Trust and economic growth: a robustness analysis

This paper analyses the robustness of results on the relationshipbetween growth and trust previously derived by Knack and Keefer(1997) and Zak and Knack (2001) along several dimensions, acknowledgingthe complexity of the concept of robustness. Our results showthat the Knack and Keefer results are only limitedly robust,whereas the results found by Zak and Knack are highly robustin terms of significance of the estimated coefficients and reasonablyrobust in terms of the estimated effect size. The improvementin robustness is caused by the inclusion of countries with relativelylow scores on trust (most notably, the Philippines and Peru).Overall, our results point at a relatively important role fortrust. However, the answer to the question how large this payoffactually is depends on the set of conditioning variables controlledfor in the regression analysis and—to an even larger extent—onthe underlying sample.     

Further results for the double ended queue

Summary For the double ended queue involving taxis and customers at a taxi-stand (Kashyap, 1965 a; b) the probabilities that (i) only taxis are waiting and (ii) only customers are waiting have been investigated by the use of Laplace transform. The L.T.s of the mean queue lengths of taxis and of customers are also obtained. The arrivals of taxis and customers are taken as general and Poisson respectively. The supplementary variable technique (Syski, 1960) has been used.     

Econometric modelling with non-normal disturbances

This paper analyzes a general class of non-normal density functions (dubbed Sargan densities) in the context of the ordinary regression model and the simple one-market disequilibrium model. Use of the normal density in disequilibrium models is unwieldy, especially for multimarket models, since the application of maximum likelihood methods requires numerical evaluation of multiple integrals. These difficulties are avoided with the Sargan densities, and based on both asymptotic results and limited sampling experiments, these densities appear to offer a promising alternative to the normal in disequilibrium models.     

A classification and evaluation of research in operations management

It is important that the first issue of a new journal devoted to research in a given subject area examine the general nature of research in the field at present, and indicate what type of research might be beneficially undertaken in the field in the future. It is also desirable for a new journal to consider the ways in which it will judge the general quality of its articles in the aggregate, relative to established journals in similar disciplines. That is, what criteria can and should be used, say five years hence to determine if the journal is a strong one? It is the purpose of this paper to consider these distinct, but interrelated questions. This will be done by classifying some recent OM research, commenting on what appear to be broad areas where more work might be done, and then suggesting some measures we might want to think about for evaluating papers published by the JOM in the future.