Stuck on gold: Real exchange rate volatility and the rise and fall of the gold standard, 1875-1939

Did the gold standard diminish macroeconomic volatility? Supporters thought so, critics thought not, and theory offers ambiguous messages. Hard regimes like the gold standard limit monetary shocks by tying policymakers' hands; but exchange-rate inflexibility compromises shock absorption in a world of real disturbances and nominal stickiness. A model shows how lack of flexibility affects the transmission of terms-of-trade shocks. Evidence from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century exposes a dramatic change. The classical gold standard did absorb shocks, but the interwar gold standard did not, supporting the view that the interwar gold standard was a poor regime choice.     

Decision parameters in global R&D management

This paper addresses the question of which variables have what kind of impact on the decision to locate new R&D facilities in countries different from the home country of a corporation. In the first section of the paper we demonstrate the complexity of this question by referring to empirical research, managerial statements and literature. We then develop a conceptual model for the location decision of international R&D activities. This is based on Porter's (1990) framework of the factors constituting the competitive advantage of nations. In the final section of this paper we show how such a model helps us to understand and also to explain a number of management issues related to global R&D activities.     

An Empirical Analysis of Hedonic Regression and Grid-Adjustment Techniques in Real Estate Appraisal

Multiple regression analysis has become increasingly popular when appraising residential properties for tax purposes. Alternatively, most fee appraisers and real estate brokers use the traditional sales comparison approach. This study combines the two techniques and uses multiple regression to generate the adjustment coefficients used in the grid adjustment method. The study compares the combined grid-regression method with ordinary regression and defines the market conditions under which each method is likely to be more effective. The grid-regression method is found to be more accurate for relatively homogeneous housing markets, and the multiplicative percentage adjustment method (MPAM) the preferred approach.     

Nutrition planning is alive and well, thank you

This article is a rejoinder to an article by John Osgood Field which discussed the failure of multisectoral nutrition planning. The author argues that, although nutrition planners may have been overly optimistic in their hopes that political systems could be made responsive to the problems, significant advances have been achieved. He outlines many of the successes of nutrition planning and the importance of multisectoral work. Malnutrition is a problem that escapes all the standard programmes, and cannot be tackled through the health and agriculture sectors alone.     

Going the extra mile: Antecedents of salespeople's discretionary effort

Many sales organizations are scrambling for success in today's intensely competitive environment. An increasing number of firms are finding that tried and true traditional selling strategies are less effective, or not effective at all. Moreover, companies are discovering that what has been an acceptable level of performance no longer is adequate for maintaining or gaining competitive advantage. Consequently, managers need to focus on alternative means through which the organization can be successful. One alternative is for sales forces to engage in discretionary effort-work activities that entail going beyond the call of duty. This paper develops propositions regarding antecedents of salesperson discretionary effort, which provide managerial direction should the propositions be confirmed.     

Reliance on R&D Partnerships: The Influence of Short-Term R&D Bias and The Nature of Competition

Reports indicate that capital markets frequently focus on short-term corporate financial performance. Arguments suggest that the R&D projects of many firms are skewed towards short-term, low-risk projects with relatively modest expected benefits, reflecting both a response by companies to financial market pressure to maintain short-term returns and a short-term R&D bias. Anecdotal evidence suggests that one response to short-term R&D bias by firms is for them to seek R&D partnerships with customers and suppliers. A theory is developed which suggests that when firms compete on the basis of product costs, they are likely to seek partnerships with customers and suppliers in order to respond to short-term R&D pressures. In contrast, when competition is innovation-based, firms are unlikely to pursue R&D partnerships in response to short-term R&D bias. The results of an empirical study provide support for this proposition.     

Contextual Influences on Thinking in Organizations: Learner and Tutor Orientations to Organizational Learning

This paper examines the orientations, or frames of reference, of participants in five bank training programmes run by three banks in the United Kingdom. Adopting a symbolic interactionist approach and ethnographic methods of investigation, the paper attempts to elucidate the ways in which both learners and tutors thought about their roles in the learning events and the goals and strategies they adopted in order to cope with their situation. It is suggested that in order to understand the participants' behaviour it is necessary to take into account the contexts in which their actions were constructed. In particular it is proposed that the organizational context of the training programmes, which exposed the participants to the gaze of ‘hidden audiences’ of organizational superiors, inhibited the potential of the programmes as vehicles for learning. It is also argued that interactionist approaches using ethnographic methods, which enable organizational actors to be studied in situ, have an important contribution to make to the wider study of organizational cognition.     

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EXECUTIVE SUCCESSION AND DISCRETIONARY ACCOUNTING CHANGES: EARNINGS MANAGEMENT OR DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES?

This paper investigates the association of executive changes with both income increasing and decreasing accounting changes. Two potential explanations for the hypothesis that firms with changes in CEOs are more likely to make accounting changes are examined. The earnings management explanation holds that new management intervenes in the financial reporting process in order to alter perceptions of effectiveness. The different perspectives explanation holds that managements have different tastes, perspectives, or views of the world than the predecessor. Evidence supports the different perspectives explanation.     

The role of federal funding on the demand for state and local government spending

Federal aid to state and local governments lowers the perceived tax price of state and local government output and, in this way, affects the demand for state and local government. After reviewing some theoretical models, an empirical investigation using data from 1960–89 shows that federal aid makes the demand for state and local government spending more income-elastic. State and local government expenditures have grown more rapidly than federal government expenditures since 1960 and there is some empirical support for the idea that federal aid was an important contributing factor.