Is Infrastructure Spending an Effective Fiscal Policy?

The impact of expansionary fiscal policy intended to increase economic growth by using infrastructure‐focused stimulus packages is analyzed by considering the debt to GDP ratio dynamics model. It is shown that for the data characterizing the current state of the US economy the government investment in infrastructure cannot decrease the debt to GDP ratio. The paper contributes to the ongoing fiscal policy debate whether government investment in infrastructure is an effective approach to boost the economy.     

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Governance on the Ground: A Study of Solid Waste Management in Addis Ababa,Ethiopia

This article examines the management of solid waste in Addis Ababa from 2004 to mid‐2011. It describes how solid waste management has evolved and how relationships between the informal sector and the local authority have shifted in relation to the political atmosphere in the city. The author shows how good governance promoted by international donors does not necessarily result in improved service delivery on the ground. In line with the principles of good governance, the Ethiopian government decentralized the city's administration and entered into partnerships with non‐state actors in order to improve service delivery. However, these structural changes have not led to improvements in providing services for dealing with solid waste, nor have they improved accountability to or participation by civil society. The study shows that the established ways of exercising power are continuing within the new structures of the city administration, resulting in increased control over the actors involved in the process, and more conflicts and deeper mistrust of the city administration. This, in turn, has prevented the successful integration of the informal sector and provision of an improved solid waste service in the city. The city administration in Addis Ababa claims to have adopted good governance, but in reality it has adapted good governance to suit its own interests and agendas.     

Cross‐border Economic Activities,Human Capital and Efficiency: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis for OECD Countries

We study the growth effects of outward‐ori,ented econ,o,mies by using sto,chas,tic fron,tier anal,y,sis to mea,sure the effi,ciency exter,nal,i,ties of three forms of eco,n,omic cross‐bor,der activ,i,ties – inter,na,tional trade, for,eign direct invest,ment (FDI) and migra,tion – for OECD coun,tries. The study also exam,ines whether the effi,ciency of these cross‐bor,der activ,i,ties is affected by the level of human cap,i,tal in the host coun,try. We find that inter,na,tional trade and FDI are impor,tant chan,nels for improv,ing effi,ciency, as is human cap,i,tal accu,mu,la,tion, and that the positive effects of inter,na,tional trade, FDI, and migra,tion depend cru,cially on the level of accu,mu,lated human cap,i,tal. Our results show that the impact of human cap,i,tal is impor,tant for increas,ing effi,ciency via inter,na,tional trade flows and FDI flows, while immi,gra,tion into coun,tries that are richer in human cap,i,tal enhances their effi,ciency rel,a,tively more than immi,gra,tion into coun,tries with lower human cap,i,tal. These results remain robust to alter,nate mea,sures of human cap,i,tal, con,trols on edu,ca,tion lev,els among immi,grants, and to a non‐para,met,ric esti,ma,tion of the model.     

Foreign direct investment,industrial restructuring and the upgrading of Polish exports

This paper poses a central question in relation to the economic-structural effect of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with Polish manufacturing as an empirical case: how FDI coincides with the technology intensity of Polish exports. A short review of the available literature discusses critically the possibility of establishing one-sided cause-effect relationships between trade and FDI. Subsequently the empirical analysis investigates what role incoming FDI appears to have played in relation to Polish export specialization over the period 1989–1996. Results indicate that FDI has affected positively the technology intensity of the Polish export base.     

A study of the airline boarding problem

The airline industry is currently under intense pressure to simultaneously increase efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profitability. The boarding process is one way to achieve this objective as it lends itself to adaptive changes. The purpose of this paper is to determine the most cost-effective way to board passengers and still maintain quality and customer satisfaction. We conclude that the best strategy is to use a non-traditional methodology of outside-in or some modification thereof. The findings suggest that airline managers should consider issues related to evenly distributing boarding activity throughout the aircraft, developing more effective policies for managing carry-on luggage, and using simultaneous loading through two doors.     

Do tax subsidies for retirement saving affect total private saving? New evidence on middle-income workers*

We exploit exogenous variation from a pension reform in Denmark to estimate the effect of tax subsidies on total private saving. We present new evidence on individuals in the middle of the income distribution and show that a reduction in tax subsidies for retirement saving reduces total private saving. The reform changed the tax incentives for saving in the pension scheme that holds the highest tax advantage for middle-income workers in Denmark. We find that for each unit of reduced saving in this pension scheme, only 64 percent is substituted to other types of saving.