Disaffection with trade unions in China: some evidence from SOEs in the auto industry

Despite the growing research into China's industrial relations system there is remarkably little research into how China's workers regard their trade union. This article draws on over 500 interviews conducted in three SOEs in the auto industry in Hubei Province to examine this question.     

Rethinking determinants of ICT acceptance: Towards an integrated and comprehensive overview

In the contemporary ICT environment, we are confronted with a growing number of failing innovations. New technological innovations often fail because too much attention is still given to (technical) product-related features without taking into account the most important parameters of user acceptance. In addition, suppliers of ICT products often lack accurate insight into the distinguished profiles of their (potential) target audience. In this article theoretical considerations and empirical results on this matter are highlighted. First of all, an approach is proposed in which more traditional and often scattered vision(s) on adoption determinants are broadened into an integrated framework. The approach provides a stronger base for better targeting of (new) users of technologies. Secondly, the authors elaborate on this by rethinking these determinants with regard to later adopters. Later adopters (or even non-adopters/users) are often ignored in technology acceptance research. However, especially for policy purposes, the understanding of why people do not adopt or do not use ICT is strongly relevant in the light of the development of an inclusive information society. Both approaches are illustrated by case studies starting from a common list of nineteen ICT appropriation determinants. This framework enables to better profile both earlier and later adopters as well as it allows to formulate recommendations how to bring innovations in the market. Summarizing, this contribution offers an integrated approach on technology acceptance research by bridging the gap between a market and a policy-oriented point of view.     

Convergence in a Two-Sector Nonscale Growth Model

Much of the convergence debate has focused solely on output. Recent empirical evidence suggests that crucial inputs, such as technology and capital, may exhibit markedly distinct convergence patterns. We examine the convergence characteristics of a two-sector nonscale model of growth that features population growth and endogenous technology. The model replicates key economic ratios and speeds of convergence with relative ease. Most important, however, is that capital and technology differ strikingly in their convergence paths and speeds. The nonconstancy of the convergence rates and the nonproportionality of the endogenous variables during transition suggests further refinements for the empirical tests of convergence.     

Purchasing internationalisation on both sides of the Atlantic

This article focuses on similarities and differences in the perception of companies in the United States (7 cases in New York State) and Europe (5 cases from Belgium) on global purchasing opportunities and on how they react to these. It addresses two questions. First, what forces drive companies to engage in international purchasing? Seemingly basic issues such as price, quality and availability appear to be the three most important elements in this respect. Second, how do organisations organise for international purchasing in terms of configuration of actors and activities and their use of intermediaries such as brokers or agents? Findings indicate that the ways companies are organised run parallel on both sides of the Atlantic. However, we find that the New York State cases rely much more on intermediaries for their international purchasing activities than Belgian companies do.     

Time-varying integration,interdependence and contagion

Bekaert et al. (2005) define contagion as “correlation over and above what one would expect from economic fundamentals”. Based on a two-factor asset pricing specification to model fundamentally-driven linkages between markets, they define contagion as correlation among the model residuals, and develop a corresponding test procedure. In this paper, we investigate to what extent conclusions from this contagion test depend upon the specification of the time-varying factor exposures. We develop a two-factor model with global and regional market shocks as factors. We make the global and regional market exposures conditional upon both a latent regime variable and three structural instruments, and find that, for a set of 14 European countries, this model outperforms more restricted versions. The structurally-driven increase in global (regional) market exposures and correlations suggest that market integration has increased substantially over the last three decades. Using our optimal model, we do not find evidence that further integration has come at the cost of contagion. We do find evidence for contagion, however, when more restricted versions of the factor specifications are used. We conclude that the specification of the global and regional market exposures is an important issue in any test for contagion.     

Don’t Call Them Lobbyists北大核心CSSCISSCI

Businessweek, August 10, 2009Despite the rhetoric of the past 18 months, few in the nation's capital really believed the Beltway lobbyist would disappear overnight just because a new President vowed to change     

Saving and Investing Over the Life Cycle and the Role of Collective Pension Funds

Summary This paper surveys the academic literature on optimal saving and investment over an individual’s life cycle. We start out with a simple benchmark model with separable and smooth preferences, one aggregate risk factor and riskless wage income. Within this simple setting, optimal saving and investment behavior are explored from the perspective of individuals. Subsequently, we investigate various constraints to optimal individual decision making. We discuss how collective pension schemes may help to relieve some of the market incompleteness that arises from these constraints while at the same time introducing new types of constraints. Finally, various extensions to the benchmark setting are analyzed: a more elaborate modelling of human capital, additional risk factors, and other types of preferences. We thank Peter Kooreman for helpful comments on an earlier version and Roel Mehlkopf for research assistance.