An econometric procedure for estimation of a generalized systemic gravity model under incomplete information about the system

Gravity spatial interaction models have a long history and a wide scope of empirical applications, Alonso (1973) proposed a generalized model whose structure subsumes major versions of the gravity model in the literature as special cases. Little attention has been given to how the general model might be estimated, or if it is estimable at all. This paper develops an econometric procedure for situations where all places in a geographic system are not included in the observations. The general model and various constrained versions are empirically estimated on a sample of intermetropolitan migration data and compared.     

Consumer demand theory,goods and characteristics: Breathing empirical content into the Lancastrian approach

To begin with, it is argued that consumer demand theory has resulted in narrowly econometric more than broadly managerial applications. Further, Lancaster's recognition of the intrinsic attributes of goods has not been adequately exploited. Lancaster is summarized and appraised and empirical work to date reviewed. Finally a test of the characteristics hypothesis is given, using survey data on beer consumption. Subjectivity of choice is explicitly recognized and factor analysis is used to evaluate the components of demand of which quality and price variables appear to dominate. With the matching of the people-characteristics features (demand) and the technical goods-characteristics attributes (supply) a method of predicting demand is derived. This methodology may be used for a wide range of consumer goods.     

Beyond greening: new dialogue and new approaches for developing sustainability

The Sixth International Conference of the Greening of Industry Network, Developing Sustainability: New Dialogue, New Approaches, was held in Santa Barbara, CA, USA, 16–19 November 1997. This special edition of Business Strategy and the Environment attempts to capture the dialogue from the conference by presenting seven edited papers from the conference, a review of the conference's objectives and achievements from the perspective of the conference organizers, and this introductory essay. Each of the seven papers takes a different cut at theoretical, empirical and methodological questions around the focus of the conference. Together they represent the diversity and creativity of approach that is central to the conference's objective of establishing new dialogue on processes of greening and progress towards sustainable development. The organization of the conference and significant conference highlights, such as the incorporation of CERES into the organization of the conference, and the expansion of the Network into Asia, are reviewed by the conference organizers in this special edition (Fatkin and Fischer, 1998). This essay discusses new dialogues and new approaches to industrial transformation emerging from Santa Barbara. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Sampling from overlapping subpopulations

Summary Statistical problems in connection with classified data, stratified sampling, cluster sampling and two-stage sampling may be formulated in terms of overlapping subpopulations instead of disjoint classes, strata, clusters or primary sampling units. The introduction in section 1 serves to unify the notation to be used and to exemplify the type of problems that are to be generalized. Samples where the units are classified into overlapping classes are studied in section 2. The applicability is illustrated with an estimation problem in connection with destructive tests. Section 3 treats sampling from overlapping strata and estimation of the sizes of the intersections. Section 4 discusses problems in conjunction with sampling of overlapping clusters. Graphs or networks representing populations with binary relationships are used to exemplify sampling of overlapping clusters. Section 5 is devoted to some examples of two-stage sampling where the primary sampling units are overlapping subsets.     

Benefits and Disadvantages of Individuals’ Multiple Team Membership: The Moderating Role of Organizational Tenure

Many employees in today’s organizations are involved in more than one team at the same time. Building on the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this study investigates potential benefits and disadvantages of such multiple team membership (MTM) for individual employees. Furthermore, we extend this framework with insights from the job demands-resources model to propose that, depending on an employee’s organizational tenure, individual MTM will differentially shape his or her perceptions of work challenge and role ambiguity, subsequently influencing the employee’s job performance and absenteeism. We tested our conceptual model using time-lagged multi-source data from a large organization of applied research (N = 1211). Our results demonstrate that, for employees with relatively low organizational tenure, MTM was negatively associated with perceived work challenge and positively associated with perceived role ambiguity, which in turn associated with lower job performance and higher absenteeism. For employees with higher organizational tenure, by contrast, MTM associated positively with their work challenge perceptions and subsequent performance outcomes, whereas MTM was unrelated to perceived role ambiguity as well as absenteeism. These findings identify relevant psychological mechanisms and a key contingency factor that explain when and why MTM may have positive or negative individual-level consequences.     

Ecology and competitiveness in Swiss industries

This article investigates ecological problems and their influence on competitiveness in two selected Swiss industries: food and transportation. Ecological problems defined at a bio-physical level and the ecological stakes defined at a socio-economic level will be analysed. The ‘matrix of ecological problems’ and the ‘matrix of ecological stakes’ are useful and powerful instruments for analysing these two levels. It will be shown that ecological problems and ecological stakes vary from industry to industry. Ecological problems lead to ecological stakes. The ecological stakes lead to ecological changes within the two industries. The central forces of competition are influenced due to ecological issues. In order to be prepared for these changes, companies have to develop strategies which meet both economic and ecological requirements. Examples for such strategies are given in the text.     

Foundational ontologies and multi-paradigm analysis,applied to the socio-technical transition from mixed farming to intensive pig husbandry (1930–1980)

This article adds a new case study to the expanding literature on socio-technical transitions: the shift from mixed farming to intensive pig husbandry in the Netherlands. With regard to this transition, the article addresses a new direction, namely the role of foundational ontologies in explanation. Five ontologies are distinguished, which are based on different assumptions about causal agents and causal mechanisms: rational choice, functionalism, conflict and power struggle, interpretivism, and structuralism. The article demonstrates how these ontologies provide different explanations of same case. It also empirically investigates the strengths and weaknesses of different ontological explanations, and identifies possible complementarities in this case. The article ends with theoretical reflections on the relationships between ontologies and the role of meta-paradigm analysis.     

When Taxation Changes the Course of the Year: Fiscal‐Year Adjustments and the German Tax Reform of 2000–01*

This paper examines 157 German listed corporations that had the option of changing their fiscal year to achieve a possible tax reduction in connection with the major tax reform of 2000—01. The tax reduction from a change was larger, the larger the expected profits. However, with costs of changing the fiscal year, not all firms that expect a tax reduction from a change may do so. The paper presents empirical evidence that the propensity to change the fiscal year was significantly related to the amount of expected tax savings. This suggests that the corporate tax reduction — in combination with the special German transitory provisions — induced a deadweight loss: corporations incurred a non‐tax cost to avoid a tax cost.     

Consistent graphs with signed points

A signed graph is obtained from a graph when each line is given either a positive or a negative sign. We now define a marked graph analogously by signing the points of a graph. In both of these the sign of a cycle is the product of the signs of the lines or points, respectively. In a balanced signed graph or in a consistent marked graph, every cycle is positive. Our object is to investigate consistent marked graphs. It is shown that if such a graph has both positive and negative points, it cannot be highly connected; more precisely, it is not 3-connected. We conclude with a series of constructions which show that a given consistent marked graph can often be reduced to smaller ones.