Fiscal devaluations: evidence using bilateral trade balance data

We study the effects of fiscal devaluations on the trade balances of European Union countries over the 2000–2014 period using bilateral trade balance data. This enables us to control for the coincidence of tax policy measures in different countries, which is an aspect left unconsidered in previous econometric studies. A fiscal devaluation consisting of a budget-neutral tax shift in the amount of 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) from employers’ social security contributions to value added tax leads to a short-term improvement of bilateral trade balance ranging between 0.3 and 0.6% of GDP. An extrapolation of our baseline estimate to the overall trade balance yields an impact of 4.3% of GDP for the whole sample, which is slightly higher than presented in previous empirical research. Applying extrapolation to the trade deficit countries in the euro area shows that these countries’ balance of trade with the rest of the euro area improves by only 0.75% of GDP. Thus, the magnitude of the fiscal devaluation impact on the trade balance varies significantly across countries, depending on their trade openness, among other potentially relevant factors.     

A structural decomposition of the US yield curve

By expanding the macro part of macro-finance models, historical fluctuations in US bond yields turn out to be largely consistent with the rational expectations hypothesis. We estimate a medium-scale macro-finance DSGE model of the term structure to establish this. Our finding contrasts with existing macro-finance models and suggests that their—small-scale or non-structural—perspective on the macroeconomy mutes expectations, thereby underestimating the expectations hypothesis’ potential. Out-of-sample forecasts are competitive with more flexible term structure models. Given the empirical validation, we interpret various episodes through the lens of the model and investigate which structural shocks cause the yield curve to contain information about future growth.     

Growth in global materials use, GDP and population during the 20th century

The growing industrial metabolism is a major driver of global environmental change. We present an assessment of the global use of materials since the beginning of the 20th century based on the conceptual and methodological principles of material flow accounting (MFA). On the grounds of published statistical data, data compilations and estimation procedures for material flows not covered by international statistical sources, we compiled a quantitative estimate of annual global extraction of biomass, fossil energy carriers, metal ores, industrial minerals and construction minerals for the period 1900 to 2005. This period covers important phases of global industrialisation and economic growth. The paper analyses the observed changes in the overall size and composition of global material flows in relation to the global economy, population growth and primary energy consumption. We show that during the last century, global materials use increased 8-fold. Humanity currently uses almost 60 billion tons (Gt) of materials per year. In particular, the period after WWII was characterized by rapid physical growth, driven by both population and economic growth. Within this period there was a shift from the dominance of renewable biomass towards mineral materials. Materials use increased at a slower pace than the global economy, but faster than world population. As a consequence, material intensity (i.e. the amount of materials required per unit of GDP) declined, while materials use per capita doubled from 4.6 to 10.3 t/cap/yr. The main material groups show different trajectories. While biomass use hardly keeps up with population growth, the mineral fractions grow at a rapid pace. We show that increases in material productivity are mostly due to the slow growth of biomass use, while they are much less pronounced for the mineral fractions. So far there is no evidence that growth of global materials use is slowing down or might eventually decline and our results indicate that an increase in material productivity is a general feature of economic development.     

Dancing robots: integrating art,music, and robotics in Singapore’s early childhood centers

In recent years, Singapore has increased its national emphasis on technology and engineering in early childhood education. Their newest initiative, the Playmaker Programme, has focused on teaching robotics and coding in preschool settings. Robotics offers a playful and collaborative way for children to engage with foundational technology and engineering concepts during their formative early childhood years. This study looks at a sample of preschool children (N = 98) from five early childhood centers in Singapore who completed a 7-week STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) KIBO robotics curriculum in their classrooms called, “Dances from Around the World.” KIBO is a newly developed robotics kit that teaches both engineering and programming. KIBO’s actions are programmed using tangible programming blocks—no screen-time required. Children’s knowledge of programming concepts were assessed upon completion of the curriculum using the Solve-Its assessment. Results indicate that children were highly successful at mastering foundational programming concepts. Additionally, teachers were successful at promoting a collaborative and creative environment, but less successful at finding ways to engage with the greater school community through robotics. This research study was part of a large country-wide initiative to increase the use of developmentally appropriate engineering tools in early childhood settings. Implications for the design of technology, curriculum, and other resources are addressed.     

Dismantling institutional complexity behind international competitiveness of emerging market firms

The paper examines the perceived role of emerging market institutions in the creation of firm‐specific advantages of local small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) supporting international expansion and competitiveness. Our objective is to deepen conceptual understanding of the complex link between emerging market institutional factors and an ability of emerging market SMEs to compete internationally. Our empirical evidence from Russian software SMEs operating in global niche markets reveals that managers perceive institutional influence on their firms' ability to compete internationally in a number of direct and indirect means. We find that, in addition to the well acknowledged negative impact of institutions, there are supportive and triggering forces that incentivize SMEs' international expansion and development of competitive advantages. We contribute to the literature by elaborating about the complexity of institutional influence on international competitiveness of emerging market SMEs. This research offers insights for managers about the prospects of international expansion of SMEs from emerging markets.     

Measuring Economic Insecurity Using a Counting Approach. An Application to Three EU Countries

In this paper, we propose the use of a multidimensional approach to the measurement of economic insecurity in three European countries. We combine six different unidimensional indicators proxying the subjective and objective determinants of economic insecurity into a single index based on a counting approach method, which allows us to measure the incidence and the intensity of the phenomenon. Using longitudinal data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) from 2008 to 2016, we find that the incidence of insecurity falls as income grows, being significantly present in middle-income households both in Spain and France but not in Sweden. Interestingly, in all three countries, the contribution of different dimensions to insecurity changes as household income grows, while for all income levels a higher education and being employed in a non-fixed term contract are strongly related to a lower probability of being economically insecure.     

Fiscal devaluation and real exchange rates in the Euro area: Some econometric insights

We explore whether a fiscal devaluation, that is, a reduction in employers’ social security contributions and an increase in value added tax, affects two indicators of bilateral real exchange rates in the euro area: one based on unit labor costs, and another based on consumer prices. We find that, in the short term, cuts in employers’ contributions depreciate real exchange rates based on unit labor costs, while value added tax hikes appreciate real exchange rates based on consumer prices. In the long run, a value added tax increase also appreciates the real exchange rates based on unit labor costs.     

Facing the “Right” Side? The Effect of Product Facing Direction

Product image display in advertising plays an important role in consumer perception and behavior. In this research, we establish important downstream consequences of one significant aspect of product image display—facing direction—on product evaluations. Building on the literature of visuospatial attention and grounded cognition, we show that products with their images facing toward the left (versus right) in advertising are evaluated more favorably when consumers’ temporal focus is on the past, whereas the reverse holds true when consumers focus on the future. Furthermore, we establish that the impact of facing direction on product evaluations exists regardless of the horizontal position of product images. In addition, we demonstrate that for products higher on desirability features, a mismatch (versus match) between facing direction and consumers’ temporal focus leads to higher product evaluations, whereas the reverse holds true for products higher on feasibility features. Important implications for advertising theory and practice are discussed.     

Engaging in duty of care: towards a terrorism preparedness plan

Abstract

A minor digression, if you will: it has been over 30 years since I (referring to lead author) first wrote on the topic of terrorism and its potential impact on conducting business in a global context. The most vivid memory I have relative to that initial foray into this new topic was making a presentation at the annual summer American Marketing Association (AMA) conference in Chicago. I got halfway through the paper and I started to hear jeering noises emanating from the audience. As I remember (it is not a pleasant memory), the audience thought that I had lost my mind and that the reviewers of the paper allowed this rubbish into the AMA meeting (the implication was that they must have been drinking at the time). This is a true account of the presentation and when I left the session, I would be dishonest if I didn’t tell you that I had made a terrible error and there would be significant ramifications to my young academic career. Yet, no country is untouched by global terrorism today, and the ramifications for global organizations are escalating year by year.     

Sexual harassment training: Recommendations to address gaps between the practitioner and research literatures

Sexual harassment training is a common human resource activity, and the practitioner literature is replete with advice about how to implement it. Little research, however, has specifically explored what makes sexual harassment training effective. This paper uses what we know from general training research and theory and sexual harassment research to assess the extent to which the practitioner literature is making relevant and reasonable recommendations for sexual harassment training. We identify practitioner‐research gaps in the literature, including areas that academic research and theory suggest are important for training effectiveness but where the practitioner literature falls short. The practitioner literature may be silent, offer incomplete advice, make recommendations that do not directly link to research findings, or present recommendations that are inconsistent with research findings. We recommend that these gaps be bridged and we provide specific suggestions for how human resource managers can improve the quality of the sexual harassment training they provide. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.