Determinants of internal migration in Israel: expected returns and risks

A multinomial logit model of place-to-place migration focusing on economic, geographic and demographic factors is applied to empirical data on inter-regional migration in Israel in 1980. It explains 75% of the (cross-sectional) variance in the data. The results presented in this paper depart from previous empirical work due to its industrialized context and its focus on risk aversion as a determinant of the migration decision. The results support the Harris–Todaro (1970) hypothesis, and indicate that regional similarities in the structure of industrial employment promote migration.     

De Autonomie der bijzondere spaarbanken

F. Lepelletier, Professeur d'Économie politique à la Faculté libre de droit de Paris. Les Caisses d'Épargne (Paris, 1911) blzz. 240.     

Individueele contractverbreking bij collectieve arbeidsovereenkomst

De steun, dien de vakvereenigingen kunnen geven voor het verkrijgen van meer bevredigende arbeids-toestanden in de industrie, brengt de zaak op sociaal-economisch gebied. Voorl. Versl. Eerste Kamer over het Wetsontw. Collectieve Arbeidsovereenkomst.     

Optimal Debt? On the Insurance Value of International Debt Flows to Developing Countries

According to reputation models of sovereign debt, the incentives to repay are proportional to the income insurance benefits provided by the access to international markets. This paper, however, documents that private net lending to developing countries exhibits a procyclical or acyclical pattern, contradicting this premise. By contrast, official debt net flows exhibit a countercyclical patter. In addition, the paper shows that (both current and past) defaults are associated with lower net debt flows. The findings suggest that, while reputation models may explain the preferred creditor status enjoyed by official lenders, they cannot account for the presence of sovereign debt markets in developing countries.     

Prospect Theory and Mean-Variance Analysis

The experimental results of prospect theory (PT) reveal suggestthat investors make decisions based on change of wealth ratherthan total wealth, that preferences are S-shaped with a risk-seekingsegment, and that probabilities are subjectively distorted.This article shows that while PT's findings are in sharp contradictionto the foundations of mean-variance (MV) analysis, counterintuitively,when diversification between assets is allowed, the MV and PT-efficientsets almost coincide. Thus one can employ the MV optimizationalgorithm to construct PT-efficient portfolios.     

A Neo‐Gramscian Approach to Corporate Political Strategy: Conflict and Accommodation in the Climate Change Negotiations*

ABSTRACT A neo‐Gramscian theoretical framework for corporate political strategy is developed drawing from Gramsci's analysis of the relations among capital, social forces, and the state, and from more contemporary theories. Gramsci's political theory recognizes the centrality of organizations and strategy, directs attention to the organizational, economic, and ideological pillars of power, while illuminating the processes of coalition building, conflict, and accommodation that drive social change. This approach addresses the structure‐agency relationship and endogenous dynamics in a way that could enrich institutional theory. The framework suggests a strategic concept of power, which provides space for contestation by subordinate groups in complex dynamic social systems. We apply the framework to analyse the international negotiations to control emissions of greenhouse gases, focusing on the responses of firms in the US and European oil and automobile industries. The neo‐Gramscian framework explains some specific features of corporate responses to challenges to their hegemonic position and points to the importance of political struggles within civil society. The analysis suggests that the conventional demarcation between market and non‐market strategies is untenable, given the embeddedness of markets in contested social and political structures and the political character of strategies directed toward defending and enhancing markets, technologies, corporate autonomy and legitimacy.     

Inflation,depreciation and optimal production

Depreciation is an economic outlay, though not a cash outflow. It is recognized as an outlay for tax purposes. This paper deals only with the tax effect of the depreciation method, emphasizing the impact of inflation on both the optimal depreciation method and optimal combination of production factors chosen by firms. In the U.S. and other countries accelerated forms of depreciation were adopted. These methods are analyzed and an optimal one is proposed.