Unlike Previous Work (unlike + previous_work)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Four Simple Tests of Campaign Contributions and Trade Policy Preferences

ECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 2 2004
Eugene Beaulieu
This paper uses campaign contribution data to examine trade policy preferences among political action committees. With perfect factor mobility, as the Heckscher,Ohlin (HO) model assumes, interest group trade positions should depend on their factor of production but not on their industry. We show, consistent with the 2 × 2 HO model, that capital groups consistently back representatives supporting trade liberalization while labor groups favor protectionists. Unlike previous work, we also measure the variation in trade policy preferences within capital and labor groups. We find evidence that the industry net export position significantly affects labor unions' trade policy preferences. Industry characteristics have no impact on capital group lobbying. The former result suggests that empirical analyses of labor PAC contributions that exclude industry characteristics may be misspecified. [source]


The real exchange rate,real interest rate relation: evidence from tests for symmetric and asymmetric threshold cointegration

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FINANCE & ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2006
Robert Sollis
Abstract This paper investigates the existence of threshold cointegration between real exchange rates and real interest rate differentials. Unlike previous work, which generally fails to find evidence of a long-run relationship employing linear models, we employ tests of the null hypothesis of no cointegration derived from nonlinear bivariate models that allow for threshold cointegration under the alternative hypothesis. For six of the countries in our sample our analysis reveals some evidence of a nonlinear long-run relationship between real exchange rates and real interest rate differentials. Asymmetric mean reversion of the equilibrium error is found to be driven by the asymmetric short-run adjustment of the real exchange rate to dis-equilibrium. When threshold cointegration is found to exist, we find stronger mean reversion when the equilibrium error is negative relative to when it is positive. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Consumer Welfare and the Loss Induced by Withholding Information: The Case of BSE in Italy

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2004
Mario Mazzocchi
The paper develops a measure of consumer welfare losses associated with withholding information about a possible link between BSE and vCJD. The Cost of Ignorance (COI) is measured by comparing the utility of the informed choice with the utility of the uninformed choice, under conditions of improved information. Unlike previous work that is largely based on a single equation demand model, the measure is obtained retrieving a cost function from a dynamic Almost Ideal Demand System. The estimated perceived loss for Italian consumers due to delayed information ranges from 12 percent to 54 percent of total meat expenditure, depending on the month assumed to embody correct beliefs about the safety level of beef. [source]


Investment in the public good through conditional phenotypes of large effect

JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2009
G. WILD
Abstract We investigate the evolution of an individual's willingness to invest in a public good (what we call, helping) in a patch-structured population with limited natal dispersal. We assume that an individual's decision to invest is informed by its dispersal status: an individual makes one decision given it is native to the patch on which it breeds, and is free to make a different decision given that it is not native to the patch on which it breeds. Unlike previous work, we assume that investment in the public good, and the public good, itself, both have a large effect on individual fecundity. Kin selection analysis reveals that only extreme investment decisions (i.e. ,always invest' or ,never invest') can be evolutionarily stable. Numerical results suggest that the evolutionary instability of the ,never invest' phenotype (what we call, complete nonhelping) implies the evolutionary stability of ,always invest' (what we call, complete helping). In addition, numerical results show that bistability of extreme phenotypes is possible, indicating that the adaptive significance of altruism, in this context, is greater than has been previously recognized. Numerical results are supported by computer simulation, and results, themselves, are briefly discussed in a concluding section. [source]


Improving performance through vertical disintegration: evidence from UK manufacturing firms

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 5 2009
Panos DesyllasArticle first published online: 24 NOV 200
Unlike previous work on the vertical integration,performance relationship, we investigate the performance consequences of vertical disintegration. We offer a theoretical justification for the disintegration decision and we condition the disintegration effect on performance on the initial degree of firm integration, the timing and the direction of disintegration. Using a sample of UK manufacturing firms and controlling for disintegration endogeneity, we find that disintegration eventually results in improved operating performance, particularly when disintegration occurs as a reaction to poor performance and in cases of forward between-sector disintegration. However, being highly integrated does not guarantee gains from disintegration. The implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


THE EFFECT OF AUCTION FORMAT ON EFFICIENCY AND REVENUE IN DIVISIBLE GOODS AUCTIONS: A TEST USING KOREAN TREASURY AUCTIONS,

THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2008
BOO-SUNG KANG
This paper measures the efficiency and revenue properties of the two most popular formats for divisible goods auctions: the uniform-price and discriminatory auction. We analyze bids into the Korean Treasury auctions which have used both formats. We find that the discriminatory auction yields statistically higher revenue. Unlike previous work that uses data from only one format, we are able to compare the efficiency properties of the two formats. We find that the discriminatory auction better allocates treasury bills to the highest value financial institutions. However, the differences in revenue and efficiency are not large because the auctions are very competitive. [source]


A Portrait of Australian Trade Union Officials

BRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2001
Tom Bramble
Details are given of the chief characteristics of Australia's trade union officials, using data drawn from the 1986 and 1996 Australian Censuses of Population and Housing. This research note provides an update on research published by a number of authors. Unlike previous work, however, use of Census data allows for direct comparisons of the characteristics of union officials with those of union members or, where such data are not available, with the employed work-force. [source]


Synthesis and Thermoelectric Characterization of Bi2Te3 Nanoparticles

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 21 2009
Marcus Scheele
Abstract Here, a novel synthesis for near monodisperse, sub-10,nm Bi2Te3 nanoparticles is reported. A new reduction route to bismuth nanoparticles is described, which are then applied as starting materials in the formation of rhombohedral Bi2Te3 nanoparticles. After ligand removal by a novel hydrazine hydrate etching procedure, the nanoparticle powder is spark plasma sintered to a pellet with preserved crystal grain sizes. Unlike previous works on the properties of Bi2Te3 nanoparticles, the full thermoelectric characterization of such sintered pellets shows a highly reduced thermal conductivity and the same electric conductivity as bulk n-type Bi2Te3. [source]