Determinants of TFP growth: A close look at industries driving the EU–US TFP gap

This paper explores the determinants of the EU–US TFP growth gap using EU KLEMS. As found in previous analyses, TFP growth appears to be driven by catching-up phenomena associated with the gradual adoption of new technologies. TFP growth is also significantly driven by developments at the “technological frontier”, especially since the mid-1990s. Industries with higher R&D expenditures and higher adoption rates for ICT-intensive technologies appear to exhibit higher TFP growth rates, whilst human capital has mostly a significant effect across countries. Regarding determinants in industries relevant for the different TFP performance of the EU versus the US, ICT-producing industries appear to benefit from R&D in terms of stronger spillovers from TFP gains at the frontier, network utilities are strongly affected by product market regulations, whilst the retail and wholesale trade industry is significantly influenced by consumption dynamics which permit a better exploitation of scale economies.     

Gender Pay Gap,Voluntary Interventions and Recession: The Case of the British Financial Services Sector

State institutions and trade unions put pressure on the British financial services sector to reform its gendered practices and reduce its gender pay gap following both the recession and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Inquiry (2009). This article considers the effect of these pressures by comparing the gender pay gap pre‐, during‐ and post‐recession periods. Using Labour Force Survey data, the article finds a marginal pay gap reduction in the post‐recession period, a reduction that was greater in financial services than in the rest of the economy. However, the financial services pay gap remained resilient and substantially higher at the top of the earnings distribution. Union membership and collective bargaining were shown to reduce the pay gap including for women members with children. In contrast, countervailing factors, including ethnicity and post‐recession longer working hours, contributed to the pay gap. The study reveals the limitations of voluntary interventions against a resilient gendered culture.     

Towards a Design Science of Ethical Decision Support

Ethical decision making involves complex emotional, cognitive, social, and philosophical challenges. Even if someone wants to be ethical, he or she may not have clearly articulated what that means, or know how to go about making a decision consistent with his or her values. Information technology may be able to help. A decision support system could offer individuals and groups some guidance, assisting them in making a decision that reflects their underlying values. The first step towards a design science of ethical decision support is to develop a theoretical base on which first-generation systems can be built. This paper brings together work in cognitive, social and moral psychology, information systems, and philosophy relevant to ethical decision making. Attributes of a system that would support ethical decision making are described.     

Dealing with Clinical Risk: Implications of the Rise of Evidence-Based Health Care

This article considers the nature of risk in health care and the use the National Health Service (NHS) makes of risk management. It explores how the concept of risk has been challenged by the rise of 'evidence-based' health care, accompanied and accelerated by a decline in professional prestige, status and mystique and much greater use of external measurement and controls as part of the New Public Management. The nature of evidence-based health care is outlined and the implications of the use of guidelines and other practice aids are explored. Finally, the article discusses how evidence-based health care is affecting our views of clinical risk.     

Market competition,earnings management,and persistence in accounting profitability around the world

We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, as well as earnings management affect mean reversion in accounting return on assets. Using a sample of 48,465 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that accounting returns mean revert faster in countries where there is more product and capital market competition, as predicted by economic theory. Country differences in labor market competition and earnings management are also related to mean reversion in accounting returns—but the relation varies with firm performance. Country labor competition increases mean reversion when unexpected returns are positive but slows it when unexpected returns are negative. Accounting returns in countries with higher earnings management mean revert more slowly for profitable firms and more rapidly for loss firms. Thus earnings management incentives to slow or speed up mean reversion in accounting returns are accentuated in countries where there is a high propensity for earnings management. Overall, these findings suggest that country factors explain mean reversion in accounting returns and are therefore relevant for firm valuation.     

How effectively do people learn from a variety of different opinions?

This paper presents experimental evidence about how effectively individuals learn from information coming from heterogeneous sources. In the experiment, Thai subjects observed information that came from Americans and from other Thais that they could use to help them answer a series of questions. Despite listening too little to either group, subjects demonstrated a significant amount of statistical sophistication in how they weighed observed American information relative to observed Thai information. The data indicate that subjects understood that outside information has extra value because people from the same group tend to make the same kinds of mistakes. The results illustrate the importance of forming diverse groups to solve problems.     

Women, Power and Trade Union Government in the UK

This paper addresses the under-explored relationship between women's structures and union democracy and argues that women's structural progress is mediated by an enduring gendered oligarchy and an associated struggle to access power resources. It provides, first, an analysis over time of women's structures in UK unions, and second, a case-study analysis of the Manufacturing, Science and Finance (MSF) trade union. The analysis over time demonstrates women's progress in achieving positional power, but conceals the complexity of the way different resources are used to constrain and enable women trade unionists.