Knowledge transfer among the small businesses of a Brazilian cluster

This study verifies how knowledge is transferred among small businesses operating in industrial clusters, how this competitive resource circulates and is accessed within the cluster. Interfirm cooperation, industrial support institutions, workforce mobility and social ties, concepts highlighted in the literature as dimensions of the knowledge transfer process, were used to structure the survey instrument, which was applied in the cluster that leads Brazilian furniture exports. Questionnaire responses were received from 198 firms and submitted to factor analysis. Conclusions and theoretical contributions of the study are that: (i) the knowledge transfer process is multi-dimensional; (ii) knowledge transfer can occur in clusters even in the absence of interfirm cooperation; (iii) the dimensions of the process can be combined in various ways to facilitate knowledge transfer; (iv) this combination may differ from cluster to cluster; and (v) producers are more likely than suppliers to perceive and access knowledge available in the cluster.     

A destination VAT for CIS trade

This paper was originally produced as a co-operative study between the Fiscal Affairs Department and the European II Department of the International Monetary Fund. It is intended for inclusion in a special issue on fiscal policy of the journal MOCT-MOST, Economic Policy in Transitional Economies (Kluwer Academic Publishers). The authors would like to thank Henri Lorie, of the European II Department, and John Crotty and James Walsh, of the Fiscal Affairs Department, for their extensive contributions to the analysis. They also wish to thank the numerous staff members of the two departments who made factual contributions to this effort.     

The information content of money in forecasting euro area inflation

This article contributes to the debate on the role of money in monetary policy by analysing the information content of money in forecasting euro-area inflation. We compare the predictive performance within and among various classes of structural and empirical models in a consistent framework using Bayesian and other estimation techniques. We find that money contains relevant information for inflation in some model classes. Money-based New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models and Vector Autoregressions (VARs) incorporating money perform better than their cashless counterparts. But there are also indications that the contribution of money has its limits. The marginal contribution of money to forecasting accuracy is often small, money adds little to dynamic factor models, and it worsens forecasting accuracy of partial equilibrium models. Finally, nonmonetary models dominate monetary models in an all-out horserace.     

Zins und Inflation: Bemerkungen zu einer Synthese der Wicksellschen und Fisherschen Inflationstheorie

Schlußbemerkung Die obigen Überlegungen sind keineswegs als Kritik an Friedrich Lutz zu verstehen. Die Lektüre seiner Schrift hat mich derart angeregt, daß ich versucht habe, mir selbst klar zu machen, welche Implikationen ein Wicksell-Fisher-Modell bzw. ein Wicksell-Fisher-Friedman-Modell für eine inflationäre Wirtschaft hat. Viele andere überlegungen, die sich in dem Text von Lutz befinden (wie z. B. das Verhalten der Zinsstruktur im Inflationsprozeß, die Existenz von indexierten Geldforderungen und der außenwirtschaftliche Aspekt der Inflation), habe ich in dieser Rezension auf Grund meiner langatmigen Reflexionen über das Grundproblem seiner Abhandlung nicht mehr ausführlich erwähnen können. Um so mehr empfehle ich dem Leser, diese Schrift mit größter Aufmerksamkeit zu lesen — er wird dementsprechend vom Autor Lutz entlohnt werden.     

Divisional performance measurement and transfer pricing for intangible assets

This paper examines the effectiveness of three transfer pricing methodologies for an intangible asset that is developed through bilateral, sequential investment. In general, a royalty-based transfer price that can be renegotiated provides better investment incentives than either a non-negotiable royalty-based transfer price or a purely negotiated transfer price, and in some cases induces first-best investment. This result contrasts with previous research that finds that the inability to limit renegotiation of initial contracts reduces investment efficiency. Further, I examine how tax transfer pricing rules inform optimal internal transfer prices when the firm decouples internal and external transfer prices.     

Public Goods and Minimum Provision Levels: Does the Institutional Formation Affect Cooperation?*

We investigate experimentally the role of institutional formation on the implementation of a binding minimum contribution level to a public good. Groups either face the minimum level exogenously imposed by a central authority, or are allowed to decide for themselves by means of a group vote whether a minimum level should be implemented. We find that a binding minimum contribution level has a positive and substantially significant effect on cooperation. Interestingly, we do not find an additional positive effect of democracy in the context of our experiment; the minimum‐level intervention is as effective when exogenously implemented as when endogenously chosen.     

Bulgarian Agriculture and EU Accession

This article analyses markets, income and agricultural policy changes in Bulgaria after its accession to the EU. A country AG-MEMOD model, consisting of 18 commodities organised in four sub-models (crops, livestock, milk & dairy and a link between crops and livestock) is applied. The model is an econometric, dynamic, partial-equilibrium and multi-product one. In order to examine the policy environment in Bulgaria, two scenarios are designed: baseline or non-accession (N-Ac) and accession (Ac). The accession scenario should have a very positive effect on the crop sector in Bulgaria, whereas the effect is the opposite on the livestock sector. The most remarkable results come from the milk sector. The effect on income is also positive, despite the pessimistic macroeconomic projections.     

Zum Problem der Exportsubventionierung

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The effects of low internal integration between purchasing and operations on suppliers’ resource mobilization

A company that suffers from low internal integration between corporate functions performs worse than its more integrated competitors, leaving it in a position of competitive disparity. This paper reports on an investigation of the effects of internal integration between purchasing and operations on the mobilization of supplier resources. Low internal integration generates uncoordinated operations and purchasing behaviors that negatively affect supplier resource mobilization. We find that the lack of operations support for eight major purchasing initiatives in a construction company negatively affects supplier resource mobilization, resulting in poor exchange outcomes for the suppliers. Furthermore, different types of uncoordinated behaviors affect suppliers’ resource mobilization in diverse negative ways. Based on the results, we offer a categorization of diverse types of supplier mobilization activities and offer several managerial implications for both buyers and suppliers.