Union suppression and certification success

Over the past decade a number of provinces have abandoned the long-standing Canadian tradition of automatic certification of unions based on card-signing and instead opted for mandatory representation voting. This trend, however, has developed with little understanding of the effectiveness of management opposition within a voting regime. In this paper the impact of union suppression on union organizing success within the voting regime of British Columbia is examined. We find that union suppression tactics were highly effective with estimates rivalling those found in the United States. Moreover, results from instrumental variable models suggest that OLS estimates may seriously underestimate the true impact of suppression.
Effort de suppression du syndicat et succès dans le processus de certification. Au cours de la dernière décennie, un certain nombre de provinces canadiennes ont abandonné la pratique traditionnelle de certification automatique des syndicats sur la base des signatures de cartes d'adhésion au syndicat, et ont choisi de réclamer un scrutin pour déterminer le support des membres potentiels. On ne comprend pas bien l'efficacité de l'action d'opposition des patrons au syndicat dans ce régime de scrutin. Ce mémoire examine l'impact des efforts de suppression des syndicats sur les succès des syndicats dans leurs efforts d'organisation dans le cadre du régime de scrutin en Colombie Britannique. On découvre que ces tactiques ont été très efficaces, tout autant qu'aux Etats-Unis. De plus, les résultats obtenus à l'aide de modèles de variables instrumentales montrent que ceux qu'on obtient à l'aide de la méthode des moindres carrés ordinaires peuvent sous-évaluer l'impact des tactiques de suppression de manière significative.     

Education, credentials, and immigrant earnings

Abstract.  Using 1981 to 2001 Census data, we study how the human capital of immigrants is rewarded in Canada. We distinguish between years of schooling and degrees obtained in order to estimate 'sheepskin' effects – the gain in earnings associated with receipt of a degree, controlling for years of schooling. We find that immigrant years of schooling and immigrant work experience accumulated before arrival is valued much less than Canadian experience of comparable natives. However, for immigrants the increase in earnings associated with completing educational programs is generally higher than that of comparable natives. We provide both signalling and human capital interpretations of this finding.     

Interest Arbitration and the Narcotic Effect: Evidence from Three Decades of Collective Bargaining in Ontario

We study whether there is increased reliance on interest arbitration, that is, a narcotic or addictive effect or, alternatively, positive state dependence, in public sector contract settlements. We use contract data from three sectors (police, firefighters and hospitals) in the Canadian province of Ontario, which covers 1981 to 2012. The length of our study period yields much longer bargaining histories than previously used, which should provide more compelling evidence on whether there is increased reliance on interest arbitration to settle bargaining impasses over time. We obtain our estimates using a dynamic probit model with random effects that models the initial conditions. Our estimates indicate — across all the sectors we consider and some robustness checks — that there is a narcotic effect in interest arbitration usage despite very different average propensities to use arbitration across sectors.     

In search of thresholds in the household income inequality–growth relationship

This paper investigates the shape of the relationship between household income inequality and economic growth. More precisely we search for the existence of threshold values in this relationship by employing a dynamic panel smooth transition regression model to account for potential endogeneity problems. We find that there do exist threshold values (that are different for different groups of countries): below the threshold, household income inequality is growth enhancing, while above the threshold, inequality has a negative or no effect on economic growth.     

Business Process Re-engineering in the Public Sector: a Case Study of the Contributions Agency

There has been a growing literature which, from a social science perspective, seeks to critically assess the use of business process re-engineering (BPR) in effecting radical organisational change. Using a case study of the Contributions Agency, this article reports on the problems of using BPR in a public sector organisation, and discusses the findings in relation to the current critique of BPR.     

Recent Evidence on the Oil Price Shocks on Gulf Cooperation Council Stock Markets

The recent plunge in the price of oil affected many countries, especially major oil producers and exporters, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which accounts for half of the global oil reserves. This paper examines the impact of oil price changes on GCC stock markets, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates over a 10-year period, 2005–2015. We examine the direction of influence and influence absorption through Granger causality and impulse response function. The results are important for portfolio management at the international level, and provide insights for government and regulatory authorities in times of oil price change. Additionally, the evidence suggests the need for more economic diversification at the country level in the GCC region to mitigate high volatility in the event of oil shocks.     

The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks

Experimental Economics - We present a large scale study where a nationally representative sample of 1000 participants were asked to make real purchases within an online supermarket platform. The...     

Media generations and their advertising attitudes and avoidance: a six-country comparison

This cross-national survey (N = 5784) examined generational differences in media use, advertising attitudes and avoidance for five media (websites, social media, mobile phones, television, newspapers) in six countries (Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, France, and the Netherlands). The results showed that the net generation and the newspaper generation, but not the TV generation, were clearly distinct in the frequency of their media use in all six countries. For advertising attitudes, generational patterns were visible, however, neither for all media nor in all countries. When generational differences did occur, the net generation was on the positive end, whereas the newspaper generation was usually the most negative. For advertising avoidance, generational patterns were less present and consistent. The findings point out interesting directions for future research. Practical implications for advertisers and media planners are discussed.     

Alternative explanations for the association between market values and stock-based compensation expenditure

The relation between stock-based compensation and market values has been tested previously in the literature, but the empirical findings are inconsistent: both negative and positive relations have been documented. The objective of this study is to provide an explanation for why both negative and positive relations between stock-based compensation expenditure and market values can be consistent with rational markets.We argue that stock-based compensation can be used either as a reward for past performance or as an incentive for future performance. We predict that there is a negative relation to market values when stock-based compensation is granted primarily as a reward to chief executives for past performance, while there is a positive relation when stock-based compensation is used to provide incentives for enhanced future performance. This prediction is tested on a sample of 259 firm-year observations for the period 1999–2004 using an instrumental variables approach, where the sample is classified into the ‘reward’ and ‘incentive’ groups on the basis of prior period performance and option characteristics. Our findings are that there is a positive association between stock-based compensation expenditure and market values for the ‘incentive’ group, but we find overall an insignificant relation for the ‘reward’ group. A number of sensitivity tests confirm the main findings.     

DEFENCE AND NON‐DEFENCE SPENDING IN THE USA: STIMULI TO ECONOMIC GROWTH? COMPARATIVE FINDINGS FROM A SEMIPARAMETRIC APPROACH

Given its significant policy implications, the nexus between public expenditures and economic growth has been the subject of an extensive and often emotive theoretical and empirical debate. In this paper, a semiparametric model is used to explore the link between GDP and defence and non‐defence government spending in the USA over the period 1929–2009. Evidence reported herein indicates that the latter represents a greater stimulus vis‐à‐vis the former.