CAP and Advisory Services: From Farm Advisory Systems to Innovation Support

Farm advisory services have become an important topic in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU). The aim of this article is to draw lessons from the implementation of the regulation and measures of the current 2014–2022 CAP in knowledge transfer and advisory services to contribute to debates about the future of farm advisory policies. Findings are based on two studies commissioned by the European Commission: an evaluation study implemented by a consortium of consultancies and researchers and a comparative analysis implemented in the frame of the H2020 research project AgriLink. The article first provides a historical perspective of the ‘knowledge and advice’ dimension of the CAP since 2007. We show a gradual transition towards greater flexibility of measures supporting innovation and knowledge flows. The professional status of farm advisors across European countries was more strongly acknowledged, offering new life-long training opportunities to advisors. However, the implementation of CAP’s advisory measures remains complex. As a result, the effects of these measures have been rather limited, with only few farmers reached overall. Fostering an inclusiveness of these measures remains an ongoing challenge for policymakers.     

New insights into mutual fund brokerage commissions

Using data collected from equity mutual fund reports filed by single-fund registrants to the Securities and Exchange Commission, I study the determinants of brokerage commissions paid by fund managers when they buy or sell securities and investigate the role these commissions play in fund performance. Consistent with related studies, my results from cross-sectional analyses reveal that higher portfolio turnover funds are associated with higher commissions and larger funds incur lower commissions, as well as the positive relation between expense ratios and commissions. This positive relation is puzzling as most commissions include “soft dollars” for payments of products and services that should be already covered by the costs reported under expense ratios. However, once I take into account unobservable fund heterogeneity, I find that higher expense ratio funds do not necessarily pay higher commissions. Further, controlling for whether a fund increased commission payments as the result of flow-induced trading, I show that the underperformance related to brokerage commissions documented in the literature is attributable (at least partly) to higher level of fund flows.     

Executive career success in search-firm-mediated moves across employers

This paper integrates the economic and sociological literatures on market intermediaries to examine the ways in which a labor market intermediary, executive search firms, alter career outcomes for executives who move across organizations. Analyses of the proprietary dataset of a large multinational executive search firm show that executives whose moves are mediated by the search firm are more likely to obtain a promotion or move to a larger and more reputable new employer than those who move without such mediation, but they are not more likely to move to a developmental assignment: one in a new function or in a new industry. The results suggest that the search firm constrains executives' options by matching their existing knowledge and skills with open positions.     

Accessing and affording sustainability: the experience of fashion consumption within young families

Despite the ever increasing levels of fashion consumption, neither retailers nor consumers have as yet implemented sustainability principles to a significant degree. This is despite the fact that sustainability principles are increasingly understood and will be applied by consumers, as long as affordable alternatives in mainstream fashions are available. In a highly competitive fashion retail sector, there exists an opportunity for UK high street fashion retailers to differentiate their brand image through aligning products with consumers' moral frameworks. Using phenomenological interviews, this research explores the fashion consumption experiences of professional women with young children and living in or near Edinburgh, with particular focus on their expression of their own sustainability concerns in their day‐to‐day practices. The findings reveal that in the absence of suitable products, information and labelling, consumers apply heuristics to their choices, especially price. They refer to the more familiar ethical food market which serves as a metaphor for fashion‐related practices. They talk about trustworthy retailers and about how they deal with and rationalize their own practices where they reveal an obvious attitude‐behaviour gap. The women's role of providing for the family adds further complexity in a sector which provides affordable alternative options.     

Factors Determining the Development of Non-cash Payments in Rural Areas in Poland

This article aims at characterization and assessment of the financial behaviors of rural dwellers on non-cash payment markets and identification of factors determining the intensity of using individual methods of payment by the inhabitants of rural areas. The main source of data used for analysis and inference was information originating from the authors＇ own investigations conducted in 2013 on a group of 500 rural households and on a group of 150 trade and service points operating in non-urbanized areas. This work made use of statistical summary measures and Z2 independence test. According to the results of the conducted studies, forms of payment used by rural dwellers depend on many variables, of demographic, economic, and psychological character. Cash payments are more frequently used by persons possessing vocational or secondary education, elderly people, old-age pensioners, annuitants, or households with lower incomes. Also, persons who do not trust financial institutions or do not perceive benefits resulting from the use of non-cash instruments prefer cash. It is a group of households which require urgent educational activities in the area of non-cash payment instruments. A significant barrier to using non-cash payment instruments by rural dwellers was a limited access to non-cash channels. It is connected in the first place with a poorer development of financial infrastructure in rural areas （banks or cash points）, insufficient Internet access conditioning a possibility to use electronic banking points, and also a worse development of credit card acceptance network. As has been demonstrated by the results of conducted studies, the main reason for a lack of point of sale （POS） terminals in retail and service-providing points operating in rural areas, in the opinion of their owners, is the very high interchange fee （50% indications）, which under Polish conditions is one of the highest in the European Union （EU）.     

Causal relations between nominal exchange rates and monetary fundamentals in Central and Eastern European countries

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causal relations between nominal exchange rates and monetary fundamentals. The analysis is conducted using panel quarterly data from the period 2001–12 for Central and Eastern European countries (including Turkey) with relatively flexible exchange rate regimes. The paper reconnects the empirical literature on exchange rates in Central and Eastern European countries with the most recent findings on exchange rate determination in advanced economies. Kóyna's approach, which accounts for linkages between countries, is used in the study. The main findings indicate the existence of causal relations running from both nominal exchange rates to monetary fundamentals and in the opposite direction as well as the existence of a relatively strong link between exchange rates and differentials in the relative price of non‐tradables.     

After retrotopia? The future of organizing and the thought of Zygmunt Bauman

The main body of work of Zygmunt Bauman concerns his home discipline of sociology, but his insights have been influential also in the field of organization studies. In this text, we provide an overview of the extent of this influence, providing some additional context for positioning the other contributions to this special section. Afterwards, we explore in more detail two notions central for Bauman’s late thought: that of liquidity and retrotopia. The former constitutes the root metaphor for theorizing the current global predicament. In this text, we analyse how two modes of interpreting it, using the assumptions behind Kurt Lewin’s CATS model and the alchemical tradition underpinning Carl Gustav Jung’s conception of archetypes respectively, can help us theorize the alternative modes of organizing and managing encountered in a study of contemporary alternative organizations.These insights form the starting point for our second goal: to explore Bauman’s notion of retrotopia as a potentially fruitful starting point for discussing both the deficiencies of current visions of our future society, and the possibilities and vicissitudes of developing new forms of organizing and managing. Such new forms, both as practice and as theoretical constructs, are urgently needed if we are to face the numerous, and potentially catastrophic global challenges facing our society today.     

Costs of hospital visits among patients with deep vein thrombosis treated with rivaroxaban and LMWH/warfarin

Background:

For many years, the standard of care for patients diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) has been low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) bridging to an oral Vitamin-K antagonist (VKA). The availability of new non-VKA oral anticoagulants (NOAC) agents as monotherapy may reduce the likelihood of hospitalization for DVT patients.

Objective:

To compare hospital visit costs of DVT patients treated with rivaroxaban and LMWH/warfarin.

Methods:

A retrospective claim analysis was conducted using the MarketScan Hospital Drug Database for care provided between January 2011 and December 2013. Adult patients using rivaroxaban or LMWH/warfarin with a primary diagnosis of DVT during the first day of a hospital visit were identified (i.e., index hospital visit). Based on propensity-score methods, historical LMWH/warfarin patients (i.e., patients who received LMWH/warfarin before the approval of rivaroxaban) were matched 4:1 to rivaroxaban patients. The hospital-visit cost difference between these groups was evaluated for the index hospital visit, as well as for total hospital-visit costs (i.e., including index and subsequent hospital visit costs).

Results:

All rivaroxaban users (n?=?134) in the database were well-matched with four LMWH/warfarin users (n?=?536). The mean hospital-visit costs were $5257 for the rivaroxaban cohort and $6764 in the matched-cohort of patients using LMWH/warfarin. The $1508 cost difference was statistically significant between cohorts (95% CI?=?[?$2296; ?$580]; p-value?=?0.002). Total hospital-visit costs were lower for rivaroxaban compared to LMWH/warfarin users within 1, 2, 3, and 6 months after index visit (significantly lower within 1 and 3 months, p-values <0.05)

Limitations:

Limitations were inherent to administrative-claims data, completeness of baseline characteristics, adjustments restricted to observational factors, and lastly the sample size of the rivaroxaban cohort.

Conclusion:

The availability of rivaroxaban significantly reduced the costs of hospital visits in patients with DVT treated with rivaroxaban compared to LMWH/warfarin.