An alternative to Marshall: Economic history and applied economics at the early LSE

Conclusion The LSE in its early years did not produce a “school of economics” in the sense that Marshall's Cambridge constituted a “school.” English historical economics was too diffuse, too lacking in strong leadership, too untheoretical, and too committed to economic history as a discipline to create such a “school.” The special contribution of the LSE in the pre-war period was certainly not in theory, since one of the chief reasons for it being an alternative to Marshall's school of orthodoxy was that it paid relatively little attention to economic theory during this period. Rather, its alternative economics was its central conception that the economist'sraison d'etre was to solve pressing contemporary problems for which orthodox theory seemed to offer little guidance. Thus its teachers and curriculum, assembled by Hewins and the Webbs, emphasized applied subjects and economic history.     

The dynamic impact of innovative capability and inter-firm network on firm valuation: A longitudinal study of biotechnology start-ups

Prior research suggests that a high technology start-up's innovative capability and inter-firm network influence its performance and consequently, firm valuation. Few studies consider their joint influence and even fewer consider the temporal change of those effects on firm valuation. In this study, we propose that firm age, a key organizational variable, represents both the development of organizational routines from a start-up's perspective and the accumulation of accessible information from an investor's viewpoint. As such, an investor's evaluation of a high technology start-up's innovative capability and inter-firm network evolves with firm age. Using panel data of 170 biotechnology start-ups, our results suggest that the relative value of network status declines while the impact of innovative capability increases with firm age. Interestingly, there is a growing complementary effect of innovative capability and network heterogeneity on firm valuation. The implications of these findings for entrepreneurial practice and theories of firm capabilities and inter-firm network are discussed.     

A troublesome transport challenge? Working round the school run

Transport policy and practice could be challenged by the future of women’s mobility if it means an increasing reliance on the car. The paper examines the contextual relationship between the journey to school/childcare and the journey to work undertaken by eleven women who work part-time. It considers what the problems these women face in managing their time-space commitments and argues that time is the central problem. Transport can be a solution and a further problem in negotiating the competing time needs of work and family schedules. The research indicates the role ICTs, notably the mobile phone, play in mitigating individual transport problems, thus solutions to the problem of women’s time may not be sustainable.     

Co-movement in Stock Prices in Emerging Economies: The Case of the Caricom Region

The Grand Anse Declaration of 1989 recognised the need for financial integration within the emerging economies that comprise the CARICOM region, as a way of furthering the wider process of economic integration and, indeed, economic development in that region. Using co-movement as a measure of financial integration, this paper investigates the co-movement in stock prices among the Barbados, the Jamaica and the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchanges, the three major exchanges within the CARICOM region. It also examines how integrated these exchanges are with the New York Stock Exchange. The GARCH-Copula methodology and, to a lesser extent, estimated correlation coefficients, are used to attain this objective. There appears to be co-movement in stock prices and returns within the CARICOM stock markets and significant dependence structures between the returns of the three CARICOM stock markets. However, there is considerably less evidence of integration between the CARICOM markets and the New York Stock Exchange.     

Mature Australian consumers' adoption and consumption of self-service banking technologies

The slow diffusion of self-service banking technologies (SSBTs) into the mature consumer market necessitates research to understand better this growing section of the population and the diversity that exists within this market. This research analyses the 50+ market through a segmentation approach based on the level of use of SSBTs. Three segments were identified: non-users, low users and medium-to-high users of SSBTs; these are profiled by frequency of use and demographic variables. The medium-to-high user segment embraces a range of SSBTs and uses credit cards to facilitate their financial activities. Non-users and some low users prefer the customary way of conducting transactions and enjoy the personal interaction with the bank employee. These two segments do, however, have a moderate level of credit card use. Finally, a small percentage of diffusion discontinuance was identified in this study of the mature consumer market.     

Towards an understanding of international city break travel

This paper explores city break tourism and, in particular, the distinctive characteristics of this form of travel. The city break is examined and compared with other types of trips. The research follows a sequential mixed methods approach involving both a visitor survey and in‐depth interviews. The findings show the international city break trip to have a number of distinctive characteristics. These are summarised into five main areas (5 Ds) — duration, distance, date flexibility, discretionary nature and destination travel party. These distinguishing features provide a useful insight into one of the most important yet least examined travel segments in tourism research. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural identification of high and low investment regimes

We propose a structural model to investigate the existence and possible differences between low and high regimes of investment expenditures in equipment at the firm level. The existence of such differences is predicted by recent theoretical studies of investment behavior stressing the role of asymmetries and non-convexities in the adjustment cost technology. The structural spike model is estimated for a balanced panel of Dutch firms operating in 13 different industrial sectors. The flexibility of the structural approach explains why the proposed method outperforms models applying “ad hoc” spike definitions often encountered in the empirical literature of lumpy investments.     

Antecedents and consequences of corporate governance reform: the case of Germany

The paper examines the antecedents and consequences of the voluntary adoption of corporate governance reform in firms embedded in a relationship‐based governance system with less protection of minority shareholders. In such locations, ownership structure should be a key determinant of governance reform. Firms with dispersed ownership are likely to face agency problems but may lack sufficient ownership power in the hand of external owners for adoption to occur. Extensive ownership by external parties facilitates adoption but decreases the need and motivation to adopt governance reform. We examined the adoption of stock‐based incentive plans and transparent accounting regulations (e.g., greater disclosure to shareholders) among large German firms (DAX 100) during the late 1990s. We found an inverse ‘U’‐shaped relationship between ownership concentration and governance reform. In addition, we found that firms adopting governance reform were more likely to engage in corporate divestitures and achieve higher levels of market performance than firms not adopting governance reform. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.