Patterns of Corporate Financing and Financial System Convergence in Europe

The paper investigates the possibility of convergence in the European Union (EU) in terms of the patterns of corporate financing by banks, bond markets, and stock markets; and in the context of whether the economies are converging towards an Anglo‐Saxon (capital‐market‐oriented) or a continental (bank‐oriented) financial system. GMM estimation of a dynamic fixed‐effects model is implemented to test for conditional and unconditional convergence using a panel of flow of funds data for the period 1972–1996 for seven EU member countries. It is found that the pattern of corporate financing is consistent with the pecking order theory of financing choices. Overall, the evidence suggests convergence of the EU financial systems on a variant of the Anglo‐Saxon model, depicting heavy reliance on internal financing as well as direct financing via equity and bond markets, while bank debt is becoming relatively less important.     

Work organization, preferences dynamics and the industrialization process

In this article, the industrialization process can be regarded as the transition from traditional to modern and more coercive work organizations. Workers are heterogeneous (autonomous or non-autonomous) and according to their preferences they choose between these two organizational forms. In addition, preferences evolve through intergenerational transmission mechanisms. This setting allows for a reciprocal interplay between the evolution of workers' autonomy and the industrialization process that generates multiple development paths. Thus, the initial degree of autonomy within the workforce may have long-run implications for the level of industrialization. Finally, taking into account a complementarity between autonomy and incentives to invest in human capital, we conclude to a non-monotonic impact of workers' autonomy on the growth process.     

Does the Change to Win Federation Represent U.S. Labor’s Third Moment? Evidence from National Labor Relations Board Certification Elections, 2003–2005

In the conclusion to Labor in the New Urban Battlegrounds, Daniel Cornfield contends that U.S. labor’s third “moment” is exemplified by the establishment of the Change to Win (CTW) Federation in September 2005 in which the federation’s affiliated unions focused on organizing service sector workers into multi-jurisdictional unions. Cornfield defines a “moment” as an era in which labor adopts innovative organizing strategies for representing workers in industries and/or occupations previously unorganized within the economy. Utilizing National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certification election data from 2003–2005, this article investigates the organizing patterns, based on the jurisdictions and industries of fifteen unions, nine affiliated with the AFL-CIO and six that joined the CTW, to ascertain if the CTW’s creation initiated U.S. labor’s third moment. Analysis of the certification election data indicates that the CTW’s formation does not constitute the inauguration of third moment unionism in the United States.     

TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM CHARACTERISTICS AND LIFE INSURER PERFORMANCE: DO TOP MANAGERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Abstract: This study examines the impact of top management team characteristics on life insurer performance. The authors argue that greater social cohesion among team members makes it less likely that the insurer will be able to adapt to the changes that have characterized the U.S. life insurance industry over the past decade and will, therefore, be detrimental to performance. Our findings support this assertion and suggest that life insurers driven by more diversified top management teams outperform life insurers with more homogenous top management teams.