HOW CAN PUBLIC SPENDING HELP YOU GROW? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Although many studies indicate that both the level and composition of public spending are significant for economic growth, the results in the empirical literature are mixed. This paper suggests that the country sample selection and expenditure classification are important in explaining these conflicting results. The empirical analysis shows that the link between growth and public spending, especially its core component, is strong only for countries with macroeconomic stability and fast GDP per capita growth dynamics, which are also capable of using public funds for productive purposes.     

A city of trades: Spanish and Italian immigrants in late-nineteenth-century Buenos Aires,Argentina

The city of Buenos Aires in the 1890s is an extreme case in immigration history since the native workers accounted for less than one-third of the labour force. In this paper, we look at the labour market performance of Argentineans vis-à-vis the largest two immigrant groups, Italians and the Spaniards. We find that, on average, Argentineans enjoyed higher wages, but workers specialised in particular occupations by nationality. Immigrants clustered in occupations with lower salaries. Despite higher literacy levels and the language advantage, Spaniards did not outperform Italians in earnings. Ethnic networks facilitated the integration of immigrants into the host society and played a role in the occupation selection of immigrants. Our results suggest that Italian prosperity in Buenos Aires was not based on superior earnings or skills but on older and powerful networks.     

Institutional distance among country influences and environmental performance standardization in multinational enterprises

This research compares and contrasts the findings in Aguilera-Caracuel et al. (2013) with the outcomes of applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) — a methodological strategy that gathers quantitative and qualitative information to explain complexity at the case level and generality across cases. Using the same sample of 128 multinational enterprises (MNEs) with headquarters and subsidiaries based in the USA, Canada, France, and Spain, we identify a set of relevant configurations of causes and conditions to explain environmental performance standardization. By avoiding separate treatments for each variable, which is typical in multiple regression analysis (MRA), we overcome prior limitations and propose a new way of understanding this phenomenon. In summary, our results significantly reinforce and complement the previous results.     

Drivers of customer likelihood to join grocery retail loyalty programs. An analysis of reward programs and loyalty cards

This paper aims to identify which personal features of customers may determine their likelihood to join a grocery retail loyalty program. We consider five aspects: price sensitivity, search for variety, shopping enjoyment, attitude toward loyalty schemes, and one personality trait: privacy concerns. Some of these variables have already been explored in the literature. Where our research breaks new ground is in establishing the difference between profiles of customers attracted by two of the most common types of loyalty programs currently used by grocery retail firms: a reward program and a loyalty card. The two kinds of program evidence differences in how they are managed, and we posit that the drivers of likelihood to take part in each are different. The study was carried out using logistic regression with a sample of 600 clients of a Spanish supermarket chain. Findings show that one particular type of customer is more likely to take part in these schemes: those displaying little shopping enjoyment, who are greatly concerned with privacy, and who show a favorable attitude toward loyalty programs in general. Furthermore, as expected, differences were observed between drivers of participation likelihood in reward programs and loyalty cards.     

How motivation,opportunity and ability can drive online airline ticket purchases

Despite the resources airlines are devoting to increasing e-commerce, the key drivers of online airline ticket purchases have been little explored. This study analyzes how motivation, opportunity and ability influence patrons’ intentions to purchase tickets online and the features that influence online airline ticket purchases. A sample of online purchasers of airline tickets in Spain is examined.     

Does knowledge explain trust behaviors and outcomes? The different influences of initial knowledge and experiential knowledge on personal trust interactions

This paper examines the influences of initial knowledge and experiential knowledge on trust behaviors and trust outcomes, respectively, at an interpersonal level. We use an experimental dynamic trust game, and our results show that (1) the initial knowledge that exists a priori between a trustor and a trustee helps to explain the trustor's trust behaviors toward the trustee, and (2) the experiential knowledge gained directly by a trustor during a specific trust interaction with a trustee influences the trust outcome, i.e. the difference between the original expectations of the trustor and the subsequent trust behaviors. Our results contribute to human resource literature by clarifying the specific influences of different types of knowledge on interpersonal trust relationships (e.g. between managers and employees) and by supplementing the traditional notion that trust within a firm develops slowly by showing that personal expectations have an immediate and important influence on trust output.     

The age of mass migration in Latin America

The experiences of Latin American countries are not fully incorporated into current debates concerning the age of mass migration, even though 13 million Europeans migrated to the region between 1870 and 1930. This survey draws together different aspects of the Latin America immigration experience. Its main objective is to rethink the role of European migration to the region, addressing several major questions in the economics of migration: whether immigrants were positively selected from their sending countries, how immigrants assimilated into the host economies, the role of immigration policies, and the long‐run effects of immigration. Immigrants came from the economically backward areas of southern and eastern Europe, yet their adjustment to the host labour markets in Latin America seems to have been successful. The possibility of rapid social upgrading made Latin America attractive for European immigrants. Migrants were positively selected from origin according to literacy. The most revealing aspect of new research is showing the positive long‐run effects that European immigrants had in Latin American countries. The political economy of immigration policies deserves new research, particularly for Brazil and Cuba. The case of Argentina shows a more complex scenario than the classic representation of landowners constantly supporting an open‐door policy.     

La medición del capital intelectual y su impacto en el rendimiento financiero en empresas del sector industrial en México

Currently knowledge is considered an essential resource to contribute to the creation and generation of competitive advantage in organizations. The human factor as an intangible resource of a company has become a main value generator, and even though both knowledge management and intellectual capital are intangibles that can be measured in the financial reports of companies, their position as main value generators is not reflected in financial information. In Mexico, industrial sector companies need to promote the creation of intellectual added value based on its own abilities, which reside on their intellectual capital. The value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC?), with its components, is a tool that contributes to achieving this goal, and helps to identify the positive impact on key factors such as financial profitability, market capitalization and level of share value.