What’s fit to print: The effect of ownership concentration on product variety in daily newspaper markets

This paper examines the effect of ownership concentration on product position, product variety and circulation in the US daily newspaper market. The effects of consolidation in differentiated product markets cannot be determined solely from theory. Because multi-product firms internalize business stealing, mergers may encourage firms to reposition products, leading to more, not less, variety. Using data on the assignment of reporters to topical areas at 706 newspapers in 1993, 1999 and 2004, results show that both differentiation and variety increase with ownership concentration. Moreover, greater concentration increases variety over a range of topics and does not reduce readership.     

Regional earnings differences in estonia: The influence of demographic characteristics

Recent events indicate that the Republic of Estonia is on the fast track for catching up with its Western European neighbors. However, the country's successful performance has not translated to improved economic conditions for all regions of Estonia. This paper examines the nature of this regional diversity as it relates to the labor market. A statistical analysis indicates that age, educational, and nationality distributions vary across regions, causing earnings to vary as well. Policy initiatives to change the nature of these distributions, either through migration or educational incentives in regions with low earnings, or social policy changes to enhance the well-being of those living in the low-earnings regions, may provide more opportunity for those left behind in the transition process. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Good International Business Scholars Grant, BGSU, and a grant from the International Research and Exchange Board. The authors also thank the Estonian Statistical Office, the Eesti Pank (Estonian Central Bank), and the Regional Statistics Office of Estonia for assistance in obtaining the data; Mare Viies for her aid in making contacts with relevant data centers and with providing valuable insight into the Estonian culture and economy; and to participants of the 2000 International Atlantic Economic Conference in Munich for their insightful comments. All errors are the responsibility of the authors.     

Progress hindered: the retention and advancement of women in science,engineering and technology careers

Over the last two decades rates of women's participation in science, engineering, and technology careers has greatly increased. However, to date little research exists on how women, especially those in management positions, are performing within these fields. Using data obtained from over 2,493 survey respondents and 28 focus groups, we seek to understand the barriers that hinder the retention and advancement of women in managerial positions in these career fields. Paying particular attention to for‐profit science, engineering and technology firms, we argue that there are significant barriers to female retention and advancement within these fields related to the norms of professionalisation, and that from a human resources perspective firms could do a much better job of leveraging the existing female talent pipeline in these occupations. In addition, we highlight the implications of our findings and provide our policy recommendations to address them.     

Employee buyouts and employee involvement: a case study investigation of employee attitudes

This article investigates the association between employee share ownership (ESO) and employee involvement (EI) in an employee‐owned firm.Based on data from the firm’s employers and employees, the article concludes that the mere presence of share ownership is no guarantee on increased involvement for employees, highlighting instead the significance of other variables.     

Aid, Volatility, and Growth Again: When Aid Volatility Matters and When it Does Not

In previous papers the authors have argued that aid is likely to mitigate the negative effects of external shocks on economic growth (i.e. that aid is more effective in countries which are more vulnerable to external shocks). Recently an important debate has emerged about the possible negative effects of aid volatility itself. However, the cushioning effect of aid may involve some volatility in aid flows, which then is not necessarily negative for growth. In this paper the authors examine to what extent the time profile of aid disbursements may contribute to an increase or a decrease of aid effectiveness. They first show that aid, even if volatile, is not clearly as pro-cyclical as is often argued, and, even if pro-cyclical, is not necessarily destabilizing. They measure aid volatility by several methods and assess pro-cyclicality of aid with respect to exports, thus departing from previous literature, which usually assess pro-cyclicality of aid with respect to national income or fiscal receipts. The stabilizing/destabilizing nature of aid is measured by the difference in the volatility of exports and the volatility of the aid plus export flows. Then, in order to take into account the diversity of shocks to which aid can respond, they consider the effect of aid on income volatility and again find that aid is making growth more stable, while its volatility reduces this effect. They finally show through growth regressions that the higher effectiveness of aid in vulnerable countries is to a large extent due to its stabilizing effect.     

Food Stamps and Food Spending: An Engel Function Approach

Estimation of Food Stamp Program (FSP) effects has been complicated by self-selection and by a contradiction between observed spending patterns and the economic theory of consumer choice. We developed a modified version of the traditional theory, in which participant households may be partly extramarginal even if they have some cash spending on at-home food. Using Current Population Survey (CPS) data for 2001–2005, we estimated Engel functions for at-home and away-from-home food spending for FSP participants and nonparticipants. Compared to nonparticipants with the same level of total income, participants had higher at-home food spending and lower away-from-home food spending.     

A classification of business-to-business buying decisions: risk importance and probability as a framework for e-business benefits

Business-to-business (B2B) markets have been considered an attractive e-business venue for the realization of cost reduction and exchange creation utilities. However, as marketers have long argued, there are different types of buying situations, and the benefits sought in each may vary substantially. The present work builds on the thinking of previous industrial buying typologies by integrating perceived risk concepts into the business buying decision. Specifically, we develop a classification grid of industrial buying situations and then explicitly link likely e-business benefits to the various situations. The proposed framework holds implications for management and research related to supply chain relationships.     

Barriers or Opportunities? The Causes of Contingent and Part‐Time Work Among People with Disabilities

Why are workers with disabilities about twice as likely as nondisabled workers to be in contingent and part‐time jobs? This study finds that disability income program earnings limits and employer discrimination play relatively minor roles, whereas the primary explanation is health problems that make traditional full‐time jobs difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities. Despite the lower pay and other drawbacks of many nonstandard jobs, they enable many people with disabilities to work who otherwise would not be employed. Policy implications are discussed.     

Workforce training transfer: A study of the effect of relapse prevention training and transfer climate

Considerable evidence suggests that a substantial part of organizations' investment in training is often wasted due to poor learning transfer and trainee relapse. This study investigated the effects of two different relapse prevention (RP) modules designed to supplement a training program on employee coaching skills. The coaching program was delivered to 78 research scientists from five departments of a large Midwestern firm. The transfer “climate” of those five represented departments was also assessed. Results indicated that the RP modules did modestly influence trainees' use of transfer strategies, but the impact was contingent on the nature of the transfer climate.¹© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Economists tackle the challenges of a pandemic

Business Economics - The COVID-19 pandemic radically and rapidly changed the world, including the world of business economists. Eight NABE members employed in a wide variety of fields discuss how...