Job security as a threatened resource: reactions to job insecurity in culturally distinct regions

As downsizing and restructuring have become global phenomena, the impact of job insecurity on employee attitudes has received significant attention. However, research examining the role of cultural dimensions has been largely unexplored. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we investigated whether the relationships between both quantitative job insecurity (i.e. the perceived threat of job loss) and qualitative job insecurity (i.e. the perceived threat of losing valued job features) and employee attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intention) differ in culturally distinct regions. This was examined using representative employee samples from two regions of Switzerland which differ in societal practices uncertainty avoidance and performance orientation: the German-speaking (n = 966) and the French-speaking (n = 307) regions. Our research indicates that whereas the relationship between quantitative job insecurity and turnover intention is stronger in the French-speaking region where there is higher societal practice uncertainty avoidance, the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and job satisfaction is stronger in the German-speaking region where there is higher societal practice performance orientation.     

On labour mobility and the neutrality of money in unionised economies

A recent literature suggests that when wage setters are non-atomistic, strategic interaction between trade unions and the central bank may cause the monetary regime to matter for the labour market outcome, see Cukierman and Lippi (1999), Soskice and Iversen (2000), Vartiainen (2002), Holden (2003), Lippi (2003), Corricelli et al. (2006), Gnocchi (2006) and references therein. I show that when perfect labour mobility is introduced in a game between large wage setters and the central bank in a small open economy, the monetary regime is of no importance for real wages, employment or profits. The result suggests that if labour mobility is sufficiently high, worker migration is likely to mitigate the labour market effects of monetary regimes over time.     

基于结构方程模型的区域自主创新能力评价——以长三角地区为例

区域自主创新能力建设是我国建设创新型国家的重要组成部分,对区域自主创新能力影响因素进行评价是提升区域自主创新能力的基础。长三角地区是我国自主创新能力最强的区域,对其进行了自主创新能力评价,为提升长三角地区自主创新能力与竞争力提供了决策依据。以结构方程模型为基础,分析了影响长三角区域自主创新能力的综合系统、各因素的相互作用及影响程度,针对存在的问题提出了相应的对策建议。     

Do women lack ambition?

For men, ambition is considered a necessary and desirable part of life. Most women, however, associate ambition with egotism, self-aggrandizement, or manipulation. Getting to the bottom of why this is so required study of what ambition consists of--for both sexes. In childhood, the research uncovered, girls are clear about their ambitions. Their goals are grand, and they make no apologies for them. In nearly all childhood ambitions, two distinct factors are in place: the mastery of a special skill, and recognition for it. And what's true in childhood is no less true in later life: We all want our efforts and accomplishments acknowledged. Yet there are dramatic differences in how women and men create, reconfigure, and realize (or abandon) their goals. Most women are demure when praised for their achievements. One could chalk up this behavior to women's innate modesty or see it as a passive way of highlighting their accomplishments. But the fear of recognition that many women express suggests otherwise. Research has shown that such behavior varies according to social context: Women more openly seek and compete for affirmation when they are with other women, but they behave differently when competing with men. The underlying problem has to do with cultural ideals of femininity. Women face the reality that to appear feminine, they must provide or relinquish scarce resources to others--and recognition is indeed a scarce resource. Although women have more opportunities than ever before, they still come under social scrutiny that makes hard choices--such as when and whether to start a family or advance in the workplace--even harder. There are no easy solutions, but there are ways women can hold fast to their dreams. They must band together, learn to blow their own horns, and structure their lives in a way that promotes recognition.     

Stock Price Effects of Mandatory Exchangeable Debt

We study mandatory exchangeable debt offerings. A firm that issues mandatory exchangeable debt requires bondholders to exchange their bonds for shares of the underlying firm in which the issuing firm has a stake. We find significant announcement (−3.3%) and long-run (−13%) abnormal price declines for underlying companies. The evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that mandatory exchangeable debt issuers exploit private information that they possess to issue mandatory exchangeable debt when the underlying stock is overvalued.     

污染产业转移成因及政府规制探讨

产业转移是地区分工和国际分工的客观要求,但由于环境外部性内在化程度在地区间存在差异以及地方政府追求特定目标动机的存在,使得污染问题伴随产业转移而影响了转入地的生态环境.结合江苏省内产业转移现状,探讨污染产业转移的成因,认为现有政府规制方式失灵,提出了解决污染转移的新方式.     

The central bank as shaper and observer of events: The case of the yield spread

The yield spread has commonly been employed as a successful predictor of economic growth and recessions, although its marginal predictive power has decreased since the 1990s. Notably, the yield spread's declining power to predict US economic activity coincided with its growing power to predict US interest rate changes. In my view, these phenomena are inevitably linked and share one cause. The central bank intended to enhance both its transparency and credibility through greater information disclosure; this disclosure improved interest rate predictability but might also have crowded out useful private information formerly in the yield spread that helped predict economic activity.     

The interaction between macroprudential and monetary policies: The cases of Norway and Sweden

To shed light on the interaction between macroprudential and monetary policies, we study the inward transmission of foreign monetary policy in conjunction with domestic macroprudential and monetary policies in Norway and Sweden. Using detailed bank‐level data, we show how Norwegian and Swedish banks’ lending reacts to monetary policy surprises arising abroad, controlling for the domestic macroprudential stance and the interaction between monetary and macroprudential policies. In both countries, domestic macroprudential policy helps mitigate the effects arising from foreign monetary surprises.     

Volatility spillovers and macroeconomic announcements: evidence from crude oil markets

The paper applies an event study methodologyaims to investigate the macroeconomic announcements effects on Standard&Poor’s500 and oil prices. Our results provide evidence for a significant impact of the US macroeconomic news on oil prices. This impact is split into two components, namely the direct effect (common response) and indirect effect (volatility transmission). Altogether our results show that the volatility transmission is bidirectional. Not only a significant volatility transmission from the oil market to the US stock market is revealed, but also a high volatility transmission is recorded from the oil market to the stock market especially after the release of consumption indicators.     

Making direct democracy work: a rational-actor perspective on the <Emphasis Type="Italic">graphe paranomon</Emphasis> in ancient Athens

The specific way the Athenians set up their democracy presents both theoretical and empirical challenges. Decisions were taken by majority vote in the Assembly. To keep politicians in line, the Athenians first used ostracism, which however was replaced by the graphe paranomon around 415 BCE. The latter provided that anybody who had made a proposal in the Assembly could be accused of having made an unconstitutional suggestion, bringing a potentially severe penalty if found guilty. We know of 35 such cases between 403 and 322. During the fourth century the notion of illegality was extended to a mere question of political undesirability. Henceforth any decision by the Assembly could be overturned by the courts, but if the accuser failed to get at least 20% of the jury votes, he was punished instead. While these rules can be seen as a safeguard against bad decisions, they also provided the Athenian politicians with important information about the relative strength of their political support. This effect has not been analysed before, and it may help explain the relative stability of political life in classical Athens. Furthermore this analysis also contributes to our understanding of a curious but often overlooked fact, namely that the decrees of the Athenian Assembly to a great extent concerned honorary rewards, and the use of the graphe paranomon in turn was largely focussed on the honorary decrees.