Hot vs. Cold: Sequential Responses and Preference Stability in Experimental Games

In experiments with two-person sequential games we analyze whether responses to favorable and unfavorable actions depend on the elicitation procedure. In our hot treatment the second player responds to the first player's observed action while in our cold treatment we follow the strategy method and have the second player decide on a contingent action for each and every possible first player move, without first observing this move. Our analysis centers on the degree to which subjects deviate from the maximization of their pecuniary rewards, as a response to others' actions. Our results show no difference in behavior between the two treatments. We also find evidence of the stability of subjects' preferences with respect to their behavior over time and to the consistency of their choices as first and second mover.     

Exchange rate and long run equilibrium in transition economies

The purpose of this paper is to calculate pruchasing power parity rates and the real exchange rate using several methods of calculation to estimate long-run equilibrium real exchange rates in transition economies, mainly in Eastern European countries considered in transition, such as Poland. The authors calculate different measures of exchange rate misalignment (absolute and relative deviations from long-run equilibrium). Each measure is calculated using different price indices, which include consumer price indices, GDP deflactor, and unit labor cost. The expected values of these variables are used. To calculate the long-run equilibrium, different methods such as an error correction equation and a forward-looking model are utilized, and again, the expected values of the variables are introduced along with new variables. The estimation of the long-run cointegration equation of the equilibrium real exchange rate and the corresponding dynamic error correction specification strongly corroborates the model and produced fairly consistent results across the countries under study. Using appropriated proxies, the estimated long run equations were used to derive indices of the equilibrium real exchange rate.     

Deregulation, Integration, and Market Structure in European Banking

This paper analyzes the impact of deregulation and market integration policies on the structure of European banking markets. It argues that whether European integration will lead to large increases in EU-wide concentration will depend on the extent to which competition in banking is based on endogenous sunk costs or, alternatively, on variable costs and exogenous sunk costs. The paper also highlights the role of own funds as a source of endogenous increasing returns. Finally, it proposes an empirical test of the dominant form of competition. This procedure is applied to data for 11 EU countries during the period 1981–1995. J. Japan. Int. Econ., Dec. 1999, 13(4), pp. 372–396. IESE (International Graduate School of Management), University of Navarra, Av. Pearson 21, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: G20, G21.     

Easier said than done: a review of antecedents influencing effective HR implementation

Abstract

Despite the importance of effective implementation of HR policies and practices for the achievement of HR outcomes, this remains an area of research to which HR scholars have paid limited attention, without a clear conceptualization of constructs and a lack of consolidation of research findings. Moreover, the field does not avail of an organized corpus of knowledge to guide how to accomplish the successful implementation of HR practices. As a response to this situation, the present study provides a review of empirically grounded evidences about antecedents that can influence effective HR implementation. With the results of the review, we generate a model that organizes the elements identified according to content, context and process, and that proposes relationships among them. The study also delineates much-needed avenues for further research on this topic, and constitutes a first step to claim attention for the phenomenon of HR implementation among HR scholars.     

Automobile demand,model cycle and age effects

This paper is aimed at exploring the existence of typical patterns of automobile model life and the formal test for age effects in a discrete-choice demand framework estimated with data on the models sold in the Spanish market. Estimates show that the evolution of market shares entails and quantifies age effects resulting from consumer demand. These effects are clearly distinguishable from the impacts generated by changes in attributes and firm pricing. They carry an exogenous factor that is full of implications for firm behaviour over the life of a model: the modification of demand price sensitivities. As a result, for example, equilibrium own-price elasticities are observed to decrease until the fourth year of a model life, and then to increase again.      

Trade law and trade flows

This paper develops and estimates a model to study the effect of improving the quality of commercial trade law on trade flows. We focus on improvements aimed to privately resolve disputes among trading partners: international commercial arbitration and conciliation. The main novelty of the model is to explicit the balance between the contractual quality of importer and exporter (contractual distance) in an environment with informational frictions (contractual noise). Using a structural gravity estimation with high-dimensional fixed effects, the main contribution of the empirical exercise is to confirm previous results and unravel new traits that align with our theoretical results. Arbitration has a moderate and positive effect on exports that increases (decreases) with the contractual quality of the exporter (importer) and the remoteness of markets. The effects of conciliation are similarly positive, but only for similar trading partners with high levels of income. Results also suggest both domestic trade law reform and international treaties have a positive effect on trade, with a stronger effect of the latter.     

Popular movements and urban alternatives in post-Franco Spain

L'Espagne se trouve à l'encontre de sévères problèmes urbains que le régime authoritaire ne peut résoudre. Au fǔr et à mesure que ce régime se désintère, de nouvelles revendications surgissent; mais en Espagne, contrairement au Portugale, ce sont des mouvements organisés qui réclament une nouvelle politique. Ces mouvements populaires sont fondés sur les quartiers (Barrios); cette communication s'addresse à leurs développement à Barcelone. Les mouvements urbains de cette ville ont évolués à partir d'une contestation d'issus d'envergure locale, à une qui s'addresse aux processus et planification de toute la ville. Un réseau de groupes a créé les moyens pour une renaissance d'une vie collective et démocratique. Le droit à un logement convenable, aux aménagements adéquats, au contrǒle sur l'industrie et la pollution, et à une suspension des rénovations urbaines, s'est fait valoir. Les moyens par lequels ces objectifs sont accomplis sont esquissés. Une critique de la planification implique celle de l'administration municipale. Divers genres de protestations ont eu lieu à différentes périodes dans l'évolution de cette critique. C'est maintenant que les mouvements communautaires, les analystes de l'urbain, et les nouveaux groupes politiques ont besoin de travailler ensemble afin développer un nouveau contexte pour le gouvernement municipal, à l'intérieur d'un programme socio-économique plus large. Dans n'importe quel système futur, les groupes des Barrios continueront de jouer un rǒle essentiel. Un mouvement vers une réforme municipale accompagnera vraisemblablement un changement social plus grand, surtout celui de la lutte pour l'autonomie Catalane.     

Optimal monetary and fiscal policy in a currency union

We lay out a tractable model for the analysis of optimal monetary and fiscal policy in a currency union. The monetary authority sets a common interest rate for the union, whereas fiscal policy is implemented at the country level, through the choice of government spending. In the presence of country-specific shocks and nominal rigidities, the policy mix that is optimal from the viewpoint of the union as a whole requires that inflation be stabilized at the union level by the common central bank, whereas fiscal policy has a country-specific stabilization role, one beyond the efficient provision of public goods.     

Social learning and costly information acquisition

Summary. Short-lived agents want to predict a random variable q\theta and have to decide how much effort to devote to collect private information and consequently how much to rely on public information. The latter is just a noisy average of past predictions. It is shown that costly information acquisition prevents an unbounded accumulation of public information if (and only if) the marginal cost to acquire information is positive at zero (C￠(0) > 0)(C^\prime (0) > 0). When C￠(0) = 0C^\prime (0) = 0 public precision at period n, _boxclose_boxclose\tau_n, tends to infinity with n but the rate of convergence of public information to q\theta is slowed down with respect to the exogenous information case. At the market outcome agents acquire too little private information. This happens either with respect to a (decentralized) first best benchmark or, for n large, with respect to a (decentralized) second best benchmark. For high discount factors the limit point of market public precision always falls short of the welfare benchmarks whenever C￠(0) > 0C^\prime (0) > 0. In the extreme, as the discount factor tends to one public precision tends to infinity in the welfare-optimal programs while it remains bounded at the market solution. Otherwise, if C￠(0) = 0C^\prime (0) = 0 public precision accumulates in an unbounded way both at the first and second best solutions. More public information may hurt at either the market or second best solutions.     

Is FDI doing good? A golden rule for FDI ethics

Ethical and economic perspectives on foreign direct investment (FDI) often appear in opposing frameworks. To combat this antagonism, this research proposes a consolidation between foreign private wealth and general welfare in host countries. The first contribution of this study is to provide a comprehensive conceptual approach to the study of FDI ethics. The second key contribution is to present empirical analysis of the differential influence of the level of democratic rights on foreign employment, new projects, and FDI capital flows. Results suggest that FDI incentivizes general welfare in least developed countries with high degrees of volatility. Additionally, policymakers face a dilemma in which democracy and legal rights seem to be mutually incompatible with fostering foreign employment. Practitioners find a way to evaluate the ethical implications of international business activities. The study analyzes FDI data from 161 countries between 2003 and 2010 by means of the FDI gravity equation.