Drivers of non-profit activity: a cross-country analysis

This paper contributes to the existing debate on the determinants of non-profit activity. The main theories have been centered in (1) the study of the individual behavior of people (donors, non-profit entrepreneurs), (2) one single factor or (3) one single country. To quantify this approach, data for 38 countries have been used, extracted from World Values Survey, United Nations Development Program and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. A structural modeling approach based in partial least squares (PLS) has been applied. The results provide evidence of the strength of environmental factors such as trust, economic development and social care public expenditures in non-profit activity. The model doesn’t confirm the existence of a positive relationship between entrepreneurship and non-profit activity. Nevertheless, the authors consider that the supply side theories and the idea of spatial production of entrepreneurship are quite consistent and find some signs evidencing a positive relationship between these variables.     

Uncertainty about Government Policy and Stock Prices

We analyze how changes in government policy affect stock prices. Our general equilibrium model features uncertainty about government policy and a government whose decisions have both economic and noneconomic motives. The model makes numerous empirical predictions. Stock prices should fall at the announcement of a policy change, on average. The price decline should be large if uncertainty about government policy is large, and also if the policy change is preceded by a short or shallow economic downturn. Policy changes should increase volatilities and correlations among stocks. The jump risk premium associated with policy decisions should be positive, on average.     

Is the Current Regulation of the VIII Division European Anchovy Optimal?

This paper sets out to assess the workability of the regulation currently in force in the European anchovy fishery of the VIII division. Particular attention is paid to the importance of the institutional regime in the allocation of natural resources. The study uses a bio-economic approach and takes into account the fact that, not only the European Union and the individual countries involved, but also some of the resource users or appropriators intervene in its management. In order to compare the effectiveness of the rules which, at the various levels, have been set up to restrict exploitation of the resource, the anchovy fishery is simulated in two extreme situations: open access and sole ownership. The results obtained by effective management will then be contrasted with those obtained from the maximum and zero profit objectives related with the two above-mentioned scenarios. Thus, if the real data come close to those derived from the sole ownership model it will have to be acknowledged that the rules at present in force are optimal. If, on the other hand, the situation more closely approach the results obtained from the open access model, we will endeavour in our conclusions to provide suggestions for economic policy measures that might improve the situation in the fishery.     

The relevance of supply shocks for inflation: the spanish case

A retrenchment in crossborder credit is under way, the product of both market forces and political pressure on international banks to lend at home (Economist, 2009). In addition, banks, particularly the largest, have also dramatically expanded their retail banking operations over the past few years (Hirtle and Stiroh, 2007). Our goal, in this article, is to study the effects of default risk on equity returns through bank interest margin management under a renewed focus on domestic retail banking, a trend often attributed to the stability of banking activities. Specifically, this article explores the determinants of optimal bank interest margins based on an option-based firm-theoretical model with multiple sources of structural breaks due to political pressure. The model demonstrates how capital regulation and political pressure on foreign lending return and risk conditions jointly determine the optimal bank interest margin decision. We show that a more stringent capital requirement is linked with lower equity return, but higher default risk of the bank in the return to domestic retail banking. An increased focus on the political pressure on foreign lending return is linked with higher equity return and default risk of the bank. It is also showed that an increased focus on the political pressure on foreign lending risk decreases the bank's equity return and default risk. We conclude that the return to domestic retail banking may be a relatively stable activity when the political pressure decision impacts only the expected risk of the bank's foreign lending and not the return.     

Efficiency and quality as economic dimensions of perceived value: Conceptualization,measurement, and effect on satisfaction

Perceived value has been analyzed from various perspectives, and a variety of typologies and dimensions have been suggested for the construct. Economic value is one of these types, which is posited in this study as being composed of two dimensions: efficiency and quality. Based on the typology of Holbrook [1999. Introduction to Consumer Value. In: Holbrook, M.B. (Ed.), Consumer Value. A Framework for Analysis and Research. London, pp. 1–28], the present study develops a conceptual framework and a measurement scale for these two components. The relationship between economic value and consumer satisfaction is also examined. The study also describes an empirical study that confirms the validity and usefulness of the proposed model. The results provide an operational tool for measuring economic value that will allow retailers to design suitable strategies for creating and delivering value to consumers. Furthermore, they demonstrate the usefulness of economic value as a concept in the study of consumer satisfaction.     

Promoting Employee Flexibility Through HR Practices

Current competitive environments have created a growing interest in employee flexibility in firms. Recently researchers have differentiated between two facets of employee flexibility: behavior flexibility and skill flexibility. This study proposes a model of relationships between these two facets of employee flexibility and the extent to which HR practices influence them. This model is tested by estimating structural equation models on a sample of 226 commercial departments in Spanish companies. The results of the study show that the two facets of employee flexibility are interrelated, in that skill flexibility influences behavior flexibility. Furthermore, findings confirm the influence of job enrichment on employee flexibility and the significant effect of the internal fit among HR practices on employee flexibility. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Climate Change and Financial Performance in Times of Crisis

Over the past years there has been a debate on the relationship between the environmental and financial performance of businesses, but researchers have not reached any agreement. This research attempts to explore this relationship, especially as in recent years there has been controversy about how this relationship has been affected by the global economic crisis. Taking into account that successfully limiting global climate change to safe levels in the long term is likely to require connecting climate change policies to sustainable development strategies, this paper focuses on the performance of environmental policies. We used a sample of 855 international companies in sectors of intensive greenhouse gas/CO₂ emissions. Specifically, we used data from the Forbes Global 2000 Index and Carbon Disclosure Project data from 2006 to 2009. The data analysis was performed using panel data methodology. The results obtained show that in times of economic crisis, the synergy between environmental and financial performance is higher, meaning that companies must continue to invest in sustainable projects in order to enhance relations with their stakeholders, leading to higher economic profits. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Industrial Policy in the New Member Countries of the European Union: A Survey of Patterns and Initiatives Since 1990

The transitional recession in the new Central and East European members of the EU called for completely novel approaches to industrial policy in the nineties. A strong rejection of industrial policy could be observed only in some countries and during the first years of the transition process. Subsequently however, deteriorating competitiveness, soaring unemployment and the dramatic condition of key export sectors made the re-appearance of supply-side economic policy thinking inevitable in most Central East European Countries (CEECs), except for such small and open economies as Slovenia and Estonia. A wide variety of industrial policies implemented in the CEECs are compared in the study, with special emphasis on tools used in order to promote incoming foreign direct investment, technological development and the small and medium-sized enterprise sector. These elements of the industrial policy toolkit will keep their key role in most CEECs, albeit their industrial policies will gradually align themselves to the European mainstream.     

Canonical Correlation Analysis and Wiener-Granger Causality Tests: Useful Tools for the Specification of VAR Models

Dynamic multivariate models have become popular in analyzing the behavior of competitive marketing systems because they are capable of incorporating all the relationships in a competitive marketing environment. In this paper we consider VAR models, the most frequently used dynamic multivariate models. The drawback of VAR models is that a large number of parameters have to be estimated. The problem has been addressed in several articles and the usual solution is to treat only the variables of interest as endogenous while the other variables are usually included exogenously without dynamic effects. This treatment imposes restrictions on the marketing system, which requires preliminary analysis. We propose to use canonical correlation for this purpose. Canonical correlation analysis and its associated Wiener-Granger causality testing based on the canonical correlation coefficients are useful tools to test the existence of structural relationships between (lagged) consumer response and (lagged) marketing instruments. The tools are applied on data of market shares and marketing instruments in a market of a frequently purchased consumer goods.