Demand,Supply, and Labor Market Analysis

Our previous research argued that interest payments on consumer debt should be subtracted from household income to measure poverty. We estimated 4 million additional poor Americans in 2007, calling them "debt poor." This paper finds that the debt poor are somewhat like the poor (they are unlikely to own a home or have private health insurance), somewhat like middle-class households (race), and in-between in other ways (education levels). Debt poor households were likely middle class once, having access to considerable consumer credit; but following a loss of income, their large debt burden put their living standard below their poverty threshold.     

The retention of CEOs that make poor acquisitions

Does the failure to replace CEOs following a bad takeover represent a cost-effective strategy or a failure of boards of directors and the market? We study 104 white knight contests to examine why poorly performing firms retain their CEOs. We find the majority are poor performers before they enter the control contest (q?相似文献   

National Border Effects: Location, Not Nationality, Matters

A recent literature documents the downward impact of national borders on trade. This paper probes the relative importance of two potential sources of border effects: (1) pure locational factors, such as transport costs and tariffs; and (2) an inherent disadvantage for a firm selling in a foreign market. I am able to make this decomposition by using data on the local sales of foreign affiliates of US multinational enterprises, on US bilateral exports, and on domestic sales by host‐country firms. The “border effect” arises almost entirely from locational factors. If a firm establishes and sells from a subsidiary located in the foreign country, its local sales are about on a par with those of domestic firms in that market.     

奥运与汶川地震推动油价走高

【美国《华尔街日报》5月23日】分析师们说，中国的奥运会筹备工作以及汶川大地震后的救灾行动对油价近来屡创历史新高起了推波助澜作用，并有可能推动油价在今年进一步上涨。     

Budget-constrained sequential auctions with incomplete information

I study a budget-constrained, private-valuation, sealed-bid sequential auction with two incompletely-informed, risk-neutral bidders in which the valuations and income may be non-monotonic functions of a bidder's type. Multiple equilibrium symmetric bidding functions may exist that differ in allocation, efficiency and revenue. The sequence of sale affects the competition for a good and therefore also affects revenue and the prices of each good in a systematic way that depends on the relationship among the valuations and incomes of bidders. The sequence of sale may affect prices and revenue even when the number of bidders is large relative to the number of goods. If a particular good, say α, is allocated to a strong bidder independent of the sequence of sale, then auction revenue and the price of good α are higher when good α is sold first.     

Today's state‐owned enterprises of China: are they dying dinosaurs or dynamic dynamos?

This paper raises the question and provides empirical evidence regarding the status of the evolution of the state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) in China today. In this study, we compare the SOEs to domestic private‐owned enterprises (POEs) and foreign‐controlled businesses (FCBs) in the context of their organizational cultures. While a new ownership form, many of the POEs evolved from former collectives that reflect the traditional values of Chinese business. Conversely, the FCBs are much more indicative of the large global MNCs. Therefore, we look at the SOEs in the context of these two reference points. We conclude that the SOEs of today have substantially transformed to approximate a configuration desired by the Chinese government when it began the SOE transformation a couple of decades ago to make them globally competitive. The SOEs of today appear to be appropriately described as China's economic dynamic dynamo for the future. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Buyer seller relationships in the UK insurance market: Does performance match market share?

The purpose of this paper is to measure the performance of firms in the group permanent health insurance sector and to compare this to market share rankings. As most sales in this sector occur through intermediaries the key performance indicators should be the perceptions of buyers among this group. The research conducted uses the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing group (IMP, 1984) model to measure the performance of firms through the perceptions of independent financial advisers (IFAs) against the key relationship marketing factors. The research was conducted by an agency and includes telephone interviews with 100 buyers. The results show that there are significant differences between the ratings for the variables in the IMP model of relationship marketing. The results also show significant relationships between performance and market share for some of the relationship marketing variables. This research provides support for the use of the IMP model in this sector but also leads to a number of questions that need further research.     

Reciprocity in trade relations between South Africa and Europe

This article sets out the arguments, from South Africa's perspective, for a free trade agreement (FTA) with Europe. It argues against signing the Lome Convention. These arguments have more force if the right kind of FTA can be negotiated, because the greater the benefit South Africa derives from such an agreement, the more the credibility of domestic economic policies will be enhanced. Some requirements for the ‘right’ type of FTA are discussed.     

Measuring Urban Well-Being

A BSTRACT . Studies attempting to measure social well-being that focus attention at national levels fail to provide insights into the actual conditions that are present at subnational levels. With increased attention being focused on the conditions of urban areas, the need for subnational evaluation is becoming more apparent. The growing diversity of the population and the increase in female-headed households leave researchers without resources for evaluating the conditions of these groups in smaller regional settings, in part due to the scarcity of well-being measurements at these levels. This study hopes to fill in the gap for measuring well-being at subnational levels by estimating indexes at the county level. Exactly how the level of urbanization and social well-being are related is the subject of our inquiry. Our estimations will focus on urban counties, with particular emphasis on the 50 largest counties. We aim to evaluate the well-being of the general population in metropolitan areas, comparing it to those for female heads of households and people of color.