How do cities approach policy innovation and policy learning? A study of 30 policies in Northern Europe and North America

This paper reports on a study of current practice in policy transfer, and ways in which its effectiveness can be increased. A literature review identifies important factors in examining the transfer of policies. Results of interviews in eleven cities in Northern Europe and North America investigate these factors further.The principal motivations for policy transfer were strategic need and curiosity. Local officials and politicians dominated the process of initiating policy transfer, and local officials were also the leading players in transferring experience.A range of information sources are used in the search process but human interaction was the most important source of learning for two main reasons. First, there is too much information available through the Internet and the search techniques are not seen to be wholly effective in identifying the necessary information. Secondly, the information available on websites, portals and even good practice guides is not seen to be of mixed quality with risks of focussing only on successful implementation and therefore subject to some bias. Officials therefore rely on their trusted networks of peers for lessons as here they can access the ‘real implementation’ story and the unwritten lessons. Organisations which have a culture that is supportive of learning from elsewhere had strong and broad networks of external contacts and resourced their development whilst others are more insular or inward looking and reluctant to invest in policy lessons from elsewhere. Solutions to the problems identified in the evidence base are proposed.City to city policy transfer is a very active process in the field of transport. Not enough is yet understood about its benefits or the conditions under which it is most effective. Such understandings should help to promote and accelerate the uptake of effective and well matched policies.     

Are U.S. Multinational Corporations Becoming More Aggressive Income Shifters?

This paper examines income shifting of U.S. multinational companies over the past two decades. Domestic and foreign policy makers are increasingly concerned with the effect of income shifting on dwindling tax revenues, however, extant research on income shifting by U.S. multinational enterprises is mixed. We address the disconnect between the academic literature and the policy maker's perceptions by examining the extent of multijurisdictional income shifting by U.S. multinational companies. We directly address conflicting results in extant literature and show that using either multiperiod proxies or instrumental variables overcomes weaknesses of annual proxies in this setting. Our tests show that U.S. companies have become more active at shifting income out of the United States as the regulatory costs of shifting have changed. Holding tax rate differences between U.S. and foreign jurisdictions constant, our empirical estimates suggest that our sample of 380 corporations with low average foreign tax rates collectively shifts approximately $10 billion of additional income out of the United States annually during 2005–2009 relative to 1998–2002 due to varying regulatory costs of shifting.     

Central-city income redistribution and the flight to the suburbs: A stylized model

This paper characterizes the optimal tax policy of a central-city government whose goal is to redistribute income from the rich to the poor to maximize the intertemporal utility of the latter group. Since redistribution erodes the tax base by stimulating suburban flight on the part of the rich, choosing the optimal path for the income tax rate is a problem in optimal control. The nature of the solution to the problem is shown to depend crucially on the level of the discount rate and the time path of exogenous income for the poor.     

R&D Strategy in International Mixed Duopoly with Research Spillovers

This paper examines the international mixed duopoly behaviour with research spillovers. Using a two‐stage game with Research and Development (R&D) and output, we investigate the effects of imperfectly appropriable R&D on optimal R&D strategies of a domestic public firm and a foreign private firm across different market interactions: (i) international R&D competition, (ii) only the foreign firm conducts R&D, (iii) only the domestic public firm conducts R&D, (iv) no firm conducts R&D, and (v) research joint venture. The results show that firms' research performances are determined by the degree of spillovers and the optimal R&D strategies involve R&D competition. Spillovers are shown to be socially beneficial and their absence can prove to be a strategic deterrent, with the public firm monopolising the market. Some of these findings contrast with the traditional models of oligopoly (with or without R&D) and mixed oligopoly (without R&D).     

On a class of correlated queueing problems

This paper deals with a steady state behaviour of a discrete time, single channel, first come first served, finite space queueing problem. It is assumed that the departure probabilities depend on the queue length and that the departure at two consecutive time marks are correlated. The arrivals at two consecutive time marks are statistically independendent. However, the arrival probabilities are assumed to depend on the queue length. A few particular cases have also been discussed.     

The distinct influence of power distance perception and power distance values on customer satisfaction in response to loyalty programs

In today's fiercely competitive environment, firms are increasingly relying on loyalty programs to influence customers' repeat purchase behavior. However, little is known about how customers' cultural values shape their satisfaction in response to loyalty programs. Such knowledge is important because it allows marketers to identify cultural segments that may be more or less likely to respond favorably to loyalty programs, and hence increase the effectiveness of such programs. In the current research, we propose that power distance perception — defined as the extent to which people observe power disparities in society — positively influences satisfaction of customers who hold loyalty status, but negatively influences satisfaction of customers who do not hold loyalty status with a firm. In contrast, power distance values — defined as the extent to which people endorse power disparities in society — negatively influences satisfaction of customers who hold loyalty status, but positively influences satisfaction of customers who do not hold loyalty status with a firm. A quasi-field study and several lab experiments support these propositions, shed light on the underlying mechanisms, and rule out alternative explanations. Our findings also uncover several distinct tools that marketers could use to influence non-loyalty status and loyalty status customers' satisfaction with businesses.     

Market segmentation and information values of earnings announcements: Some empirical evidence from an event study on the Chinese stock market

This paper investigates the trading activities of two distinct classes of shareholders, namely, the Chinese domestic investors and the foreign investors in the segmented Chinese A- and B-share markets, respectively. We conduct an event study on the annual earnings announcements based on two different accounting standards: International accounting standards (IAS) and PRC generally accepted accounting principles (PRC GAAP). The earnings announcements based on IAS and PRC GAAP are value relevant. The investors in the B-share market react to both the IAS and PRC GAAP earnings announcements, while the investors in the A-share market pay more attention to the PRC GAAP earnings reports. In the B-share market, positive abnormal returns are associated with positive earnings surprise and negative abnormal returns go with negative earnings surprise. We find preevent abnormal trading volumes without significant price changes for the A shares, which may be due to existing information in the A-share market prior to earnings announcements. The postevent abnormal trading volumes last for a longer period in the A-share market than in the B-share market.     

Russian enterprises at the end of 2016: Reaction to varying ruble exchange rate and the workforce situation

This article represents an analysis of and comments on the results of a regular survey of Russian enterprises operating in the real sector, which was conducted by the Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences. It represents opinions of enterprises, the modern macroeconomic problems of which they believe to be the most acute. This article considers the responses of enterprises regarding how their activities have been affected by the mutual sanctions between Russia and Western countries, as well as by Russia’s WTO accession. We have shown the opinions of enterprises on their interests in the ruble exchange rate. This ref lects the current situation with the workforce at enterprises and gives data on their participation in solving of housing problems faced by their employees. This article contains information on how enterprises rate today’s level of competition with foreign manufacturers on Russian markets.