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Full-Text Articles in International Economics

Import Decisions And Firm Performance - An Empirical Analysis For The Netherlands, Henk Lm Kox Sep 2012

Import Decisions And Firm Performance - An Empirical Analysis For The Netherlands, Henk Lm Kox

Henk LM Kox

This paper investigates the relation between import decisions and productivity performance for Dutch firms. Importer productivity premiums appear to be larger than those for exporting firms. In the perspective of recent trade theory this indicates that trade costs for importers are at least as important as they are for exporting firms. For import starters I find evidence that ex ante productivity-based self selection is important. This also points in the direction of considerable sunk trade costs for firms that engage in direct imports.


Unleashing Competition In Eu Business Services, Henk Lm Kox Sep 2012

Unleashing Competition In Eu Business Services, Henk Lm Kox

Henk LM Kox

This policy brief provides research results indicating that a lack of competitive selection contributes to the productivity stagnation in European business services. Competition between small firms and large firms in business services is found to be weak. Inefficiencies also persist within size classes, which indicates a lack of competitive pressure. Markets for business services appear to work best in countries with flexible regulation on employment change, and with low regulatory costs for firms that start-up or exit a business. Countries with more openness to foreign competition perform better in terms of competitive selection and productivity. Policy simulations show that many …


Cartels In An "Nth-Best" World: The Wholesale Foodstuff Trade In Ibadan, Nigeria, Harlan M. Smith Ii, Margaret E. Luttrell Aug 2012

Cartels In An "Nth-Best" World: The Wholesale Foodstuff Trade In Ibadan, Nigeria, Harlan M. Smith Ii, Margaret E. Luttrell

Harlan M. Smith

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the economic functions and associated welfare implications of the cooperative associations that dominate the wholesale trade in two staple foods. Questionnaire responses lead to several conclusions. Individual traders face incomplete markets, imperfect information, and little government-provided institutional and physical infrastructure. The associations are sophisticated "Coase-like" responses to this market environment: they focus on reducing their members' transaction costs, and hence the marginal private costs of trading. Thus it is likely that these associations enhance efficiency. We conclude with a critique of current government policy with respect to this trade.


Dynamic Market Selection In Eu Business Services, Henk Lm Kox, George Van Leeuwen Jul 2012

Dynamic Market Selection In Eu Business Services, Henk Lm Kox, George Van Leeuwen

Henk LM Kox

European business services has witnessed about two decades of virtual productivity stagnation. The paper investigates whether this is caused by weak dynamic market selection. The time pattern of scale-related inefficiencies is used as an indicator for the effectiveness of market selection. We use a DEA method to construct the productivity frontier by sub-sector and size class, for business services in 13 EU countries. From this we derive scale economies and their development over time. Between 1999 and 2005 we observe a persistence of scale inefficiencies and X-inefficiencies , with scale efficiency falling rather than growing over time. This indicates malfunctioning …


Human Capital Formation And Economic Development In Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis, Muhammad Irfan Chani, Mahboob Ul Hassan, Muhammad Shahid May 2012

Human Capital Formation And Economic Development In Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis, Muhammad Irfan Chani, Mahboob Ul Hassan, Muhammad Shahid

Muhammad Irfan Chani

This study investigates the casual relationship between economic development and formation of human capital in Pakistan. Based on endogenous growth theory, this study empirically tests the standard growth model consisting of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita as a dependent variable and human capital formation, investment in physical capital and labor force as independent variables. Autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to cointegration is used to check the long-run equilibrium relationship between the variables included in the model. For checking the causal relationship between economic development and human capital formation, pair-wise Granger causality test is used for time series …


Some Socio Economic Determinants Of Fertility In Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis, Muhammad Irfan Chani, Muhammad Shahid, Mahboob Ul Hassan Apr 2012

Some Socio Economic Determinants Of Fertility In Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis, Muhammad Irfan Chani, Muhammad Shahid, Mahboob Ul Hassan

Muhammad Irfan Chani

This study aims to investigate the role that various socioeconomic factors like female education, urbanization and female labour force participation play in determining fertility of women in Pakistan. ARDL bound test approach to cointegration is used to analyze the long-run relationship of the variables by using the data for the period from 1980 to 2009. The empirical results show that there exists a long-run as well as short-run relationship between fertility and urbanization, female labour force participation and female education in Pakistan. The analysis indicates there is a negative relationship between all 3 determinants with fertility. Female education and urbanization …


Export Decisions Of Services Firms Between Agglomeration Effects And Market-Entry Costs, Henk Lm Kox Apr 2012

Export Decisions Of Services Firms Between Agglomeration Effects And Market-Entry Costs, Henk Lm Kox

Henk LM Kox

The paper tests the role of agglomeration effects on the export decision of services firms. Recent theories on trade with heterogeneous firms predict that export participation goes along with sunk market-entry costs. Only the more productive firms will be able to overcome these sunk costs. This leads to a process of - ex ante - self selection. These predictions are tested for the services industry, with due account for the possible role of agglomeration effects in large-city areas. Standard empirical tests of the new trade models consistently find productivity-based ex ante self selection by exporters, and this effect is mostly …


Challenges Of The Cooperative Movement In Addressing Issues Of Human Security In The Context Of A Neoliberal World: The Case Of Argentina, Stefan Ivanovski Mar 2012

Challenges Of The Cooperative Movement In Addressing Issues Of Human Security In The Context Of A Neoliberal World: The Case Of Argentina, Stefan Ivanovski

Stefan Ivanovski

The response of some Argentine workers to the 2001 crisis of neoliberalism gave rise to a movement of worker-recovered enterprises (empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores or ERTs). The ERTs have emerged as former employees took over the control of generally fraudulently bankrupt factories and enterprises. The analysis of the ERT movement within the neoliberal global capitalist order will draw from William Robinson’s (2004) neo-Gramscian concept of hegemony. The theoretical framework of neo-Gramscian hegemony will be used in exposing the contradictions of capitalism on the global, national, organizational and individual scales and the effects they have on the ERT movement. The …


Returns From Self-Employment: Using Human Capital Theory To Compare U.S. Natives And Immigrants, Nikola Popovic Mar 2012

Returns From Self-Employment: Using Human Capital Theory To Compare U.S. Natives And Immigrants, Nikola Popovic

Undergraduate Economic Review

The focus of this paper is to examine the economic returns from self-employment when comparing natives and immigrants. I hypothesize that returns from self-employment will increase with age and education, and that immigrants from China, India, and the Philippines will have higher returns while immigrants from Mexico will have lower returns than natives. I also hypothesize that immigrants with high levels of education will earn more than natives with the same amount of education. The OLS regressions show that human capital variables explain the differences in self-employed income between natives and immigrants, as the literature suggests.


Economic Shocks, Trade And International Relations, Jack Barnes Thompson Feb 2012

Economic Shocks, Trade And International Relations, Jack Barnes Thompson

Undergraduate Economic Review

In an interdependent world, trade has unavoidable game aspects. A model with two agents is used to determine the impact of trade and a military alliance between two major world players, North America and China, and an external non-actor, South Korea. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of cooperative actions and outcomes by the two agents on a two-track policy for South Korea. We also study a variant to the game by considering a change in international relations. Welfare implications are also observed.


The Impact Of Institutional Arrangements On Educational Efficiency, Trevor Collier Jan 2012

The Impact Of Institutional Arrangements On Educational Efficiency, Trevor Collier

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Per-pupil expenditures on education in the United States have grown immensely in recent decades, yet student achievement has been stagnant. An abundance of research has sought to solve this enigma, much of it centered on the incentive structure facing administrators. Some recent papers use TIMSS data to analyze the relationship between institutional arrangements—that typically do not vary within a single country—and student achievement. Similarly, we utilize TIMSS 1999 to determine if there is an indirect relationship between institutional arrangements and student achievement, via a relationship with school efficiency. Our results show that the specified link between institutional arrangements and student …


The Gettysburg Economic Review, Volume 6, Spring 2012 Jan 2012

The Gettysburg Economic Review, Volume 6, Spring 2012

Gettysburg Economic Review

No abstract provided.


Veblen’S Predator And The Great Crisis, John B. Hall, Iciar Dominguez-Lacasa, Jutta Günther Jan 2012

Veblen’S Predator And The Great Crisis, John B. Hall, Iciar Dominguez-Lacasa, Jutta Günther

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

With this inquiry we attribute cause for the current and “Great Crisis” to Veblen’s predator. After summarizing origins and manifestations of this crisis we juxtapose Veblen’s emphasis upon the predator to other potential causes for crisis and crises. Noted to have emerged when our stock of human knowledge provided for the creation of surplus, Veblen’s predator is presented as capable of metamorphosis and also driving evolution of our capitalistic system: whether this means emerging as the businessman in the “era of the machine,” or the investment banker promoting a financial metaphysics in the current “era of finance.”


Subreption And Institutional Inquiry: Theoretical Philosophy And Evolutionary Thinking, John B. Hall, Alexander Dunlap Jan 2012

Subreption And Institutional Inquiry: Theoretical Philosophy And Evolutionary Thinking, John B. Hall, Alexander Dunlap

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

With this inquiry we respond to William Dugger‘s assertion that ―[s]ubreption is one of the least studied social phenomena of the twentieth century.‖ Our research seeks to fill a gap in the literature by clarifying subreption, and its origins in Philosophy to its importance in social science, and, especially, Institutional Inquiry. We conjecture that Thorstein Veblen borrows form Immanuel Kant‘s understanding of Erschleichung. In this respect, Veblen‘s understanding and use of subreption serves as conduit between its use in Roman law, through Kant‘s understanding, and on to what Veblen later introduces as an approach creatively relied upon by three other, …


An Analysis Of Different Approaches To Women Empowerment: A Case Study Of Pakistan, Amatul R. Chaudhary, Muhammad Irfan Chani, Zahid Pervaiz Dec 2011

An Analysis Of Different Approaches To Women Empowerment: A Case Study Of Pakistan, Amatul R. Chaudhary, Muhammad Irfan Chani, Zahid Pervaiz

Muhammad Irfan Chani

Women empowerment has attracted the attention of researchers as an active area of research since 1980s. It can be viewed as an ultimate end as well as a mean to achieve other development goals. The present study is an attempt to investigate how consciousness /sensitization of women about their rights, economic empowerment of women and women’s overall development can be helpful in achieving the goal of women’s empowerment. The study uses data for the period of 1996 to 2009 for Pakistan. Empirical results reveal that consciousness of women about their rights, economic empowerment of women and women’s overall development have …