Standing on the shoulder of giants: the aspect of free-riding in RePEc rankings

Research papers in economics (RePEc) rankings have become a well-established source of information about actual and perceived academic performance of institutions, academic fields and their authors. One essential ingredient is the impact factors calculated in RePEc which differ from the standard ones. RePEc reports the ratio of the cumulative citations of all articles of a journal and the number of listed items. The continuously updated RePEc impact factors account for the whole journal and citation history. This approach gives rise to a potential free-riding of authors who profit from journal ranking established in the past. In this article, we demonstrate how the rankings of economists change if one calculates yearly impact factors. The distribution of gains and losses is most pronounced among middle-field ranked authors while the top group shows relative persistence.     

Workers' compensation and injury duration: evidence from a natural experiment

This paper examines the effect of workers' compensation on time out of work. It introduces a "natural experiment8 approach of comparing individuals injured before and after increases in the maximum weekly benefit amount. The increases examined in Kentucky and Michigan raised the benefit amount for high-earnings individuals by approximately 50 percent, while low-earnings individuals, who were unaffected by the benefit maximum, did not experience a change in their incentives. Time out of work increased for those eligible for the higher benefits and remained unchanged for those whose benefits were constant. The estimated duration elasticities are clustered around 0.3-0.4.     

The impact of agricultural innovation system interventions on rural livelihoods in Malawi

This study, conducted in central Malawi, assessed the way a research intervention using an agricultural innovation system affected rural livelihoods. Propensity score matching was used to establish one village as a control, against which the impact of the intervention on two study villages [0]could be measured. Using the Enabling Rural Innovation intervention as a case study, it was established that rural livelihood outcomes pertaining to crop and livestock production, household income, asset ownership and fertiliser use were significantly improved by this intervention. In-depth analysis, however, demonstrated that although the participating households had more robust livelihoods during the intervention, when the research programme was phased out the effect was reduced. The authors recommend that local agricultural extension officers should receive more capacity building and budgetary support to ensure proper understanding of agricultural innovation systems concepts and correct application so as to sustain their positive effects.     

Disentangling the impact of infrastructure on trade using a new index of infrastructure

Making use of considerably improved measures of infrastructure, the study assesses the impact of infrastructure on bilateral trade for a panel of 150 developed and emerging economies during the period 1992–2011. The authors make use of a gravity approach to disentangle the impact of infrastructure on trade and trade costs. Improving infrastructure endowments and quality decreases trade costs and increases international trade flows. Countries with improved infrastructure reduce not only bilateral trade costs but also multilateral trade costs. The decomposition of effects indicates that better infrastructure encourages higher export flows relative to domestic trade flows. Main results of the study prove to be robust, also when considering distinct trade categories (consumption goods, intermediates, and capital goods) for a smaller sample.     

Distribution of Integrated Business Applications

New corporate developments, such as globalization, diversification and process orientation, are posing a challenge to the degree of integration of business application software. International standard software designed to meet the requirements of all types of business is acquiring greater strategic significance. The increased need for flexibility, localization, and scalable growth makes it necessary for highly integrated businesses applications to be distributable. Possible scenarios reflect managerial and organizational requirements. Additional mechanisms must be incorporated and business processes adapted to compensate for the increased autonomy of sub-applications. Reprint of an article from WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK 35(5)1993:455–464. This article is also available in German in print and via http://www.wirtschaftsinformatik.de: Kagermann H (2008) Verteilung integrierter Anwendungen. WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK. doi: 10.1007/s11576-008-0134-x.     

Risikomanagement und Corporate Governance in Theorie und Praxis

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