Human resource management and productivity in the “trust game corporation”

Contemporary production activity is crucially determined by the performance of complex tasks with the characteristics of corporate trust games. In this paper, we outline a productivity paradox showing that, under reasonable conditions, the noncooperative solution, which yields a suboptimal firm output, is the equilibrium of corporate trust games when relational preferences are not sufficiently high. We show that tournaments and steeper pay for performance schemes may crowd out cooperation in the presence of players preferences for relational goods. These findings help to explain firm investment in workers’ relationships and the puzzle on the less than expected use of such schemes.     

Voting with the wallet

The vote with the wallet is a new, emerging feature of economic participation and democracy in the globally integrated market economy. This expression identifies the pivotal role that responsible consumption and investment can play in addressing social and environmental emergencies which have been aggravated by the asymmetry of power between domestic institutions and global corporations. In this paper, we examine (both in general and by using examples drawn from the financial and non-financial sectors) how ??voting?? for producers which are at the forefront of a three-sided efficiency which reconciles the creation of economic value with social and environmental responsibility may generate contagion effects by triggering ethical imitation of traditional profit-maximizing actors, thereby enhancing the production of positive social and environmental externalities. Within this new framework, policies that reduce the search and information costs of voting with the wallet may help socioeconomic systems to exploit the bottom-up market forces of other-regarding preferences, thereby enhancing opportunities to achieve well-being with reduced top-down government intervention.     

The Invisible Side of Political Parties: The Case of the PCdoB

The young Latin American democracies have been structuring their political parties for day-to-day management. In this context, it is important to understand how such structures could be affected by the so-called invisible side of organizations, which are composed of networks of relationships between elected politicians and then relationships between these and external militant groups, which can greatly influence the candidates’ performance and the very dynamics of the party. This article seeks to unravel some of these dimensions. We select for analysis the case of the PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil), in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The results show the nature of the embeddedness of these actors in the political system, highlighting weaknesses and possibilities.     

Are We Forgetting Something? Remarks on the Connections Between Douglass North’s Contributions and Original Institutional Economics

Douglass North’s latest works have become central to the current discussion regarding the differences and similarities between new institutional economics (NIE) and original institutional economics (OIE). We seek to contribute to this debate by offering a specific analytical perspective to evaluating North’s contributions. After defining a set of philosophical and methodological principles that specifies OIE, we endeavor to verify if and how North’s work relates to these foundations. We believe that this methodological perspective brings to light a fundamental issue not stressed by earlier analyses: the profound difference between the institutionalisms regarding the role of market order as a mechanism of human sociability.     

Profits and Fractal Properties: Notes on Marx,Countertendencies and Simulation Models

There are new reasons for revisiting Marx’s elaboration on the rate of profit because contemporary debates provide findings from the MEGA Project, long-term data on the rate of profit, and tools for dealing with complexity and non-equilibrium systems. This article proposes that the interplay between the tendency and the countertendencies of the rate of profit to fall can be translated into a simple system of equations, one based on each chapter of Section Three of Capital—as if Marx sought to mathematically formalise his insights. This article reviews previous debates, presents data and runs a simulation model, showing that the rate of profit behaves as fractals.     

A conceptual framework for evaluating the most cost-effective intervention along the supply chain to improve food safety

This paper develops a conceptual framework for choosing the most cost-effective intervention along the supply chain to improve food safety. This framework identifies both the initial level of on-farm infection and the potential for new infection post farm-gate as key parameters influencing the relative effectiveness of on-farm and abattoir interventions. In addition, the potential for cost economies of scale in implementing interventions at abattoir compared to on-farm is shown to be a further factor determining the relative cost-effectiveness of these interventions. Overall, it is suggested by the analysis in this paper that successful abattoir interventions will typically be more cost-effective than successful on-farm interventions. These findings are consistent with existing case study evidence.     

Conditioning Information and European Bond Fund Performance

In this paper we evaluate the performance of European bond funds using unconditional and conditional models. As conditioning information we use variables that we find to be useful in predicting bond returns in the European market. The results show that, in general, bond funds are not able to outperform passive strategies. These findings are robust to whatever model (unconditional versus conditional and single versus multi‐index) we use. The multi‐index model seems to add some explanatory power in relation to the single‐index model. Furthermore, when we incorporate the predetermined information variables, we can observe a slight tendency towards better performance. This evidence is consistent with previous studies on stock funds and comes in support of the argument that conditional models might allow for a better assessment of performance. However, our results suggest that the impact of additional risk factors seems to be greater than the impact of incorporating predetermined information variables.     

Relative-price variability and output-inflation tradeoffs in an open economy

Zusammenfassung Schwankungen der relativen Preise und Trade-Off zwischen Produktion und Inflation einer offenen Volkswirtschaft. — Der Zweck dieses Aufsatzes ist es, in einer ?konometrischen Untersuchung zu zeigen, welche Ansto\wirkung von der Inflation und den Schwankungen der relativen Preise auf das reale Produktionsniveau einer kleinen offenen Volkswirtschaft ausgeht. Betrachtet man die Erfahrung Mexikos w?hrend der Periode fester Wechselkurse (1953-1976), dann zeigt sich, da\ die Schwankungen der relativen Preise die Gesamtproduktion beeintr?chtigten. Es kann indes kein signifikanter Trade-Off zwischen Produktion und Inflation auf der Ebene der aggregierten Gr?\en festgestellt werden. Wird dagegen die Gesamtproduktion in handelbare und nichthandelbare Güter disaggregiert, dann zeigt sich, da\ das Produktionsniveau in beiden. Sektoren eine abnehmende Funktion der Variabilit?t der relativen Preise ist und in signifikanter Weise positiv auf unerwartete Ver?nderungen der Inflationsrate reagiert. Insgesamt stützen die Ergebnisse die “natural-rate” Version der Wechselbeziehung zwischen Produktion und Inflation, wenn sie um die Wirkungen relativer Preise und die Besonderheiten einer offenen Volkswirtschaft erweitert wird.

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Résumé La variabilité en prix relatifs et le ?trade-off? production-inflation d’une économie ouverte. — Le but de cet article est d’évaluer dans une étude économétrique l’effet de l’inflation et de la variabilité en prix relatifs sur le niveau de la production réelle dans une petite économie ouverte. En considérant l’expérience du Mexique pendant la période de taux de change fixe (1953–1976) les auteurs démontrent que la variabilité en prix relatifs a des effets négatifs sur la production agrégée. Cependant, un ?trade-off? production-inflation significatif ne peut pas être identifié au niveau agrégé. Si la production totale est désagrégée en biens commercés et non-commercés on trouve que le niveau de la production dans les deux secteurs est une fonction décroissante de la variabilité en prix relatifs et une fonction croissante significative des changements en inflation imprévue. En général, les résultats supportent la version de ?taux naturel? du ?trade-off? production-inflation si elle est étendue pour inclure les effets des prix relatifs aussi bien qu’une considération de l’économie ouverte.

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Resumen Variabilidad en los precios relativos y alternativas entre inflación y producto en una economia abierta. — El estudio es una evaluación econométrica del impacto de la inflación y de la variabilidad de precios relativos sobre el producto real en una peque?a economía abierta. Analizando la experiencia de Méjico en el período de tipo de cambio fijo (1953–1976), se muestra la influencia negativa sobre el producto nacional del grado de variabilidad en los precios relativos. Sin embargo, no se identifica de forma significativa un conflicto entre producto e inflación a nivel agregado. Cuando el producto nacional se divide en dos partes, según si sus correspondientes bienes y servicios se comercien o no con el exterior, el resultado es, que el nivel de producto en los dos sectores es una función decreciente de la variabilidad de precios relativos y la inflación inesperada tiene también un efecto positivo significativo sobre el nivel de producto de los dos sectores. En conjunto, los resultados son consistentes con la interpretatión del conflicto entre inflación y desempleo por medio de la teoría de la Tasa Natural de Desempleo, esta última ampliada de forma que se tengan en cuenta los posibles efectos de los precios relativos y del grado de apertura exterior de la economía.

     

Tempered stable and tempered infinitely divisible GARCH models

In this paper, we introduce a new GARCH model with an infinitely divisible distributed innovation. This model, which we refer to as the rapidly decreasing tempered stable (RDTS) GARCH model, takes into account empirical facts that have been observed for stock and index returns, such as volatility clustering, non-zero skewness, and excess kurtosis for the residual distribution. We review the classical tempered stable (CTS) GARCH model, which has similar statistical properties. By considering a proper density transformation between infinitely divisible random variables, we can find the risk-neutral price process, thereby allowing application to option-pricing. We propose algorithms to generate scenarios based on GARCH models with CTS and RDTS innovations. To investigate the performance of these GARCH models, we report parameter estimates for the Dow Jones Industrial Average index and stocks included in this index. To demonstrate the advantages of the proposed model, we calculate option prices based on the index.