Student Access to Apprenticeships: Evidence from a Vignette Experiment

We identify the causal effects of student characteristics on the likelihood of being hired for an apprenticeship and explore the mechanisms underlying the employer’s decision. To this end, we perform a vignette experiment among human resources professionals in Belgium, focusing on less-qualified youth. Our results indicate that students with favorable educational records and students revealing being motivated are more likely to obtain an apprenticeship. Furthermore, we find that these characteristics are used by human resources professionals as signals of trainability, employability, and quit intentions.     

Public–private collaborations in drug development: boosting innovation or alleviating risk?

Consistent with popular belief among certain academics, practitioners, and policy makers, we hypothesize that collaboration between private and public organizations promotes success. We test this hypothesis for data on clinical trial success. Contrary to this popular belief, our results do not support the beneficial effect of within- and cross-sector collaborations. In contrast, we find that trials from single private companies are four times more likely to be successful than are trials in which public and private organizations collaborate. Hence, our results indicate that companies engage with public partners to mitigate development risks, not to exchange knowledge or technologies with them.     

新技术助力隧道安全

中国现有公路隧道2889个,其中特长隧道有43个、165．9公里。今后一段时期,中国公路建设将持续增速,且主要集中在中西部地区,公路隧道数量也将进一步快速增长,保证隧道交通流的安全畅通逐成为隧道运营管理单位的关注热点。除了运用先进的车流组织理论和采用稳定的机电设备,研究司机的行为特征、驾驶习惯以及使隧道的设计、施工、使用更加人性化,更应受到重视。本文介绍了燧石(即耐火石)反光、散热、价格低廉等特性,以及在隧道施工中,其作为增亮剂与沥青混合后加铺,改善隧道内光线强度所达到的效果,并引用了在德国Keppelberg隧道改造工程中的应用实例。     

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SYNCHRONISATION OF BUSINESS CYCLES FOR DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING ECONOMIES WITH THE WORLD BUSINESS CYCLE

Globalisation brought about worldwide changes, including economic and financial integration between countries. The objective of this paper is to establish if there is synchronisation between developed and developing countries with the world cycle. Research results show that business cycles have become less volatile after globalisation, but there is not much consensus on whether business cycles have become less or more synchronised since globalisation. Little research has been done on co‐movement between emerging markets, such as South Africa, and the world business cycle. This paper derives common factors for developed and developing countries by applying principal component analysis (PCA) to output, consumption and investment data, which represents the countries' business cycles. The empirical analysis shows co‐movement between some countries and the world business cycle (G7 countries as proxy). The results suggest that there are idiosyncratic and globally common shocks, which play different roles over time in different countries. The paper goes on to suggest that there are clear differences in how developed and emerging markets co‐move with the world business cycle. A key finding is that the co‐movement between developing economies and the world business cycle has increased since globalisation. This research also confirms previous research that most economies follow the world business cycle when large shocks – such as the recent economic downturn – occur. This has implications for forecasting the business cycle, especially in times of economic turmoil.     

Free trade or protection? belgian textile and clothing firms’ trade preferences

Free Trade or Protection? Belgian Textile and Clothing Firms' Trade Preferences. -This paper examines the positions of Belgian textile and clothing firms on trade policies. Observations on positions are generated by a survey. Along the lines of the political economy of protection and anti-protection we test whether firm-specific characteristics influence textile and clothing firms' trade policy preferences. The results show that international competition and having foreign establishments significantly determine firms' positions, but that product differentiation does not. A Chow test indicates no significant difference between firms' sensitivities in the textile and clothing industries. This suggests that the two professional organizations should co-operate on trade issues.     

Towards an Instrument to Measure Participants' Perceptions on Facilitation in Group Support Systems Meetings

Facilitation is often considered to be one of the key factors in the successful application of GSS. Research on GSS facilitation has revealed insight into the types of tasks performed by facilitators and the potential positive effects of facilitation on group consensus and satisfaction. However, earlier research has rarely approached GSS facilitation from the participants' point of view. In this study a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 369 participants of facilitated GSS meetings in order to measure their perceptions of various facilitation tasks. The results suggested three categories of facilitation tasks that are perceived as important by participants. Each of these categories strongly correlated with participants' meeting satisfaction. Further research is needed to refine these categories so that the instrument may be used to evaluate a facilitator's performance.     

Leases and Debt: Complements or Substitutes? Evidence from Belgian SMEs

This study investigates the lease–debt relationship for Belgian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Traditional finance theory suggests that leases and corporate debt are substitutes: both leases and debt are fixed, contractual obligations that reduce the firm's debt capacity. More use of leases should therefore be associated with less non-lease debt financing. However, some empirical studies find that for large firms, leases and debt are complements. A theoretical explanation for this so-called "leasing puzzle" is based on the tax advantage of leasing over debt. However, in Belgium, tax differences between lessor and lessee do not affect the choice between leases and debt, because the lessee is considered to be the fiscal owner of the assets. He may write off these assets for tax purposes, and the interest part of the lease payments are deductible from his taxable income. Leases and debt can therefore be expected to be substitutes. This hypothesis is tested for a sample of 5,595 firm-year observations for 1,119 Belgian nonfinancial SMEs in the 1995–1999 period. The results indeed provide strong support for the substitution hypothesis: more debt is associated with less leases.