Acquiescence and conflict in exchanges between inbound tour operators and their overseas outbound partners: A case study on Tanzania

Achieving partner acquiescence is critical in interfirm exchanges because it allows the focal firm to achieve its desired outcomes. Using a case study on dyadic relationships between inbound tour operators in Tanzania and their overseas outbound partners, this paper investigates the effect of partner irreplaceability and distributive fairness on acquiescence, and the subsequent effect that acquiescence has on conflict. The case study uses partial least squares structural equation modeling on data collected from 129 dyadic relationships. Results show that partner irreplaceability and distributive fairness are positively associated with acquiescence, which in turn reduces conflict. The effect of distributive fairness on acquiescence was found to be larger than that of irreplaceability. In addition, the direct effect of distributive fairness on conflict, although not hypothesised, was found to be significant. This emphasises the importance of distributive fairness, and its role as a possible buffer to conflict in less acquiescent exchanges.     

基于广义价值论的内生增长理论初探

增长理论是经济学的重要部分,关系到每一个人的福利和一个国家的地位。文章运用广义价值论研究经济增长问题,以分工为切入点,把分工产生的新增利益和该利益的公平分配统一起来,论述了递增性假设之外另一条增长的可能路径。主要结论如下：（1）基于比较优势的分工交换可以持续地产生比较利益即超过自给自足收益的净收益,这一收益不依赖于技术的递增或递减变化,具有普遍持久稳定性;（2）由分工交换产生的净收益构成原始积累的重要来源,既促进了生产规模和分工范围的扩大,又支持了研发和技术进步;（3）劳动生产力任何提高的效应都通过分工交换产生的比较利益加以放大,在一个分工交换系统中,行为主体提高比较优势产品和比较劣势产品的生产力分别具有正的和负的外部性;（4）基于广义价值论的内生经济增长体现了效率与公平的统一,一个好的制度是能够保证在交易中各方的比较利益率相等,掠夺性制度不仅直接损害经济增长,也不具备长期可持续性。     

Who is more visionary in mergers: Commercial vs. investment banks

Early papers concerning bankers on board usually focus on the rationale of bank entry and such effects on company performance. Recently, Güner, Malmendier, and Tate (2008) started to look at the different effects of the bankers with different expertise on the investment strategy and post-entry performance of the firms on which they have board seats. This study extends this line of research to further examine the relationship between the change of different types of financial professionals’ equity holdings of acquiring firms prior to merger completion dates and these acquirers’ post-merger performance. Using 381 U.S. listed acquirers during 2000–2005, we find that the changes of the ownership of commercial banks and insurance companies are positively related to the acquirers’ short-term performance. However, only the changes of the ownership of investment bankers are negatively related to the bidders’ long-term performance, implying that, due to conflict of interests, investment bankers probably aim at the increase of the short-run post-merger performance of the acquiring companies of which they have relatively larger equity holdings.     

The tourism and peace nexus

Tourism has been heralded as a contributor to peace, however, the inconclusive findings of empirical studies render the need for a consolidation of theory that has in so far relied on case studies and the adoption of the contact hypothesis. Informed by political science theory, this paper proposes a methodological framework that can guide future research and aims to serve as a benchmark for researchers interested in temporal issues pertaining to conflict, peace and tourism. Signalling a departure from the simplistic notion that contact through travel contributes to social integration, the paper adopts a holistic conceptualisation of the multi-faceted and complex system of actors, sectors and dimensions of tourism spanning at the social, economic, political and environmental levels.     

Central bank transparency and financial market expectations: The case of emerging markets

In this paper, we study how central bank transparency influences the formation of money market expectations in emerging markets. The sample covers 25 countries for the period from January 1998 to December 2009. We find, first, that transparency reduces the bias (the difference between the money market rate and the weighted expected target rate over the contract period) in money market expectations. The effect is larger for countries with no exchange rate peg and countries with low income. Second, an intermediate level of transparency is found to have the most favorable influence on money market expectations: neither complete secrecy nor complete transparency is optimal. Finally, all subcategories of the Eijffinger and Geraats (2006) index lead to a smaller bias in expectations, with political transparency having the largest effect.     

Calibration of implied volatility for the exchange rate for the Chinese Yuan from its derivatives

Revised implied volatility curves and surfaces for the Chinese Yuan (CNY) exchange rate are obtained from market quotations for CNY non-deliverable options by solving an inverse problem of foreign exchange option pricing, which is calculated using a regularization approach in an optimal control framework. To take account of the market expectation for the CNY exchange rate, a stochastic adjusted factor is applied that follows a Vasicek model with parameters fitted from market quotations for CNY non-deliverable forwards. A well-posed numerical scheme is implemented.     

Riding the Ever-Rolling Stream: Time and the Ontology of Violent Conflict

In this paper, we examine the ways in which the passage of time is dealt with in econometric studies of violent conflict and civil war with empirical attention to the dynamics of ethnic conflict. We argue that the mainstream approach to econometric studies of civil war is based on a time-invariant ontology and that this is not an appropriate or adequate way of capturing the causal patterns of violent conflict. Based analysis of replication datasets using structural break analysis and rolling windows, we show how careful attention to the passage of time reveals important macro-historical changes in the coefficients on ethnic diversity in explaining conflict incidence. We conclude that econometric studies of civil war need to pay more careful attention to the limitations on the generalizations that they draw through attention to the passage of time and better iteration with qualitative and historical studies.     

The moderating influence of style of information processing on media perceptions and information exposure

This study investigated the extent to which style of information processing relates to media perceptions and information exposure. The results showed that visually oriented individuals were more favourably predisposed to the television medium and reported greater exposure to this medium than verbally oriented individuals. Verbally oriented individuals reported greater exposure to print media information than did visually oriented individuals. An exploratory interaction hypothesis between information processing style and gender was not supported. The implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.     

Should the monetary policy rule be different in a financial crisis?

This article reviews the finding that standard loss functions in output and inflation are higher during discretionary periods than in periods during which monetary policy is described by a rule, such as the Taylor rule. It shows that the finding is consistent with earlier research, but argues that we really do not know if the Taylor rule would have improved performance during the recent financial crisis. The article then considers modifications of policy rules to deal with changes in interest rate spreads, credit aggregates and banks׳ balance sheets.     

Information,Knowledge and Agency: The Information Theoretic Approach and the Austrians

Both the Information Theoretic Economics and Austrian Economics investigate the impact on market activity of problems of information and knowledge. The conceptions of information and knowledge they employ, however, as well as their respective views on and treatment of economic agency, are quite different. The purpose of this paper is to examine these differences, not primarily from an abstract philosophical point of view, but by looking at substantive examples of the economics offered by the two approaches. An attempt is made to explain the Austrian preference for non-formalist approaches to economic analysis.