Does Age Exacerbate the Gender-Wage Gap? New Method and Evidence From Germany, 1984–2014

ABSTRACT

Given theoretical premises, the gender-wage gap adjusted for individual characteristics is likely to vary according to age. This study adapts John DiNardo, Nicole M. Fortin, and Thomas Lemieux's (1996) semi-parametric technique to disentangle year, cohort, and age effects in adjusted gender-wage gaps. The study relies on a long panel of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) covering 1984–2015. The results indicate that, in Germany, the gender-wage gap increases over a birth cohort's lifetime, including in the post-reproductive age for some birth cohorts. The results suggest that age and gender are overlapping handicaps in the labor market and call for a policy intervention.     

Focus Groups: Contributing to a Gender-Aware Methodology

A focus group is an open group interview from which research hypotheses can be derived. It enables economic research to step down from its narrow theoretical assumptions and to embed research questions in a life context. It also can contribute to strong objectivity and when done in women's groups and/or on gender issues, focus groups can contribute to a feminist methodology. Experience from a focus group by the author held in Africa has indicated how diverse and enriching economic notions can become, when discussed in a group, before the research has started.     

Competitiveness of the Euro Zone Manufacturing: A Panel Data Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to assess the main aspects involved in the competitiveness of manufacturing industries in the Euro zone area (EZ-12). To this end, we apply the generalized method of moments to a panel data error correction model. Our sample spans the period from 1970 to 2007, and our findings provide insight into the impact of manufacturing on the international competitiveness of European firms and industries. From the estimated magnitude of the relevant coefficients, we conclude that in the long run, a change in labor and capital compensation is not fully passed on to manufacturing growth, while an increase in the market power of the manufacturing sector will negatively affect its competitiveness.     

Is productive inefficiency a fatal disease? The effects of technical and scale efficiency in firm exit: the case of the Greek rubber and plastic industry

This article presents an integrated framework for testing the effects of productive efficiency, i.e. technical efficiency (TE) and scale efficiency (SE), on firm exit, facilitating the identification of the effects, causing a firm's operation at increasing or decreasing returns to scale. A panel data set of firms in the plastics and rubber industry of the Greek manufacturing sector is used to study the effect that TE and SE may have on a firm's probability to exit. Results reveal that technical efficiency is the most critical factor influencing firm exit, while SE exerts a quadratic effect on the probability to exit.     

Relationship and Market Conditions: Outcomes in Marketing Channels

Purpose: In today's highly competitive business environment, many organizations are tending to reduce the number of suppliers to focus on establishing stable and close relationships with a small number of them. The study here analyzes the influence of both market and relationship conditions on trust, commitment, and customer loyalty.

Methodology/Approach: Empirical research was conducted by collecting information from a sample of 304 retailers. A structural equations model is estimated.

Findings: Results support a positive influence of relationship value on trust and, in turn, on long-term orientation and commitment, with the latter as a strong antecedent of customer loyalty. In contrast, dependence on the main supplier does not seem to exert a significant effect on long-term orientation and commitment.

Originality/Value/Contribution: The evidence suggests that relationship conditions are important for creating value in B2B settings. Results shed additional light on the process of calculating, creating and claiming value.     

Market Shares and Concentration in the EU Auditing Industry: the Effects of Andersen’s Demise

This paper describes and analyses changes at the concentration level of the audit services markets in 15-EU member-countries. The sample consists of 2,862 clients of auditing firms for the period 1998 to 2004. The findings of the research show that concentration in the aggregate sample increased over time. Concentration in the audit markets of the EU-15 member-countries exhibits substantial variation across countries while average concentration, before and after Arthur Andersen’s dissolution, has increased in 12 and declined in three countries. Results segmented by economic sectors indicate that the concentration increased in all sectors except Energy, which is the sector with the highest concentration. Overall, the empirical results suggest that there are complexities in our understanding of auditing services markets for competition purposes.

An Empirical Analysis of Strategic Groups in the Airline Industry using Latent Class Regressions

Two major controversies in strategic group research have been whether strategic groups actually exist and if so what is the best methodological approach to identify them. One perspective on strategic groups suggests that a strategic group exists if and only if the performance of a firm in the group is a function of group characteristics after controlling for firm and industry characteristics. We test this theoretical position by developing and estimating a model for the airline industry using latent class regressions. Our analysis finds evidence for the existence of four distinct strategic groups of firms in the airline industry. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HRM and organizational performance in northern and southern Europe

This article aims to extend understanding of the firm-level impact of strategic HR practices on organizational performance. Adopting a contingency approach, it develops a structural model that considers direct and indirect influences of market growth, business strategy formalization and HRM centrality and practices on organizational performance in Europe. The study uses a comparative approach, revealing differences between northern and southern Europe. Clear differences appeared between the two clusters in the HR policies and practices correlated with higher performance, thus indicating that the link between HRM and performance may be different in different geographies.