Development credit corporations: Not-for-profit development finance institutions in the postwar United States

Development credit corporations (DCCs) were innovative not-for-profit organisations first set up in the United States in the years after World War II. DCCs borrowed from financial institutions and lent on a long-term basis to small companies that needed funds to expand or maintain their operations but did not qualify for long-term credit from conventional lenders. DCCs were private-sector bodies created at the state level under charters issued by state governments. The organisations were established in more than half the American states. DCCs continue to function in the contemporary era, and have thus proved to be a permanent fixture in the landscape of development entities and not-for-profit financial institutions.     

Marketing in Russia

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a study of the development of the commercial banking system in two East European countries. Based on surveys conducted in Hungary and Poland, the authors discuss elements of the competitive market structure in the banking sector. Findings indicate that the commercial banks in Hungary and Poland have become more competitive, but there are differences between the two countries, especially in the way that the banks use sources of foreign funds.     

Books and publications received

ABSTRACT

Economic theory predicts that regional wages will converge as transport and communication technologies bring labour markets together. An exploration of this transition from labour market segmentation to unification requires long-term evidence of nominal wages and cost of living by region. This paper presents new evidence of wages for male manufacturing workers and cost-of-living indices across 24 Swedish counties between 1860 and 2009. Our findings indicate that the Swedish regional wage differentials were a great deal larger in the 1860s than in the 2000s. Most of the compression took place between the 1860s and World War I, as well as in the 1930s and during World War II. Differences in expenditures on housing impact on our assessment of convergence in the post-World War II decades: the nominal measure declines, while the real one stays constant. Our concluding discussion engages with the assumption that before World War I, regional wage convergence was associated with labour mobility, spurred by improved communication and transportation technologies as well as by the implementation of modern employment contracts. In the 1930s and 1940s, in contrast, regional wage convergence can be traced to high unionisation and centralised collective bargaining in the labour market, two distinguishing features of the Swedish Model.     

我国产业政策与竞争政策协调机制

产业政策与竞争政策都是国家干预经济的基本方式,但由于二者干预经济的理念、目标和手段等不同,在引导市场竞争过程中,反垄断法与产业政策的冲突是难以避免的,如何建立协调我国产业政策与竞争政策的机制就成为亟需解决的问题。     

苏南老蚕区丝绸产业链转型升级策略

在当今国际贸易形势和国家＂东桑西移＂的政策背景下,传统茧丝绸产业面临着新的挑战。明确茧丝绸业＂苏南模式＂的新内涵和存在的必要性,正视老蚕区在产业结构调整过程中暴露的劳动力不足、茧丝原材料质量下降等诸多＂短板＂,深入探讨苏南老蚕区茧丝绸产业链转型升级发展的相关对策,具有十分重要的历史意义。     

Confronting the crisis of food safety and revitalizing companies' social responsibility in the People's Republic of China

In recent years, China has experienced many crises related to food safety which have challenged the legitimacy of food production companies and damaged the reputation of relevant state law enforcement agencies, as well as influenced consumer confidence. Based on recent interviews with 20 food and drink production companies in the Shanghai region, this paper aims to address a key research question: what are the institutional and organizational factors that influence the production systems in general and the quality and safety of products in particular? The outcome of this research indicates that the pressure to minimize costs driven by price competition, changing consumer expectations, as well as a lack of enforcement of state regulation, cause companies to struggle to stay afloat and impede their commitment to social responsibility.     

Online distribution of airline tickets: Should airlines adopt a single or a multi-channel approach?

In today's digital world, airlines typically distribute tickets both via their own websites and through online travel agency (OTA) platforms such as Expedia and Travelocity. Although associated with higher distribution costs, selling tickets through the platforms offers airlines exposure to a broader consumer base, and potentially higher sales than selling tickets solely through their own websites. While most airlines have adopted a multi-channel approach by selling tickets through OTA platforms and their websites, some (e.g., Southwest Airlines, easyJet and Ryanair) sell only via the latter. Is one approach better than the other, and if so, under what circumstances? This study analyzes factors that affect an airline's distribution strategy by developing a decision support model. We find that airlines are less likely to use OTA platforms if they have a large loyal consumer base or if the OTA platform is highly competitive.     

Response strategies of local firms to import competition in emerging markets

Using a sample of 3808 firms from 1996 to 2007, the impact of three strategic options that can be implemented by local Asian (i.e., Indian) firms facing increased import competition in their domestic market is analyzed. On average, firms with greater investments in intangible resources and tighter product focus do better, while firms with greater international sales perform poorly compared to their peers. However, in industries characterized by high import competition, firms with international operations and product focus tend to have higher performance, while firms with intangible resources perform poorly.     

Regional Development Programmes

Broad-focusing development programmes at a regional level have been a major thrust by governments of developing countries over the last three decades. Most of the programmes addressed here have been entirely or partly financed by donor agencies. They have tended to concentrate on augmenting activities of government line agencies, and have mainly emphasized physical and social infrastructure, standardized support facilities to enterprises and individuals, and, sometimes, land use zoning and other measures to regulate the spatial distribution of facilities and activities. This article suggests that regional development programmes may become more effective if they are designed as more flexible instruments for peoplecentred development, exploiting potential comparative advantages of innovation, networking and institution building in a broad sense. Basic organizational and management requirements for this would be a decentralized set-up, substantial freedom from government administration. flexible organizational form, process planning with compatible systems of monitoring and co-ordination, active facilitation of initiatives from below and democratically minded leaders with broad management competence.     

The Underground Economy in the Late 1990s: Evading Taxes,or Evading Competition?

This paper studies the driving forces behind the considerable expansion of the underground economy during the late 1990s. I propose a novel explanation for this phenomenon: the sharp increase in market competition worldwide, which reduces prices and profits and drives firms into the shadow economy. Empirical evidence from a panel covering 45 countries from 1995 to 2000 shows that increased competition is indeed correlated with an expansion of the underground economy. The effect is strongest in low-tax, high-corruption countries that do not provide the public services which make it worthwhile for firms to remain official despite growing competitive pressure.