Social learning and technology adoption: the case of coffee pruning in Peru

A unique natural experiment involving a coffee pruning technology is used to study social learning. The yield effects of pruning take two years to appear, a characteristic that aids in identifying social learning apart from correlated unobservable variables that are a concern in the social learning and technology adoption literature. Panel data are employed that start with a private initiative which introduced systematic pruning in central Peru and that contain the population of participating growers. Results show a jump of at least 0.15 in the probability of adoption two years after the first pruning in a grower's group.     

Principled moral reasoning: Is it a viable approach to promote ethical integrity?

In response to recent recommendations for the teaching of principled moral reasoning in business school curricula, this paper assesses the viability of such an approach. The results indicate that, while business students' level of moral reasoning in this sample are like most 18- to 21-year-olds, they may be incapable of grasping the concepts embodied in principled moral reasoning. Implications of these findings are discussed. James Weber is currently an Assistant Professor of Management at Marquette University. He has published articles on managerial values and moral reasoning and the teaching of business ethics in Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy: Empirical Studies of Business Ethics and Values, International Journal of Value Based Management, Human Relations, and Journal of Business Ethics. Sharon Green is currently an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research emphasizes information processing aspects of decision making in governmental, auditing and educational contexts. Her publications have appeared in Accounting Review and Research in Governmental and Non-Profit Accounting.     

Does the Franchisor Provide Value to Franchisees? Past,Current, and Future Value Assessments of Two Franchisee Types

The degree to which a franchise system penetrates a target market over time often is influenced by the rate to which its individual franchisees expand. Yet a franchisee's decision to expand the business operation depends, in part, on the perception of value that the franchisee expects to receive from the franchisor in return for a variety of fees (for example, entry fee, advertising fees, royalties). Moreover, the franchisee's experience with its franchisor may strengthen or weaken his or her perception of franchisor value. The change in perception of franchisor value can influence franchisees' decisions to expand their franchise operations. To date, scant research exists on factors influencing a franchisee's decision to expand. In the reported study, a four-stage analysis was conducted to examine empirically whether franchisees' opinions about the value of their franchisors changes over time. The study findings reveal that franchisees had the strongest, positive opinions when asked to recall an earlier decision to expand their franchise operations. These opinions weakened when franchisees contemplating expansion of their operations were asked for their current and anticipated future opinions of franchisor value. Overall, franchisees were undecided when asked about their perceptions of current franchisor value and anticipated future franchisor value. Implications of these findings for theory and practice of franchising are discussed.     

Principles for sustainability rating of investment funds

During the last decade, the idea of sustainable investments hit the market. Investors both private and institutional started to supplement financial considerations with social and ecological ones. Meanwhile the supply of mutual funds in the ‘green’ investment sector increased enormously. Currently in Europe about 300 mutual funds are available that are managed according to sustainability and social responsibility. Potential investors face the difficulty of keeping track of the various funds and choosing among them based on a reliable comparative assessment. This paper outlines the basic principles and methods on which such a comparative sustainability rating is based. The method was designed to be analogous to rating of the funds financially. The sustainability rating is based on assessment of the research processes in the fund management as well as investigation of the fund portfolio in terms of composition and sustainability performance. It should support investors in their investment choices by offering them a third party view. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Recall of autobiographical memory: A longitudinal analysis of franchisee experts

In this longitudinal study, we investigate whether franchisees in their role as experts exhibit consistent recall of their perceptions of franchise value after a 3-year interval when a strong autobiographical instance association (i.e., the multiunit decision) is created. Paired-sample t tests and correlation analysis are used to examine recall accuracy. While the analysis reveals stability of recall for typical franchisee experts over both the recent and the distant past, the individual level data indicate that the precision of recall deteriorates over time. Implications for future research involving retrospective data are offered.     

A keynesian macro-econometric model of the UK: 1955–1984

In this paper we present a small Keynesian macro-economic model in which wage-price determination is linked to the working of goods and money markets. By explicitly treating the Keynes effect we derive a general expression for the employment-money supply elasticity, and draw the IS-LM loci in the employment-interest rate space Our empirical specification allows for short-run disequilibrium dynamic adjustments around the static long-run relations predicted by the theoretical model. By careful use of our specification search strategy we obtain a statistically sound econometric model, which exhibits sensible long-run properties. A remarkable finding implied by our estimates is that equilibrium unemployment is negatively affected by both money supply and incomes policy.     

On the economics of immigration: some empirical evidence for Switzerland

The paper sheds light on the question of whether immigration represents a cost factor or an economic benefit for the host society. Starting with some conceptual issues of immigration research, it then gives some theoretical and empirical insights on this question. In particular, empirical evidence on the distributional effects of immigration is presented for Switzerland. Based on a large first-hand data set by the Swiss Statistical Office, this case study shows that in 1990, the presence of resident foreigners has not put additional strain on the public coffers, but that, on the contrary, there was a favourable financial effect for the native population. An overall judgement on the distribution issue, with special attention given to public goods and club goods, is thus possible.