Exchange Rates,Employment and Labour Market Rigidity

In this paper, we study the effect of labour market rigidity on the impact of exchange rate shocks on employment. We use a panel dataset comprising 22 manufacturing sectors across 23 OECD countries. In our econometric model, the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on sectoral employment is mediated by the degree of openness and by a measure of labour market rigidity: the OECD's employment protection legislation (EPL) index. Our results suggest that greater labour market rigidity reduces the impact of exchange rate shocks on employment. This effect is statistically significant for low‐technology sectors.     

When corporate social responsibility (CSR) increases performance: exploring the role of intrinsic and extrinsic CSR attribution

This study investigates whether employees attribute different motives to their organization's corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts and if these motives influence employee performance. Specifically, we investigate whether employees could distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic CSR motives by surveying 229 employee–supervisor dyads from various industries (companies that have reputable CSR programs in Portugal), and the impact of these perceptions on in‐role and extra‐role performance of subordinates. We found that employee task performance increases when employees attribute both intrinsic and extrinsic motives for CSR. Moreover, when employees perceive that their organization invests in a CSR practice that is both intrinsic and extrinsic, they also tend to exert extra effort in their work. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed alongside future research directions.     

ANTECEDENTS TO MARKET ORIENTATION IN THE WORKER COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION: THE MONDRAGON GROUP

Given the socio‐economic importance of cooperative firms and in the light of evidence that they are an effective option for competing in complex environments, an intensive examination of their organizational model is required. It is significant that some of the most consolidated worker cooperative organizations have focused on Market Orientation. The central purpose of this research is therefore to examine the influence of a set of internal antecedents of market orientation found in cooperatives. We shall then verify the possible benefits of market orientation on their business performance. The subject of this analysis will be the worker‐owned businesses that make up the Mondragon cooperative group, a global pioneer in democratic business practice.     

Technical efficiency with state-contingent production frontiers using maximum entropy estimators

Although the theory of state-contingent production is well-established, the empirical implementation of this approach is still in an infancy stage. The possibility of finding a large number of states of nature, few observations per state and models affected by collinearity have led some researchers to claim the urgent need to develop robust estimation techniques. In this paper, we investigate the performance of some maximum entropy estimators to assess technical efficiency with state-contingent production frontiers. The methodological discussion and the simulation study provided in the paper reveal some of the potential of these estimators. Small mean squared error loss and small differences between the true and the estimated mean of technical efficiency show that the maximum entropy can be a powerful tool in the estimation of state-contingent production frontiers.     

Unobserved Heterogeneity,Exit Rates,and Re‐Employment Wages

Exit rates from unemployment and re‐employment wages decline over a period of unemployment, after controlling for worker observable characteristics. We study the role of unobserved heterogeneity in an economy with asymmetric information and directed search. We show that the unique equilibrium is separating and that skilled workers have more job opportunities and higher wages. The composition of the unemployed varies with the duration of unemployment, so average exit rates and wages fall with time. The separating equilibrium relies on performance‐related pay schemes and the ability of firms to commit to renting an input that is complementary to worker skills.     

CASH-FLOW TRANCHING AND THE MACROECONOMY

The volume of cash-flow transformation activities has grown markedly over the past few decades. We develop a dynamic model that characterizes the effects of changes in the costs and benefits of security creation. Lower tranching costs and increases in foreign appetite for safe assets can both increase costly security creation with positive effects on GDP and have diverse macroeconomic implications. Whereas the former counterfactually increases yields, the latter lowers them and also raises rents associated with cash-flow transformation. These two features, as well as other subsidiary implications of increased foreign demand, are consistent with recent U.S. data.     

Productivity drivers and market dynamics in the Spanish first division football league

This paper analyses efficiency drivers of a representative sample of Spanish football clubs by means of the two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) procedure proposed by Simar and Wilson (J Econ, 136:31–64, 2007). In the first stage, the technical efficiency of football clubs is estimated using a bootstrapped DEA model in order to establish which of them are the most efficient; the ranking is based on total productivity in the period 1996–2004. In the second stage, the Simar and Wilson (J Econ, 136:31–64, 2007) procedure is used to bootstrap the DEA scores with a truncated bootstrapped regression. Policy implications of the main findings are also considered.     

The impact on broadband access to the Internet of the dual ownership of telephone and cable networks

In Portugal, until recently, the telecommunications incumbent offered broadband access to the Internet, both through digital subscriber line and cable modem. We estimate the impact on broadband access to the Internet of the structural separation of these two businesses. Using a panel of consumer level data and a random effects mixed logit model, we estimate the price elasticities of demand and the marginal costs of broadband access to the Internet. Based on these estimates, we simulate the effect of structural separation on prices and social welfare. Our estimates indicate that structural separation would cause a substantial welfare increase. These results raise questions about the policy of some countries of allowing the dual ownership of telephone and cable networks.     

Extension services,product quality and yields: the case of grapes in Argentina

This article studies the impact of publicly subsidized agricultural extension services on yields and product quality. We use panel data from grape producers in Mendoza, Argentina to estimate the impacts of farmer trainings. We find a negative overall impact on yields and evidence of a positive average impact on the adoption of higher‐quality grape varieties. By analyzing the dynamic pattern of the estimated effects, we find evidence of a temporary decrease in yields suggesting the existence of an adjustment process following the introduction of higher‐quality grapes. The overall negative effect on yield is driven by a sharp drop in the year of participation. This fades after year one, and two to three years after treatment we observe increases in higher‐quality grape production. Findings reinforce the importance of temporal dimension of extension services.