An axiomatic characterization of the Baker-Thompson rule

The airport problem is a widely studied allocation problem, with the aim of providing simple and fair sharing rule for the landing fees. In this note we introduce some fairness criteria and characterize the classical Baker-Thompson allocation rule.     

Is the ‘Globalization’ of Science Always Good for Scientific Productivity and Economic Growth?

Modern science is characterized by an increasing trend in collaborations and interactions among researchers. This paper aims to analyse the effects of this phenomenon on the productivity of the science sector and on the growth rate of the economy. Basic research is modelled as a contest where only those who arrive first at an innovation obtain the reward and where the interactions among researchers do contribute to production of scientific knowledge. An important result is that when interactions are significant multiple steady states emerge. Hence the ‘science globalization’ process could have enhanced the heterogeneity among scientific sectors of different countries. When there are low interactions, policies that increase connectivity could have low or even perverse effect at improving the efficiency of science, the contrary happens in high connectivity environments.     

Identifying the scope effect on a meta-analysis of biodiversity valuation studies

Insensitivity to scope is an issue of much debate in contingent valuation (CV) even today. Although the literature about insensitivity to scope is abundant, the reasons for it are not yet well known. Through a meta-analysis of CV studies of biodiversity, the treatment of the different possible measures of the quantity of the good is explored in relation to scope sensitivity. Overall, the findings suggest that CV results are sensitive to the amount of the good being valued, although the result depends on how the environmental change is measured. Results support the use of absolute sizes when conducting CV studies.     

How adult children in the UK and the US view the driving cessation of their parents: Is a policy window opening?

Both the UK and the US have rapidly ageing and increasingly diverse populations very dependent on driving. A comparative study commissioned by the UK Department for Transport found that in both the UK and the US adult children of older drivers, whilst often concerned about their parents’ continued driving, were also worried about the burden they would carry when their parents stopped driving, although there were differences by race and ethnicity. This study suggests that a policy window may be opening through which babyboomers can advocate for a range of driver training, roadway and vehicle improvements, expansion and enhancement of traditional public transportation and community transport options, improvements in accessibility and pedestrian infrastructure, and supportive land use and housing policies that would allow older people to drive safely longer, and, find meaningful mobility options when they can no longer drive. Policy responses must recognise and respond appropriately to differences by race and ethnicity.     

Employee reactions to voice and choice in the workplace: the influence of culture

The present study investigated the effect of culture on a much-prescribed management practice, that of employee participation in decision making. A survey was conducted among employees from two countries culturally distinct in the dimensions of power distance and individualism, namely Canada and the Philippines. Given eight decision-making scenarios that varied in terms of whether voice and/or choice was given to the employee and in terms of the importance of the outcomes, the respondents were asked about their perceptions of fairness of the procedures and outcomes, satisfaction with the procedures and outcomes, and preference for the decision-making procedures. Results show a highly significant country decision-making mode outcome importance interaction effect, but not in the directions expected. Overall, the Philippine sample registered more positive reactions to participation in decision making, although the Philippines' higher rank in power distance and lower rank in individualism than Canada seem to indicate otherwise. The results, together with a previous study conducted in high power distance-low individualism Mexico, forcefully suggest that employee participation in decision making may be successfully transferred.     

A signalling model of school grades under different evaluation systems

We examine the role of school grades as a signal of worker productivity under different examination systems in relation to errors that may affect student performance. Firms use school grades as a signal of workers’ effective skills, taking into account that these evaluations are effected by stochastic shocks. We show that more precise evaluation systems, being associated with a higher reactivity of wages to school grades, induce students to provide more effort. Low ability students tend to react less than high ability students. Moreover, individuals with low abilities may prefer less accurate evaluation systems. Nevertheless, when productivity increases, these systems become less convenient and the number of individuals preferring them diminishes. Our analysis highlights an important trade-off between centralised and decentralised evaluation systems. On the one hand, frequent evaluations, typical of decentralised systems, weaken the impact on grades of those errors which influence student performance and, so, reduce signal noise, while, on the other hand, different teachers generally adopt different performance assessment standards, leading to noisier evaluations.     

The impact of economic geography on wages: Disentangling the channels of influence

This paper evaluates the role of economic geography in explaining regional wages in China. It investigates the extent to which market proximity can explain the evolution of wages, and through which channels. We construct a complete indicator of market access at the provincial level from data on domestic and international trade flows; this is introduced in a simultaneous-equations system to identify the direct and indirect effect of market access on wages. The estimation results for 29 Chinese provinces over 1995–2002 suggest that access to sources of demand is indeed an important factor shaping regional wage dynamics in China. We investigate three channels through which market access might influence wages beside direct transport-cost savings: export performance, and human and physical capital accumulation. A fair share of benefits seems to come from enhanced export performance and greater accumulation of physical capital. The main source of influence of market access remains direct transport costs.     

A macroeconomic analysis of the public investments in European combined transport

Intermodal transport has been recognized as a priority by the European Union, that has defined different budget allocations of investments to improve the shifting from road to intermodal transport, which is more sustainable. In this context, the main aim of the paper is to discuss the macroeconomic effects, in terms of economic growth, welfare and trade, of these public investments for combined transport, which aspects have been neglected in literature. A multi-country computable general equilibrium model has been used. The main results have been that the European Union benefits from these investments, but at international level, USA and Japan would lose in terms of welfare. Furthermore, the welfare change has been decomposed in its components and the results show that the trade effects are higher than the allocative effects. The robustness of the results has been tested over time and by a sensitivity analysis of the exchange rate.     

Trust,individualism and job characteristics as predictors of employee preference for teamwork

Employee resistance has long been recognized as a key constraint on the success of organizational change initiatives. However, it is only recently that employee attitudes towards working in teams has been specifically investigated as a factor influencing team effectiveness. Using data from 218 employees in 40 self-managing work teams, we examined the relationship between trust, individualism, job characteristics and team members' attitudes towards teamwork. Providing a partial test of Mayer et al.'s (1995) relational model of trust, the results indicate that the two situational forms of trust (trust in co-workers and trust in management) were stronger predictors of an employee's preference for teamwork than propensity to trust. Trust in co-workers was found to partially mediate the relationship between a person's propensity to trust strangers and their preference for working in a team. The importance of considering the dispositional variables of propensity to trust and individualism as factors that influence an employee's preference for teamwork, as well as their trust in management, trust in co-workers and their opportunity for skill utilization are discussed.