International macroeconomic interdependence and imports of oil in a small open economy

To the extent that oil imports may be relevant to the international dimension of policy, we study the transmission of shocks to open economies dependent on oil within a NOEM framework through a DSGE model of a small open economy with flexible prices, staggered price setting and local currency pricing. For this purpose we introduce imports of oil as a new intermediate good needed to produce the final good and, apart from the usual exogenous shocks when a small open economy is being modeled, we consider an uncovered interest-rate parity shock, a technology shock and an oil price shock. A second-order accurate solution method is used to solve numerically a calibrated model for Portugal and Spain and the simulation results are compared with historical data, showing similar volatilities and expected dynamic responses to exogenous shocks. The model is computed with an optimized Taylor-style interest rate rule that includes real exchange targeting, thus arguing in favour of an international dimension of monetary policy.     

Why do people drink? Tests of the rational addiction model

The rational addiction (RA) model applied to alcoho consumption is tested using 1983 US Health Interview Survey data. The RA model yields refutable hypotheses concerning effects of current, past, and future prices, past and future consumption, time preference and marginal utility of wealth on addictive good consumption. The estimations provide relatively strong support for the RA model. Past and present consumption had strong positive relationship with current consumption. Coefficients on past, present, and future money prices and fines for first oflence drunk driving (as a form of price for alcohol consumption) were significant and of the predical sign.     

Short- and long-term evaluation of efficiency and quality. An application to Spanish municipalities

This article analyses efficiency and quality levels in Spanish local governments and their determining factors through the application of the Data Envelopment Analysis methodology. It aims to discover to what extent inefficiency arises from both quality considerations and external factors beyond the organization's control, or alternatively, how much inefficiency is due to inadequate resource management. As a component of inadequate resource management, we test the existence of political-budgetary cycles in the temporal evolution of inefficiencies. The results show that on the whole there is still a wide margin within which local government efficiency and quality levels could be increased, although it is revealed that a great deal of inefficiency is due to exogenous or noncontrollable factors. In particular, it has been found that the size of the municipality, the per capita tax revenue, the per capita grants and the amount of commercial activity are some of the factors related with local government efficiency.     

Vertical price transmission in the Turkish poultry market: the avian influenza crisis

This article assesses the impact of the Avian Influenza (AI) outbreak in the Turkish poultry market by focusing on price transmission at producer and retail levels. The relationship and patterns of transmission between producer and retail prices are analysed by estimating a Regime-Switching Vector Error Correction Model with three regimes. An AI information index variable is developed and used to determine regime-switching. Results suggest that consumer prices adjust to disequilibrium caused by the AI crisis, while producer prices are sticky and slowly responsive.     

Re‐Thinking Territorial Cohesion in the European Planning Context

The socio‐economic dimensions of cohesion have long been considered an integral part of Europeanization. However, recently a third dimension has been added to the Europe 2020 cohesion policy debate: territorial cohesion. Consequently this term is as yet undeveloped, resulting in a lack of consensus on how to define and interpret it. Such ambiguity represents a theoretical and empirical challenge to regional actors needing to respond to European Union (EU) directives while operationalizing the concept within their national and/or regional agendas. This article uses Portugal as a case study to examine how the concept of territorial cohesion is being interpreted and transposed from EU‐based to territorial‐based instruments and policy documents. First, we conducted a qualitative content analysis (QCA) of a selection of European and regional publications to compare their intrinsic discourses. This was followed by around 60 structured qualitative interviews, conducted with leading actors who had been instrumental in writing or implementing regional policy documents. On the basis of this dual analysis we conclude that, as a whole, the writers of the Portuguese strategic documents successfully transposed this concept, although perceptible differences exist between regions, as local actors have selectively redefined it to better suit their strategic priorities. These differences are debated with the aim of contributing to the design of effective public policies that facilitate inclusion, cohesion and Europeanization.     

Content analysis of leadership in Asia‐Pacific organizations

Leadership and management are important factors that influence the ability of organizations to fulfill their goals. In this article, the role of two organizations was analyzed to determine which leadership styles are appropriate. The Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) are two international organizations in the region of Asia‐Pacific with similar goals but dissimilar organizational natures, properties, functions, and structures. Past studies researching APEC and PECC have mainly taken the perspective of macroeconomics or international relations. The intent when carrying out this study was to adopt a nontraditional approach to studying APEC and PECC by using a qualitative leadership and management methodology. By referring to identified leadership practices through content analysis and explored organizational paradigms through a narrative approach, this study recommends the application of suitable leadership and management practices to empower these two organizations and other similar organizations in the United States and other countries.     

Industrial districts: something more than a neighbourhood

The expansion of globalization has led to the relocation of many industrial activities. In particular, this process has affected industrial districts in the traditional industries. However, different districts vary in their capacity to retain activities. The robustness of industrial districts and, in consequence, their capacity to retain core activities at home and thus avoid painful relocations can be analysed by means of the relational capital developed at the district level. The relational structure within the district affects and determines the capacity of innovation of the district firms. This paper analyses the extent to which innovation depends on the amount of relational capital developed at the district level. We have addressed this proposition using internal human mobility, shared vision and trusting co-operation as indicators of the amount and quality of relational capital. In order to support theoretical propositions we have conducted empirical research comparing different industrial districts in the Valencian region of Spain. Research findings suggest a significant association between social capital variables and innovation outcomes. In consequence, these factors can facilitate retaining activities in districts.     

Transnational networking and business performance: Ethnic entrepreneurs in Canada

It is generally acknowledged that transnational networking plays an important role in promoting the performance of ethnic entrepreneurial firms. Yet distinctions between the different types of transnational networking and their effects on business performance have received scant attention in the literature, probably because ethnicity has been considered to be the main actor in the networking–performance relationship. This paper argues that one of the reasons why business performance differs across ethnic entrepreneurial firms is that ethnic entrepreneurs engage in dissimilar types of transnational networking. Analyses of the data generated by 720 ethnic entrepreneurs in Canada revealed that ethnicity, along with human capital and push/pull factors, both of which are part of our conceptual framework, plays a central role in the engagement of different types of transnational networking and that the different types of transnational networking affect business turnover (sales) and business survival (age). Push/pull factors were found to play a marginal role in business performance. These results highlight the competitive market that immigrants and members of ethnic minority groups encounter in the hosting economy and stress the value of transnational networking.     

An Analysis of the Convergence of the Composition of Public Expenditures in European Union Countries

The literature on fiscal policies is paying increasing attention to the impact of the composition of public expenditures on long‐term economic growth. Public policy endogenous growth models recommend to change the composition of public expenditures to items considered productive expenditures. In this sense, European institutions are encouraging the rise in the share of productive outlays like public investments, R&D, and active labor market policies, among others. The article analyzes whether these recommendations are followed by European Union countries and whether a convergence to a new pattern of public finances with a higher share of those items considered productive expenditures by European institutions is arising.     

The Distributional Effects of Public Expenditure

It is commonly agreed that economic policies, including budgetary policies, can have potentially strong distributional effects. Traditional economic analysis held that economic policies affected the income distribution primarily through their impact on the rate of growth. More recently, it has come to be recognised that qualitative aspects of economic growth are probably more important than the rate of growth itself. While recent research has confirmed the potential role of expenditure policies as a redistributive tool, it has also shown that redistribution does not necessarily have to come at the expense of economic growth and efficiency. Although there are substantial analytical and technical problems to be faced in the design of equitable and cost-effective public expenditure programmes, unfavourable distributional outcomes of these programmes can usually be traced more to political and institutional pressures than to purely technical factors. JEL Classification number: H5