Large scale infrastructure investment and economic performance – a case study of Oresund

We analyse the effect of a large scale infrastructure investment, namely the construction of the Oresund bridge, on the local and supra-regional economy. We employ the synthetic control method to construct counterfactual regions that mimic the trajectory of Malmo and Southern Sweden without treatment. Our results point to a positive effect. However, placebo tests in space and time only reveal statistical significance at a larger regional level. The results suggest that spillover effects are eminent.     

MODELING THE TERM STRUCTURE FROM THE ON‐THE‐RUN TREASURY YIELD CURVE

We propose a new model to estimate the term structure of interest rates using observed on‐the‐run Treasury yields. The new model is an improvement over models that require a priori knowledge of the shape of the yield curve to estimate the term structure. The general form of the model is an exponential function that depends on the estimation of four parameters fit by nonlinear least squares and has straightforward interpretations. In comparing the proposed model with current yield‐curve‐smoothing models, we find that, for the data used, the proposed model does best overall in terms of pricing accuracy both in sample and out of sample. JEL classification: E43, G12     

Die Wirkung der Positionierung eines Zulieferunternehmens auf das Vertrauen des Kunden

Zusammenfassung Aus bisherigen Studien lassen sich kaum Handlungsempfehlungen ableiten, welche Positionierung eines Zulieferunternehmens sich besonders vorteilhaft auf das Vertrauen eines Kunden auswirkt. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Wirkungen von vier Positionierungsstrategien, die Zulieferunternehmen zur Verfügung stehen, auf das Vertrauen ihrer Abnehmer aus der Automobilindustrie untersucht. Diese Strategien bestehen in der Anpassung an Kundenprozesse, in Serviceorientierung, in Flexibilit?t und in der Verwendung von Kompetenzsignalen gegenüber dem Markt. Wir zeigen, dass die Anpassung an Kundenprozesse auf Grund der hohen Spezifit?t der damit verbundenen Investitionen die st?rkste positive Wirkung auf das Vertrauen des Kunden aufweist und dass Kompetenzsignale gegenüber dem Markt kein geeignetes Instrument zur F?rderung des Kundenvertrauens sind, wenn das Zulieferunternehmen für den Abnehmer eine hohe Bedeutung besitzt.

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The effects of a supplier’s positioning strategy on buyers’ trust

Summary Many studies have identified measures that are able to enhance partners’ trust in business-to-business relationships. However, it is not known which measures are more effective than others or under which conditions certain measures might be helpful or not. In the present study the effects of four possible positioning strategies on buyer’s trust are examined. The positioning strategies considered here are the supplier’s adaptations regarding its customer’s processes, its service orientation, its flexibility, and market-signals stressing the supplier’s competence. We found that, due to the high specificity of the required investments, adaptations of the supplier’s processes are the strongest instrument to enhance buyers’ trust relative to the other three strategies. We could also show that investments in market signals stressing the supplier’s competence are not effective if the supplier is of high importance to the customer.

     

Socially Responsible Investing and Climate Change: Contradictions and Challenges

This article explores the contradiction between the articulated investment policies, screening criteria or ethical charters of socially responsible investment funds and their actions demonstrated by their portfolio selection practice. The paper provides a background to socially responsible investment and Australia's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. A discussion of renewable energy options lays the foundation for our main assertion: that this set of possible alternatives provides some new and more environmentally robust options that will better complement the underlying philosophy of funds in the socially responsible investment sector.     

Should we let employees contract away their rights against arbitrary discharge?

This article argues that the moral right to be discharged only for good cause and like rights can be contracted away by employees in appropriate circumstances. It maintains that the rights in question are not inalienable, and that there is nothing irrational about an employee's wishing to deal them away. It also maintains that inequalities in bargaining power between employers and employees are insufficiently pervasive to justify a flat ban on the alienation of these rights. For a waiver of such rights to be valid, however, employees must have full knowledge of its terms.The question addressed here bears on several legal and policy issues affecting termination of the employment relation. If employees can contract away their right to a goodcause discharge, the American doctrine of employment at willmight find justification in the face of that right. In addition, the alienability of such discharge rights may be necessary to justify express disclaimers of wrongful discharge liability and the waiver provision of the new U.S. Draft Uniform Employment-Termination Act.Michael J. Phillips is Professor of Business Law and Chairman of the Business Law Department of Indiana University's School of Business. He is a former editor-in-chief of theAmerican Business Law Journal, and has authored numerous law journal articles.     

Dynamics of the federal funds target rate: a nonstationary discrete choice approach

We apply a discrete choice approach to model the empirical behaviour of the Federal Reserve in changing the federal funds target rate, the benchmark of short‐term market interest rates in the US. Our methods allow the explanatory variables to be nonstationary as well as stationary. This feature is particularly useful in the present application as many economic fundamentals that are monitored by the Fed and are believed to affect decisions to adjust interest rate targets display some nonstationarity over time. The chosen model successfully predicts the majority of the target rate changes during the time period considered (1994–2001) and helps to explain strings of similar intervention decisions by the Fed. Based on the model‐implied optimal interest rate, our findings suggest that there is a lag in the Fed's reaction to economic shocks during this period. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Discontinuous innovation and supply relationships: strategic dalliances

The authors address the need for supply relationships to generate, support, and respond to discontinuous innovation (DI), noting that established ways of working appear insufficient. The peculiarities of DI are explained and contrasted with well-known concepts within innovation. The need for customer firms to be both closely collaborative with suppliers while also exploring potential, unpredictable DI elsewhere is proposed, by means of strategic dalliances . A model is presented for understanding and exploring this emerging management challenge.     

小额贷款能扫多少“钱荒”

总是有那么多诱人的概念，小额信贷的创始人尤努斯把他的发明上升到“让乞丐都能赚钱”的功能。如果说真是如此，那世界上还有穷人吗？可是，凡是存在必然有他的道理，小额信贷存在着，而且还在扩张着。按照尤努斯的说法，在小额贷款的帮助下，中小企业解决个把融资问题应该不成问题，如果乞丐都能靠此转变，那么中小企业总不会连乞丐都不如，小额信贷真的能够救赎那些缺钱缺得心慌的企业吗？