Efficiency of two sided investments in an equilibrium unemployment framework

This paper investigates the efficiency of investments by firms and workers in a matching model with high- and low-productivity jobs. Search is sector specific and random within sectors. Search frictions and ex-post bargaining imply that wage inequality arises as a result of the difference in investment costs between the sectors. The efficiency properties of the equilibrium are analyzed under the particular division in bargaining proposed by Hosios (1990). The conclusion is that the equilibrium is inefficient, with a too low fraction of workers and a too high vacancy-unemployment ratio in the high-productivity sector. The opposite happens in the low-productivity sector.     

An empirical test of the job satisfaction-turnover relationship: Assessing the role of job performance for retail managers

The role of job performance in the turnover process has been a problematic issue for researchers and managers alike. The present study provides a preliminary test of two key predictions derived from a conceptual model refining the role of job performance as a direct impact on turnover, and a moderator of the job satisfaction-turnover relationship. The results support differing roles for intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction components in their relationship with turnover for retail store managers performing at low, average and high levels.     

ON THE ACCURACY OF INDEX NUMBERS

Index number accuracy is affected by formula specification and sampling error. The authors argue that an index formula should be "ideal" and "exact" (with reference to the range of economically plausible aggregator functions) to be economically justified. These indices are invariant in the homothetic case, as well as in certain non-homothetic scenarios. Empirically, based on foreign trade data for Egypt from 1885-1961, the set of economically justified indices are virtually identical, supporting the theoretical argument that "instrumental error" or "formula variance" should be a negligible factor contributing to index number error. In a discussion of sampling error, on the other hand, the authors criticize earlier work and propose an upper and lower bound. Using the same data, these limits imply that sampling error may be a serious problem for many indices.     

Limits on the Use of Public Space and Consumer Tactics: A Study on Urban Cycling

Although public space is supposed to be democratic and accessible to all, in reality, such access is inegalitarian and exclusionary. The research aims, therefore, to understand how public space that reflects the imposition of interests of dominant ideologies affects the consumption practices of nondominant ideologies. The qualitative research data were collected in the context of urban cycling through in-depth interviews and observation and are analyzed using a hermeneutical approach. The research explains that, in order to deal with the limits of public space use, these consumers use tactics involving (1) disputes for space, (2) disorganized occupation, and (3) transgressive practices; moreover, there is an overlapping relationship between the agency of consumers and public space.     

Human Development at Risk: Economic Growth with Pollution-Induced Health Shocks

Risks to human health stemming from polluted air, water, and soil are substantial, especially in the rapidly growing economies. The present paper develops a theoretical framework to study an endogenously growing economy which is subject to pollution-induced health shocks with the health status being an argument of the welfare function. Pollution, arising as a negative externality from production, adversely and randomly affects the regeneration ability of a human body leading to a decline in the overall health status of the population. We include two types of uncertainty surrounding the health status: continuous small-scale fluctuations, driven by the Wiener process, and large-scale shocks or epidemics, driven by the Poisson process. We derive closed-form analytical solutions for the optimal abatement policy and the growth rate of consumption. Devoting a constant fraction of output to emissions abatement delivers the first-best allocation. This fraction is an increasing function of total factor productivity, polluting intensity of production, and damage intensity of both continuous and jump-type shocks. A higher frequency of jumps also calls for more vigorous abatement policies. By contrast, the optimal growth rate of the economy is decreasing in the frequency and intensity of shocks and in the polluting intensity of output. The efficiency of abatement technology has, in general, an ambiguous bearing on both the growth rate and on the abatement share due to the opposing forces of the direct and indirect effects.     

The implications of heterogeneous resource intensities on technical change and growth

Abstract We analyze the long‐term dynamics of an economy in which sectors are heterogeneous with respect to the intensity of natural resource use. It is shown that heterogeneity induces technical change to be biased towards resource‐intensive sectors. Along the balanced growth path, the sectoral structure of the economy is constant as the higher resource dependency in resource‐intensive sectors is compensated by enhanced research activities. Resource taxes have no impact on dynamics except when the tax rate varies over time. Research subsidies and the sectoral provision of productivity‐enhancing public goods raise growth and provide an effective tool for structural policy.     

Beyond the existence proof: ontological conditions, epistemological implications, and in-depth interview research

In-depth interviewing is a promising method. Alas, traditional in-depth interview sample designs prohibit generalizing. Yet, after acknowledging this limitation, in-depth interview studies generalize anyway. Generalization appears unavoidable; thus, sample design must be grounded in plausible ontological and epistemological assumptions that enable generalization. Many in-depth interviewers reject such designs. The paper demonstrates that traditional sampling for in-depth interview studies is indefensible given plausible ontological conditions, and engages the epistemological claims that purportedly justify traditional sampling. The paper finds that the promise of in-depth interviewing will go unrealized unless interviewers adopt ontologically plausible sample designs. Otherwise, in-depth interviewing can only provide existence proofs, at best.     

Optimum Growth and Carbon Policies with Lags in the Climate System

We study the optimal carbon tax in an economy in which climate change, stemming from polluting non-renewable resource, affects the economy’s growth potential. Our main contribution is to introduce and explore the natural time lag of the climate system between emissions and damages to capital accumulation in an endogenous growth setting. This allows us to investigate how optimal climate policy, and its interplay with climate dynamics, affect long-run growth and the transition of the economy towards it. Without pollution decay, a higher speed of emissions diffusion steepens the growth profile of the economy. With pollution decay, this leads to lower short-run but higher long-run economic growth during transition. Poor understanding of the emissions diffusion process leads to suboptimal carbon taxes, resource extraction and growth.