An ethical argument for host country workforce training and development in the expatriate management assignment

This paper seeks to establish the ethical foundation of MNCs' responsibility for providing host country workforce (HCW) preparation and training attendant to the new expatriate management assignment. It argues that such moral responsibility arises from a set of correlative duties which MNCs acquire as business institutions. They include duties involving the expatriate manager, the HCW, and the host nation to (1) assist all employees, including the expatriate manager, in the successful execution of their assignments; (2) avoid the semblance of discriminatory treatment; (3) encourage full status integration into a global economy; (4) foster personal enlightenment and self-enrichment; (5) help individuals develop useful, marketable skills; (6) contribute to the development of a greater and more functional national labor skill base; and (7) encourage a long-term focus on creating enduring value for a maximum number of stakeholders, rather than upon short-term and shortsighted profit for only a few. Some important cautions and considerations related to HCW training implementation are then discussed.Charles M. Vance, associate professor of management at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, has both a domestic and international focus on human resource management and learning system design to enhance organizational performance. He has several publications, and his new book,Mastering Management Education (Sage Publications), is to be published in 1993.Eduardo S. Paderon is the Associate Dean of the Hagan School of Business of Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. He teaches graduate courses on Business Policy and Business and Society. His writings and other scholarly activities, including presentations at national and international conferences, focus on business ethics and cross-cultural value studies.     

Determinants of Transactional Internet Banking

The decision of credit unions in the United States to adopt transactional web-based services is consistent with profit-maximization behavior. Credit unions adopt transactional internet banking services when they provide a higher proportion of consumer loans and when there is increased competition from other financial institutions. They adopt transactional internet banking to attract new customers. The larger the credit union the higher the probability of adoption of transactional internet banking. The probability of adoption of transactional banking is directly related to credit unions’ efficiency and indirectly related to loan delinquencies. We also find that the probability of credit unions offering transactional internet banking is positively related to the percentage of the young population in the counties where credit unions are located.     

Productivity and efficiency with discrete variables and quadratic cost function

We propose an index of productivity based on a quadratic cost function and developed for discrete data including technical and allocative inefficiency, jointly with technical change and returns to scale, as determinants of Total Factor Productivity. This new index is applied to Spanish stevedoring industry so as to identify the sources of change in the productivity of a multiproductive activity, where some companies do not produce some of the outputs. In this context, the functional quadratic form and the productivity index proposed prove particularly useful.     

Pricing Participating Inflation Retirement Funds Through Option Modeling and Copulas

Abstract

Pension plans and life insurances offering minimum performance guarantees are very common worldwide. In the Brazilian market, the customers of a common type of defined contribution plan have the right to receive, over their savings, the positive difference between the return of a specified investment fund, usually a fixed income fund, and the minimum guaranteed rate, commonly defined as the composition of a fixed interest rate and a floating inflation rate. This instrument can be characterized as an option to exchange one asset, the minimum guaranteed rate, for another, the return of the specified investment fund. In this paper we provide a closed formula to evaluate this liability that depends on two stochastic rates assuming bivariate normality. We also explore the use of copulas for the modeling of the dependence structure and price the options using Monte Carlo simulation to compare the effects of the copula specification in their values. An application with real data is provided. The model makes use of a one-factor Vasicek framework for the term structures of interest rate and inflation rate.     

Trade and the Effect of Public Investment on Regional Inequalities in Heterogeneously Integrated Areas

Regional integration, it is argued, challenges the distribution of economic activity among regions. However, the government role in shifting the patterns of regional inequalities is still under debate and has received small comprehensive empirical evidence. This paper examines the hypothesis of trade as channelling public investment and, thus, perpetuating regional inequalities. We argue that the interplay of public and private investment plays a key role in stimulating trade and economic activity. To avoid problems of cross‐country heterogeneity and comparability this study examines data for two countries; Mexico and Spain, both followers of trade integration arrangements. Findings indicate that regional inequalities in Mexico are significantly explained by differences in export capacity serving to boost private investment whereas inequalities in Spain are appreciably driven by previous endowments and private capital formation.     

Notes on output and expectations in the process of inflation

Zusammenfassung Bemerkungen zu Output und Erwartungen im inflation?ren Proze\. — Dieser Aufsatz gibt eine einfache Darstellung einiger dynamischer Aspekte des inflation?ren Prozesses. Das Modell enth?lt das Friedman-Phelps-Konzept der ?natürlichen? Arbeitslosenrate oder — was auf das Gleiche hinausl?uft — das Konzept des ?potentiellen Outputs?, wie es in der um die Erwartungen erweiterten Version der Phillips-Kurve impliziert wird. Der Hauptzweck der Analyse ist es, die genauen Entwicklungspfade des realen und des nominalen Outputs, der realen Kassenbest?nde sowie der tats?chlichen und erwarteten Inflationsraten zu ermitteln. Die sich ergebenden Pfade sind im allgemeinen konsistent mit einigen besonders herausgearbeiteten Fakten. Die Untersuchung betont die Bedeutung von Informationen über den Geldmarkt, den Warenmarkt und die Art des Prozesses der Erwartungsbildung und beleuchtet das Zusammenwirken dieser Faktoren in der Dynamik des inflation?ren Prozesses.

---

Résumé Quelques notes sur la production et les attentes en procès d'inflation. — Cet article présente une simple exposition des quelques aspects dynamiques du procès inflationniste. Le modèle personnifie le concept de Friedman-Phelps d'un ?taux naturel de ch?mage? ou équivalentement, le concept de la ?production potentielle? comme impliqué dans la version de la curve de Phillips augmentée par des attentes. Le but essentiel de l'analyse consiste en tracer les exactes voies dynamiques de la production réelle et nominale, des balances des caisses réelles et des taux d'inflation actuels et anticipés. Généralement les voies impliquées sont consistantes avec quelques faits stylisés. L'analyse souligne l'importance des informations concernant le marché d'argent, le marché des matières premières et la spécification du procès par lequel on forme les attentes, et illustre son interaction en dynamismes du procès inflationniste.

---

Resumen Notas sobre producciń y expectativas en el proceso de inflación. — Este artículo presenta una exposición simple de algunos aspectos dinámicos del proceso inflacionario. El modelo incluye el concepto de Friedman-Phelps sobre la ?tasa natural de desempleo? o su equivalente, el concepto de ?producción potencial? implicado por la versión de la curva de Phillips aumentada por las aspectativas. E1 objetivo primordial del anĺisis es trazar las trayectorias exactas de la producción nominal y real, de los balances de caja reales y de las tasas de inflación real y anticipada. Las trayectorias implicadas generalmente son consistentes con algunos factores estilizados. E1 anĺisis subraya la relevancia de la información concerniente al mercado del dinero, el mercado de productos y la especificación del proceso por medio del cual se forman las expectativas e ilustra su interacción en la dinámica del proceso inflacionario.