Search results for "Econometric"
showing 10 items of 3780 documents
Searching for new paradigms in a globalized world: Business ethics as a management strategy
2008
The process of globalization is an undeniable reality of today's world. Yet, paradoxically, the cornerstone of this phenomenon, economic performance, varies widely across the world whatever indicator (for example, GDP/habitant, competitiveness) we choose to use to compare countries. Increasingly, studies tend to explain this apparently paradoxical situation with reference to the issue of corruption and ethics. In essence, corruption is perceived to be an important impediment to the economic development of a country (or area). Many studies of corruption are focused at the national level. The aim of this conceptual paper is to explore the role of the firm (as opposed to national states or int…
An adult life cycle perspective on public subsidies to higher education in three countries
1986
Studies of the incidence of public susidies to higher education have commonly disregarded adjustements to an appropriate age range in the parental reference populations. Even where the need for such adjustements is noted, implications have rarely if ever been systematically analyzed. Moreover, no attention whatsoever seems to have been paid to implications for adult life-cycle experiences let alone secular changes in experiences over successive cohorts. The present paper seeks to fill part of these gaps, drawing on relevant parts of our research on "the political economy of government support of higher education : studies in Chile, France and Malaysia".
The effect of polytechnic reform on migration
2011
This paper examines the effect of the polytechnic reform on geographical mobility. A polytechnic, higher education reform took place in Finland in the 1990s. It gradually transformed former vocational colleges into polytechnics and also brought higher education to regions that did not have a university before. This expansion of higher education provides exogenous variation in the regional supply of higher education. The reform raised the mobility of high school graduates across local labour markets in the years after they had completed their secondary studies, which indicated increased mobility between high school and post-secondary education. We estimate that the reform enhanced the annual…
Higher education in the fight against poverty from the capabilities approach: The case of Spain
2017
Abstract This article describes relative poverty in Spain in relation to the other States in the European Union, following the European indicator AROPE. The official data provided by the National Statistical Institute of Spain and by Eurostat, refer to the year 2014 (the last one for which definitive data are available is 2015). Given the relative poverty of Spanish population, the failure of conventional economic theories, which conceive social development as GDP growth, is clear, and it is argued in favour of the human capabilities approach as a more adequate option for development, from a theoretical-practical point of view, for the reduction and/or eradication of poverty, as well as the…
Income Inequality and Technology Diffusion: Evidence from Developing Countries*
2011
We study the effect of within-country income inequality on the diffusion of mobile phones using data on market penetration in a sample of developing countries from 1985 to 1998. Mobile phones are an example of international technology, originating in industrialized countries and diffusing worldwide. We find that income inequality, as measured by the income share of the highest earning deciles, has a positive effect on the early diffusion of mobile phones and that the estimated effect becomes greater when a measure of agricultural endowments is used as an instrument. The instrumental variable results are robust to weak instruments. Our findings suggest that the diffusion of new technologies …
Location, education and enterprise growth
2013
There is a long-standing tradition of attributing the growth of enterprises to unique capabilities expressed through entrepreneurial activities. These are contingent on their exposure to information that signals opportunities, access to external resources that enable capabilities to be built and the existence of prior related knowledge and routines within the firm. This article uses the Norwegian employer–employee register data to investigate whether the likelihood of achieving high growth as defined by the OECD is contingent on the location of the firm, the educational background of its employees and their employment performance prior to the period 2006–2009 for which growth and survival p…
Does strategy matter? A comparison of broadband rollout policies in Finland and Sweden
2008
This study investigates broadband policies applied in Finland and Sweden with special reference to the geographical coverage of the required network infrastructure. These two Nordic countries are seen as forerunners in the development of the information society, and they also share several other similarities bearing relevance to the take-up of broadband. However, they have applied different broadband strategies: Sweden, one of the first-movers in this field, already launched its ambitious and interventionist national ICT infrastructure program in 2000, whereas the Finnish broadband strategy, published in 2003, largely relies on market forces. The present article analyses these broadband str…
Determinants of Board Structure in Microfinance Institutions: Evidence from East Africa
2013
This study investigates the association between the unique characteristics of microfinance institutions and board structure. The agency and resource dependence theories provided theoretical guidance for this study. Using a panel dataset of 63 microfinance institutions in East Africa, we found that the presence of regulations and international influence is associated with larger boards, while the presence of founders is associated with small boards and less board independence. There is a higher level of board gender diversity in microfinance institutions managed by founders. There is greater diversity of nationalities in microfinance institutions that are internationally influenced. The imp…
The OECD civil servant: Caught between Scylla and Charybdis1
2011
ABSTRACT Civil servants in international secretariats are exposed to numerous, cross-cutting and, at times, conflicting pressures and expectations. The secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is no different. This study reveals a fundamental ‘misfit’ between external demands and internal dynamics in the OECD Secretariat. On one hand, the OECD analysts are employed on the basis of merit. Compared to the employees in the central administrations in many OECD member states, the OECD personnel are very competitive in terms of experience and academic skills. Thus, the OECD Secretariat can be seen as a veritable powerhouse of idea generation, data collection…
Hidden costs of cuts: austerity, civil service management and the motivation of public officials in Central and Eastern Europe after the crisis
2016
The implementation of austerity measures presents a dilemma for governments. While austerity measures such as cutbacks aim to reduce costs and enhance public sector efficiency, the same measures might undermine the motivation of employees and, consequently, the prospects of effectively implementing austerity programmes. Based on a survey of ministerial officials in Poland and Latvia, this article finds that the scale of cutbacks explains a larger decline of staff motivation in Latvia than in Poland. The article further shows that motivation was more likely to decrease after the crisis if austerity measures involved cutbacks such as staff reductions, recruitment freezes, and a reduction of t…