Some unpleasant currency-devaluation arithmetic in a post Keynesian macromodel

The conventional view argues that devaluation increases the price competitiveness of domestic goods, thus allowing the economy to achieve a higher level of economic activity. However, these theoretical treatments largely neglect two important effects following devaluation: (1) the inflationary impact on the price of imported intermediate inputs, which raises the prime costs of firms and deteriorates partially or totally their price competitiveness; and (2) the redistribution of income from wages to profits, which ambiguously affects the aggregate demand as workers and capitalists have different propensities to save. New structuralist economists have explored these stylized facts neglected by the orthodox literature and, by and large, conclude that devaluation has contractionary effects on growth and positive effects on the external balance. Given that empirical evidence on the correlation between devaluation and growth is quite mixed, we develop a more general Keynesian–Kaleckian model that takes into account both opposing views in order to analyze the net impact of currency depreciation on the short-run growth rate and the current account. We demonstrate that this impact can go either way, depending on several conditions such as the type of growth regime, that is, wage-led or profit-led, and the degree of international price competitiveness of domestic goods.     

Subsidizing technology: How to succeed

Examining the database of applications to the Regional Government of Valencia's Institute for Small and Medium-sized Industries (Spain) for subsidies to aid technological development in small and medium-sized enterprises, this study seeks to explain the approval or rejection and the success or failure of projects that look to receive state funding. The independent variables in the database are particularly concerned with reliance on path dependence. The variable length of membership of the Institute, the number of previous applications, technology level, or belonging to a particular geographical area relate to the accumulation of experience and correspond to the study hypotheses. The study highlights the importance of accumulated experience and firm path dependence for application approval and success of funded projects.     

How happiness mediates the organizational virtuousness and affective commitment relationship

Recent moral and financial collapse of high profile organizations around the world led the business community, the popular and business press, and researchers to rediscover the worthiness of organizations' virtues. Aiming to contribute to this momentum, this empirical study investigates how perceptions of organizational virtuousness (OV) predict affective well-being (AWB) and affective commitment (AC). Two hundred five individuals participate. The findings show that perceptions of OV predict AC both directly and through the mediating role of AWB. The study suggests that fostering organizational virtuousness (e.g., through honesty, interpersonal respect, and compassion; combining high standards of performance with a culture of forgiveness and learning from mistakes) improves employees' AWB and promotes a more committed workforce. Considering these findings and mirroring the growing contributions of the positive psychology, positive organizational behavior, and positive organizational scholarship movements, the study suggests that a “positive-people-management” perspective should be considered, both by practitioners and scholars.     

Efficiency in banking services: a comparative analysis of Internet-primary and branching banks in the US

This paper investigates the provision of financial services by banks as a two-stage production process involving three different basic activities. The first stage includes service activities, while the second stage comprises both investment-related and risk management activities. Financial services performance is assessed in terms of service efficiency and investment and risk management efficiency for years 2002–2010. The major empirical findings are that the Internet-primary bank is more efficient than most branching banks in deposit-raising activities, but with regard to investment and risk management activities, there are many brick-and-mortar banks that match the online bank performance.