A structuralist North–South model on structural change,economic growth and catching-up

This paper presents a structuralist North–South model on structural change, industrialization and economic convergence. In a balance-of-payments-constrained macro-setting, we assume a cumulative process between industrialization and growth. Differently from the traditional post-Keynesian models, we endogenize the productive structure of developing countries. We enquire how industrialization affects uneven development and convergence processes. Multiple growth paths and a long-run path-dependent equilibrium emerge. Industrialization proves to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for catching-up. Good management by the domestic institutions of domestic industrialization is a complementary requirement.     

Liquidity, Trading Size, and the Co-existence of Dealership and Auction Markets

This paper analyses the co-existence of two markets for the same shares, a quote-driven market and an order-driven market, as observed for example for the trading of continental shares on the London SEAQ International. The focus is on the trade-off between the uncertain execution price faced by investors on an auction market and the implicit transaction cost represented by the spread in a dealer market. We obtain that those investors who desire to make large trades will prefer to trade with the dealer, while trades of smaller size will be carried out on the auction market. Moreover, we explicitly investigate the interrelations between the two markets showing that the pricing policy followed by a dealer depends on the conditions prevailing on the auction market.
(J.E.L: G10, D40)     

Entry and Managerial Incentives: A Note

This note reinforces the results in a paper by Sen (International Journal of Industrial Organization, vol. 11, 1993, pp. 123–37). It is shown that his assumption that the incentive schemes in a two‐period model are the same for the two periods is not necessary for the results: only the long‐term nature of contracts with managers matters.     

Competitiveness, resources, and capabilities: empirical evidence from retail banking

This research aims to identify and measure bank employee perceptions of the determinants of competitiveness in terms of resources, skills, and capabilities within the retail banking sector. All the 40 branches of a leading Portuguese bank—the Caixa Geral de Depósitos—operating in two Portuguese districts were surveyed. Our results show that bank competitiveness differs according to performance evaluation, human resource (HR) planning, the system of incentives, and managerial motivation. They also demonstrate that human capital is a source of success in the business of banks, which relies heavily on stable and enduring relationships with customers. The study also provides recommendations for retail bank managers seeking to refine their HR strategies as a means of improving their competitiveness.     

Generic determinacy of Nash equilibrium in network-formation games

This paper proves the generic determinacy of Nash equilibrium in network-formation games: for a generic assignment of utilities to networks, the set of probability distributions on networks induced by Nash equilibria is finite.     

The uncertain moral context of price changes

The purpose of this paper is to motivate a microeconomic model of consumption in which there is uncertainty that is not resolved ex post regarding the moral context of price changes. We show that neoclassical microeconomic theory can yield a result in which expected utility falls when a consumer who is sufficiently concerned for the uncertain moral context of production is faced with a falling price.     

An automatic Portmanteau test for serial correlation

This article introduces a data-driven Box–Pierce test for serial correlation. The proposed test is very attractive compared to the existing ones. In particular, implementation of this test is extremely simple for two reasons: first, the researcher does not need to specify the order of the autocorrelation tested, since the test automatically chooses this number; second, its asymptotic null distribution is chi-square with one degree of freedom, so there is no need of using a bootstrap procedure to estimate the critical values. In addition, the test is robust to the presence of conditional heteroskedasticity of unknown form. Finally, the proposed test presents higher power in simulations than the existing ones for models commonly employed in empirical finance.     

Book essay on Flemming Hansen and Sverre Riis Christensen (2007), Emotions, advertising and consumer choice

Hansen and Christensen discuss a wide range of current issues regarding the role of emotions in consumer behavior as well as measures of advertising effectiveness. The central theme of the book is the elaboration and application of a new tool to measure the emotional constructions that consumers develop for branded fast moving consumer goods. The authors call this measure NERS, which stands for Net Emotional Response Strength. The book appeals to both intermediate and advanced academic readers due to the comprehensiveness of its literature review and the depth of its theoretical developments. The present essay critically comments the contents of the book and then, based on the context provided by the book, discusses in further detail some salient aspects of the role of emotions in consumer choice that deserve special attention. In particular, it is pointed out how some findings from behavioral decision research could improve the conceptualizations offered by Hansen and Christensen.