Evaluating the employability paradox: When does organizational investment in human capital pay off?

Abstract

The paper explores the notion of the employability paradox which notes that while organizations investing in the career and competency development of their workforce can benefit from higher performance, they also risk losing more employable staff to competitors. Building on contributions from social exchange theory and signalling theory, we develop a model exploring the circumstances under which investment in career development benefits employees and organizations. We test our model in a longitudinal study following graduates entering the labour market. Our results show that when organizations signal that they care about employees by investing in their career development and individuals are receptive to such signals and proactively seek to manage their careers, investment in career development has a positive impact on organizational commitment and intention to stay with one’s employer. Our findings indicate that the idea of the employability paradox is simplistic and lacks theoretical and empirical support.     

Top-<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-lists

Top-k-lists are introduced as sequences of k-dimensional random vectors with ordered components being k largest observations from a sequence of independent identically distributed random variables. Such lists changing in time are natural stochastic models of ranking tables which appear in many situations in real life, when one wants to keep a track of several best results in a given field. Here we study basic properties of top-k-lists as joint distributions, conditional structures, representations, driving examples of top-k-lists from exponential and uniform distributions, asymptotics and a relation to generalized order statistics.     

Exporting and performance: evidence from Chilean plants

Abstract.  Recent empirical evidence documents the superior characteristics of exporters relative to non‐exporters. Three explanations for this phenomenon have been proposed: self‐selection; learning‐by‐exporting; and conscious self‐selection. We test these three hypotheses using plant‐level data from Chile. We find that plants that enter international markets show superior initial performance compared with non‐exporters, consistent with self‐selection; we observe increases in productivity after plants begin to export, which is consistent with learning‐by‐exporting. We also find strong evidence supporting the idea that self‐selection is a conscious process by which plants increase productivity with the purpose of becoming exporters. JEL classification: F14; O54; D21     

A comparison between the log-linear and the parameterized expectations methods

This paper compares the performance of a log-linear method and a parameterized expectations method in solving a dynamic general equilibrium endogenous growth model with human capital. Quantitative evaluation based on second moment statistics shows that the results provided by the two numerical methods are very similar in this framework whenever the propagation mechanism of technology shocks is weak. However, the cross correlations of some relevant variables in the RBC literature obtained from the two methods are significantly different when the model exhibits a strong propagation mechanism. The parameterized expectations method captures the sensitiviness of second moment statistics to the curvature of the utility function while the log-linear method does not.     

Local Sunspot Equilibria Reconsidered

We generalize the usual notion of local sunspot equilibria. We say such equilibria exist around a steady state of an OLG economy whenever stationary sunspot equilibria of arbitrarily close economies exist within any neighborhood of the steady state. Unlike the usual notion, this generalization allows to address the following identification problem: Can an analyst distinguish empirically small fluctuations due to small shocks to the fundamentals from pure expectations-driven fluctuations? We study conditions under which these generalized local sunspot equilibria exist in OLG economies, and show that they may exist around not only indeterminate but also determinate steady states.     

The Role of Education vis-a-vis Job Experience in Explaining the Transitions to Employment in the Spanish Youth Labour Market

It is well known that young cohorts experience higher unemployment rates than their adult counterparts. However, it is less well known that more educated young cohorts may face higher unemployment rates than less educated ones. This seems to be the evidence in some OECD countries such as Spain and Italy. We use data on the Spanish labour market and estimate a duration model for young unemployed people. University graduates’ lack of job experience may explain this puzzling observation.     

International transatlantic trade liberalization: zooming in on regional impacts

The current study analyses the impact on a Portuguese small island regional economy of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) between the EU and the USA. A dynamic Computational General Equilibrium (CGE) model detailing six household categories, 45 sectors, and four trading partners is used. Previous studies used aggregate variables and, largely, were based on the structure of the national economy. For a small, integrated economy, foreign trade statistics comprise an underestimation, given that most of the trade occurs through national logistics centres. Taking into account the national integration effects, gross domestic value was estimated to be higher than in other studies. Using equivalent variation, the estimated welfare impact is positive for all six household categories. Value-added suffers mixed impacts depending on the sector. It is negative for fisheries, ambiguous for agriculture and positive for tourism and transportation. The contribution of the current study is to highlight the importance of looking beneath the trade block and national conclusions particularly when regional economic policy is relevant as is the case in Europe. Better knowledge of welfare, regional and sector impacts allows for improved development and mitigation policies.     

Bond rating changes and stock returns: evidence from the Spanish stock market

This study analyzes the effect of corporate bond rating changes by international agencies on stock prices. This topic has not yet been analyzed for the Spanish stock market, despite the growing importance of ratings in Spanish financial markets. On an efficient market, rating changes will only have an effect if they contain some new information. The results from an event study indicate that rating actions cause significant negative abnormal returns in issuing firms around the date of the announcement. This evidence indicates an informational effect related to downgrades, which supports the hypothesis that credit rating agencies provide information that may reduce the asymmetric information problem between firms and investors. In the case of upgrades, our results are compatible with a redistribution of wealth between bondholders and owners or with the reputation hypothesis.      

Social Economy Companies in the Spanish Agricultural Sector: Delimitation and Situation in the Context of the European Union

Abstract On the basis of the definitions that have found the greatest acceptance among the scientific community, this paper identifies the business formulas that comprise the Social Economy in the agri‐food sector with reference to the case of Spain, for which the latest data and figures are presented. At the same time, it presents a comparative study with agricultural cooperatives in the European Union, using the cluster analysis method, in order to place the business situation of Spanish cooperatives within this context.     

Environmental taxes and strategic delegation

This paper analyzes a managerial delegation model in which the government chooses an environmental tax to control environmental damage. By giving the managers of firms an incentive scheme based on a linear combination of profit and sales revenue, we show that firm owners have to pay a higher environmental tax and both environmental damage and social welfare increase compared to the profit-maximization case. Financial support from UPV (Subvención a grupos, 2001), UPV (HB-8238/2000) and MEC (BEC 2000-0301) is gratefully acknowledged. We would like to thank A. Saracho and two referees for helpful comments. The usual disclaimer applies.