Inequality in turbulent times: income distribution in Germany and Britain, 1900–50

Using social tables, this article provides new data on inequality in Germany and Britain on an annual basis for the first half of the twentieth century. Inequality trends in these two countries tended to follow opposite patterns. The decline in inequality in Germany was interrupted during the First World War and the Nazi period, while in Britain the reversal took place between the end of the First World War and the Great Depression. Results show that the drop in inequality during the twentieth century in Europe did not follow secular trends, thus supporting the notion of inequality cycles.     

A synthesis of homelessness in South Africa: A rapid critical appraisal

Homelessness in South Africa requires collaborative research. Social, political, cultural and economic factors that cause homelessness must be considered to develop a common definition and understanding of homelessness. South Africa’s social complexity and diversity make it challenging to construct available results into one conceptual framework, and this in turn complicates national policy implementation and role allocation. By means of a rapid critical appraisal of literature on homelessness in South Africa, researchers provide evidence to direct and structure contextual research pertaining to homelessness. Four themes transpire: conceptualisation; demography; roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders; and strategic policy and research issues. Researchers caution that the findings are not generalisable, because of the rapid nature of the appraisal and possible selection bias of the literature. Measures of validity were used to ensure that the study accomplished its purpose through the key results and to ensure that the results are a true reflection of available evidence.     

Using meta‐analytic structural equation modeling to advance strategic management research: Guidelines and an empirical illustration via the strategic leadership‐performance relationship

This paper demonstrates how meta‐analysis can be combined with structural equation modeling (MASEM) to address new questions in strategic management research. We review this integration, describe its implementation, and compare findings from bivariate meta‐analyses, a direct‐effect structural equations model, and two mediating frameworks using data on the strategic leadership and performance relationship. Results drawn from 208 articles that collectively included data on 495,638 observations demonstrate the new insights available from MASEM while also suggesting a revision to conventional thinking on strategic leadership. Whereas some theories posit that boards of directors influence firm performance through monitoring and disciplining the top management team, MASEM provides more support for the view that boards mediate the top management teams' decisions. Implications for applying MASEM in strategic management are offered. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is Private Saving in Latin America and the Caribbean Different?

Private saving and economic growth are intimately linked, and low saving rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have often been held responsible for disappointing growth in the region. Thus, identifying factors that spur saving is critical. This paper surveys previous empirical studies on LAC, highlighting contradictions, omissions and in some cases inconclusiveness of findings. Relying on a large dataset and a nested econometric framework, it analyzes private saving patterns and explores the role of its determinants in LAC, across LAC sub‐regions and compared with other regions. While the results highlight great heterogeneity in private saving rates within LAC and compared with the rest of the world, saving determinants are broadly the same notwithstanding some differences in sensitivity and contributions' sizes, and include its lag, income, demographics and public saving.     

On the inversion of moving averages

Abstract

1. Let an infinite sequence of real numbers be given by (1) {η_t } =[…, η _t-2, η _t-1, η _t , η _t+1, η _t+2, . . . ] and let (b) = (b ₀, b ₁,.., b_h ) represent real constants. The sequence(2) {ζ _t } = […, ζ _t-2, ζ _t-1, ζ_t , ζ _t+1, ζ _t+2,…] defined for every t by the relation(3) ζ _t = b ₀ · η _t + b ₁ · η _t-1 — . . . + b _h-1 · η _t-h+1 + b _h · η _t-h is said to be a moving average of {η _t } with weights (b _i ) The variable t, which is restricted to integral values 0, ± 1, ± 2 etc., will in the sequel be spoken of as representing time.     

Facility design consequences of different employees’ quality perceptions

An important challenge for facility management is to integrate the complex and comprehensive construct of different service processes and physical elements of the service facility into a meaningful and functional facility design. The difficulty of this task is clearly indicated by the present study that shows that different employee categories for interpersonal services have quite different perceptions of the facility design that stem from different but coherent needs and interests. Employees with management perspectives (i.e. top managers and facility managers) were significantly more positive about the facility design than frontline employees and their supervisors with providers’ perspectives. Also, providers attributed a more important role to facility design with respect to delivering interpersonal services than management did. We found strong indications for the need for cross-functional cooperation in decision making about the facility design, creating a more balanced setting and possibly empowering providers for the service encounter.     

Forecasting the Downturn of the Great Recession

We examine the quantitative forecasts of Wall Street Journal economists made during the Great Recession. The recession was not predicted in advance, and the severity of the decline was not recognized immediately. An important problem was that the real-time data did not reflect the actual state of the economy and contributed to the forecast errors. At times there was substantial disagreement among the forecasters. A time-series forecast disagreement might provide valuable information about impending recessions.     

Avoiding a “me” versus “we” dilemma: Using performance management to turn teams into a source of competitive advantage

Teams are pervasive in today's world of work. Unfortunately, in many cases teams do not live up to their promise and, instead, lead to disappointing results. In this installation of Human Performance, we discuss how to design and implement performance management systems that include a good combination of both “me” and “we” considerations. We offer the following research-based recommendations: (1) use measures of individual and team performance, (2) use measures of processes and outcomes, (3) develop performance measures using input from inside and outside the team, (4) gather performance information using sources from inside and outside the team, (5) foster team learning and development, and (6) reward both individual and team performance. We discuss implementation guidelines for each of these recommendations that will help maximize individual and team performance as well as alignment among individual, team, and organizational goals. Implementing performance management systems following our recommendations will help organizations turn teams into an inimitable and sustainable source of competitive human capital advantage.     

Semi-nonparametric estimation of independently and identically repeated first-price auctions via an integrated simulated moments method

In this paper we propose to estimate the value distribution of independently and identically repeated first-price auctions directly via a semi-nonparametric integrated simulated moments sieve approach. Given a candidate value distribution function in a sieve space, we simulate bids according to the equilibrium bid function involved. We take the difference of the empirical characteristic functions of the actual and simulated bids as the moment function. The objective function is then the integral of the squared moment function over an interval. Minimizing this integral to the distribution functions in the sieve space involved and letting the sieve order increase to infinity with the sample size then yields a uniformly consistent semi-nonparametric estimator of the actual value distribution. Also, we propose an integrated moment test for the validity of the first-price auction model, and an data-driven method for the choice of the sieve order. Finally, we conduct a few numerical experiments to check the performance of our approach.     

eLancing: A review and research agenda for bridging the science–practice gap

eLancing, or Internet freelancing, is spreading at an incredibly fast pace worldwide. The eLancing work environment is called a “marketplace,” which is a website where individuals interested in being hired and employers looking for individuals to perform some type of work meet. eLancing allows individuals from literally anywhere in the world to sign up and complete work using the Internet for an employer who literally can also be anywhere in the world. eLancing boasts millions of users and billions of dollars in transactions and it involves fundamental changes in the nature of work and in the employer–worker relationship. We discuss eLancing and challenges and opportunities it creates for human resource management (HRM) research and practice. Also, we offer a research agenda with the goal of understanding eLancing and its effects, particularly pertaining to the core HRM areas of job design and analysis, workforce planning, recruitment, selection, training and development, performance management, compensation, and legal issues. Given the increased importance of eLancing worldwide and its implications for worldwide work arrangements in the 21st century's international society, results of such scholarly research have the potential to help narrow the science–practice gap and also elevate the status, perceived value-added, and organizational and societal influence of HRM and related fields.