High-Performance Workplaces, Training, and the Distribution of Skills

Using a data set based on a nationally representative sample of British establishments, the analysis suggests that those exhibiting high-performance work practices have higher levels of training and those with a comprehensive set of these (or bundle) exhibit much higher levels than those which do not. This mainly reflects a greater intensity rather than a greater breadth of training. There is little evidence that the presence of these practices at a workplacepromotes a polarization of skills.     

Impacts of the Japanese patent system on productivity growth

We investigate empirically how the Japanese patent system has affected post-war growth in Japanese total factor productivity. The system has been criticized for several reasons, including that it encourages numerous filings of narrow claims that build incrementally on fundamental technologies developed by domestic and foreign inventors. Stated in different terms, the system was designed to promote technological catch-up and diffusion through incremental innovation. However, its effectiveness in achieving this purpose has not been studied systematically. We provide econometric evidence that the technology diffused through the Japanese patent system had a significant and positive impact on Japan's technical progress.     

Declining Concentration in UK Manufacturing? A problem of measurement

It has become conventional wisdom that market concentration in the UK has fallen over recent history. However, the typical assumption has been that all imports are competitive so that any increase in import penetration implies a decline in market concentration. In a world of transnationally organized production and trade this would seem an inappropriate working assumption. Our analysis of the UK market for cars, vans, trucks and buses, where the necessary detailed firm data is available, supports this contention: an accurate assessment of who controls imports is crucial in the measurement of market concentration.     

The Impact of Enterprise Zones on Job Creation in Mississippi

The designation of enterprise zones has been touted as an effective tool in efforts to reduce poverty, but scant evidence exists to support this. In 1983, Mississippi passed legislation authorizing the creation of enterprise zones in the most distressed counties of the state as a way of directing new jobs toward those areas. This study examines the effect of enterprise zone designation on the creation of jobs in new or expanding manufacturing establishments. Using a model estimated from panel data, the study found that qualifying as an enterprise zone had a positive effect on a county's rate of job creation. (JEL O180 , H710 )     

The long-run determination of the real exchange rate. Evidence from an intertemporal modelling framework using the dollar-pound exchange rate.

This paper develops a model of optimal choice over an array of different assets, including domestic and foreign bonds, domestic and foreign equities and domestic and foreign real money balances to examine the determination of the real exchange rate in the long-run. The model is tested empirically using data from the UK and the USA. The results show that all the coefficients of the model are right signed and significant and consequently financial assets may play a significant role in the determination of the real exchange rate.