Learning outside the factory: a cliometric reappraisal on the impact of technological change on human capital accumulation

Abstract

The paper provides, a cliometric analysis on the impact of steam engine technology on the rise of adult education in nineteenth-century France. We exploit exogenous regional variations in the distribution of steam engines across France to evidence that technological change significantly contributed to the development of lifelong training during the 1850–1881 period. Our research shows that steam technology adoption in France was not deskilling. We argue that this process raised the demand for new skills adapted to the development of French industries.     

Können Unternehmen durch Cluster Wettbewerbsvorteile realisieren? Eine ressourcenbasierte Analyse des Uhrenclusters Glashütte

Single firms as parts of clusters are in the focus of this paper. They are analysed with regard to their contribution to the generation of firm- and cluster-specific competitive advantages. The resource-based view is extended to ensure applicability in cluster research. This approach serves as the basis for the analysis of a case study undertaken in 2008 in the watch cluster in Glashütte, Germany.     

Debt and Punishment: Market Discipline in the Eurozone

This article challenges the conventional wisdom of weak market discipline in Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In so doing, we empirically analyse the dynamics of market discipline for all 27 EU member states between 1992 and 2007. The existing literature tends to assert that markets discipline governments, without measuring whether the interest punishment markets impose actually has the purported effect on government policy. To better grasp the dynamics of market discipline it is essential to consider both sides. Market discipline is thus understood as a two-sided phenomenon. On the one hand, financial investors react to policy developments. On the other hand, policy-makers react to market signals. We find strong evidence that although the impact of fiscal policy developments on market punishment slightly decreases with monetary integration, government responsiveness to market punishment increases. This runs counter to the conventional narrative of policy-makers banking on bailout from fellow EMU members.     

Too hot to handle? Trust and human resource practitioners' implementation of anti‐bullying policy

In this article, we examine the dynamics of trust in the triadic relationship between HR, employees and managers when dealing with allegations of workplace bullying. Previous research has shown employees to be dissatisfied with HR practitioners' responses to complaints of workplace bullying, and we explore the novel angle of the HR practitioners' perspective through semistructured interviews. Paralleling extant employee accounts, the findings suggest that HR practitioners rarely judge situations as bullying where a manager is accused. Trust between employee, manager and HR practitioner is essential for the successful resolution of bullying claims, yet this study suggests multiple directions of distrust. By virtue of their role alignment and previous experiences of handling bullying, HR practitioners were found to prioritise their relationships with managers, automatically distrusting employees' bullying claims. Despite also distrusting managers to effectively deliver HRM practices, it appears that bullying complaints are ‘too hot to handle’ for HR practitioners given the risks to their relationships with managers.     

Unpaid household work and the distribution of extended income: The Norwegian experience

Measurement of unpaid household work is important in order to better understand income distribution as well as to give visibility to women's work and achieve more comprehensive estimates of the level of economic activity. This article surveys estimates of unpaid household work in Norway for use in national accounts and analysis of consumption possibilities. The latter are measured by extended income, defined as income after tax plus the value of unpaid household work. We find that extended income appears to be more evenly distributed than money income.     

Macro-econometric modelling for the Nigerian economy: A growth–poverty gap analysis

This study develops comprehensive full-sector macro-econometric models for the Nigerian economy with the aim of explaining and providing a long-term solution for the persistent growth–poverty divergence experienced by the country. The models are applied to test the hypothesis of existing structural supply-side constraints versus demand-side constraints impeding the economic growth and development of the country. A review of the historical performance of the Nigerian economy reveals significant socio–economic constraints as the predominant impediments to high and sticky levels of poverty in the economy. Thus, a model which is suitable for policy analyses of the Nigerian economy needs to capture the long-run supply-side characteristics of the economy. A price block is incorporated to specify the price adjustment between the production or supply-side sector and real aggregate demand sector. The institutional characteristics with associated policy behaviour are incorporated through a public and monetary sector, whereas the interaction with the rest of the world is represented by a foreign sector, with specific attention being given to the oil sector. The models are estimated with time-series data from 1970 to 2006 using the Engle–Granger two-step co-integration technique, capturing both the long-run and short-run dynamic properties of the economy. The full-sector models are subjected to a series of policy scenarios to evaluate various options for government to improve the productive capacity of the economy, thereby achieving sustained accelerated growth and a reduction in poverty in the Nigerian economy.     

Population Dynamics in East and West Germany—Projections to 2050

Original Papers

Population Dynamics in East and West Germany—Projections to 2050     

When Rule Makers Become Rule Breakers: Employee Level Outcomes of Managerial Pro-Social Rule Breaking

We extend Morrison’s (2006) construct of pro-social rule breaking (PSRB) in two important ways. First, we explicate the processes through which PSRB may have unintended negative consequences. Second, we provide a conceptual model intended to guide future research into PSRB. The model discusses the mechanisms through which managerial PSRB may lead to negative employee outcomes. Specifically, we propose that when managers engage in PSRB, more complex processes (perceptions of organizational justice, attributions of management by employees, and psychological contract violations) mediate the unintended employee level outcomes of managerial PSRB.     

A Novel Sampling Strategy for Surveying High Net-Worth Individuals—A Pretest Application Using the Socio-Economic Panel

High-wealth individuals are typically underrepresented or completely missing in population surveys. The lack of comprehensive national registers on high-wealth individuals in many countries challenged previous attempts to remedy this under-representation. In a novel research design, we draw on public data on the shareholding structures of companies as a sampling frame. Our design builds on the empirical regularity that high-wealth individuals are likely to hold at least part of their assets in the form of shareholdings. Based on data from over 270 million companies worldwide, we select all individuals who are both German residents and registered shareholders of companies. In a pretest, we interviewed 124 households from a gross sample of 2,000 anchor persons. Our analysis shows that values of shareholdings from register data highly correlate with individual ranks in the wealth distribution, that the quality of personal information, particularly the residential address, is sufficiently high for subsequent interviewing, and that the approach can fill a major data and research gap in the study of high-wealth individuals.