A Critique of the Empirical Methods of Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Integrative social contracts theory (ISCT) uses empirical methods to develop guidelines for international business ethics. This article criticizes ISCT in terms of the way people actually think about contracts and agreements around the globe. Differences in orientations to communications context, moral reasoning, and institutional and structural conditions make the identification of authentic norms, hypernorms, and relevant communities problematic. The difficulties of the empirical methods suggest recourse to more traditional theoretical approaches for the identification of hypernorms as well as a stronger test for the compatibility of authentic norms with hypernorms.     

Spatial pricing in international trade: Some limited evidence

Zusammenfassung Regionale Preisdifferenzierung im internationalen Handel. Ein empirischer Befund. — In diesem Aufsatz wird versucht, die Bedeutung regionaler Preisdifferenzierung im internationalen Handel zu ermitteln, wobei die Frachtraten in der Seeschiffahrt und die f.o.b.-Durchschnittswerte für kanadische Exporte von Zeitungspapier, Aluminium-Barren, raffiniertem Kupfer und Asbestfasern verwendet werden. Die Daten umfassen mehrere Jahre. Die Ergebnisse der Regressionen zeigen, da? die Exporteure aller vier Produkte die Frachtkosten bis zu einem gewissen Grade absorbieren, und zwar wohl besonders h?ufig bei Zeitungspapier und Kupfer.

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Résumé La détermination des prix spatiaux au commerce international: Quelques preuves limitées. — Cette étude essaie d’évaluer l’importance de la détermination des prix spatiaux au commerce international en utilisant le fret maritime et les valeurs par unité franco bord concernant les exportations canadiennes pour le papier à imprimer, les lingots d’aluminium, le cuivre, et les fibres d’amiante. La base des données comprend plusieurs années. Les résultats de la regression indiquent que les exportateurs des quatre produits analysés absorbent partiellement le fret s’ils forment les prix mais il semble que la pratique est plus prépondérante concernant les prix de papier à imprimer et de cuivre.

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Resumen Política de precios espacial en el comercio international : cierta evidencia empírica limitada. — En este trabajo se intenta evaluar la importancia de una política de precios espacial en el comercio international utilizando tarifas de carga marítima y valores unitarios fob de las exportaciones canadienses de periódicos, lingotes de aluminio, cobre (tipos refinados) y fibras de asbesto. El banco de datos abarca varios a?os. Los resultados de las regresiones indican que una parte de la absorción de la carga ocurre en la política de precios para los cuatro bienes, mas en la práctica parece no prevalecer en la politica de precios para periódicos y cobre.

     

British and French shipbuilding: the industrial relations of decline

The merchant shipbuilding industry in Western Europe has been unable to withstand the pressure of overwhelming international competition. This article examines and contrasts the varying consequences of decline for the British and French industries.     

Personal perception and community speculation: A British resort in the 19th century

The paper presents a case history of the origin and early development of what later became a major UK seaside resort. Weston-super-Mare. Early developers were faced with considerable environmental difficulties, and by using a variety of contemporary documentary sources the paper considers how the problems were overcome within the context of both developers' and early visitors' perceptions, and of the regional market for tourism in the early nineteenth century. The reaction of the existing local community to development potential is also considered, and more general conclusions are reached on the nature of resort development in the nineteenth century.     

Inside the Crystal Ball of Finance: Understanding Financial Economists' Attitudes to Market and Society

Market economists are thought to wield tremendous power—not only over financial markets but over governments that stray from the ‘market way’. Still, there is mystery about what economists think, and how they form their judgements. This article reports results from a survey of over 50 financial market economists from leading financial institutions in Australia conducted in December 2003 and January 2004. It provides insight into the opinions of economists who impact on markets and policy, especially through media commentary. The article identifies their economic and social views, comparing them with the Australian public. We then examine how professional views of economists differ from their personal views. Differences in professional and private views—especially over the role of government and labour markets—are an opportunity to ponder how judgements are formed and used. We offer tentative answers to the question: do these professionals—highly paid for their opinions—occasionally self‐censor?     

Model uncertainty and liquidity

Extreme market outcomes are often followed by a lack of liquidity and a lack of trade. This market collapse seems particularly acute for markets where traders rely heavily on a specific empirical model such as in derivative markets like the market for mortgage backed securities or credit derivatives. Moreover, the observed behavior of traders and institutions that places a large emphasis on “worst-case scenarios” through the use of “stress testing” and “Value-at-Risk” seems different than Savage expected utility would suggest. In this paper, we capture model-uncertainty using an Epstein and Wang [Epstein, L.G., Wang, T., 1994. Intertemporal asset pricing under Knightian uncertainty. Econometrica 62, 283–322] uncertainty-averse utility function with an ambiguous underlying asset-returns distribution. To explore the connection of uncertainty with liquidity, we specify a simple market where a monopolist financial intermediary makes a market for a propriety derivative security. The market-maker chooses bid and ask prices for the derivative, then, conditional on trade in this market, chooses an optimal portfolio and consumption. We explore how uncertainty can increase the bid–ask spread and, hence, reduces liquidity. Our infinite-horizon example produces short, dramatic decreases in liquidity even though the underlying environment is stationary. We show how these liquidity crises are closely linked to the uncertainty aversion effect on the optimal portfolio. Effectively, the uncertainty aversion can, at times, limit the ability of the market-maker to hedge a position and thus reduces the desirability of trade, and hence, liquidity.