Firm creation,entry costs,and house-price volatility∗

Amid growing work on the link between firm creation and cyclical housing-market dynamics, we document a significant, positive, and robust cross-country relationship between the level of new firm creation and the cyclical volatility of house prices. Using a business-cycle model with endogenous firm entry, housing, and housing-finance constraints and shocks, we show that, via general equilibrium effects, greater average firm entry can be a powerful amplification mechanism of housing-finance shocks. These shocks and constraints play a key role in quantitatively rationalizing the link between firm creation and house-price volatility across countries.     

Identification of Dynamic Models of Rewards Programme

“Frequent‐buyer” rewards programmes are commonly used by companies as a marketing tool to compete for market share. They provide a unique environment for studying consumers’ forward‐looking behaviour. The consumer's problem on accumulating reward points can be formulated as a stationary infinite horizon discrete choice dynamic programming model. We show that the parameters of this model, including the discount factor, are well‐identified. In particular, it is possible to identify state‐dependent discount factors (i.e. discount factors can vary with the number of reward points). We discuss how this identification result is related to the goal‐gradient hypothesis studied in the consumer psychology literature.     

Trade union power and jobs: theory and policy

This paper looks at the relationship between trade union power and jobs in a capitalist economy. It is argued that trade unions, as they threaten profitability, may hinder the functioning of capitalist economies. But, any adverse effects of trade unions on jobs arise because of the constraints imposed on trade union activity by the state and capitalists. In alternative forms of economic organization, trade unions are not likely to reduce the number of jobs. The implications of this argument for policy towards trade unions are also discussed.     

Export–led growth and structural change: evidence from Malaysia

Many studies have tried to establish the causal link between export expansion and economic growth. This contribution is to recognize that structural changes will change the sources of growth and this will affect the export-growth relationship. A country case study approach is used focusing on Malaysia, a country with one of the world's highest sustained growth rates and a long history of commodity trade. We use VAR analysis of Malaysian quarterly trade and GDP growth from 1965 to 1996. Trade data are disaggregated into primary and manufactures exports and causality tests are applied to the entire period as well as two subperiods #150 the 1965 #1501980 period when policy emphasis was on import substitution and the 1981#1501996 period when policies favoured export-led growth. Statistical tests confirm export-led growth for the full period and for the period to 1980 but tests on the 1981#1501996 period show growth causing exports. Primary exports had a stronger direct impact on economic growth than manufactures. The weakening support for export-led growth after Malaysia shifted to an export-oriented development strategy is associated with structural changes associated with industrialization. Interaction among trade and growth variables becomes more complex with a broadening export base and more diverse sources of growth.     

Patent Examination Quality and Litigation: Is There a Link?

Abstract

In this study, we use carefully constructed matched samples of litigated and non-litigated patents to investigate the characteristics that predict litigation. We define different control groups based on filing characteristics and value correlates (or both), and test the extent to which examination characteristics predict litigation. This paper is the first to use detailed examination characteristics to understand the resulting patent rights. By controlling (at least in part) for patent value, the estimation strategy has implications for the degree to which patent examination characteristics are correlated with uncertainty. We find that some examination characteristics predict litigation, but that the bulk of the predictive power in the model comes from filing characteristics.     

From overt provider to invisible presence: discursive shifts in advertising portrayals of the father in Good Housekeeping, 1950–2010

Abstract

This article considers the link between fatherhood and masculinity and identifies some of the key discursive shifts around fatherhood based on an analysis of advertising material that appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine between 1950 and 2010. It provides a socio-historical perspective on fatherhood that reveals a discursive shift from the father as patriarchal family provider/protector to a more ambiguous and less obvious presence in the magazine advertisements. Our findings suggest that family-related advertising in women’s magazines does little to challenge the traditional models of paternal masculinity. Changes in the portrayal of fathers, when examined closely, seem to reinforce traditional gender hegemony. Yet, over time, a ‘multiplicity of possibilities’ of dominant paternal masculinities is emerging, broadening the original ‘breadwinner’ model and perhaps offering some transformative potential around how we view fathers.     

A Study of Marketing Standardization and Performance of Australian,Japanese, and U.S. Firms

Given the continued importance of the globalization era, there is an ever-increasing interest in the correlation between marketing mix standardization and the firm's market performance. This issue focuses on the firm's pursuit of global markets in an environment conditional to internal and external market factors. The research examines factors on multinational firm's marketing mix (program and process marketing) from Australia, Japan, and the United States and the impact on market performance. The results are mixed providing some support for marketing standardization and profit performance.     

Analyzing Massive Data Sets: An Adaptive Fuzzy Neural Approach for Prediction,with a Real Estate Illustration

Drawing useful predictions from vast accumulations of data is becoming critical to the success of an enterprise. Organizations’ databases grow exponentially from transactions with external stakeholders in addition to their own internal activities. An important organizational computing issue is that, as they grow, the databases become potentially more valuable and also more difficult to analyze. One example is predicting the value of residential real estate based on past comparable sales transactions. This is critical to several important sectors of the US economy including the mortgage finance industry and local governments that collect property taxes. The common methodology for dealing with such property valuation is based on multiple regression, although this methodology has been found to be deficient. Data mining methods have been proposed and tested as an alternative, but the results are very mixed. This article introduces a novel approach for improving predictions using an adaptive, neuro-fuzzy inference model, and illustrates its application to real estate property price prediction through the use of comparable properties. Although neuro-fuzzy–based approaches have been found to be effective for classification and estimation in many fields, there is very little existing work that investigates their potential in a real estate context. In addition, this article addresses several common problems in existing studies, such as small sample size, lack of rigorous data sampling, and poor model validation and testing. Our model is tested with real sales data from the assessment office in a large US city. The results show that the neuro-fuzzy model is superior in all of the test scenarios. The article also discusses and refines a unique technique to defining comparable properties to improve accuracy. Test results show very promising potential for this technique in mass appraisal in real estate and similar contexts when used with the neuro-fuzzy model.     

Strategic manoeuvres and impression management: communication approaches in the case of a crisis event

This historical study examines the actions of the Australian former asbestos company, James Hardie, when faced with a potentially ruinous corporate scandal between 2001 and 2007. The company became vilified as public awareness grew of the damage to public health its use of asbestos had caused. In response, it set-up a knowingly underfunded compensation fund supported by a strategy of misinformation and denial. Its actions are analysed using Oliver’s typology of strategic responses and theories of crisis management and crisis communications, providing insights into the company’s motivations for adopting strategies that took it to the brink of financial collapse.