THE LABOUR FOOTPRINT: A FRAMEWORK TO ASSESS LABOUR IN A COMPLEX ECONOMY

As addressing labour becomes crucial in the move towards sustainability, there is the need for assessment tools suitable for current complex economic systems. This article presents an input–output based framework (‘labour footprint’) for evaluating labour issues behind the production of different economic commodities, including entire supply chains. In line with the guidelines of the International Labour Organization, six labour issues are considered: collective bargaining, forced labour, child labour, gender inequality, hazardous work, and social security. This conceptual article sets to (a) define this footprint's labour dimensions, (b) cite relevant data sources, (c) describe its calculation, (d) illustrate its application through a case study, and (e) discuss this framework's relevance from ‘conscious consumption’, ‘supply chain responsibility’, and regulators' standpoints. Since it advances the evaluation of fundamental labour issues and the scope of multi-criteria analyses, this footprint may be a valuable tool for sustainability assessments.     

Trade Facilitation and Economic Development: A New Approach to Quantifying the Impact

This article analyzes the relationship between trade facilitationand trade flows in the Asia-Pacific region. Country-specificdata for port efficiency, customs environment, regulatory environment,and e-business usage are used to construct indicators for measuringtrade facilitation. The relationship between these indicatorsand trade flows is estimated using a gravity model that includestariffs and other standard variables. Enhanced port efficiencyhas a large and positive effect on trade flows. Regulatory barriersdeter trade. Improvements in customs and greater e-businessuse significantly expand trade but to a lesser degree than improvementsin ports or regulations. The benefits of specific trade facilitationefforts are estimated by quantifying differential improvementsin these four areas among members of the Asia Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC). A scenario in which APEC members with below-averageindicators improve capacity halfway to the average for all membersshows that intra-APEC trade could increase by $254 billion,or 21 percent of intra-APEC trade flows. About half the increaseis derived from improved port efficiency.     

The Effect of Information Provision on Stated and Revealed Preferences: A Field Experiment on the Choice of Power Tariffs Before and After Japanese Retail Electricity Liberalization

Environmental and Resource Economics - This paper examines differences in attitudes towards electricity fee plans when information is provided on electricity bills based on past electricity...     

The effects of detailing on prescribing decisions under quality uncertainty

Motivated by recent empirical findings on the relationship between new clinical evidence and the effectiveness of detailing, this paper develops a new structural model of detailing and prescribing decisions under the environment where both manufacturers and physicians are uncertain about drug qualities. Our model assumes (1) a representative opinion leader is responsible for updating the prior belief about the quality of drugs via consumption experiences and clinical trial outcomes, and (2) manufacturers use detailing as a means to build/maintain the measure of physicians who are informed of the current information sets. Unlike previous learning models with informative detailing, our model directly links the effectiveness of detailing to the current information sets and the measures of well-informed physicians. To illustrate the empirical implications of the new model, we estimate our model using a product level panel data on sales volume, prices, detailing minutes, and clinical trial outcomes for ACE-inhibitors with diuretics in Canada. Using our estimates, we demonstrate how the effectiveness of detailing depends on the information sets and the measures of well-informed physicians. Furthermore, we conduct a policy experiment to examine how a public awareness campaign, which encourages physicians/patients to report their drug experiences, would affect managerial incentives to detail. The results demonstrate that the empirical and managerial implications of our model can be very different from those of previous models. We argue that our results point out the importance of developing a structural model that captures the mechanism of how detailing/advertising conveys information in the market under study.     

A practitioner’s guide to Bayesian estimation of discrete choice dynamic programming models

This paper provides a step-by-step guide to estimating infinite horizon discrete choice dynamic programming (DDP) models using a new Bayesian estimation algorithm (Imai et al., Econometrica 77:1865?C1899, 2009a) (IJC). In the conventional nested fixed point algorithm, most of the information obtained in the past iterations remains unused in the current iteration. In contrast, the IJC algorithm extensively uses the computational results obtained from the past iterations to help solve the DDP model at the current iterated parameter values. Consequently, it has the potential to significantly alleviate the computational burden of estimating DDP models. To illustrate this new estimation method, we use a simple dynamic store choice model where stores offer ??frequent-buyer?? type rewards programs. Our Monte Carlo results demonstrate that the IJC method is able to recover the true parameter values of this model quite precisely. We also show that the IJC method could reduce the estimation time significantly when estimating DDP models with unobserved heterogeneity, especially when the discount factor is close to 1.     

Software piracy and outsourcing in two-sided markets

This paper examines the role of software piracy in digital platforms where a platform provider makes a decision of how much software to produce in-house and how much to outsource from a third-party software provider. Using a vertical differentiation model, we theoretically investigate how piracy influences the software outsourcing decision. We find that when piracy is intermediate, the loss in in-house software profits due to piracy outweighs the loss in licensing fee profits. As a result, an increase in piracy leads to more outsourcing. However, when piracy is high, it becomes too expensive for the platform provider to subsidize the software provider, resulting in a decrease in outsourcing. Moreover, when software variety is also endogenously chosen by firms, the platform provider’s incentive to develop software variety in-house depends not only on the return from software profits but also on the return from hardware profits. Under such a situation, an increase in piracy always leads to less outsourcing and less total software variety. To provide additional insights on the outsourcing decision, we conduct empirical analyses using data from the U.S. handheld video game market between 2004 and 2012. This market is a classical two-sided market, dominated by two handheld platforms (Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable) and is known to have suffered from software piracy significantly. Our regression results show that in this market, piracy increases outsourcing but has no effect on the total software variety.

     

Standards and export decisions: Firm-level evidence from developing countries

Standards and technical regulations set in importing countries have become a rising concern to exporters, especially to those in developing countries. This paper examines the importance of various types of standards in developing-country firms' export decisions. Drawn from the World Bank Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Survey database, we find that different types of standards exhibit sharply distinct relations with firms' intensive and extensive margins of exports. Quality standards are positively correlated not only with firms' average export volume across markets and products but also their export scope, measured by the number of export markets and products. A similar relationship is found between labeling requirements and export scope. Certification procedures, however, are associated with a significant decline in the number of export markets and export products. Our results suggest that different approaches should be taken to address each type of technical regulations. Not all standards need to be negotiated away to boost trade, but negotiations on certification procedures with the aim of reaching Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) can help firms improve economies of scale and scope.     

Assessing the Benefits of Trade Facilitation: A Global Perspective

This paper estimates the relationship between trade facilitation and trade flows using a panel of disaggregated manufactured goods for the 2000–2001 period for 75 countries. Four categories of trade facilitation are defined, measured and assessed for their impact on bilateral trade flows using a gravity model. The four measures of trade facilitation are: port infrastructure (air and maritime), customs environment, regulatory environments and e‐business infrastructure. The results suggest that raising global capacity halfway to the world average in the four areas would increase trade by $377 billion. Most regions of the world increase exports more than imports. In large part, this result stems from increased exports to OECD markets that is obtained through a country's own effort to improve ports, customs, regulations and services infrastructures. In addition, the results suggest that reform and capacity building in trade facilitation in areas related to GATT Articles V, VIII and X that are under discussion at the World Trade Organisation could expand trade and exports significantly. Many of the reform measures necessary to achieve this goal need not necessarily require large‐scale investment projects, but rather action in legal and administrative reform to facilitate trade.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviews in This Article: Seeds of Plenty, Seeds of Want: Social and. Economic. Implications of the Green Revolution by Andrew Pearse China's Transition to Industrialism: Producer Goods and Economic Development in the Twentieth Century by Thomas G. Rawski