Foreign trade and its impact on employment: The Mexican case

This paper discusses the relationship between foreign trade and employment in a small open economy, and carries out some empirical work using Mexican data. It is argued that employment multipliers are not stable if intermediate inputs are imported. Actual employment multipliers will be given by the relationship between effective demand and installed capacity in each sector, and will depend strongly on whether quotas or tariffs are in operation. It is also found that Mexican exports are capital intensive relative to its imports.     

Implications of Basel II for Different Bank Ownership Patterns in Europe

This paper explains that Basel II has different implications for stakeholder-owned (mutual) and stockholder banks in the European Union. Some strategic paths for stakeholder-owned banks are proposed as a response to the Stockholder Value Maximization goals Basel II implicitly advances. Even though empirical evidence indicates that capital strength and risk-taking exposures do not differ across bank ownership structures, SME lending and other characteristic specializations of stakeholder banks promise to generate high capital charges. However, improved corporate-governance practices and cooperative securitization and risk-management activities can reduce the compliance costs and risk-taking constraints mutual banks might experience from shifting to a Stakeholder Value Maximization Model. For all EU banks irrespective of their ownership structure, the analysis stresses that establishing an incentive-compatible cross-country safety-net scheme poses a critical challenge.

Institutional density and public policies in two cases of geographical indications from Mexico and Spain

This study analyses the role of private and/or public institutions on achieving success in projects aiming to obtain certification labels for local food products. This analysis is performed through comparative framework provided by 2 specific study cases; 1 from Mexico, based on the production of a type of traditional spicy pork sausage, or chorizo, and another from Spain, on the production of Iberian ham. A mixed methodology has been used to perform an in‐depth analysis of socio‐political contexts by distinguishing the divergent institutional frameworks of both cases. The study will contribute to connecting the results of these initiatives to the institutional density in which both proposals are originated and are implemented. From there, the text explores the reasons for success, stagnation, and/or failure of these actions. These empirical data constitute an important contribution to the analysis of geographical indications and diverse sociological universes supporting the differentiation of agrifood quality certification.     

Through New Eyes: Artificial Intelligence,Technological Unemployment,and Transhumanism in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun

Journal of Business Ethics - Klara and the Sun, the latest novel by Nobel-prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, forces one to reckon with one's own anxieties about the future of emerging technologies...     

Correction to: Trade agreements and international technology transfer

Review of World Economics -     

Trade agreements and international technology transfer

Review of World Economics - This is the first paper that analyzes for a global sample of countries how trade agreements that include technology-related provisions impact exports of goods,...     

Online drivers and offline influences related to loyalty to airline websites

This paper explores users loyalty to airlines’ websites, by examining differences among users belonging to the Y, X and baby boomer generations. The results indicate that to obtain users loyalty to a company’s site, it is necessary to first, affective e-loyalty, through e-trust, which is also positively influenced by offline perceived value, e-satisfaction, and indirectly by e-quality. We also demonstrates that significant differences exist among the various generations, implying airlines need to fine-tune their online strategies retain customer loyalty.     

Examining How Country Image Influences Destination Image in a Behavioral Intentions Model: The Cases of Lloret De Mar (Spain) and Cancun (Mexico)

Understanding the importance of a country’s image in the behavioral intentions of tourists is essential for sun-and-sand destinations. This study examines an integrated model of behavioral intentions regarding two international tourist destinations, namely Cancun (Mexico) and Lloret de Mar (Spain). The results indicate that country image influences destination image; destination image influences value, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions; value influences satisfaction; and satisfaction influences behavioral intentions. These findings confirm that the country and destination images are different constructs, and that destination image is the key to attracting tourists. Additionally, there are some differences in the relationships hypothesized in the model among the destinations.     

Social capital,internationalization and absorptive capacity: The electronics and ICT cluster of the Basque Country

This article analyses the case of a successful young high technology cluster in an old industrialized European region, the electronics and information and communications technology cluster in the Basque Country (Spain). Based on the findings of this case study, we propose that social capital and internationalization play an important role in increasing the absorptive capacity of clusters (thus, the capacity of a cluster to absorb, diffuse and creatively exploit extra-cluster knowledge), and hence, in sustaining their growth and dynamism. Absorptive capacity depends on the capacity of firms to establish intra- and extra-cluster knowledge linkages. We put forward in this article the fact that social capital fosters intra-cluster knowledge linkages, and cluster's internationalization the extra-cluster knowledge ones. Therefore, social capital and internationalization are key elements to increase the absorptive capacity of a cluster and its growth. Given the accumulative, path- and place-dependent nature of social capital and knowledge creation and accumulation, we employed a largely qualitative and historical analysis, combining statistical and qualitative cluster data and interviews with key actors.