Specialization, outsourcing and wages

This paper studies the impact of outsourcing on individual wages. In contrast to the standard approach in the literature, we focus on domestic outsourcing as well as foreign outsourcing. We argue that if outsourcing is associated with specialization gains arising from an increase in the division of labor, domestic outsourcing tends to increase wages for both unskilled and skilled labor. We use a panel data set of workers in Danish manufacturing industries to show that domestic and foreign outsourcing affect wages as predicted.      

Budget deficits, monetization, and centralbank independence in developing countries

Using various indicators for central bank independence we examinethe relationship between central bank independence and governmentbudget deficits. Using a two-stage procedure we also analyzewhether central bank independence affects the monetization ofdeficits. First, the monetization relation in each country isestimated and then the resulting accommodation coefficientsare related to central bank independence. We conclude that onlyif the turnover rate of central bank governors or the politicalvulnerability mdex is used monetary accommodation of deficitsis negatively related to central bank independence. There isno relationship between independence and the level of budgetdeficits     

Liegt die Zukunft der Kommunikationswissenschaft in der Vergangenheit? Ein Plädoyer für Kontinuität statt Veränderung bei der Analyse von Digitalisierung

At present, social changes are summarized under the term digitalization. At first glance, this requires the development of new concepts, theories, and methods. This article takes a critical look at this assumption. Perceived changes can be understood as an opportunity to work out the constants of human communication. To clarify this argument, in the first part of the article we compare two perspectives: digitalization as changes in reality versus digitalization as a changed view of reality.Digitization is the conversion of continuous signals into discrete signals. While this technical process is more or less irrelevant for communication science, the related social process is of particular concern. However, to a large extent, what constitutes the social side of digitization is unclear. So far, digitalization can probably best be understood as a form of mediatization. Since mediatization is regarded as a social metaprocess, the concept of digitalization lacks empirical substance and the definition of the term remains vague.Due to the lack of meaning, we view digitalization as a change in the way we observe things. From this perspective, we explain the popularity of the concept of digitalization with the help of organizational theories. Following neo-institutionalist arguments, the digitalization discourse can be understood as an identity-forming communication flow. This is reflected in the positioning of the players in the texts that preceded this article. Representatives of standardized social research and interpretative social research present their conceptions of the discipline. Moreover, digitalization can be seen as a rationalized myth. Such myths reflect the expectations of the environment; they are adopted without considering their efficiency. The discipline adopts the attribute, digital, because it has a high positive connotation in the environment of communication science. Ultimately, digitalization appears to be a kind of heuristic for structuring the field with political implications, but not as a theoretically valid research category.Assuming that digitalization is a rationalized myth, consequences can be drawn for the development of theory and methods. We prove the benefit of this changed perspective by discussing the constitutive concepts of communication science. On the theoretical side, many studies have investigated on the topic of public communication. One topos of this research is the blurring of boundaries, e.?g. between public and private or public and interpersonal communication. Instead of highlighting the changes, we seek to determine what remains constant. Traditionally, the public has been associated with mass media and social outcomes. Upon closer inspection and when considering basic communication models, this connection has always been problematic. The blur is caused by definitions of the term and not by changes in the social world. To solve this problem, we propose a redefinition of publicness at the level of interpersonal communication.Methodologically, many approaches have been developed over the past years. For example, webometrics, digital methods and computational methods are promising fields of innovation. However, it is completely unclear how these methods relate to classical methods, such as surveys, content analyses, or observations. If web mining is about tracking user behaviors (digital traces) that were not created for scientific research (process-generated data), it can be seen as a kind of observation. For example, log file analysis is characterized as an observation method in classical methodological textbooks. But the same criterion also applies to websites. Websites are artifacts of human behavior that, for the most part, are not produced for scientific purposes. However, their analysis is usually seen as content analysis, not as observation.This comparison of methods demonstrates that even the distinction between classical methods is unclear. To solve this problem, we propose to better differentiate the different levels involved in the research process. Data collection can be understood as the transfer of empirical facts into data by observation. Data preparation would then be the transformation of data into datasets. Content analysis is a type of data preparation technique. Data analysis transforms data sets into substantial statements about the world. For example, statistics are used for this purpose. New methods can be better located in these known categories. Webometrics, digital methods and computational methods are examples of the automation of the research pipeline components, e.?g. as automated data collection or automated data preparation.We conclude that focusing on continuity offers an opportunity to improve proven concepts and methods instead of replacing them with vague terms. Therefore, we plead for observing continuity in the context of change and not using digitalization and its inherent metaphor of transformation as a lens for analyzing social change.     

Did industrialisation lead to segregation in cities of the nineteenth century? The case of Uppsala 1880–1900

ABSTRACT

How did industrialisation affect land use and residential patterns in cities of the nineteenth century? We use census data and GIS mapping techniques to analyse class segregation and changes to the spatial structure using the case of Uppsala, Sweden between 1880 and 1900. We find that there was a clear concentration of business activity in the central district and in proximity to the transportation hubs. Since these activities became more numerous but remained concentrated, they likely increased land values in the central areas of the city, inducing the lowest social classes to locate away from the centre. However, while these households were pushed out, it did not result in the type of class segregation we observe in many twentieth-century cities. Before the widespread use of transport technologies allowing populations to sprawl, city expansion in the type of middle-sized city that we study led instead to increased density and mixed uses in the central areas.     

Size and earnings volatility of US bank holding companies

We examine whether bank earnings volatility depends on bank size. Using quarterly data for bank holding companies in the United States for the period 1995Q1–2010Q3 and controlling for the quality of management, leverage, and diversification, we find that bank size reduces return volatility. However, the effect is non-linear: when bank size exceeds a certain threshold (about US$5 billion) size is positively related to earnings volatility. The recent financial crisis decreased the threshold beyond which the impact of size on volatility turns positive.     

Sudden Stops and Currency Crashes

This paper investigates which factors determine whether sudden stops in international capital flows are followed by a currency crash using data for 85 economies in the period 1980–2012. An event study approach is used for an 11‐year window around the crises for nine potential explanatory variables. In addition, the paper estimates discrete‐choice panel models. The results suggest that low trade openness, shallow financial markets, and current account imbalances increase the likelihood that a sudden stop will be followed by a currency crash. Moreover, it is established that the impact of these factors differs across different exchange rate regimes.     

Empirical Patterns of Firm Growth and R&D Investment: a Quality Ladder Model Interpretation

We present a partial equilibrium model of endogenous firm growth with R&D investment and stochastic innovation as the engines of growth, drawing on the quality ladder models in the macro growth literature, and the literature on patent races and the discrete choice models of product differentiation. The model fits a number of empirical patterns well, including: (i) a skewed size distribution of firms with persistent differences in firm sizes, (ii) firm growth independent of firm size, as stated in the so-called Gibrat's law, and (iii) R&D investment proportional to sales.     

Designing Public Services: The usefulness of three service design methods for identifying user experiences

This article examines the use of three service design methods in exploring complex public service systems. The methods used were the persona technique, mapping techniques in collaborative design workshops, and observations supplemented by group discussions. In their application to a university service, it was found that through their user-centred and collaborative approach, the service design methods assisted in the analysis of user experiences, including critical incidents, within the service system. It was also identified that user co-production formed the core of the service system and its processes, which highlights the need to actively involve users in public service design projects.     

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE OF BANKS: A SURVEY

This paper reviews the empirical literature on the corporate governance of banks. We start by highlighting the main differences between banks and nonfinancial firms and focus on three characteristics that make banks special: (i) regulation, (ii) the capital structure of banks, and (iii) the complexity and opacity of their business and structure. Next, we discuss the characteristics of corporate governance in banks and how they differ from the governance of nonfinancial firms. We then review the evidence on three governance mechanisms: (i) boards, (ii) ownership structures, and (iii) executive compensation. Our review suggests that some of the empirical regularities found in the literature on corporate governance of nonfinancial institutions, such as the positive (negative) association between board independence (size) and performance, do not hold for banks. Also, existing work provides no conclusive results regarding the relationship between different governance mechanisms and various measures for banks’ performance. We discuss potential explanations for these mixed results.     

Expatriate compound living: an ethnographic field study

In certain countries, closed expatriate compounds have developed. They serve to provide resident expatriates and accompanying family members with a comfortable and safe environment. Unfortunately, not much is known about compound life since associated empirical research is scarce. Through ethnographic field-work methodology, including interviews and participant observation during a period of 3 months, this exploratory study investigated 16 Danish business expatriates of a large Danish corporation and their families living in the same compound in Saudi Arabia. They shared their spare time and the expatriates had the same working hours in the same subsidiary. Results show that a Danish national group was established and maintained. This in-group dominated life in the compound and at work it may have contributed to the perceptual bias and discriminatory behaviour demonstrated by the Danish expatriates in their management of the foreign national employees. Implications of these findings are discussed in detail.