Smoking Habits: Like Father,Like Son,Like Mother,Like Daughter?*

We use instrumental variable methods to investigate whether the impact of parental smoking habits on their children's smoking decisions is a causal one. We find suggestive evidence of same‐sex role models in two‐parent households: mothers play a more crucial role in determining their daughters’ smoking decisions, whereas fathers’ smoking habits are primarily imitated by their sons. This same‐sex parent–child link is no longer at play for teenagers living in single‐mother households, for whom the influence of their only cohabiting parent turns out to be predominant independently of gender.     

The Global Leadership Life Inventory: development and psychometric properties of a 360-degree feedback instrument

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of Global Leadership Life Inventory (GlobeInvent), a 360-degree leadership feedback instrument. This instrument is presently used in executive programmes to help identify the operational mode of individual executives. Proper use of this instrument enables the user to determinate those areas of leadership behaviour where improvement is needed.

Because most studies pay attention only to the surface manifestations of leadership, most leadership feedback instruments, in turn, are not concerned with the psychodynamic processes that underlie leaders' character and behaviour. To address this gap, the GlobeInvent is based on a clinical orientation to the study of leadership. This approach provides a more complete analysis of the ‘inner theatre’ of leaders?–?that is, what makes them tick?–?as well as measuring the dynamic, two-way relationship between leaders and followers.

The first step in designing the instrument was to pinpoint significant themes pertaining to exemplary leadership. To that end, semi-structured interviews with senior executives were held. The leadership dimensions that emerged from that process were then tested on an international sample of senior executives. Analysis of the data from the testing confirmed the existence of twelve robust dimensions with a high reliability and internal consistency.

Because the GlobeInvent is a 360-degree feedback instrument, this article addresses differences between ‘Self’ scores and scores given by others (‘Observers’), gender differences in scoring and the influence of nationality, management experience and age on test results. The implications of using such an instrument as a 360-degree feedback tool are reviewed, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Central Bank Independence: An Update of Theory and Evidence

This paper reviews recent research on central bank independence (CBI). After we have distinguished between independence and conservativeness, research in which the inflationary bias is endogenised is reviewed. Finally, the various challenges that have been raised against previous empirical findings on CBI are discussed. We conclude that the negative relationship between CBI and inflation is quite robust.     

Underground economy and aggregate fluctuations

This paper explores the role of underground economic activities as an explanation of differences in registered aggregate fluctuations. In order to do so, we introduce an underground economy sector in an otherwise standard Real Business Cycle model and calibrate it to the USA economy. We find that, at low frequencies, Europe fluctuates more than the USA, while its participation rate is smaller. The existence of underground activities rationalizes the negative relationship between participation rates and fluctuations of registered output. Our model accounts for 44.3% of the differences in aggregate fluctuations between the USA and European economies. Finally, the model generates implied sizes of the underground economy of 3.2% and 7% of the American and European output, respectively, which are in the range of those found in the empirical literature.     

Exploring the causes of the slowdown in remittances to Mexico

This article explores the slowdown of remittances to Mexico and the role that may have been played by some key variables from the United States economy. The findings show that several measures of United States economic activity and different proxies for the unemployment of Mexican nationals living in the United States do not appear to have a strong impact on remittance transfers. On the other hand, this study finds that United States housing variables do seem to affect remittance transfers. In particular, there is a special prominence of the impact shown by the number of housing starts in the United States. Overall, the results seem to suggest that there is not a single United States economic factor that is responsible for the decrease of remittances to Mexico but rather a combination of factors. Among these factors, the decrease in United States housing activity seems to play a major role.     

Functional dependence and productive dependence of SMEs

This article analyzes the quality of business structure from a macroeconomic perspective in the regional context. In addition to “traditional” variables such as innovation, internationalization, or entrepreneurial collaboration, new variables have been introduced: functional dependence and productive dependence. Two different economic territories have been chosen within the Spanish economy: the province of Barcelona (high relative income per capita) and the province of Seville (low relative income per capita). We find it is possible to distinguish two types of firms: a) “product-maker” firms (mainly located in advanced areas) and b) “market-maker” firms (mainly located in less developed areas).      

THE ROLE OF FEES IN PATENT SYSTEMS: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

This paper reviews the economic literature on the role of fees in patent systems. Two main research questions are usually addressed: the impact of patent fees on the behavior of applicants and the question of optimal fees. Studies in the former group confirm that a range of fees affect the behavior of applicants and suggest that a patent is an inelastic good. Studies in the latter group provide grounds for both low and high application (or pre‐grant) fees and renewal (or post‐grant) fees, depending on the structural context and policy objectives. The paper also presents new stylized facts on patent fees of 30 patent offices worldwide. It is shown that application fees are generally lower than renewal fees, and renewal fees increase more than proportionally with patent age.     

Cost of Equity Capital and Additionality of Brazilian Renewable Energy Projects Under the Clean Development Mechanism

The purpose of this study was to assess additionality and the practice of estimating the cost of equity capital in 70 renewable energy projects in Brazil. Forty projects demonstrated additionality by means of financial analysis. No strong or clear relationships were found between project characteristics and the financial method used to demonstrate additionality. Among projects that used financial analysis, the evaluation often employed the risk-free rate. Failure to add any risk premium to projects of this nature suggests a certain analytical carelessness, perhaps induced by the innovative or experimental nature of these projects.     

What Should be Taught in Intermediate Macroeconomics?

A lack of consensus remains on what should form the theoretical core of the undergraduate intermediate macroeconomic course. In determining how to deal with the Keynesian/classical divide, instructors must decide whether to follow the modern approach of building macroeconomic relationships from micro foundations, or to use the traditional approach based on aggregate models of the macroeconomy. In this article, the authors discuss the advantages and shortcomings of each approach in the context of course objectives. Because there is significant heterogeneity in textbook coverage, the authors summarize some of the approaches taken in current intermediate-level textbooks, which should serve as a useful starting point for new instructors. The authors also discuss how each approach can be extended to analyze the recent recession in the United States.