New R&D management paradigms: rethinking research and technology organizations strategies in regions

The R&D management paradigms of research and technology organizations (RTOs) have been discussed in the past. Academics have analysed their strategic challenges in view of the new demands posed by new competitive environments for their SME clients. New innovation models proposed recently have captured the attention of policy makers. The objectives of this paper are to analyse these models in the case of a particular model of RTO: the R&D units in the Basque Country in Spain, launched with the aim of improving R&D and technology transfer efficiency. This paper is based on an empirical study of a group of specialized RTOs (R&D units) and its objective is to analyse a new paradigm of RTO and propose a model to identify the critical elements that influence performance and strategic alignment between R&D performers (RTOs) and their partners (in most cases SMEs).     

The exchange rate cycle in Argentina

This article discusses the secular volatility of output, inflation, the exchange rate, and poverty in Argentina. Inflation, currency devaluation and a wide gross domestic product (GDP) cycle have been recurrent problems in Argentina for several decades. The literature has extensively discussed those issues from different viewpoints. This study focuses on a relatively unexplored theme that may contribute to a partial explanation. It deals with the continuous tendency to equalize different profitabilities resulting, in turn, from remarkably different sectoral purchasing power parities. Thus, for any given exchange rate, an incessant tendency toward the equalization of profitabilities generates opposing inflationary and devaluatory pressures. The resulting inflation-devaluation cycle feeds income redistribution, GDP fluctuation, real exchange rate instability, and high levels of uncertainty.     

Differences in exchange rate pass-through in the euro area

This paper focuses on the pass-through of exchange rate changes into the prices of imports made by euro area countries originating outside the area. Using data on import unit values for 13 different product categories for each country, we estimate industry-specific rates of pass-through across and within countries for all euro members. In the short-run, pass-through rates differ across industries and countries and are less than one. In the long-run neither full pass-through nor equality of pass-through rates across industries and countries can be rejected. Differences exist across euro area countries in the degree that a common exchange rate movement gets transmitted into consumer prices and costs of production indices. Most of these differences in transmission rates are due to the distinct degree of openness of each country to non-euro area imports rather than to the heterogeneity in the structure of imports.     

Evaluating the efficiency of municipalities in the presence of unobserved heterogeneity

Journal of Productivity Analysis - The paper applies some of the latest advances of probabilistic approach to account directly for unobserved heterogeneity in the estimation of efficiency measures...     

HUMANITARIAN CRISES AND ADOLESCENT WELL-BEING: KNOWLEDGE,GAPS, AND PROSPECTS

Adolescence constitutes the second and final window of human growth and a period of specific vulnerabilities, such as early pregnancy, early marriage, HIV infection, suicide, violence, alcohol, and drugs. Only a limited body of research investigates the effects of humanitarian crises on the human capital and well-being of adolescents. The evidence focuses on the short-term effects of conflict and, to a lesser extent, natural disasters on education, physical health, and nutrition, but not on mental health. Most analyses examine the situations of individuals exposed in utero and young childhood, but rarely during adolescence. Typically missing are robust empirical identification strategies and estimates on heterogeneous effects across age or gender. The lack of quality data and challenges in defining adolescence, establishing causality, or ensuring ethical research explain the knowledge gaps. Possible ways to expand the evidence base include mixing georeferenced data on individual location with georeferenced data on crises, sharpening quasi-experimental analytical techniques, and reconsidering the current timing of demographic data collection, now spanning 4- or 5-year intervals. The failure to make such adjustments will end by ignoring specific vulnerabilities among adolescents and render sustainable progress in well-being globally, narrowing inequalities, and guaranteeing human rights to all more difficult to achieve.     

Impact of RFID information-sharing strategies on a decentralized supply chain with reverse logistics operations

The integration of environmental practices in a supply chain has been study for the past few decades. However, most of the work relies on centralized decisions made by one player. Few papers address the complex dynamics of environmental decentralized supply chains and how these dynamics can affect environmental and economic outcomes. To study this problem, we consider a supply chain with a manufacturer and two different suppliers: a recycled-material and a raw-material supplier. The players make individual inventory decisions to satisfy demand and reduce cost. Further, this supply chain encompasses stochastic elements such as in demands, returns, and collection leadtimes. These decentralized decisions and random factors can cause underperforming results; therefore, new inventory models and technologies are needed to help companies increase coordination within these systems. We model the implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in the supply chain to determine if real-time inventory monitoring and information sharing can help the system attain higher environmental benefits (more returns) and higher economic benefits (less cost). We study two scenarios through a simulation-based analysis: No RFID and RFID. Numerical studies show that environmental benefits are significantly increased with the attainment of more returns. However, although economic benefits are realized, they are less significant than the environmental benefits. Further regression and sensitivity analyses on the cost performance measures reveal that economic benefits depend on several drivers inside the system. We present managerial insights that illustrate what configurations within this complex system can lead to the achieving of environmental as well as economic benefits.     

Collective bargaining under perfect information. The negotiation of national agreements

We structurally estimate a perfect information bargaining model of collective negotiations using data on national agreements for Spain. The model is a stochastic model of sequential bargaining in which we allow for the possibility of negotiations ending without agreement, a common feature in the data. Delays in equilibrium are the result of uncertainty about the surplus to be divided among the players and not of information asymmetries. The model fits the data well regardless of the limitations imposed by the parametric specification adopted. Our results show that agents are patient and that the advantage from proposing is large.JEL Classification: J50, C73, C78We thank Fabian Marquez, Sergio Santillan and Jose Maria Zufiaur for helping us to create the data base on Spanish National Agreements. We also thank Cesar Alonso, Juanjo Dolado, Gautam Gowrisankaran, Maia Guell, Antonio Merlo and participants at the 1999 European Meeting of the Econometric Society for very helpful comments. Jose E. Galdon thanks financial support from the following institutions: European Commission for a TMR Marie Curie Fellowship, Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia for project BEC2002-00954 and Spanish Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte for project PR2004-0057. He also thanks the hospitality of STICERD (LSE) and the IR Section (Princeton University) where part of this work was completed. The usual disclaimers apply.     

HETEROGENEITY IN WILLINGNESS‐TO‐PAY FOR THEATRE PRODUCTIONS: INDIVIDUAL SPECIFIC WILLINGNESS‐TO‐PAY ESTIMATES FOR THEATRES,SHOWS AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES

This paper investigates people's preferences for live theatre, and heterogeneity in willingness‐to‐pay (WTP). A stated preference discrete choice model estimates utility and WTP for different attributes of theatre productions. Previous studies assumed fixed coefficients across all theatre‐goers. This study allows coefficients of attributes to vary across individuals in the population, providing information on the heterogeneity of tastes. Theatre‐goers' choices are used to estimate individual‐based parameters for a person's tastes in theatre productions. The analysis reveals the heterogeneity of tastes for different types of plays and ticket price; and the significance of ‘reviews’ by critics and ‘word of mouth’ opinions as important variables determining choice.     

Insurance with Frequency Trading: A Dynamic Analysis of Efficient Insurance Markets

This paper extends existing insurance results on the type of insurance contracts needed for insurance market efficiency to a dynamic setting. It introduces continuously open markets that allow for more efficient asset allocation. It also estimates the role of preferences and endowments in the classification of risks, which is done primarily in terms of the actuarial properties of the underlying risk process. The paper further extends insurability to include correlated and catastrophic events. Under these very general conditions the paper defines a condition that determines whether a small number of standard insurance contracts (together with aggregate assets) suffice to complete markets or one needs to introduce such assets as mutual insurance. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D81, D99, G11.