The distribution of income in the United Kingdom 1961-96: an interim report

It has become common wisdom that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and this idea has been propagated in misleading ways by key reports and papers such as those published by the Rowntree Foundation (1995), the Commission on Social Justice (1994) and the Fabian Society's Income and Wealth in the 1980s -an update (1992).
We show in this paper that inappropriate and inconsistent measures of income have been used.     

STRATEGIC INVESTMENT DECISION-MAKING: COMPLEXITIES, POLITICS AND PROCESSES*

This article is a preliminary report on an investigation into the processes of investment decision-making. Three case studies from three firms are presented which show disparities in a number of aspects of process, for example, the length of time taken to arrive at a decision, the number and intensity of disagreements and uncertainties encountered. Data were collected for these cases through semi-structured interviewing from multiple informants in the three organizations, thereby permitting the use of analysis of variance techniques of the different perspectives given by informants. Perceptions of the effectiveness of the decisions were also gathered. One finding from the study is that the decisions with the lowest perceived effectiveness (in firm HE) also lost support from those involved in making the decision during the process, although the decision was eventually implemented. This decision also had the least agreement amongst informants as to the main sources of disagreements. Informants of all three decisions saw effect upon product quality and productivity, fit with business strategy and competitive position of the company as the most important factors to take into account in evaluating the decisions. In firm CG, however, there were disagreements as to how the investment should be evaluated. In the conclusions to the article a disucssion is given as to the nature of evaluation procedures in relation to the developing theory of information systems.     

BEYOND THE HYPE: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY/KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Abstract.  This paper explores the debates surrounding whether or not we have now moved into a new knowledge economy and/or knowledge society and if so whether this shift is as significant and as far reaching as the industrial revolution. In this possible transformation the place of information communications technologies has been crucial. Debate has occurred across both economics and sociology with differing emphases as is shown in the ranges of definitions that we review in the paper. One consistent factor is the lack of clarity and consistency between them both within and across the disciplines. In order to explore the issues that the debates raises in a more grounded way, the paper explores them in relation to intellectual property (IP) and the intellectual commons in the process of innovation, growth and economic development. The paper is developed through an analysis first of the industrial revolution and the role within this of uncertainty, technologies, complementarities and elective affinities and the way IP was protected and controlled through patents, secrecy, being first to the market and copyright. The second part of the paper examines definitions of the knowledge economy and society and the role within these of information communication technologies in order to explore whether the ways that IP is protected and controlled have changed. In the debate about the 'knowledge economy and society' the role of innovation via human capital with a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities has been emphasized. The role of IP thus remains central but is now challenged by the rise of new forms of communication, which make its protection harder and move much of the concern with respect to regulation to a global rather than national and local level.     

Patenting,intellectual property rights and sectoral outputs in Industrial Revolution Britain, 1780–1851

Patenting rose sharply during the British Industrial Revolution. Utilizing time series methods, we investigate the causal relationships between 16 industries and patented inventions. The results show that increased patenting was essentially a consequence of fast growth in the cotton, iron, and mining sectors, which increased the value of protecting intellectual property. Conversely, protecting intellectual property was not a cause of the Industrial Revolution.     

An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Influencing Initial Market Response and Media Reports following Shock Corporate Events

This article examines market efficiency in a natural environment using minute‐by‐minute share prices following fatal industrial disasters and sudden CEO deaths, and their subsequent media reports. Prices of affected firms start to react within an hour of shock events and fall by 3%; half this fall is reversed prior to the first media reports with the balance reversed by the next trading day. Spreads behave in similar fashion. This is interpreted as market overreaction as risk‐averse investors respond to uncertainty created by the shock; prices return to pre‐shock levels once it is clear that the event is to be expected and already built into valuations.     

The emergence of convergent price clusters in China

This paper reports new evidence on the existence of both large and small price divergent clusters for China's energy markets, 2000–2009. The largest convergent price clusters suggest that the coal and gasoline markets are well integrated, however, small convergent price clusters suggest that electricity and diesel markets are proving harder to integrate. The paper argues that the traditional approach to price convergence analysis should be applied with caution, especially in a transitional economy such as China where questions to be asked should relate to the ‘degree of market‐orientation’ and not simply whether it is a market‐based economy or not.