The Impact of Bank Credit on Employment Formality: Evidence from Uruguay

This article examines the effect of bank credit on employment formalization in Uruguay. Using a difference-in-differences methodology the article finds that financial deepening decreases informality, especially in more financially dependent sectors. In addition, the effect is found to be greater among women and older workers. In the period under analysis the economy underwent a severe economic crisis and bank credit contracted sharply, but we find no evidence that the effect of bank credit on employment formality changed over time.     

Financial repression and economic development: towards a post-Keynesian alternative ∗

The Shaw–McKinnon framework, the foundation of mainstream thinking on the role of financial markets and institutions in economic development and the basis for policy-making in many LDCs for the last 18 years, is shown to be flawed when viewed in a post-Keynesian perspective. Three interrelated aspects of post-Keynesian theory are used to challenge the financial liberalization models and to posit an alternative post-Keynesian perspective on the role of financial institutions and markets in economic development. These aspects are: (1) the finance-investment-saving-funding circuit; (2) the financial fragility hypothesis; and (3) the evolution of institutions and conventions in an uncertain world.     

Neural network volatility forecasts

We analyse whether the use of neural networks can improve ‘traditional’ volatility forecasts from time-series models, as well as implied volatilities obtained from options on futures on the Spanish stock market index, the IBEX-35. One of our main contributions is to explore the predictive ability of neural networks that incorporate both implied volatility information and historical time-series information. Our results show that the general regression neural network forecasts improve the information content of implied volatilities and enhance the predictive ability of the models. Our analysis is also consistent with the results from prior research studies showing that implied volatility is an unbiased forecast of future volatility and that time-series models have lower explanatory power than implied volatility. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new extension of bivariate FGM copulas

We propose a new family of copulas generalizing the Farlie–Gumbel–Morgenstern family and generated by two univariate functions. The main feature of this family is to permit the modeling of high positive dependence. In particular, it is established that the range of the Spearman’s Rho is [ − 3/4,1] and that the upper tail dependence coefficient can reach any value in [0,1]. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given on the generating functions in order to obtain various dependence properties. Some examples of parametric subfamilies are provided.     

Factors that Influence Children's Developing Perceptions of Technology

Two instruments designed to ascertain children's conceptions of ‘technology’ were given to 315 English children in Years 2–6. A subset of 81 children and their teachers were interviewed. Responses to the same instruments were collected from 745 Western Australian children in the same year groups. Subsequently their teachers and 164 Australian children were interviewed. The Australian and English children had a similar range of concepts to explain technology, but the frequency of concepts varied. The results suggest that the stages of developing an inclusive concept of technology are mainly chronological, but the rates vary with individuals depending on a number of inter-related factors including home and school influence, ability, gender and opportunity to discuss ideas. Examination of these factors suggests there is a need for specific curriculum provision in technology based on adequate in- service training of teachers, which should also clarify the differences between science and technology. Children also need to be enabled to clarify their ideas through focused activities. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Opportunism,knowledge, and the performance of franchise chains

An important feature of most franchise chains is that they simultaneously use franchised and company‐owned outlets. In this study, I show that the relationship between the resources provided to outlet managers and the financial performance of franchise chains is contingent on their governance structure. Specifically, opportunism and knowledge considerations seem to prevent chains with a large proportion of franchised outlets from fully leveraging resources such as a valuable brand name and tacit business practices. On the other hand, brand name value and business practices tacitness are not directly related to the proportion of franchised outlets in chains. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

AHP-Group Decision Making: A Bayesian Approach Based on Mixtures for Group Pattern Identification

This paper proposes a Bayesian estimation procedure to determine the priorities of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in group decision making when there are a large number of actors and a prior consensus among them is not required. Using a hierarchical Bayesian approach based on mixtures to describe the prior distribution of the priorities in the multiplicative model traditionally used in the stochastic AHP, this methodology allows us to identify homogeneous groups of actors with different patterns of behaviour for the rankings of priorities. The proposed procedure consists of a two-step estimation algorithm: the first step carries out a global exploration of the model space by using birth and death processes, the second concerns a local exploration by means of Gibbs sampling. The methodology has been illustrated by the analysis of a case study adapted from a real experiment on e-democracy developed for the City Council of Zaragoza (Spain). Partially funded under the research project Electronic Government. Internet-based Complex Decision Making: e-democracy and e-cognocracy (Ref. PM2004-052) approved by the Regional Government of Aragon (Spain) as part of the multi-disciplinary projects programme.     

关于"健康·维权"的几个问题

2005年3月6日,湖南省消费者委员会、中南大学湘雅三医院与本刊编辑部联合主办,北京中宏生物工程有限责任公司协办,在中南大学湘雅三医院报告厅举行了“‘健康·维权’论坛暨湖南省健康消费教育学校成立”大会。许多领导同志、专家学者及实际部门工作人员出席了这次会议。这里选发大会的部分发言与论文。     

Economic inequality in Spain: the european community household panel dataset

This article uses data from the 1998 European Community Household Panel to study economic inequality in Spain. It reports data on the Spanish distributions of income, labor income, and capital income, and on related features of inequality, such as age, employment status, educational attainment, and marital status. It also reports data on the income mobility of Spanish households, and data on income inequality in other European countries and in the US. We find that income, earnings, and, especially, capital income are very unequally distributed in Spain and that economic inequality in Spain is well above the European average.     

Religious identity in the workplace: A systematic review,research agenda,and practical implications

We conducted a systematic review of relevant literature to address how religious and occupational identities relate to each other in the workplace. We identified 53 relevant publications for analysis and synthesis. Studies addressed value differences associated with religion and occupation, identity tensions, unmet expectations, and the connection of religious identity to well-being and work outcomes. Key variables in the connection between religious and occupational identities included personal preferences, the fit between religious identity and job-related concerns, and the organization's policies, practices, and expectations. We highlight the personal and organizational consequences of being able to express religious identity at work and the conditions that promote high congruence between religious identity and its expression in the workplace. From these findings, we develop a research agenda and offer recommendations for management practice that focus on support for expression of religious identity at work while maintaining a broader climate of inclusion.