Boekbespreking

Rotterdam, Maart 1957     

On the Structure of Measurements in Facet Theory

The mapping sentence in facet theory suggestsconstructing items according to a factorial design of facets. Analyzing the structure ofthe responses by multidimensional scaling, theorists usually expect the solution toreflect the constituting facets, so that it can be partitioned by levels of the facets. In the paperwe elucidate that each dimension relates to the response function of a specific subgroup, ratherthan to one or more separate facets. Partitioning by levels of a facet may lead toneglecting the real structure of the response function to be analyzed.     

Inter-industry Wage Dispersion in Portugal

The emerging notion that corporatism/centralisation reduces inter-industry wage dispersion is the main leading force behind this paper. We use data from a long series of comparable datasets to analyse the evolution of the size of inter-industry wage dispersion in Portugal. We compare the results with the ones obtained in other countries to find that the country has a high inter-industry wage inequality when compared with the European standard. Nevertheless, the dispersion decreased during the second half of the 1980s along with the establishment of a neo-corporatist setting, supporting the expected reduction.     

在安全、效率与公平中博弈:建国以来我国区域资源配置和经济发展的轨迹探析

安全、效率及公平是判断一个国家在国际社会体系中国家地位的三项重要价值标准,也是一个国家制定国家发展战略的行动基础。我国建国以来区域经济政策的制定和推行从根本上说都是围绕安全、效率、公平三项标准的博弈过程中完成的。不同时期关于安全、效率与公平的博弈结果,直接影响到我围国家发展战略和区域经济政策的取向,同时也直接导致了区域经济发展的巨大差异。正确处理好安全、公平和效率关系,谋求安全、公平和效率之间的平衡,探寻区域经济发展中安全、公平和效率相统一的目标及路径,一直是我国区域经济发展过程中面临的重大问题。     

Ethical Leader Behavior and Big Five Factors of Personality

Most research on ethical leadership to date investigates the consequences of ethical leadership rather than its antecedents. Here, we aim to contribute to this field by studying leader personality as a potential antecedent of ethical leader behavior. In two multisource studies, we investigated the relationships between personality traits and ethical leader behavior. Leader personality was measured through self-ratings using the five-factor personality framework. Two subordinates rated their leaders’ ethical behavior. Study 1 used a uni-dimensional Ethical Leadership Scale (ELS). In study 2 we used this scale as well as an instrument distinguishing three different ethical leader behaviors, namely, fairness, role clarification, and power sharing. Further, in study 2 we controlled for the influence of the relationship between leader and followers (LMX). As expected, conscientiousness and agreeableness were most consistently related to ethical leadership. In study 1, after controlling for the other personality traits, conscientiousness related positively with ethical leadership. In study 2, after controlling for other traits and LMX, conscientiousness related positively with ethical leadership and the behavior role clarification, and agreeableness with power sharing and fairness. Also, emotional stability related positively with ethical leadership and role clarification after controlling for LMX. As expected, openness to experience and extraversion were unrelated to ethical leader behaviors.     

Managerial Perceptions of Works Councils’ Effectiveness in the Netherlands

Although works councils have, by and large, equally extensive legal rights in Germany and the Netherlands, this is the first econometric analysis that investigates the influence of Dutch works councils on firm performance. We use a nationwide Dutch dataset with information on management’s perceptions of the works council’s impact on their establishments’ efficiency and innovation. Inspired by the German study of Jirjahn and Smith (2006, Industrial Relations 45:650–80), we analyze which determinants influence management’s attitude toward employee participation in the Netherlands. Owing to the specifics of our data, we are able to additionally include variables that measure the interaction between management and worker representatives. We establish a preponderant influence emanating from the works council’s role attitude and management’s leadership style.     

Earnings functions: beyond human capital

Taking a short-run view of the labour market, where individuals with given levels of education have to be matched with jobs differing in level of complexity and difficulty, wages are related to education and job levels. In a sample of some 13 000 observations, controlling for age, experience and sex, a model emphasizing both sides of the allocation process is favoured over the simple human capital view that ignores allocation once education is taken care of. It is claimed that the long-run human capital model can fruitfully be expanded with this short-run allocation structure. The empirical results measure the differences in earnings for individuals with given education working at different job levels, and shows them to be substantial. The relevance of adding job levels to the explanatory variables is illustrated with the case of female earnings discrimination and with differences in age–earnings profiles between general and vocational education.     

Differential rent in the 1760s: two neglected French contributions

Possibly the earliest contribution to the theory of differential rent is contained in C.-F.-J. d'Auxiron's Principes de tout gouvernement (1766). Two years later, in 1768, another discussion of the phenomenon of extensive differential rent appeared in the physiocratic periodical Ephémérides du citoyen, probably written by J.-N.-M. de Saint-Peravy. This article, while remaining a short and isolated contribution, indicates how differential payments for the use of land can be incorporated within a value theory in which normal prices reflect necessary costs of production and how differential rent can be reconciled with the explanation of rent as a return on capital.