktoren bestimmen das Muster des internationalen Dienstleistungshandels? Wer kann von einer ?ffnung der Dienstleistungsm?rkte profitieren?     

Umverteilung in verschiedenen Pensionssystemen für Österreich

Using a state-of-the-art microsimulation model, we analyse the redistributional effects of four different pension systems for Austria: the status quo, the new pension account system (APG), and two versions of a Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) system — one with and the other without non-contribution-based pension benefits. We identify the largest redistribution in the status quo. Women, low-income earners and persons with limited years of contributions benefit the most. The redistribution is reduced in the APG and nearly eliminated in the NDC system. We disentangle implicit and explicit redistribution in the APG system. The relative share of implicit redistribution decreases with income, whereas the absolute value of redistribution increases.     

Value Congruence Awareness: Part 2. DNA Testing Sheds Light on Functionalism

This case involves the quandary of a businessman named Arthur Eldredge. A member of the Board of Trustees of Plum Valley Hospital, he is uneasy about apparent conflicts of interest among many board members. Further, Mr. Eldredge is unsure if he can fulfill his responsibilities to the Board. A trustee of the hospital, he thinks he should do something to resolve these issues. He is uncertain about what action to take.     

The Psychic Distance Postulate Revised: From Market Selection to Speed of Market Penetration

In this paper we revise the psychic distance postulate of the Uppsala Model (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977, 1990) by injecting more recent findings (i.e., distinguishing between selection of foreign markets and time needed to achieve sufficient penetration in foreign markets and the role of social capital). The model we propose posits that a higher psychic distance decreases the speed of market penetration. On distant markets, internationalizing technology-based ventures need more time to establish a position in the foreign network and to obtaining positive cash flow. Our model presents social capital as a mean to overcome the psychic distance and to increase the speed of market penetration. We build our model on four case studies on technology-based new ventures internationalizing at very early ages.     

Consumer Segments Based on Attitudes Toward Luxury: Empirical Evidence from Twenty Countries

This article proposes an international segmentation of consumers based on their attitudes toward luxury. We perform a two-stage empirical study with a data set that combines samples from 20 countries. We provide a substantive interpretation of the results to show that three attitude segments dominate in a Western cultural context. We discuss several directions for future research based on the findings.     

The Effect of Entrepreneurial Activity on National Economic Growth

Entrepreneurial activity is generally assumed to be an important aspect of the organization of industries most conducive to innovative activity and unrestrained competition. This paper investigates whether total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) influences GDP growth for a sample of 36 countries. We test whether this influence depends on the level of economic development measured as GDP per capita. Adjustment is made for a range of alternative explanations for achieving economic growth by incorporating the Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI). We find that entrepreneurial activity by nascent entrepreneurs and owner/managers of young businesses affects economic growth, but that this effect depends upon the level of per capita income. This suggests that entrepreneurship plays a different role in countries in different stages of economic development.