Business Commons^™

Tackling Undeclared Work In Iceland, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

Tackling Undeclared Work In Croatia And Four Eu Candidate Countries, Colin C. Williams, Marijana Baric, Piet Renooy

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

New Silicon Valleys Or A New Species? Commoditization Of Knowledge Work And The Rise Of Knowledge Services Clusters, Stephan Manning

Stephan Manning

This paper explores knowledge services clusters (KSCs) as a distinct and increasingly important form of geographic cluster, in particular in emerging economies: KSCs are defined as geographic concentrations of lower-cost skills serving global demand for increasingly commoditized knowledge services. Based on prior research on clusters and services offshoring, and data from the Offshoring Research Network (ORN), major properties and contingencies of KSC growth are discussed and compared with both high-tech clusters and low-cost manufacturing clusters. Special emphasis is put on the ambivalent effect of commoditization of knowledge work on KSC growth: It is proposed that KSCs attract most projects if …

National Contexts Matter: The Co-Evolution Of Sustainability Standards In Global Value Chains, Stephan Manning, Frank Boons, Oliver Von Hagen, Juliane Reinecke

Stephan Manning

In this paper, we investigate the role of key industry and other stakeholders and their embeddedness in particular national contexts in driving the proliferation and co-evolution of sustainability standards, based on the case of the global coffee industry. We find that institutional conditions and market opportunity structures in consuming countries have been important sources of standards variation, for example in the cases of Fairtrade, UTZ Certified and the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C). In turn, supplier structures in producing countries as well as their linkages with traders and buyers targeting particular consuming countries have been key mechanisms of …

Europa Tra Finanza E Democrazia, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

No abstract provided.

L'Italia Disuguale, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

L’Europa Della Finanza, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

No abstract provided.

Professional And Trade Associations In A Nascent And Formative Sector Of A Developing Economy: A Case Study Of The Nasscom Effect On The Indian Offshoring Industry, Nir Kshetri, Nikhilesh Dholakia

Nikhilesh Dholakia

As important sources that shape institutional structures in an economy, professional and trade associations play significant roles in bringing and legitimating institutional changes. This paper examines the roles of professional and trade associations' impacts on institutions associated with a nascent and formative sector of a developing economy. In empirical terms, the paper offers an in-depth case study of India's National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) on institutional changes related to the offshoring industry. The NASSCOM case shows that under appropriate conditions, professional and trade associations represent an alternative to the state in shaping the industry landscape.

The Cleveland Charrette On Sustainable Urban Environments: Elevating The Stature Of Urban Redevelopment, Thomas Bier, Ziona Austrian

Ziona Austrian

The main focus of this charrette -- the stature of urban redevelopment relative to suburban "greenfield" development -- was epitomized by two Cleveland-area newspaper items (see Appendix A). One item announced an $850,000 federal grant to a suburb located at the rural fringe of the Cleveland metropolitan area. The grant from the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce was for construction of a road that would open 250 acres of virgin land for industrial development.

Comparative Study Of Determinants Of Food Security In Rural And Urban Households In Ashanti Region, Ghana, Stephen Frimpong, Samuel Asuming-Brempong

Stephen Frimpong

This study assessed determinants of food security in rural and urban households of Ashanti Region of Ghana using a Tobit regression model. The significant determinants of food security in rural households were household size, expenditure on food, access to credit, total own production, remittances, number of income generating activities and land endowment. Similarly, household size, migration, per capita food expenditure; own production and land endowment were the significant determinants of food security in urban households. The Chow coefficient test was used to test for equality of coefficients. The results showed that significant differences exist between the magnitudes of the determinants …

Fai La Macroeconomia Giusta. Le Molte Ragioni Del Libro Di Paul Krugman Fuori Da Questa Crisi, Adesso!, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

A Strategy For Rural Financial Market Reform: Applying The Financial Systems Approach In Ghana, Harlan M. Smith Ii, Abor Yeboah

Harlan M. Smith

We construct, using methods advocated in one strand of the Financial Systems Approach literature, a reform-and-renewal program for one of Ghana’s struggling Rural Banks--the Kaaseman Rural Bank. Questionnaire results, local informal financial practices, recent institutional innovations in Ghanaian finance, the experiences of successful “Nontraditional” rural finance institutions in developing countries, and the operating structure of the Rural Bank program indicate that this bank can implement a group-lending scheme that will reduce significantly its transaction costs and those of its customers. We thus demonstrate how the Financial Systems Approach can be employed to promote sustainable rural financial intermediation in a specific …

Occupy Europe! Proposte Concrete Per Uscire Dalla Crisi, Mario Pianta, Salvatore Bragantini, Emiliano Brancaccio

Mario Pianta

Il Professor Monti Bocciato In Economia, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

Labor Economics, George R. Boyer, Robert Smith

George R. Boyer

The authors hypothesize that most labor economists "sooner or later had to incorporate at least the appearance of institutional concerns in their papers to avoid indigestion whenever lunching with colleagues outside the field of economics" They add: "If the new interests of modern labor economics are in fact driven by the imperatives of science, then the institutionalist and the neoclassical approaches may well synthesize".

The Union Wage Effect In Late Nineteenth Century Britain, Timothy J. Hatton, George R. Boyer, Roy E. Bailey

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] This paper offers an historical dimension to the impact of trade unions on earnings by estimating the union wage effect in Britain in 1889-90 using data from the US Commissioner of Labor survey conducted at that time. The determinants of union status are also investigated in terms of a probit estimation using individual characteristics which may be correlated with union membership. The results of this first step are used in the computation of selectivity corrected estimates of the union wage effect. It is found that the effect of union membership on earnings at this time was of the order …

Poor Relief, Informal Assistance, And Short Time During The Lancashire Cotton Famine, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] This paper presents new evidence concerning the importance of poor relief as a source of income assistance for unemployed operatives during the Lancashire cotton famine. My comparison of weekly data on the number of relief recipients in 23 distressed poor law unions with estimates of weekly cotton consumption for the period November 1861 to December 1862 suggests that the average length of time between becoming unemployed and receiving poor relief was less than 2 months. This result is shown to be consistent with available evidence on working class saving. Given the meager amount of informal assistance available to them, …

The Influence Of London On Labor Markets In Southern England, 1830-1914, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] Historians have long acknowledged that London, because of its enormous size and rapidly growing demand for labor, acted as a powerful magnet for migrants from throughout southern England. However, while there is a large literature documenting the flow of migrants to London, there have been surprisingly few attempts to determine the consequences of this migration for southern labor markets. This article attempts to redress the imbalance in the literature by examining the influence of London on agricultural labor markets during the nineteenth century. In particular, the article examines the effect of distance from London on wage rates in southern …

Migration And Labour Market Integration In Late Nineteenth-Century England And Wales, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] There is a long and well established tradition of studies analysing the pattern and causes of internal migration and assessing the degree of labour market integration in late nineteenth-century Britain. Some studies document the flows of migrants from one area to another and describe migrant characteristics and the directions of the predominant streams of migration. Others analyse the determinants of gross or net migration flows at the region or county level. The questions implicit in these studies are: How mobile was the labour force? What were the major factors which determined individual decisions to migrate? How are these factors …

Autorità Pubbliche E Capitali Privati. Recensione A "Potenze Economiche Emergenti. Cina E India A Confronto", Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction (Review Symposium On Converging Divergences: Worldwide Changes In Employment Systems), George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] During the past two decades there have been significant changes in employment systems across industrialized countries. Converging Divergences: Worldwide Changes in Employment Systems, by Harry C. Katz and Owen Darbishire, examines changes since 1980 in employment practices in seven industrialized countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and Italy—with a focus on the automotive and telecommunications industries. Katz and Darbishire find that variations in employment patterns within these countries have been increasing over the past two decades. The increase in variation is not simply a result of a decline in union strength in some sectors of …

Comments On Geraghty, Márquez, And Vizcarra, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

Professor Boyer reviews and comments upon the three dissertations that were finalists for the Alexander Gerschenkron Prize in 2002.

[Review Of The Book Growing Public: Social Spending And Economic Growth Since The Eighteenth Century], George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] Lindert’s discussion of the costs and benefits of the welfare state is only one part, albeit the most eye-catching part, of this wide-ranging work in comparative economic history. Volume 1, written for non-specialists, presents “The Story”; it is tailor-made for upper-level undergraduate courses in economic and social history, public policy, and welfare economics. Volume 2 presents “Further Evidence,” including the regression results that underlie the findings presented in the first volume, and eighty pages of appendices. Graduate students and scholars studying the welfare state will want to read this volume in conjunction with Volume 1. For those who want …

The Economic Role Of The English Poor Law, 1780-1834, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] Over the 85-year period from 1748/50 to 1832/34, real per capita expenditures on poor relief increased at an average rate of approximately 1 percent per year. There were also important changes in the administration of relief with respect to able-bodied laborers during the period. Policies providing relief outside of workhouses to unemployed and under-employed able-bodied laborers became widespread during the 1770s and 1780s in the grain-producing South and East of England. The so-called Speenhamland system of outdoor relief flourished until 1834, when it was abolished by the Poor Law Amendment Act. The aim of the thesis is to provide …

Maestros To Multipliers: Exploring The Evolution Of Public Sector Innovation Intermediation And Governance (A Case Study Of Greater Manchester, 2003-2011), Martin Wain

Martin Wain

There has been a trend within the last decade, observable to economic development practitioners, for innovation becoming increasingly integrated into and central to mainstream economic development. To date it can be seen across all areas of economic development, including factors of competitiveness and competitive advantage, to the attraction and retention of talent. Arguably, this extends the policy recommendations and implications of innovation from competitiveness and growth to the perceived dynamicity and attractiveness of a locale to potential inward investors and upwardly mobile entrepreneurs.

This dissertation explores the evolution of innovation policy, through design and implementation, over a nine-year period. The …

Debt Relief And Trade Justice In Italy, Paolo Gerbaudo, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

No abstract provided.

How Can Activism Make Change Happen?, Mario Pianta, Anne Ellersiek, Peter Utting

Mario Pianta

No abstract provided.

Global Justice Activism And Policy Reform In Europe. Understanding When Change Happens, Peter Utting, Mario Pianta, Anne Ellersiek

Mario Pianta

No abstract provided.

Innovation And Employment In Economic Cycles, Matteo Lucchese, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

Industrial And Innovation Policies In The European Union, Matteo Lucchese, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta