Self-construal and feature centrality

The current research investigates the interactive influence of self-construal and product feature centrality on product judgment tasks. Feature centrality refers to the extent to which a feature is integral to the product concept and its network of correlated features, and contributes to the coherence of the product’s conceptual representation. While the categorization literature suggests that central features (versus less central features) are weighted more when consumers make judgments about a product, across two studies we find such effect is bounded by individuals’ self-construal. In particular, whereas independent consumers, adopting an analytical thinking style, rely more on central features than less central features in product categorization and evaluations, interdependent consumers, employing a holistic thinking style, use both features to form their judgments.     

Economic Reform and Corruption: Evidence from Panel Data

The notion that economic reform can reduce corruption remains prevalent in the policy agenda of international financial institutions, especially of the World Bank. Economic reforms have, therefore, been carried out throughout various parts of the world to improve the performance of the economies. Using data from 94 low‐ and middle‐income nations for the period 1996–2015, this study employs static and dynamic panel analysis to examine whether economic reform undertaken in accordance with the World Bank's reform programs negatively affects corruption. Our findings suggest that enhancing government effectiveness (i.e. independence of civil service from political pressure, provision of quality public services, effective policy formulation and the government's commitment to such policies) and improving public rights and civil liberties could be some of the most promising policies in terms of fighting corruption. The role of economic development and growth in real per capita income is also found to be significant in some of the specifications. However, the assertion that economic reform can reduce corruption is rejected in all the specifications. We rather find evidence that economic reforms negatively affect the ability of democracy to fight corruption, although on a slim margin. The central theme of the implications of our findings is that in combating corruption, social, institutional and legal means are far more important than economic means. The finding thus is compatible with the World Bank's effort in the later years to introduce governance and democracy as effective tool against corruption.     

Total factor productivity in postwar Soviet industry and its branches

The Cobb-Douglas production function with a declining rate of technical change or of total factor productivity growth (TFP) emerges as the dominant model for explaining the output-growth retardation in postwar Soviet industry when two sets of output data, from Soviet sources and from the CIA, are used for estimating Cobb-Douglas and CES specifications. Rates of output growth and TFP, though low, are higher with Soviet than with CIA data. However, their relative divergence is smaller in those industrial branches where Soviet output data are not exaggerated and where the CIA sample is representative of the branch output. J. Comp. Econ., March 1985, 9(1), pp. 1–23. Columbia University, New York, New York 10027.     

The Nature of Innovative Activity and the Protection of Intellectual Property in Asia

This paper examines trends in innovative activity in several major Asian countries during the period 1997–2011 as measured by their filings and grants of various types of intellectual property (IP). By almost all measures, there has been a remarkable increase in innovative activity in China. In fact, in 2011, China accounted for roughly 25% of global patent applications. However, several indirect measures suggest that the quality of this newly created Chinese IP is not (yet) world‐class. For example, relative to residents of other major Asian countries and the USA, Chinese residents tend to file IP applications in foreign markets at a much lower rate. Similarly, the ratio of royalty payments earned by Chinese residents to the number of patents granted to them is fairly low by international standards. Finally, the ratio of patent to utility model applications (typically granted for relatively minor innovations) in China is also relatively small.     

Incorporating Behavioral Anomalies in Strategic Models

Behavioral decision researchers have documented a number of anomalies that seem to run counter to established theories of consumer behavior from microeconomics that are often at the core of analytical models in marketing. A natural question therefore is how equilibrium behavior and strategies would change if models were to incorporate these anomalies in a consistent way. In this paper we identify several important and generalizable anomalies that modelers may want to incorporate in their models. We briefly discuss each phenomenon, identify a key unresolved issue and outline a research agenda to be pursued.     

What does “entrepreneurship” data <Emphasis Type="Italic">really</Emphasis> show?

In this paper, we compare two datasets designed to measure entrepreneurship: The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset and the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey (WBGES) dataset. We find a number of important differences when the data are compared. First, GEM data tend to report significantly higher levels of early stage entrepreneurship in developing economies than do the World Bank business entry data, while the World Bank business entry data tend to be higher than GEM data for developed countries. Second, we find that the magnitude of the difference between the datasets across countries is related to the local institutional and environmental conditions for entrepreneurs, after controlling for levels of economic development. Our findings suggest that entrepreneurs in developed countries have greater ease and incentives to incorporate, both for the benefits of greater access to formal financing and labor contracts, as well as for tax and other purposes not directly related to business activities.

Deficiencies in the Code of Conduct: The AICPA Rhetoric Surrounding the Tax Return Preparation Outsourcing Disclosure Rules

In this article, we examine the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) efforts to conceal the offshoring of tax return preparation services by U.S. Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) through recommending an inadequate disclosure format for this type of work. We draw on Giddens’ theory of trust and expert systems, the professionalism literature, and Flyvbjerg’s concept of power to analyze the underlying agenda behind the revised ethics rulings (AICPA Ethics Ruling No. 112 under Rule 102, No. 12 under Rule 201, and No. 1 under Rule 301). Specifically, we examine (1) the AICPA leadership’s stated professional justifications for outsourcing and its recommended client disclosures, (2) risks associated with outsourcing tax return preparation work overseas and the trust issues that result, and (3) the resistance to the AICPA leadership’s recommended outsourcing disclosure rules within the rank and file of the CPA profession. We argue that our analysis reveals the AICPA’s on-going promotion of their private interests, thus continuing to raise systemic concerns regarding the public’s trust in the U.S. public accounting profession.     

Contemplating the future: Mutating capitalism

After the fall of international communism in the former Soviet Union, capitalism has remained the only viable option for managing the economy. Economic and financial problems of capitalism of recent times, however, have brought forth debate about the role and shape of capitalism, and mainly its future. These problems have made it very clear that unbridled capitalism may not produce the proclaimed prosperity. Some have questioned its future viability in the present form and predicated its metamorphosing into a different kind that could make it more beneficial to the people and more resilient to survive. Questions regarding its future shape and form and the reasons for such predication are the subject of this article.