Varieties and variability of employee relations approaches in US subsidiaries: country-of-origin effects and the level and type of industry internationalisation

This article investigates the relative importance and variability of the country-of-origin effect in employee relations approaches of US subsidiaries within the context of diversity of employee relations patterns in home- and host-country business systems and the influence of important industry forces. It is based on a representative survey of US subsidiaries and indigenous firms in the UK. The cross-sectional comparison with indigenous UK firms confirmed a distinct US country-of-origin imprint in employee relations patterns in US subsidiaries. However, the magnitude of such an effect cautions against assumptions of popular stereotypes and reflects, inter alia, the diversity of employee relations approaches among US parent companies as well as developments in the UK industrial relations landscape over the last decades. The intra-US analysis revealed the importance of both the level and type of industry internationalisation in shaping the strength and nature of the country-of-origin influence. On the basis of the findings, the article highlights lessons to be learned for the study of cross-border policy-transfer issues in MNCs.     

Spatial Price Adjustment with and without Trade*

We investigate the possibility that price transmission between spatially distinct markets might vary during periods with and without physical trade flows. We test for differences between trade and non‐trade regimes by using generalized reduced rank regression (GRRR) techniques suggested by Hansen (2003) . We apply these techniques to semi‐weekly price and trade flow data for tomato markets in Zimbabwe and find that intermarket price adjustment occurs in both trade and non‐trade periods. Indeed, the adjustments are generally larger and more rapid in periods without physical trade flows. This finding underscores the importance of information flow for market performance.     

Regulatory compliance,information disclosure and peer effects: evidence from the Mexican gasoline market

Policy makers and regulators are increasingly interested in the use of information disclosure as a regulatory instrument to improve firms’ behavior. However, little has been done using micro-level data to investigate whether information provision may trigger peer influence among firms that affects their compliance behavior. Using station-level inspection verification data from the Mexican gasoline market, this paper examines whether gas stations react to peers’ performance to adjust their own compliance decisions. The information disclosure policy assigned each inspected gas station with green, yellow, or red colors to indicate the status of compliance, minor violation, and severe violation, respectively. We find strong evidence of peer influence triggered by information spillover. The probability of being in compliance increases as the number of “green” peers increases. We use both municipalities and postal codes as geographic boundaries to define potential peers, and find similar results. Our findings also suggest that the magnitude of peer effects varies across municipalities: the effects appear to be greater in wealthier, more educated communities.     

The structural transformation of African agriculture and rural spaces: introduction to a special section†

This article briefly introduces a special section on the structural transformation of African agriculture and rural spaces. The five papers that comprise this special section all draw on household‐level microdata to explore important aspects of the salient changes taking place in the world's most agrarian and poorest continent.     

Europe's Congested Airspace – Time for Market Solutions

Why will holiday makers have to wait so long in airports this summer? Sean Barrett, of Trinity College Dublin, claims that congestion could be eased by competitive tendering for air traffic control and markets in airport capacity and competition for airspace.     

“It's good to talk”? the reform of joint consultation in British Telecom

Here the authors describe a series of changes to the structure and process of joint consultation introduced at British Telecom (BT) in the early 1990s. It describes and analyses the reasons for these changes and accounts for the largely hostile response from BT trade unions. The key claim is that management have refashioned joint consultation to better control and limit union activity in the firm and that the changes form part of a wider policy of union marginalisation at BT.     

How effectively does multilateral food aid respond to fluctuating needs?

This paper tests the targeting efficacy of multilateral food aid at the level of nation states, exploring whether it stabilizes food availability in recipient economies, flows most to those with the greatest need, or both. We find that, unlike bilateral flows from the United States under PL 480, multilateral food aid distribution by the World Food Programme flows countercyclically, thereby stabilizing food availability in recipient economies. WFP flows also exhibit significant progressivity at the regional level, helping to resolve international inequalities in food availability per capita.     

THE ADJUSTMENT OF STOCK PRICES TO COMPLETELY UNANTICIPATED EVENTS

This paper utilizes standard cumulative residual analysis to study the response of stock prices to completely unanticipated events—fatal commercial airline crashes. Results indicate that the immediate negative reaction to fatal airline crashes is significant for only one full trading day after the event occurs. Hence, the market appears to assimilate the new information rapidly, even if the crash occurs in a remote geographic location. The paper also considers market response after the initial reaction period by assuming that the actual cumulative average residuals are drawn from the same distribution as the pre-crash base period and by calculating the probabilities that observed changes would occur. Results provide no evidence that underreaction or overreaction appeared in the initial response period. The hypothesis of complete, immediate adjustment is also supported by a repetition of the analysis on the subsample of airplane crashes where the greatest potential loss occurs.