Relative Living Standards in New Market Economies: Evidence from Central Asian Household Surveys

We examine household data from the Central Asian successor states to the Soviet Union to analyze how living standards are determined in newly established market economies. Three variables, namely location, children, and university education, are consistently significant across all four countries studied and play the largest role in determining household expenditure. The first two are of special significance to Central Asia, with its relative economic backwardness and high birth rate, but the importance of high-level general-purpose education appears to be a ubiquitous but underappreciated factor. Higher returns to education were expected in a market economy, but few observers distinguish between types of education; in the shift from central planning people with high-level general-purpose education have been best able to take advantage of new opportunities, while narrower technical education, by contrast, has left many with obsolete skills yielding zero returns in the market. J. Comp. Econ., June 2002 30(4), pp. 683–708. Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235; and School of Economics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia. © 2002 Association for Comparative Economic Studies. Published by Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D1, D31, O12, P36.     

Anreizsysteme als Instrument des Beteiligungscontrolling in Venture-Capital-Gesellschaften

Zusammenfassung Vor dem Hintergrund des Prinzipal-Agenten-Ansatzes werden vorhandene Fehlanreize in der Finanzierungsbeziehung zwischen Venture-Capital-Gesellschaften und jungen Unternehmen aufgezeigt. Diese Fehlanreize k?nnen mittels Anreizsystemen, welche ein Instrument des Beteiligungscontrolling darstellen, reduziert oder gar unterbunden werden. Nachdem die Bestandteile von Anreizsystemen und die Anforderungen an diese in allgemeiner Form dargelegt wurden, wird überprüft, inwieweit verschiedene Ausgestaltungen von Anreizsystemen, unter Berücksichtigung in der Praxis verwendeter Finanzierungsarten, diesen Anforderungen gerecht werden und insofern wirkungsvoll als Instrument des Beteiligungscontrolling eingesetzt werden k?nnen.

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Summary In the context of the principal-agent theory, some problems are highlighted that exist in the financing relationship between venture capital firms and start-up firms. These problems can be reduced or even eliminated by using incentive systems, which are an instrument of investment-controlling. After explaining the components of incentive systems and the requirements in general, it is checked whether different designs of incentive systems, with respect to the practical relevance, fulfill the requirements and can thus be used effectively as an instrument of investment-controlling.

     

Towards the measurement of the impacts of improving research capacity: an economic evaluation of training in wheat disease resistance*

It is notoriously difficult to assess the economic value of research aimed at improving research capacity, particularly for the human capital component of research capacity. In this paper, a framework is developed and an analysis is undertaken of the value of training for scientists in wheat rust resistance. The value of improving human capital is assessed through a framework based on marginal analysis of the improvement in productivity outcomes flowing from the increased capacity. On that basis, the value of programs to build human capacity through training or further education can be estimated. Although such estimates are necessarily qualified, they provide a basis for quantifying the value of building research and development capacity.     

A dynamic model of price discrimination and inventory management at the Fulton Fish Market

We estimate a dynamic profit-maximization model of a fish wholesaler who can observe consumer characteristics, set individual prices, and thus engage in third-degree price discrimination. Simulated prices and quantities from the model exhibit the key features observed in a set of high quality transaction-level data on fish sales collected at the Fulton Fish Market. The model's predictions are then compared to the case in which the wholesaler must post a single price to all retailers. We find the added revenue the wholesaler receives from price discriminating to be small.     

An application of clustering for strategic group analysis

Taxonomies, factor analysis and clustering are discussed as tools to investigate the structure of competitors within an industry (‘strategic groups’). An example using cluster analysis is presented as one means of operationalizing this concept. Careful definition and selection of the dimensions used to identify the boundaries between strategic groups (their mobility barriers) are particularly crucial in the effective application of analytical tools.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TYPES OF INNOVATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

The relationship between adoption of administrative and technical innovations over time and its impact on organizational performance was studied. A confirmatory analysis of the data from 85 public libraries showed that, over consecutive time periods, changes in the social structure, portrayed by the adoption of administrative innovations, lead to changes in the technical system, portrayed by the adoption of technical innovations. Empirical support was also provided for Daft's (1982) framework for organizational innovation that was found to be effective in separating organizations based on their performance levels.     

Tenure and output

A key tenet of the theory of human capital is that investment in skills results in higher productivity. The previous literature has estimated the degree of investment in human capital for individuals by looking at individual wage growth as a proxy for productivity growth. In this paper, we have both wage and personal productivity data, and thus are able to measure of the increase in workers' output with tenure as evidence of the degree of learning on the job. The data is from an autoglass company. Most of production occurs at the individual level so measures of output are clear. We find a very steep learning curve in the first eight months on the job: output is 53 percent higher after eight months than it is initially. Our data show that these output gains with tenure are not reflected in equal percentage pay gains: pay profiles are much flatter than output profiles in the first year and a half on the job. For these data, using wage profiles significantly underestimates the amount of investment compared to the gains evident in output-tenure profiles. The pattern of productivity rising more rapidly than pay reverses after two years of tenure, although our evidence on this point is less reliable. Worker selection is also important. Workers who stay longer have higher output levels and faster early learning.     

Made in Europe: Small Companies

This is the third report on the 'Made in Europe' research programme. Earlier reports concentrated on the maturity of implementation of 'best practice' in both the design and manufacturing processes of larger European companies. Here, the authors shift the focus to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) particularly in Britain and Italy. While few SMEs are in the world-class category, small company practices are customer-oriented, responsiveness-focused and concerned with new products. SMEs' competitive edge typically comes from speed, responsiveness and closeness to customers. SMEs exhibit a greater level of confidence than larger companies in their ability to make change, but neglect training and education. Within the SME sector there are sharp differences between micro (5–20 employees), small (21–50) and medium-sized (51–200) companies while those which are subsidiaries of larger companies have significantly higher levels of best practice. There are differences between countries and regions.     

The Relationship between Ethical Climate and Ethical Problems within Human Resource Management

The study examines the relationship between the strength of an organizationÕs ethical climate and ethical problems involving human resource management. Data were collected through a survey of 1078 human resource managers. The results indicate a statistically significant negative relationship between the strength of an organization'ss ethical climate and the seriousness of ethical violations and a statistically significant positive relationship between an organization'ss ethical climate and success in responding to ethical issues. Thus, interventions that strengthen an organization'ss ethical climate may help manage ethical behavior within organizations.