The risk–return relation in the corporate loan market

This paper analyzes the hypothesis that returns play a risk-compensating role in the market for corporate revolving lines of credit. Specifically, we test whether borrower risk and the expected return on these debt instruments are positively related. Our main findings support this prediction, in contrast to the only previous work that examined this problem two decades ago. Nevertheless, we find evidence of mispricing regarding the risk of deteriorating firms using their facilities more intensively and during the subprime crisis.     

Your Place in Space: Classroom Experiment on Spatial Location Theory

The authors detail an urban economics experiment that is easily run in the classroom. The experiment has a flexible design that allows the instructor to explore how congestion, zoning, public transportation, and taxation levels determine the bid–rent function. Heterogeneous agents in the experiment compete for land use using a simple auction mechanism. Using the data that is collected, a bid–rent function is derived, and the experimental treatment is altered over the course of three sessions to uncover core concepts in urban economics. Moreover, this provides a tangible experience that can be used to help undergraduates relate to urban issues such as the steep rent gradient found around many larger colleges and universities.     

Classification of ownership patterns in Korean conglomerates

This study classifies the ownership structure of conglomerates considering the conglomerates' choices of pyramidal vs. horizontal structures and the magnitude of equity held by the controlling shareholders, namely the owner family. It proposes four patterns of ownership structure: (1) horizontal ownership with a high family stake, (2) horizontal ownership with a low family stake, (3) pyramidal ownership with a high family stake, and (4) pyramidal ownership with low family stake. Further, an attempt has been made to identify the series of economic variables contributing to the varying patterns of ownership structure in the 30 largest Korean conglomerates.     

Rural–urban migration,urban unemployment and the structural transformation of a dual economy

This paper restructures the Harris–Todaro model in such a way that rural–urban migration in the presence of urban unemployment brings in the structural transformation desired for a developing dual economy by expanding the industrial sector before any policy is introduced to cure the domestic factor market distortion. Furthermore, migration may also help to eliminate unemployment as well as the wage gap in the economy. When international trade is introduced in this restructured dual economy, trade policies would have new implications; for example, unlike in the original Harris– Todaro structure, the import tariff may bring full employment and eliminate wage gaps between the sectors.     

Investigating the different approaches to importance–performance analysis

Importance–performance analysis (IPA) is an analytic technique that generates a two-dimensional importance–performance grid, where the values of importance and performance across attributes are plotted against each other. This technique is used to assist service and other firms in prioritizing areas for service improvement when resources are limited. This study contributes to service theory by first performing a comprehensive literature review of four different and commonly used approaches to IPA. Survey data from the ports sector are then used to elucidate the value and the distinctiveness of these four different approaches, and it is also shown how the underlying theoretical assumptions led to somewhat varying, and contradictory interpretations. Subsequently, novel guidelines for integrating results from these four different approaches are proposed. The study advances service theory by detailing the integration of the different approaches to make sense of the importance and performance of diverse service attributes. The integrative approach developed in this paper also provides practitioners with clearer guidance for the application of IPA.     

North–South terms‐of‐trade trends from 1960 to 2006

The composition of exports of developing countries is increasingly dominated by manufactured goods. This has not changed the fact that their major trading partners continue to be the developed countries. In order to properly assess the distribution of gains from trade, there is a pressing need to analyze the movements in the terms of trade of developing countries with respect to the developed ones. A statistical analysis of the North–South terms of trade reveals that the terms of trade have turned against the South since the 1960s. However, the terms‐of‐trade deterioration is neither continuous nor evenly distributed over different country groupings. The existence of a structural break in the mid‐to‐late 1970s together with the greatest adverse terms‐of‐trade movements against the highly indebted and least developed countries attest the discontinuity and unevenness of this process.     

Effective Rates of Sectoral Productivity Change

In effective rates of sectoral productivity change, some of the inputs are treated as produced. Here, this is extended to cover all the inputs. All the sectoral rates of productivity growth based on a static input–output (IO) framework are shown to be equal to the corresponding rates of decrease in the production price. For the direct rate, all the input prices are treated as exogenous constants. For the effective rates, prices of the inputs, which are treated as produced, are determined by production technology. The fully effective rate is derived from the price equations of the closed dynamic IO model. It is equal to the rate of decrease in the production price when the prices of all inputs, human capital and human time included, depend on production technology. The overall rate, obtained as a weighted sum of the fully effective sectoral rates, is equal to the rate of growth in the growth potential of the economy.     

The Intellectual Structure Of Research Into PPPs

Abstract

Public–private partnerships (or PPPs) encompass a broad spectrum of public sector infrastructure and service initiatives. Recently, some scholars have undertaken literature review studies of the various definitions of the concept of PPPs and its research traditions, identifying several distinct PPP research approaches. This article aims to: (1) enhance the findings of these literature reviews; (2) identify the cited works and authors (intellectual structure) in the published research on PPPs; (3) define the subfields that constitute the intellectual structure of PPP research fields. The methodology is based on the bibliometric techniques of citation and author co-citation analysis applied to published research on PPPs included in the Social Science Citation Index.     

Knowledge,Competence, And Regional Development

This study examines the impact that locational spillovers have on firm performance. On the basis of a uniquely created data set consisting of high-technology start-ups publicly listed in Germany, this paper tests the proposition of locational spillovers positively affecting firm performance, as measured by abnormally high profits on the stock market. The results provide evidence that geographic proximity and university spillovers are complementary determinants of firm performance. Although neither geographic proximity nor academic research spillovers alone can explain firm performance, a combination of both factors results in significant higher stock market performance. The results also show that academic spillovers are heterogeneous in their impact, depending on the type. In particular, spillovers from social sciences have a different impact on firm performance than do spillovers from natural sciences.     

Infrastructure development for alternative fuel vehicles on a highway road system

A new mathematical model for positioning alternative fuel (AF) refueling stations on directed-transportation networks with the objective of maximizing the coverage of path flow volume is proposed. This model is especially designed for developing an AF infrastructure on toll roads and other highways, where vehicles do not need to exit the road network for refueling, some candidate station locations are not located at interchanges, and some stations may only service vehicles on one driving direction. The proposed model is applied to the Pennsylvania Turnpike System using the 2011 truck traffic data and considering different vehicle driving ranges.