Minimum wage,on-the-job search and employment: On the sectoral and aggregate equilibrium effect of the mandatory minimum wage

We study the impact of a minimum wage in a segmented labor market in which workers are at different stages of their careers. At the end of a learning-by-doing period, workers paid the minimum wage quit “bad jobs” for better-paying “good jobs”, following an on-the-job search process with endogenous search intensity. A rise in the minimum wage reduces “bad jobs” creation and prompts workers to keep their “bad jobs” by reducing on-the-job search intensity. The ambiguous impact on unqualified employment replicates and explains the findings of several empirical studies. However, a minimum wage rise reduces overall employment and output.     

Competition, Incentives, and Productivity in Chinese Township and Village Enterprises

Alternative explanations for the success of Chinese TVEs in the face of ambiguous property rights and incomplete markets are critically reviewed. The paper argues that, increasingly, competitive product markets and managerial incentives constitute the most plausible explanations. In view of the general lack of empirical tests for many of these explanations, the study tests for the relevance and relative importance of these factors with a sample of 200 large TVEs. Cross-section results for 1985 and 1989 provide relatively strong support for the relevance of product market competition, bonuses, proxies for technology access and local infrastructure on productivity. The effects on productivity of proxies for labor market and financial market competition, however, appear to be weak.     

Layoff taxes and minimum wage: Two complementary public policies

In a matching model in which the job destruction rate and the output are endogenous, we show that the presence of a binding minimum wage prompts firms to choose too risky jobs. Introducing layoff taxes therefore reduces unemployment and improves market efficiency.     

Induced innovation: an empirical test

A method is developed to empirically test the hypothesis of induced innovation as it has been specified and used in the theoretical literature. A strong and a weak version of the hypothesis is tested using sectorial data from the USA, Canada, Germany, France and the UK. The strong version tests for the exact dependency of the relation between the change in factor-productivities on the one hand and relative prices and actual factor-productivities on the other hand. The weak version only tests for the direction of this dependency. In all countries the weak hypothesis is accepted in all sectors except in ‘electricity, gas, and water’. The strong hypothesis is accepted in about half of all sectors. It is rejected only in sectors, in which the degree to which progress is intentional is low.     

Beyond One‐Size‐Fits‐All: Differentiating Market Access Measures for Commodity Systems in the Kenyan Highlands

Market access measures employed by economists and spatial analysts may not adequately capture local market or product‐specific variation. Analysis is conducted on the effects of market access on two commodities in the Kenyan highlands: milk and bean seeds. Both simple and composite measures of market access are applied to spatial price formation models to create spatial price decay functions in the context of household‐specific transaction costs. Composite measures of market access include negative exponential (using travel time or distance as cost) and gravity measures. The results demonstrate that the effects of market access differ significantly depending on the particular goods of interest. Simple measures of market access have the advantage of being more easily interpretable, and should therefore be preferred when communicating research outputs to the non‐scientific community, especially decision‐makers. The implications are that research addressing commodity‐specific development questions needs to look beyond generic measures of market access and develop tailored measures that reflect the characteristics of the commodity system of interest. The analysis also demonstrates that spatial price formation can be used to generate potentially more accurate measures of unit‐distance marketing costs.     

Network externalities and interconnection: the case of information intrastructures

Information infrastructures are characterized by the existence of direct and indirect network externalities. However, the presence of externalities poses two types of problem: they create phenomena of overproduction (consumption) and under-production (consumption); and they require the operators reach a critical size of subscribers quickly. Facing this question of critical size, the interconnection makes it possible for the networks to develop by relying on network externalities. However, the justification of interconnection does not concern the externalities solely but is also based on the existence of essential facilities. The first part examines the various types of network externalities, whose implications are presented in the second part. The third part deals with the stakes of the interconnection.     

Creating University Spin‐Offs: A Science‐Based Design Perspective*

Academic entrepreneurship by means of university spin‐offs commercializes technological breakthroughs, which may otherwise remain unexploited. However, many universities face difficulties in creating spin‐offs. This article adopts a science‐based design approach to connect scholarly research with the pragmatics of effectively creating university spin‐offs. This approach serves to link the practice of university spin‐off creation, via design principles, to the scholarly knowledge in this area. As such, science‐based design promotes the interplay between emergent and deliberate design processes. This framework is used to develop a set of design principles that are practice based as well as grounded in the existing body of research on university spin‐offs. A case‐study of spin‐off creation at a Dutch university illustrates the interplay between initial processes characterized by emergent design and the subsequent process that was more deliberate in nature. This case study also suggests there are two fundamentally different phases in building capacity for university spin‐off creation. First, an infrastructure for spin‐off creation (including a collaborative network of investors, managers and advisors) is developed that then enables support activities to individual spin‐off ventures. This study concludes that to build and increase capacity for creating spin‐offs, universities should do the following: (1) create university‐wide awareness of entrepreneurship opportunities, stimulate the development of entrepreneurial ideas, and subsequently screen entrepreneurs and ideas by programs targeted at students and academic staff; (2) support start‐up teams in composing and learning the right mix of venturing skills and knowledge by providing access to advice, coaching, and training; (3) help starters in obtaining access to resources and developing their social capital by creating a collaborative network organization of investors, managers, and advisors; (4) set clear and supportive rules and procedures that regulate the university spin‐off process, enhance fair treatment of involved parties, and separate spin‐off processes from academic research and teaching; and (5) shape a university culture that reinforces academic entrepreneurship by creating norms and exemplars that motivate entrepreneurial behavior. These and other results of this study illustrate how science‐based design can connect scholarly research to the pragmatics of actually creating spin‐offs in academic institutions.     

Outcome-focused national park experience management: transforming participants,promoting social well-being,and fostering place attachment

Understanding visitor experiences is essential if park managers are to facilitate beneficial outcomes for both individuals and society. We investigated visitor experiences in a special model of thematically connected guided walking, biking, and 4WD tours in Australian national parks. Outcomes attained by first-time and repeat participants were assessed by questionnaires with more detailed insights from semi-structured interviews with repeat participants. Participants developed strong social ties with community members and experienced significant improvements in health, well-being, and competence, gaining a sense of achievement from mastering a challenge with positive implications for their lives beyond the tours. The tour series performed well in achieving visitor satisfaction, repeat participation, and word-of-mouth recommendation. The experience increased participants’ attachment to national parks, reinforcing their sense of environmental stewardship. The findings are especially relevant to efforts in parks and elsewhere to better integrate senior citizens into the community and provide opportunities to increase their physical, mental, and social well-being. Such opportunities become limited, for example, when people retire from work or suffer health impairment. The tour series proved an effective tool for outcome-focused park management, providing significant personal benefits to participants with positive implications for larger societal benefits, plus political and financial advantages for park managements.