Fairness and the employment contract: North American regions versus Germany

Substantial evidence shows that North Americans are generallymore accepting of the market than Europeans and attribute marketoutcomes to a larger degree to effort or skill. Thus, NorthAmericans might be more accepting of layoffs and pay cuts thanGermans, and Germans might be more sensitive to the proceduresand conditions under which pay cuts and layoffs occur. The empiricalresults from our quasi-experiment are largely in line with thesehypotheses. The results may help to explain and be explainedby the different labour market institutions in the differentregions.     

Environmental quality indicators: Background,principles and examples from Norway

The need for a simple and general overview of the development in the state of the environment has led to work on environmental indicators in several countries and international organizations. Except for the basic common requirement of providing an overview, the works vary a great deal with regard to final aim, target groups, classification and, hence, choice of indicators. This paper gives an overview of the work carried out in the Central Bureau of Statistics of Norway within this field, with emphasis on the basic principles behind the choice of indicators. A hierarchical system of indicator sets is proposed, and examples of indicators are presented. Also, a brief overview of work carried out elsewhere is included.     

Trade and the impact of innovations and standards: the case of Germany and the UK

The effects of patents as indicators for innovations and standards on German trade performance are analysed in general and German–British trade in detail. The latter analysis goes a step further than the approach of Swann et al. () and is based on a broader and more detailed database. The results show that Germany's export performance can primarily be explained by its innovative capacity and only to a small extent by its strength in standards. Furthermore, the results underscore the common view of the trade-fostering effect of international standards, while ‘idiosyncratic' standards have ambiguous effects on exports.     

The significance of sustained entrepreneurial orientation on performance of firms – A longitudinal analysis

This study focuses on the importance of changes in entrepreneurial orientation (EO) over time for subsequent firm performance, and the significance which inimitable resources (networks, governance system and unique competence) might have in this connection. Hypotheses are developed to test the effects that changes in EO level over a time period and resources have on subsequent firm performance. The study is based on data from 168 Norwegian SMEs, interviewed both in 2000 and 2003. The primary contribution of this study is that a change in EO over time (increased or decreased), may be of importance for a firm's performance represented by performance compared to competitors, and employment growth. A focus on entrepreneurial activities seems to be beneficial in the long run (increasing EO), while the opposite is the case if the EO level decreases. It is especially encouraging to see that firms focusing on EO (increased or the same) are positively associated with employment growth, one of the primary policy goals world-wide. Another contribution from this study is that resources that may be inimitable for firms have some influence on performance compared to competitors. Implications for policy-makers, practitioners and further research are discussed.     

Model reference adaptive systems applied to regression analyses

The adaptive estimation procedure of model reference adaptive systems is modified and applied to linear models. In general the principle can be used for almost any time series model. Because of the recursive nature of the resulting estimator, it is computationally appealing, especially when a time series is considered as a flow of data. In addition, the estimator turns out to have certain statistical optimality properties.
In the linear regression setting, Ridge estimators turn out to constitute a subclass of the adaptive estimators considered, whereas for unknown measurement variance, the resulting estimators are related to J ames -S tkin type estimators, and have better properties than the latter. The estimator is shown to be strongly consistent and to converge in law to a normal variate under the standard assumptions of linear models. Further it is shown to be admissible and minimax in restricted parameter spaces. The connection between K alman filters and the classical least-squares estimator is also pointed out.     

The effect of a tax training program on tax compliance and business outcomes of starting entrepreneurs: Evidence from a field experiment

This paper estimates the long-term impact of a short, partly personalized, mandatory tax training program on tax compliance and business outcomes of first-time entrepreneurs. To this end, we combine survey data, audit data and unique register data from the Netherlands' Tax and Customs Administration with a three year long randomized experiment. The results show that the training affects specific domains of tax compliant behavior. Moreover, it has no impact on business survival, but treated entrepreneurs have significantly higher profits compared to the control group due to lower business costs. These outcomes are partially supportive of our hypotheses developed from theories on tax compliance and mental accounting.     

V Chemnitz East Forum 21–23 March 2001 "Human Resource Management in Transition"

Call for Papers

V Chemnitz East Forum 21–23 March 2001 "Human Resource Management in Transition"     

Can a Wealthy Economy Gain from an EU Membership? Adjustment Costs and Long Term Welfare Effects of Full Integration—The Norwegian Case

We employ a large scale macroeconometric model to study adjustment problems and long term welfare effects of a Norwegian EU-membership. Accession costs depend significantly on the country's level of GDP, the size of its agricultural sector and tariff and VAT revenues as these elements determine the net membership contribution. Without the transfers, integrating the economy into EU generates a small welfare gain. This result is strongly affected by a long period with under-utilisation of resources. With the net contribution included, we identify a welfare loss. This is especially so if fiscal policy is changed to maintain the public sector budgetary balance.