Currency substitution and the real exchange rate: the utility maximization approach

This paper studies the currency-substitution hypothesis with Rational Expectations in terms of a Sidrauski-type model where domestic and foreign money enter the utility function. It shows that, contrary to Liviatan (1981), the approach does not necessarily contradict Calvo and Rodriguez (1977). Furthermore, the impact of monetary stabilization policy is fully characterized with flexible and (pre-) fixed rates for an extension of Dornbusch and Mussa (1975). A brief analysis of the Optimal Quantity of Money is also provided.     

The Effects of Attitudes,Subjective Norms,Attributions, and Individualism–Collectivism on Managers’ Responses to Bribery in Organizations: Evidence from a Developing Nation

The goal of this study was to introduce a model explaining how managers’ attitudes, subjective norms, attributions, and the individualism–collectivism cultural dimension affect the way managers’ deal with employee bribery in organizations. Twenty-six internal and external attributions related to bribery were identified through a series of structured interviews with 65 subject matter experts. These attributions, together with the other variables in the model, were evaluated by 354 (n = 354) Ecuadorian managers. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that attitudes and external attributions significantly predicted managers’ intentions to discipline employees who accepted a bribe. In addition, external attributions mediated the relationship between individualism–collectivism and intent to discipline corrupt employees. Implications for the management of bribery in Latin American organizations are discussed.     

Africa's export structure in a comparative perspective

Cross-country econometric analysis informed by Heckscher–Ohlintrade theory suggests that the concentration of Africa's exportson unprocessed primary products is caused largely by the region'scombination of low levels of education and abundant naturalresources. In some African countries, the share of manufacturesin exports could be raised by improving infrastructure and policies.For most of Africa, however, the highest priority is to raisethe absolute level of exports in all sectors, and particularlyin sectors based on natural resources, following a developmentpath more like that of land-abundant America than of land-scarceAsia.     

Behavioural heterogeneity in wine investments

We introduce a heterogeneous agent model to explain the dynamics of fine wine investments. Our results show evidence of the existence of both fundamentalists – those who trade on mean-reversion towards a fair value – and chartists – those who extrapolate recently observed price trends – in the wine market. Moreover, we document that market participants switch between the two trading strategies, allocating more weight to the strategy that has been the most accurate in forecasting wine index values in the recent past. This switching behaviour can explain the large variations in index values (bubbles and crashes) that are observed in the fine wine market.     

Short-term relative arbitrage in volatility-stabilized markets

We answer in the affirmative the following open question posed in Fernholz and Karatzas (Ann Finance 1:149–177, 2005): do there exist relative arbitrage opportunities over arbitrarily short time horizons in the context of certain volatility-stabilized market models?     

Individual Performance in Turbulent Environments: The Role of Organizational Learning Capability and Employee Flexibility

Organizational learning capability (OLC) and employee flexibility help firms navigate the challenges faced by organizations operating in turbulent environments. OLC includes dimensions such as experimentation, risk taking, openness, dialogue, and participative decision making. Employee flexibility is considered a crucial tool for strategic human resource management in tackling environmental turbulence. Accordingly, we pose the following research question: how, and to what extent, is individual performance enhanced by OLC and employee flexibility in turbulent environments? The major impact that environmental turbulence has on change and flexibility requirements suggests that employee flexibility plays an important role in the impact OLC has on individual performance. However, we found no prior studies that explicitly analyzed this mediating function of employee flexibility. In this study, we tested three hypotheses that link OLC and individual performance, OLC and employee flexibility, and employee flexibility and individual performance. We applied a structural equation methodology, using partial least squares path modeling, to a sample of 174 academics at a Latin American university (a highly turbulent context). Our results show employee flexibility fully mediates the relation between OLC and individual performance given the presence of environmental turbulence. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Identifying risk and mitigating gambling-related harm in online poker

The present paper conducts a critical analysis of the potential for gambling-related harm in relation to online poker participation, and a theoretical evaluation of current responsible gambling strategies employed to mitigate harm in online gambling and applies the evaluation of these strategies specifically to online poker gambling. Theoretically, the primary risk for harm in online poker is the rapid and continuous nature of poker provisions online, and has been demonstrated to be associated with disordered gambling behaviour, including the chasing of monetary losses. The following responsible gambling features were deemed relevant for consideration: informed player choice, voluntary self-exclusion, employee intervention, pre-commitment, in-game feedback, behavioural tracking tools, and age restriction and verification. Although current responsible gambling features are evaluated as theoretically robust, there remains a fundamental need for experimental validation of their effectiveness. Furthermore, despite online poker gamblers perceiving the responsible gambling features as valuable tools, in reality very few players regularly use available responsible gambling features. Ultimately, for the online poker gambling industry to retain market credibility and avoid substantial top-down regulation, it is imperative to demonstrate effectiveness of responsible gambling approaches, and increase customer utilisation of available harm-mitigation features.     

Outstanding fundraising practice: how do nonprofits substantively increase their income?

• In this paper, we examine the characteristics of charities that have generated substantive increases in their fundraising income. We interviewed 25 fundraising directors and team members, from organizations experiencing rapid growth, adopting a “decoding the discipline” approach to identify how each organization had overcome key barriers to its success. We identify that fundraising leaders in these exceptional nonprofits focus particularly on matters connected to their team, organizational structures that support that team, and the development of an organization‐wide learning culture. We also find that these teams were successful because of the “systems” way in which they understood and coped with the complexities of decision making. They were exceptional in isolating the right problems and exceptional too in the processes they adopted to solve them.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring Regional Economic Resilience across Europe: Operationalizing a complex concept

This paper describes an approach developed to measure regional economic resilience across Europe which is novel in three key dimensions. Firstly, it seeks to date regional downturns as opposed to assuming that all regional economies are affected by economic shocks at the same point in time; secondly, it measures the amplitude and duration of economic downturns and subsequent recoveries; and thirdly, as well as measuring recovery, it measures the resistance of regional economies to economic shocks. The paper applies this methodology to selected European countries to provide an analysis of differential regional responses to several economic shocks since the early 1990s. The paper then reflects upon the utility of this methodology for operationalizing regional economic resilience in cross-comparative studies.     

Confirmatory factor analysis with missing data in a small sample: cognitive reserve in people with Down Syndrome

Quality & Quantity - The presence of missing data and small sample sizes are very common in social and health sciences. Concurrently to present a methodology to solve the small sample size and...