How Did Finance Capital Infiltrate the World of the Urban Poor? Homeownership and Social Fragmentation in a Spanish Neighborhood

When working‐class localities in developed countries are in question, social fragmentation is often analyzed along ethnic lines. Instead, this article claims that it is more critically fruitful to explore fragmentation in terms of people's relations with the state and different forms of capital. It does this by considering housing in Spain as a key resource that connects state policies both with the forms of reproduction and (dis)organization of the disadvantaged, and with the development of real estate and finance capital. First, it unfolds the historical formation of the Spanish ‘homeownership culture’ and the construction–finance complex. Second, starting from an in‐depth ethnography of a peripheral neighborhood in Barcelona, it emphasizes the embeddedness of recent financialization in the livelihood strategies of poor households. Finally, it shows how the process led to a commodification and erosion of those social relations on which it partially depended, thereby exposing problems for class reproduction and fracture lines among the urban poor.     

The HR department's contribution to line managers' effective implementation of HR practices

The implementation of human resource (HR) practices (HRPs) is increasingly regarded as a cornerstone in the achievement of overall HRM effectiveness. This article addresses the role of the HR department in contributing to line managers' (LMs) effective implementation of HRPs. It does so by comparing the actions of HR departments in both effective and ineffective implementation processes in different firms. Its findings reveal that HR departments can make a difference by taking initiatives that foster LMs' implementation abilities, motivation and opportunities, such as deploying in‐the‐field HR specialists, framing practices in appealing ways, involving LMs in the development of HRPs and seeking CEO support, among others. By fleshing out these HR initiatives and linking them to the AMO framework, we build an inductive model that offers a more nuanced view of what HR departments can do to have their proposals effectively implemented by LMs.     

Market Integration in the Golden Periphery. The Lisbon/London Exchange, 1854–1891

Portugal was the first independent nation to follow Britain in joining the gold standard. Although beset by persistent current account deficits and heavily dependent on foreign capital inflows, it enjoyed a relatively stable tenure of 37 years on gold. This paper shows how it was possible to secure currency stability, despite a lower credibility for the peg and a higher incidence of gold point violations than in core countries. The explanation lies in the central role played by institutional actors, such as the Bank of Portugal and/or the government, whose interventions in the exchange market kept the parity within the band.     

Option pricing under a Gamma-modulated diffusion process

We study a Gamma-modulated diffusion process as a long-memory generalization of the standard Black-Scholes model. This model introduces a time dependent volatility. The option pricing problem associated with this type of processes is computed.     

Disentangling Market Access Effects of Preferential Trading Arrangements with an Application for ASEAN Members under an ASEAN–EU FTA

The paper develops two synthetic measures at the HS‐10 level to depict effective market access for a country receiving preferential access and applies these to the market access ASEAN members would receive following the implementation of an FTA with the EU. First, the measures show that current effective market access for ASEAN EBA members is cut in half by the preferences granted by the EU to countries that compete with these countries in the EU markets. Second, the measures show that about one‐quarter of the preferential margin under the proposed FTA for EBA members would be lost as a result of preferential access granted to ASEAN GSP members. Third, disaggregated estimates of the restrictiveness of rules of origin confirm that rules are more restrictive for products with higher preferential margins and that ASEAN countries usually face tougher rules of origin in the EU because of the composition of their exports.     

Expatriate compensation and its link to the subsidiary strategic role: a theoretical analysis

This paper focuses on the strategic design of expatriates' salaries. Unlike standard expatriation literature that assumes a lack of connection between strategy and international managers' compensation, we use the theoretical concepts from the international strategic management research to discuss how different international strategies affect the way expatriates are compensated. In this respect, the paper proposes a series of hypotheses on how expatriate compensation systems take shape according to the role that the expatriates may play in the internationalization process. The hypotheses refer to the type of incentives offered to encourage acceptance of the assignment, the type of criteria used to evaluate their performance and the reference unit used to establish variable compensation.     

Common biases and heuristics in nutritional quality judgments: a qualitative exploration

The ways in which consumers make judgments about the nutritional quality of food products are a major concern for public policymakers. Given the focus on nutrition information in public health policies, the information processing paradigm has been widely used in past research. However, there is evidence that nutrition information processing is a difficult task for consumers. We examined 14 interviews from consumers of diverse social background in order to inventory the different kinds of heuristics used for making nutritional quality judgments. Narratives in which consumers elaborate about their strategies to assess nutritional quality of food products were analysed. Our findings show that: (1) consumers tend to use shortcuts to simplify nutrition information processing; (2) heuristics unrelated to nutrition information are commonly utilized; and (3) these heuristics rely on semantic, sensory and visual cues. The implications of our findings are discussed from a public policy standpoint.     

THE DISTANCE PUZZLE AND LOW‐INCOME COUNTRIES: AN UPDATE

The ‘distance effect' measuring the elasticity of trade flows to distance has been found to be rising since the early 1970s in a host of studies based on the gravity model, leading observers to call it the ‘distance puzzle'. However, this puzzle is regularly challenged by new developments in the specification of the gravity equation or in its estimations. We propose an original survey on the existing methods used to quantify the distance puzzle – basically the computation of an average distance of trade, a meta‐analysis on existing gravity papers and the implementation of recent econometric developments, all on a well‐specified gravity equation both in cross‐section and panel data. We apply all these methods to a unique large database (124 countries from 1970 to 2006). It appears that if all these new developments can change the amplitude of the increase in the trade elasticity to distance, none solve the distance puzzle. We confirm the existence of this puzzle and identify that it only applies to low‐income countries which exhibit a significant rising distance effect on their trade of around 18% between 1970 and 2006 while the distance ‘puzzle' for trade within richer countries disappears.     

The delicate balance for jointly pursuing economic growth in Latin America and China

This paper examines the sources of economic growth for a group of Latin American countries in relation to their export performance in China. The analytical framework is based on an extended normalized quadratic profit function. The ensuing econometric results confirm that a favorable export record with China represents a positive source of growth for Latin America. However, it also creates long-run dependability conditions in terms of reduced prices and thinner profits that weaken its growth capacity. Latin American countries must seek product diversification away from their current commodity base and aggressively climb up the value chain to remain competitive worldwide.

Managerial Relevance: identify the sources of economic growth for a group of Latin American countries in relation to their export performance in China; the weakness of this economic growth model; how to seek product diversification away from their current commodity base with emphasis on value chain.     

Polymyxin B and colistin—the economic burden of nephrotoxicity against multidrug resistant bacteria

Background: Polymyxin B and colistin are nephrotoxic drugs used in the treatment of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. The aim of this study is to evaluate the burden of costs due to polymyxin associated AKI and propose a simulated break-even price for new therapies.

Methods: The pharmacoeconomic model is based on two large cross-sectional studies of polymyxin nephrotoxicity. Total direct costs in patients with and without renal failure were compared. The direct cost of each hemodialysis section (USD82.94) and daily hospital charges (USD934.85) were based on the values used in a major public hospital in the city where the clinical study was performed. The break-even price of new drugs was simulated considering eventual new drugs as effective as polymyxins, but less nephrotoxic in different percentages. Outcomes of patients after hospital discharge were not evaluated.

Results: Total direct cost of the group of patients who survived without AKI was significantly lower than total direct cost of the groups either with AKI or the group who died without AKI. There was a tendency of even higher costs in those who died with AKI and dialysis. Direct cost of hemodialysis was not as important as the longer hospitalization after sepsis. Considering daily cost of polymyxin is USD60, drugs with 50% less AKI could be considered cost-beneficial if the daily cost is lower than USD160.

Conclusions: AKI in patients with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae treated with polymyxin increases both length of stay in hospital and total costs.