Predicting within country household food expenditure variation using international cross-section estimates

International cross-section demand systems have not been tested on their ability to accurately predict within country consumption expenditures. This paper reports on such a validation exercise for the case of food budget share predictions across expenditure percentiles within Bangladesh.     

A macroeconometric framework for monetary policy evaluation: A case study of Pakistan

This paper attempts to establish the quantitative importance of the various channels of monetary transmission by constructing, estimating and simulating a small macroeconometric model of Pakistan's monetary sector, while using data from the monetary statistics and the monetary survey of the State Bank of Pakistan over 1976–2007. The paper elucidates that the key feature of the study of monetary policy in Pakistan has been preoccupied with neglect either of the demand or the supply function of money and shows how this may lead to imprecise policy actions and mistaken conclusions. Accordingly, we delineate the transmission mechanism of monetary policy by taking into consideration all structural money demand and money supply linkages along with the historically implied identifying assumption in the framework of a marginalized macroeconometric model. The within-sample and out-of-sample evaluations of the model are found satisfactory. The paper presents results of three policy simulations from the estimated model that highlight the impact of alternative monetary policy instruments on the monetary variables under a rule-based and a discretionary policy environment. We find that (i) the SBP subscribes to an unannounced monetary policy rule, (ii) the determination of the policy rate under the announced rule environment stabilizes the monetary sector in that convergence to full equilibrium is smooth and rapid, (iii) a 100 bps reduction in the discount rate, ceteris paribus, decreases money supply by 4.97%, and (iv) the long term implication of reducing (increasing) the reserve requirement ratio on time (demand) deposits, ceteris paribus, is only higher inflation. Finally, we establish that a 100 bps increase in interest rate increases money supply by 3.14% in full equilibrium.     

Erratum to: Ethical Leadership,Organic Organizational Cultures and Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Study in Social Enterprises

Decades of tobacco control initiatives have turned public opinion against cigarette smoking. Smokers, once considered glamorous, are now stigmatized in domains including the workplace. Extant literature lacks scrutiny of smoker stigmatization and devaluation within the job selection process, and mechanisms that lead to such outcomes. Using an experimental design, we empirically examine initial reactions to job applicants’ smoking behaviors within two samples (N = 122 Canadian business students, and N = 143 online U.S. respondents with hiring experience). We show that initial impressions are significantly worse when job applicants smoke versus do not in a store-based context. Moreover, this effect occurs indirectly through perceived likelihood of engaging in counterproductive work behaviors (and to some extent negative emotions experienced), and is conditional upon respondents’ own attitudes towards smoking (particularly within the U.S. sample). These relationships—similar for customer service and inventory management jobs—are indicative of potential biases within the hiring process. Implications of these findings, and the moral dilemmas they raise around the treatment of smokers, are discussed from the ethical perspective of human resource management.     

Using Conjoint Analysis to Help Design Product Platforms

This article illustrates how one can combine different conjoint analysis studies, each containing a core of common attributes, to help design product platforms that serve as the foundation for multiple derivative products. The illustration is based on actual, but disguised, data from a small company that makes electronic test equipment.
This article demonstrates that decisions that consider products individually are likely to be suboptimal and can be significantly different than those based on product platforms. Suboptimality can occur either when preferences for product features differ across markets or when a technology is more important to the overall company than it is to an individual product. Additionally, we show the importance of considering both fixed and variable costs when performing this type of analysis as sales, contribution, and profit-maximizing products are quite different. Finally, sensitivity analyses show that these results are robust with respect to assumptions about price sensitivity, fixed costs, and timing of entry. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.     

Wind of change brought by COVID-19: Exploring the response and the new normal from the perspectives of Indian flexpatriates

Drawing from the positive organizational change theory, this paper aims to explore how Indian flexpatriates responded to the change brought by the pandemic of COVID-19 and what is the new normal according to them. Thematic analysis of 19 in-depth interviews with flexpatriates from the IT industry revealed four explicit phases of change process – reflection, communication, collaboration, and transformation. Further, the analysis brought out four tenets of the new normal. First, it is time to blend physical and virtual work; second, the “personal” touch of Indians in international assignments is irreplaceable; third, working from home amidst the entire household being housebound is the new normal; and last, international travel will resume soon with some changed protocols. This is the first qualitative study combining the issue of global talent management with Indian flexpatriates vis-à-vis the impact of COVID-19, the findings of which expand the positive organizational change theory and have important implications.