Ordering and pricing policies in a manufacturing and distribution supply chain for fashion products

In the paper, we develop a model of manufacturing and distribution supply chains that are operating to meet price-sensitive random demand for products with short life cycles such as fashion products. Two specific scenarios are considered. The manufacturer-controlled scenario is one where the distributor shares price-sensitive random demand with the manufacturer, and the manufacturer controls the supply chain stocking decisions and bears the risk of overstocking costs. The distributor-controlled scenario works in the opposite direction. Prevailing wisdom suggests that the manufacturer should control supply chain decisions (e.g., via vendor-managed inventory). Our results indicate that such an arrangement is against the interest of a distributor selling short life-cycle products. Furthermore, we find that the total supply chain profit is generally higher when the distributor controls the supply chain stocking decisions and bears the risk of overstocking costs.     

The consumption of gambling in everyday life

This paper is concerned with the escalation of gambling in the UK and the consequences this has for the consumer. Reasons why people consume risk through the medium of gambling are provided with social factors, presented here, as important variables that have influenced this consumption. The National Lottery in the UK is highlighted as the most recent example that provides the context for this escalation in the consumption of gambling. The paper then presents research data obtained from reformed problem gamblers and describes the social ills associated with their compulsive gambling behaviour traits and their worries over the impact that gambling has on the individual and the community. The paper suggests that there will be an increase in the number of problem gamblers as a result of the increasing exposure of the consumer towards many forms of gambling.     

The geographical concentration of labour-market disadvantage

This paper argues that British 'welfare to work' policies areinadequate, given the geographical concentration of worklessnessin northern regions and in cities and former coalfields. Whileunemployment has been converging geographically, inactivityhas not. All the 'welfare to work' target groups - youth unemployed,long-term unemployed, lone parents, the long-term sick, andpartners of the unemployed - have closely similar geographicaldistributions. Official arguments that there are adequate jobvacancies everywhere are shown to be flawed. The geography ofworklessness is largely explained by the weakness of adjustmentthrough migration and commuting to the loss of jobs in manufacturingand mining, the cities being particularly affected by 'urbanrural manufacturing shift'. Policy needs to promote more relevantemployment in high unemployment areas, through increased spendingon derelict land reclamation and on transport and other infrastructure.The case for more supportive policies towards manufacturingshould also be considered.     

Long-term unemployment, the invention of 'hysteresis' and the misdiagnosis of structural unemployment in the UK

This paper investigates the empirical basis for the belief thatunemployment makes people less ‘employable’, andthat the existence of a pool of long-term unemployed peopleis therefore in itself a barrier to full employment. Drawingon data for Great Britain from the 1940s to the present day,it shows that this idea has arisen through misinterpretationsof the statistical evidence. The resulting policies, besidesdiverting resources from the demand-side programmes appropriateto the true situation of structural unemployment, appear tohave created a problem of the kind they were intended to address,by encouraging unemployed people to move onto sickness benefits.     

UK government's white paper (1993): a critical commentary on measures of exploitation of scientific research

Pressure to improve the exploitation of the science base is a common feature of OECD countries, a pressure which has created an 'innovation anxiety'. The UK government's recent White Paper on Science and Technology seeks to establkh mechanbms to improve British performance here. The paper contextualizes this development and explores and criticizes likely measures that will be used as indicators of efective exploitation. A number of alternative approaches are suggested.     

Is the Current Accounting Treatment of Education and Training Costs Appropriate?

This paper addresses the apparent disconnect between the economic consequences of firm‐sponsored education and training and the accounting and disclosure treatment of those costs. Research suggests that firm‐sponsored education and training enhances firm productivity and performance, yet accounting standards require firms to treat education and training costs as expenses. This study discusses not only the rationale for this accounting treatment, but also what firms and accounting standard setters can do to enhance the information provided to capital market participants about firm‐sponsored education and training.     

Estimating the HOV Model with Technology Differences Using Disaggregated Labor Skills for the United States and the United Kingdom

The paper develops a version of the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) theorem of parametric technological differences for application to US and UK data on the factor contents of trade, output, and consumption. A matched set of input–output tables, consumption and trade vectors, and labor occupations is constructed. The data allow estimation of factor-specific and industry-specific productivity differences for incorporation into a second-stage econometric approach to assessing the HOV model. The data support a general model with technical differences and measurement error. The implied ratio of US-to-UK expenditure levels exceeds the ratio based on published GNP data.