Collective choice functions on non-convex problems

Collective choice problems on sets in _boxclose_boxclose^n{\frak R}_+^n arise naturally in economics. Such problems have been extensively studied both in the theory of revealed preferences (Peters and Wakker, 1991) and in axiomatic bargaining theory under the assumption of convexity. However, our knowledge of collective choice functions on non-convex problems is still patchy. In this paper I study the existence and characterisation of continuous choice functions on the domain G\Gamma of comprehensive problems. The main result completely characterises rational choice functions that are continuous and satisfy Weak Pareto Optimality: they form the class of Monotone Path Choice Functions on G\Gamma. I also show that any discontinuous rational and weakly Pareto optimal choice function must be non- anonymous.     

Extending Nash's Axioms to Nonconvex Problems

Nash's axioms are extended to a domain of nonconvex problems to characterise in a simple way the Extended Nash Bargaining Solution proposed by Conley and Wilkie (1996,Games Econ. Behav.13, 26–38). Independence of irrelevant alternatives is weakened on the new domain to take into account the possibility that the solution of the convexified problem constitutes a “relevant” alternative.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Number: C71, C78.     

Challenges facing European labour markets: Is a skill upgrade the appropriate instrument?

The financial and economic crisis shattered the Lisbon Strategy’s attempt to increase the EU’s employment rate to 70% among 15–64 year olds by 2010. The new Europe 2020 strategy envisages a 75% adult employment rate by 2020; however, this goal also seems unrealistic in light of the economic crisis which has caused the EU’s employment rate to drop significantly below 70%. A crucial question now is whether a skill upgrade of the European labour force would help to increase the employment rate, especially among youth. This Forum explores the relationship between education and employment throughout the EU.     

Aid to agriculture,trade and structural change

This paper studies the effect on the industrialization process of developing countries of foreign aid given to agriculture to expand its productive capacity. According to our theoretical analysis, this effect is conditional on the openness of receiving countries. Our empirical results based on panel data for developing countries confirm this analysis, as we find that the effect of this kind of agricultural aid on the rate of growth of the industrial sector of landlocked countries is indeed positive.     

Board gender diversity and corporate environmental performance: The moderating role of family and dual‐class majority ownership structures

While prior work has investigated the impact of (a) ownership structure and (b) board gender diversity separately on corporate environmental performance, researchers have not studied the potentially important relationship between ownership control and female board diversity in influencing corporate environmental performance jointly. We do so in the context of majority ownership in family‐controlled and dual‐class firms whose motives and influence are theoretically different from that of the firm's minority shareholders. Drawing on resource dependency, socioemotional wealth theory, and secondary agency theory, we hypothesize that majority family owners and dual‐class owners likely choose women directors to help advance their personal preferences for environmental corporate social responsibility. Our empirical tests utilizing 2,755 U.S. firm years over the 2010–2015 show that, as hypothesized, these two majority ownership types interact with board gender diversity to positively influence corporate environmental performance.     

Dynamic regulation of quality

We develop a dynamic regulation model of quality provision where maintenance efforts and quality shocks have a durable impact. When the regulator contracts with a sequence of agents, asymmetric information can lead to overprovision of quality, reflecting a dynamic rent extraction effect. When the regulator contracts with a single agent, the efficiency of their relationship depends on the regulator’s ability to transfer rents across periods. Hiring a single agent with unlimited liability is socially preferable to hiring a sequence of agents, even when no commitment is feasible. By contrast, shorter franchises are socially preferable if the agent has limited liability.     

Assessing the influence of the organization in the supply chain management using NK simulation

Supply chain management advocates that the whole supply chain (SC) from the material suppliers to the end customers must be managed by adopting an integrated approach. However, different forms of governance can be adopted to pursue integration, ranging from the pure market to the hierarchy. While integration has been extensively investigated in the literature by adopting an operative perspective, the organizational perspective has been less used. However, the way the SC is organized influences the SC performance. This topic is investigated by using a recent tool offered by complexity science, namely the NK simulation model. In the proposed NK model, N represents the decisions that SC firms should make and K the interdependencies among the SC decisions calling for integration. The model reproduces how the different SC forms of governance evolve and adapt to the landscape corresponding to a SC specific integration problem. A simulation analysis is carried out to identify the SC forms of governance appropriate to the SC integration problems.