EXAMINATION OF A PATH MODEL RELATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITH FIRM PERFORMANCE

This article draws on the resource‐based view of the firm to investigate the mechanisms through which information technology (IT) impacts firm performance. Research suggests that the relationship between IT and firm performance may be both direct and indirect. In this study, a path model is tested that proposes a firm's IT infrastructure resources as having both a direct impact on organizational performance, as well as an indirect effect that is propagated through its impact on an intermediate organizational resource, a firm's logistics information system (LIS). The results suggest that positive firm performance may be derived directly from an organization's superior IT infrastructure, as well as indirectly, through its enabling impact on LIS's. These findings contribute to our understanding of the nature of the relationship between IT and firm performance by exploring the value of IT at both the process and organizational levels.     

Schedule jockeying and route swamping: bus markets in Britain need kerb rights

The experience of British bus deregulation has resulted in less on-the-road competition than anticipated, and a high degree of industry concentration We argue that the specific form of deregulation in Britain has created a property rights problem in the cultivation of passenger congregations at the kerb. The result has been schedule jockeying and route swamping . From a property rights perspective, the disappointing results can be seen as a commons problem. A nuanced approach to property rights at bus stops, permitting scheduled service to appropriate its investment in cultivating passenger congregations, and allowing freewheeling jitneys to compete on the route, could bring the benefits that many had expected from deregulation.     

Rational and polynomial lags: The finite connection

This article demonstrates that, for a finite distributed lag, the polynomial distributed lag (PDL) approximation suggested by Almon is a special case of the rational lag method formalized by Jorgenson. The proof relies upon the fact that the PDL estimator imposes differencing restrictions upon the parameters while rational lag methods impose quasi-differncing restrictions. Because of this relationship, the PDL restrictions are nested inside the rational lag ones, and this provides for a sequence of tests to discriminate between the two. An example is performed and an appendix describes an asymptotically efficient two-step estimator.     

Give Heckscher and Ohlin a chance!

Give Heckscher and Ohlin a Chance! — This paper argues that criticism of the empirical inaccuracy of Heckscher-Ohlin theory has been much exaggerated. Most tests have mis-specified the theory, particularly in their treatment of capital, a factor of production which is internationally mobile and therefore generally does not influence the pattern of trade. The argument is illustrated by a review of empirical studies of North-South trade in manufactures, which is well explained by a skill-only Heckscher-Ohlin model.     

Efficiency in the gold market — a note

This paper investigates the efficiency of the gold market with respect to the information contained in sequences of successive price changes. Tests for serial correlation and modelling the changes as first-order Markov processes indicate some short-term dependence. While there is no reason to believe outsiders can profit from knowledge of these relationships, insiders might, though this is not certain. In addition, the application of a market model to monthly returns for the period 1974–1977 results in the finding that gold's ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ were positive, but not significantly different from zero.     

Sweetness and Power – Public Policies and the ‘Biofuels Frenzy’

Sweetness and Power – Public Policies and the ‘Biofuels Frenzy’ In the last decade, there has been a huge policy‐led expansion in biofuels production and consumption. This paper presents some of the findings of a funded research project which has sought to identify the drivers of biofuels policies over this period. It focuses on the EU, US and Brazil which, together, represent about 90 per cent of global biofuels markets. Biofuels policies have three key drivers: as a partial substitute for fossil fuels, to lower greenhouse gas emissions; as a way of improving energy security, by diversifying away from fossil fuels and from the limited number of countries with fossil‐fuel reserves; and as a means of promoting rural development, given the opportunities offered by the production of biofuel feedstocks and their processing into biofuels. One particular challenge for both the EU and US has been to create and sustain a broad coalition of stakeholder interests in support of biofuels and biofuel policies. Both have sought to promote ‘conventional’ biofuels now, whilst trying to aid the development of ‘advanced’ biofuels industries that will address problems with existing technologies. The continued failure to deliver significant quantities of advanced biofuels raises questions for biofuels policymakers going forward, not least dealing with the downsides of conventional biofuels that, so far, have not been mitigated by a successful transition to advanced biofuels.     

Risk‐taking channel of monetary policy

One of the most robust stylized facts in macroeconomics is the forecasting power of the term spread for future real activity. We propose a possible causal mechanism for the forecasting power of the term spread, deriving from the balance sheet management of financial intermediaries and the “risk‐taking channel of monetary policy.” Monetary tightening leads to the flattening of the term spread, reducing net interest margin and credit supply. We provide empirical support for the risk‐taking channel.     

Does increased hedging lead to decreased price efficiency? The case of VIX ETPs and VIX futures

We examine the impact of the introduction of VIX exchange‐traded products (ETPs) on the information content and pricing efficiency of VIX futures. We document that trades in VIX futures have become less informative and that pricing errors exhibit more persistence after the introduction of VIX ETPs. In addition, we observe that the price process of the VIX futures has become noisier over time. These findings suggest that the introduction of the VIX ETPs had a prominent effect on the properties and dynamics of the VIX futures.