Accounting and the European single currency

This paper considers some accounting problems in the period leading up to the introduction of the European single currency, the euro. Taking into account two different scenarios regarding the economic and monetary union (EMU) from its first stage, different aspects concerning the area of accounting have been revised. These include exchange differences, financial states comparison, financial states conversion, increase in capital, discriminatory treatment of active and passive monetary and nonmonetary assets, accounting records, annual accounts or rounding. This paper will point out some of the problematic areas that may arise from the introduction of the euro. Although several aspects have been taken into account, as the EMU approaches, many other issues will need to be discussed.     

Incomplete Markets, Allocative Efficiency, and the Information Revealed by Prices

We compare rational expectations equilibria with different degrees of information revelation through prices. These equilibria arise in a two-period exchange economy with finitely many states and signals, multiple commodities and incomplete financial markets for nominal assets. We show that there are always equilibria where information is redundant in the sense of being of no value to the uninformed traders. We give conditions under which for a generic set of economies, parametrized by endowments and utilities, there exist open sets of equilibria for which allocative and informational efficiency are independent, with implications for monetary policy. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D52, D60, D82, E52.     

Productivity growth and biased technological change in UK airports

In this paper we estimate the total factor productivity of UK airports using a Malmquist index. Productivity change is factored into an index of efficiency change and an index of technological change. Technological change is further decomposed into indexes that measure the bias in the production of outputs, the bias in the employment of inputs, and the magnitude of the shift in the production frontier. Airports are ranked according to their productivity change for the period 2000–2005. Economic implications are derived.     

Cooperative Design for Central Banks versus Cooperative Implementation of Monetary Policy

The game-theoretic literature on monetary policy in open economies has traditionally concluded that central banks should implement monetary policy in a cooperative fashion. This paper considers an alternative mechanism for internalizing the external effects: in the first stage, governments cooperatively design central banks' objective functions; in the second stage, central banks implement monetary policy without cooperation. Although this regime lacks flexibility to deal with asymmetric shocks, it presents important advantages in relation to the former scenario: first, it enjoys more credibility; second, it entails lower coordination and information costs; and finally, it hampers unilateral manipulation of central banks' objectives.     

What explains schooling differences across countries?

This paper provides a theory that explains the cross-country distribution of average years of schooling, as well as the so called human capital premium puzzle. In our theory, credit frictions as well as differences in access to public education, fertility and mortality turn out to be the key reasons why schooling differs across countries. Differences in growth rates and in wages are second order.     

The contingent influence of organizational capabilities on proactive environmental strategy in the service sector: An analysis of North American and European ski resorts

Our study of 134 North American and European ski resorts examines the influence of externally focused organizational capabilities on the generation of proactive environmental strategies under contingent effects of uncertainty in the general business environment. We find that the capabilities of strategic proactivity and continuous innovation are associated with proactive environmental strategies. Managerial perceptions of uncertainty in the general business environment moderate the deployment of the capability of continuous innovation at all levels of uncertainty and stakeholder engagement at low and average levels of uncertainty. The study contributes to the resource‐based view (RBV) by illuminating an important contingency under which capabilities are likely to be deployed to generate a proactive corporate strategy. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Information technology as a determinant of organizational learning and technological distinctive competencies

This study aims to assess the role played by information technology (IT) in organizational learning (OL) considered as a process of knowledge creation and determined by the interaction of stocks and flows variables. We also examine how IT and OL influence both business performance and the development of the technological distinctive competencies (TDCs), as well as the latter's influence on leading the firm towards better outcomes. These relationships have been tested via an empirical analysis carried out with a sample of 140 industrial companies, applying a structural equation linear model according to the Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology. Our findings allow us to confirm that IT acts as an enabler of the OL process and influences on the development of TDCs, which allow the achievement of a better business performance. Such competencies are also the result of OL, thus demonstrating the influences of them both on perceived organizational performance.     

Vertical Integration in Ecuador: The Case of Fresh-Cut Pineapples

Telesignos, a fruit producer and exporter in Guayaquil, Ecuador, was considering vertical integration into pre-cut pineapple production. Fruit processing skills, favorable image/reputation, as well as access to a new market could be obtained by linking with a company like Del Monte to produce fresh-cut fruit products under the Del Monte brand. The decision is whether it would make sense for Telesignos to invest in a fresh fruit processing facility in Ecuador to export fresh-cut pineapple to the United States.     

Contribution to the study of PPP arrangements in airport development,management and operation

Following the liberalization wave in the airline sector, airports have been gradually taken out of the public sphere and open to the private initiative. This phenomenon is generally referred to as privatization, but not all the cases consist of, in fact, a full divestiture of assets. Although infrastructure management is undertaken by the private sector during a pre-defined period, usually 30 years or more, the property remains public or is transferred to the public domain after that period. This is a form of Public–Private Partnership (PPP) where two different models can be found: institutionalized PPP or a typical contractual regime, such as the concession arrangements. PPP options have been a “hot” topic over the last decade, but few studies can be found in the literature on the PPP projects development in airport systems, for example, as far as risk sharing is concerned. This paper looks at recent developments in airport “privatization”, distinguishing privatizations from PPP arrangements, through a case study approach, and establishing a comparative analysis of different PPP models used for airport management. Some comments are made about the Portuguese model and the announcement of future privatization.