The results of Manila

The proceedings at UNCTAD V and its results have come in for much harsh public criticism in the world. In view of its modest results it must be asked whether future world trade conferences cannot be rendered more effective.     

Ethical concerns in grievance arbitration

Although the use of arbitration has become commonplace in the organizational world, the ethical issues surrounding arbitration have never been fully explored. The paper reviews ethical issues in arbitration, particularly in terms of forensic bias parallels, that may affect decision-making and make the arbitrator's decision questionable. Finally, the maintenance of fairness in the arbitration process, and the importance of an ethically acceptable system of organizational justice are also discussed.Robert A. Giacalone is Associate professor of Management Systems at the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business, University of Richmond. He is co-editor (with Paul Rosenfeld) ofImpression Management in the Organization (Erlbaum, 1989) andApplied Impression Management (Sage, 1991) and has authored papers on business ethics, organizational sabotage, exit interviewing, and impression management in organizational life. His work has appeared inHuman Relations, Business and Society Review, Journal of Business Ethics, andJournal of Social Psychology, as well as in a variety of other journals.James C. Goodwin is Professor of Management at the University of Richmond. He previously taught at the University of North Carolina and at Florida State University and served as a petroleum engineer with Chevron and Atlantic-Richfield. Dr. Goodwin is the author of numerous articles which have appeared in national and international journals.Martha L. Reiner is Assistant Professor of Management at the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business, University of Richmond. She received her Ph.D. in business and public policy. She has co-authored articles that appeared in theCalifornia Management Review and theNonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.The authors would like to thank Hinda Greyser Pollard for her insightful comments on a previous draft of this paper.     

Public debts capitalize into property prices: empirical evidence for a new perspective on debt incidence

In economies with reasonably mobile individuals, the demand for property depends on current as well as future taxes and public services. As a consequence, the current level of public net debts, i.e. public debts minus assets, should capitalize into property prices. While debt capitalization has been unduly disregarded in the academic literature and policy debates, the Swiss Canton of Zurich provides an institutional setting for identification. Our results imply that public net debts capitalize into property prices. The extent of debt capitalization seems to be substantial but it widely varies over estimation strategies. The existence of debt capitalization offers new perspectives on debt incidence.     

Voting against the separation of powers between legislature and administration

The separation of powers is endogenous to the politico-economic process, and thus to politicians’ self-interest. Only little is known about what really drives politicians’ behavior when shaping institutional rules with respect to the separation of powers. We econometrically compare votes of parliamentary representatives and their constituents on a popular initiative that directly aimed at weakening the separation of powers in 1922 in Switzerland. We analyze whether the strength of individual ties to the public service affect representatives’ behavior, holding constituents’ preferences constant. Our results indicate that while politicians tend to represent their constituents’ preferences, representatives with ties to the public service have a higher probability of supporting the eligibility of public servants for the legislature. Thus, they favor reducing the separation of powers between legislature and administration.     

Industry relatedness in trade sales and venture capital investment returns

We investigate relationships between the industry relatedness of venture capital-backed companies and their strategic acquirer in trade sales and the achieved investment returns of venture capitalists. Using a proprietary data set of 716 trade sales, we analyze return differences between lateral and synergetic trade sales, as well as between horizontal and vertical trade sales. We find that venture capitalists achieve higher returns with lateral rather than synergetic trade sales, and that the difference is greater for deals involving early stage companies characterized by strong information asymmetries. In addition, horizontal trade sales yield higher returns than vertical trade sales; however, in boom phases of the venture capital market, this effect reverses. Finally, we find that experienced venture capitalists are able to overcome disadvantageous situations in trade sales, resulting in comparable returns across all trade sale categories.     

Boom and bust in the Baltic countries — Lessons to be learnt

For the first seven years of this decade, the Baltic countries experienced very rapid GDP growth. In 2007, though, the boom period turned to bust as country-specific factors such as the slowdown in credit growth dampened domestic demand growth. This was followed by the international financial crisis, which further limited the availability of foreign capital and pushed the Baltic countries into severe recession. This article looks in particular at the role of public finances, the impact of the fixed exchange-rate regimes and the need for a more balanced growth pattern in the future.     

The two limits debates: “Limits to Growth” and climate change

In this article we compare the current debate about global warming with the earlier discourse of Limits to Growth (LtG) of the 1970s. We are especially interested in the similarities of and differences between the two cases and therefore compare the policy challenges and lessons to be drawn. While the two debates differ on important issues, they share a technocratic orientation to public policy, and susceptibility to similar pitfalls. In both debates alarming scenarios about future catastrophes play an important role. We suggest that climate change policy discourse needs to focus more closely on the social, economic, and political dimensions of climate change, as opposed to its excessive emphasis on emission reduction targets. We also argue that an excessive faith in the market mechanisms to supply global warming mitigation technologies is problematic. In this respect, we provide a reality check regarding the political implications of emission targets and timetables and suggest how policy issues can be moved forward.     

MARKET SELECTION OF FINANCIAL TRADING STRATEGIES: GLOBAL STABILITY

In this paper we analyze the long-run dynamics of the market selection process among simple trading strategies in an incomplete asset market with endogenous prices. We identify a unique surviving financial trading strategy. Investors following this strategy asymptotically gather total market wealth. This result generalizes findings by Blume and Easlcy (1992) to any complete or incomplete asset market.