Hispanic Ethnicity,English‐Skill Investments,and Earnings

Analyzing synthetic cohorts in the 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples, we find that Mexican‐Americans and other Hispanics acquired English fluency at a faster pace than Puerto Ricans and Cuban‐Americans during the 1980s. Additional results indicate that English‐skill investments differently influenced the earnings distributions of these ethnic groups.     

E-Business Transformation via Alliance Clusters

The number of firms using alliances as part of their corporate venturing or market entry strategies has surged over the past decade. Three common reasons cited for pursuing alliances are technology convergence, market access and alliance partners' complementary resources. This paper contrasts the alliance strategies of HP and IBM, two major competitors in electronic services (i.e. Internet-based 'e- service') businesses, using the Familiarity Matrix as a display tool to portray the strategies. Whereas the HP strategy is to attempt to establish its technology infrastructure as the standard e-services infrastructure on the Internet, IBM aims to position its IBM Global Services, rather than its technology, at the center of this ecosystem.     

Water and Economic Growth

Several hydrological studies forecast a global problem of water scarcity. This raises the question as to whether increasing water scarcity may impose constraints on the growth of countries. The influence of water utilisation on economic growth is depicted through a growth model that includes this congestible nonexcludable good as a productive input for private producers. Growth is negatively affected by the government's appropriation of output to supply water but positively influenced by the contribution of increased water use to capital productivity, leading to an inverted-U relationship between economic growth and the rate of water utilisation. Cross-country estimations confirm this relationship and suggest that for most economies current rates of fresh water utilisation are not yet constraining growth. However, for a handful of countries, moderate or extreme water scarcity may adversely affect economic growth. Nevertheless, even for water-scarce countries, there appears to be little evidence that there are severe diminishing returns to allocating more output to provide water, thus resulting in falling income per capita. These results suggest caution over the claims of some hydrological-based studies of a widespread global 'water crisis'.     

ASSET POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1984–99: EVIDENCE FROM THE PANEL STUDY OF INCOME DYNAMICS

Using PSID data for the years 1984–99, we estimate the level and severity of asset poverty. We find that despite a sharp decline in the official poverty rate, the asset poverty rate barely budged over this period. Moreover, the severity of asset poverty increased during this period. The likelihood of being asset-poor decreased for those who are college graduates or married with children, whereas it increased for those who are white, for the unmarried elderly, and for those without a college degree. Lifetime events such as changes in job market, marital and homeownership status are correlated with transitions into and out of asset poverty.     

Embodied ethics: Some common concerns of religion and business

De George's understanding of theology is limited to one of five commonly recognized models of theology, the orthodox model. This model is vulnerable to De George's criticisms. When religious ethics operates out of the revisionist model of theology, however, his criticisms lose their sting. Revisionist religious ethics, moreover, can make a fruitful contribution to business ethics. Such a religious ethic acknowledges the embodiment dimension of business activities, it complements philosophical analysis with the practice of moral discernment, and it recognizes irony as an active component in decision-making.John T. Leahy is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at DePaul University.     

Communities of tomorrow

The social spotlight seems to be refocusing to the scale of local community at a time when globalisation of the economy is threatening the authority of nation-states. Certain small communities are in peril of falling out of the global economy while losing local customs to a globalised culture. Globally beleaguered nation-states are being squeezed in a two-pronged grip: from the growing weight of global capital and from local communities rising to global pressures by demanding local solutions. National authority is also being bypassed as new global communities of interest form on the Internet, expanding the meaning of the term community. But, is community more than common interest—a celebration of difference, negotiating symbiosis among diversity of ethnicity, lifestyle and aspirations for the future? This paper explores five scenarios of tomorrow’s communities. One scenario is a nostalgic return to the romantic notion of the white-picket fence. Then there is the drop-out feral community. In another future the fence becomes a fortress wall, or a ring of barbed wire. Yet another is a virtual community beyond place, where people sharing a common interest live in cyber-reality. The viable community is one for the long haul. To be viable in a global world it must make local-global links to create synergies by sharing resources and inspirations throughout a diverse, planetary society. Viable, local-global network communities of tomorrow set a global example for creativity by honouring difference and open exchange. They take responsibility for their own futures.Two powerful images from recent events remain with me, in juxtaposition. After considering the American attacks on Afghanistan, a well-experienced teacher feels isolated at the periphery, and powerless. In addition, she watches, in “quiet despair”, one of her pupils “virtually going crazy” before her eyes. She shares these words with me:

“Neither he nor I, it seems, have anywhere to run except to the graciousness and the care of the other children, that as classroom leader I’m tying daily to coalesce, in order to put a cocoon of community around him. Bit like the planet!”

“We all work to keep our very bright and fairly disturbed ADHD-labelled¹ learner connected to us in genuine relationship. That’s the foundation of authentic learning support. I’m not operating a medical model!”

Our leaders and the babbling mass media ignore this, the first image, and many similar to it.By contrast, the second image gets constant exposure. It gets instant recall from most TV viewers. It is the scramble of screen jockeys, on what is left of Wall Street, playing the casino economy, in a frenzy of greed. Curiously the main media focus emphasizes images that represent the world at the global scale. They largely ignore images of life at the scale of community.Why is this? Why does the second image of the so-called finance community, where the focus is the dollar, override the more basic image of a hometown community where the focus is human life-support? Are the media reflecting our true priorities, and have we got it wrong? Is money more important than community?     

Accounting for Option–based Compensation: The Economic Cost Approach

The intrinsic value approach amortizes over the life of the option, the difference between the stock price on the date of the grant and the exercise price of the option. The fair market value approach amortizes over the life of the option, the market value of stock options on the date of the grant. These approaches do not reflect the changes in the option–based compensation cost after the grant date. This paper proposes an economic cost approach that not only adjusts for the changes in the value of the options during its life but also records the issuance of the stock at fair market value on the exercise date.     

Unemployment compensation and episodes of nonemployment

This paper examines the influence of unemployment insurance (UI) on the length of nonemployment spells experienced by young workers. The analysis introduces a flexible duration model to estimate the effects of the weekly benefit amount and weeks of eligibility on the amount of time spent between jobs by men, distinguishing between the experiences of UI and non-UI recipients. The empirical findings suggest three conclusions: (1) UI recipients experience longer spells of nonemployment than their non-UI recipient counterparts, at least up to the point of exhaustion of UI benefits; (2) the level of the weekly benefit amount does not significantly affect the length of nonemployment spells; and (3) increasing the number of weeks of eligibility offered by a UI program leads to longer episodes of nonemployment.