Constructing an index for comparing human resources management sustainability in Europe

Assuming that a company's institutional context influences its sustainability approach and its human resources management (HRM), this article compares firms' sustainable HRM systems across countries. Despite the presence of a supranational government, different social models exist in Europe according to the level of social protection in each country. The article compares the engagement of companies with sustainable HRM across Europe and develops an index with which to compare HRM sustainability in countries that present significant institutional differences: Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The index is constructed based on a formative measurement model, which reflects the implementation levels of sustainable HRM in 106 western European firms. The index reveals significant differences between companies from the four countries and between liberal and coordinated market economies, indicating the need to address the impact of the national institutional context on firms' HRM sustainability.     

Interest rate risk in an emerging economy

The sharp decrease in inflation over the last decade—from 26% in 1990 to 4% in 2001—led the Central Bank of Chile to set its monetary policy interest rate in nominal terms since August 2001. This paper analyzes the effect of nominalization on the behavior of nominal, inflation-linked, and real interest rates, and its subsequent effects on the financial market. We find that nominalization has made nominal interest rates less volatile, while the opposite holds for inflation-linked interest rates. The effect on real interest rates is less unambiguous, but nominalization appears to have increased the cost of borrowing.     

The Financialization of A Social Housing Provider

Why does a social housing provider bet on interest rate fluctuations? This article presents a case study of the financialization of both housing and the state. Social housing in the Netherlands is provided by non‐profit housing associations that have since 1989 been set apart from the state. Many associations started developing housing for profit, borrowing on global capital markets or buying derivatives. Whereas other semi‐public institutions moved into the world of finance due to financial constraints, housing associations did so to capitalize on the possibilities offered by their asset‐rich portfolios. Vestia, the largest of them all, is an extreme––but not exceptional––case of what can happen when public goals are left to be realized by inadequately supervised and poorly managed private organizations. As a result of gambling on derivatives, Vestia had to be bailed out to the tune of over 2 billion euros. To recoup the losses, housing was sold off and rents were raised. Almost half of Dutch housing associations used derivatives, although most refrained from using them purely speculatively. The changes in the housing sector that led to its financialization cannot be separated from the wider financialization of the state.     

Tracking position premiums in discrete choice experiments

Eye-tracking was used to identify potential location ‘premiums’ in discrete choice experiments for certain positions in the computer screen in terms of increasing the visibility, general interest and attention of respondents. The search dynamics to choose the optimal alternative closely resembled the natural process of reading in a ‘Z’ motion going from left to right and top to bottom. An empirical application of water conservation showed that conservation practices in the production process were not statistically different than zero. On the other hand, respondents are interested in water conservation practices in their landscapes where they benefit directly from the sustainable practice.     

Stock volatility and pension funds under an individual capitalization-based system

The existence of feedback effects between volatility and institutional investor holdings has been extensively studied for the United States. This article contributes to the literature by investigating this issue for Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in Chile. To this end, data on PFAs' holdings is gathered for 42 firms actively traded on the Santiago Stock Exchange during December 2002–July 2008. The main findings of this study are the following. First, an increase in PFAs' stock holdings translates into a mild effect on stock return volatility. Second, an increase in stock return volatility leads to a moderate decrease in PFAs' stock holdings, suggesting PFAs' preference for safer stocks. The key policy implication of these conclusions is that PFAs' stock trading does not have a destabilizing impact on the domestic stock market.     

Foresight analysis of agricultural sector at regional level

The objective of this paper is to carry out a foresight analysis of the agricultural sector in Castilla y León (Spain) for 2020. The methodology used to build the various scenarios is prospective analysis. We first performed a structural analysis in order to identify the key driving forces that characterize the evolution of the sector in this region (agricultural production, demand for agricultural products and institutional framework). We then carried out a morphological analysis that generated a range of “partial scenarios” from which we finally built four “global scenarios”. These last scenarios characterize the possible trends in the variables of change previously identified. Lastly, the common key parameters of each global scenario were quantified by means of the Delphi method. The characterization of scenarios has a double practical interest. First of all, they can explain the cause-effect relationships of the processes of change that affect agriculture in this region of Spain. Secondly, they are a powerful tool to stimulate an in-depth reflection of how the design and implementation of current agricultural policies will affect the already fragile agricultural sector of Castilla y León. This study thus aims to support decision-making processes at regional level.     

James Sullivan. Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon

How is it that jeans evolved from durable work clothes intoa global symbol of America? James Sullivan's new work surveysthe history of denim wear, showing how "... a pair of blue jeansembodies two centuries     

Mobilizing knowledge: determining key elements for success and pitfalls in developing community-based tourism

Community-based tourism (CBT) has often been cited as an alternative to mass tourism and an approach for tourism to become more sustainable. If developed well, CBT can become a poverty alleviation mechanism and a way to access improvements in quality of life, providing empowerment and greater economic benefit to individuals in local communities. Despite the plethora of literature on CBT and evaluation of models, there is little analysis of the facilitators and barriers to achieving it. Through the use of case studies in both academic and grey literature, this paper serves as an instructive review of the CBT literature to synthesize the key elements of success and the challenges.