Does Local Co-operation Matter? Evidence from Industrial Clusters in South Asia and Latin America

Comparing the Korean labour productivity growth in the last two decades with the Japanese and US labour productivity growth, data confirm a process of catching up in several important manufacturing sectors. The paper investigates its determinants using a non-neoclassical model. Investments in skills and capabilities are found to be crucial in explaining this trend. Important policy implications for developing countries are then discussed. In the long run, a targeted education policy with government intervention and a strong emphasis on technical education can give high pay-offs. This conclusion holds in particular when the aim of the country is to compete in the international markets, not along the low road to competitiveness, based on squeezing wages and profit margins, but along the high road (i.e. improving productivity, wages and profits).     

Teaching across disciplines: using collaborative instruction in undergraduate education

Learning communities (LCs) are one example of collaborative instruction used in undergraduate and graduate level courses. This paper discusses the development and delivery of this collaborative instruction and learning model to teach economics principles and finance courses at Nassau Community College (NCC), a suburban two-year college in New York.     

Current Account ‘Core–Periphery Dualism’ in the EMU

Current account (CA) dispersion within European Union (EU) Member States has been increasing progressively since the 1990s. Interestingly, the persistent deficits in many peripheral countries have not been accompanied by a significant growth process able to stimulate a log run rebalancing as neoclassical theory predicts. To shed light on the issue, this paper investigates the determinants of Eurozone CA imbalances, focusing on the role played by financial integration. The analysis considers two samples of 22 OECD and 15 EU countries, three time horizons corresponding to various steps in European integration, different control variables and several panel econometric methods. The results suggest that within the EU group of countries financial integration contributed to explain the CA deterioration in the peripheral countries especially in the post‐EMU period creating an asymmetric behaviour within the EMU. From a financial stability perspective, this ‘divergence’ could hinder the effectiveness of monetary policy. By reducing the apparent benefits of participating in the monetary union, it also raises the risk of a break‐up.     

Supply Chain Finance: A supply chain-oriented perspective to mitigate commodity risk and pricing volatility

This study addresses the Supply Chain Finance challenge of Commodity Price Volatility (CPV) by adopting a supply chain-oriented perspective. In particular, the effectiveness of two Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) strategies in mitigating CPV, namely, Switching suppliers and Substituting Commodities, and the main factors that may affect their value, are investigated with a simulation analysis. A Real Option Valuation (ROV) model was developed and tested on real cases of CPV mitigation, as experienced by a large multinational company (Fortune 100) leader in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. The results show the effectiveness of Switching suppliers and Substituting Commodities in mitigating CPV, highlighting that the convenience of adopting such strategies is strongly influenced by some specific conditions, like the relative values of the long-term prices of the commodities, the purchasing volume, and the sunk cost needed to build flexibility.     

Strategic timing in R&D agreements

We study the endogenous formation of R&D agreements in a R&D/Cournot duopoly model with spillovers where also the timing of R&D investments is endogenous. This allows us to consider the incentives for firms to sign R&D agreements over time. It is shown that, when both R&D spillovers and investment costs are sufficiently low, firms may find difficult to maintain a stable agreement due to the strong incentive to invest noncooperatively as leaders. In this case, the stability of an agreement requires that the joint investment occurs at the initial stage, thus avoiding any delay. When spillovers are sufficiently high, the coordination of R&D efforts becomes a profitable option, although firms may also have an incentive to sequence noncooperatively their investment over time. Finally, when spillovers are asymmetric and knowledge mainly leaks from the leader to the follower, investing as follower may become extremely profitable, making R&D agreements hard to sustain unless firms strategically delay their joint investment in R&D.     

A narrative exploratory study on the perspectives about physical exercise practise in a sample of Portuguese elderly

Quality & Quantity - The overall prevalence of inactivity among individuals aged 55 or older in Portugal is the highest in Europe therefore it’s important to develop effective strategies...     

Foreword from the Co-Editors

MOCT-MOST: Economic Policy in Transitional Economies -