Oxford Eprints
(1.101 recursos)
Oxford E-prints is a cross-disciplinary digital archive for research articles written by Oxford University authors. The repository has been developed as part of the SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) project and is running on eprints.org open archives software.
Mostrando recursos 1 - 20 de 21
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Mrs Penrose and neoclassical theory - Richardson, GB
Mrs Penrose's theory of the growth of the firm is widely known and accepted. It has not, however, been fully integrated into standard microeconomics. This was no simple oversight on Mrs Penrose's part; in the foreword to the third edition of her book, she states quite explicitly, in relation to neoclassical theory, that it is not, in her opinion 'useful to attempt to 'integrate' the two approaches'. My own view is that some integration is not only useful, but necessary, for I believe that only by incorporating Penrosean ideas can some 'traditional theory', be put right. I shall consider, in...
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Demand dynamics with socially evolving preferences - Aversi, R; Dosi, G; Fagiolo, G; Meacci, M; Olivetti, C
In this work we, first, identify a few stylized facts concerning microconsumption acts. Second, building on them, we develop a simple model of 'boundedly rational' consumers who endogenously evolve their preferences via both innovation and social imitation. Third, we explore some statistical properties of the demand patterns generated by the model which, despite its simplicity, are surprisingly in line with the empirical evidence. These results, we suggest, bring encouraging support to microfoundations of demand theory based on cognitive and behavioral foundations more in tune with the psychological and sociological evidence, based on heterogeneous agents who are much less 'rational' and...
3.
Chandlerism in post-war Europe: strategic and structural change in France, Germany and the UK, 1950-1993 - Whittington, R; Mayer, M; Curto, F
This paper examines the Chandlerian model of corporate development in the light of new data on the strategies and structures of large European firms in the post-war period. Conglomerate strategies continue to spread, but these are typically less stable than strategies of related diversification. The divisional structure now predominates in Europe, suppressing more indigenous forms. The paper discusses implications both for economic arguments around the resource-based view of the firm and for institutionalist arguments around the spread of American management ideas. The paper concludes that Chandler's original model is remarkably robust to both change over time and differences across countries.
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The explicit economics of knowledge codification and tacitness - Cowan, R; David, PA; Foray, D
This paper attempts a greater precision and clarity of understanding concerning the nature and economic significance of knowledge and its variegated forms by presenting 'the skeptical economist's guide to 'tacit knowledge''. It critically reconsiders the ways in which the concepts of tacitness and codification have come to be employed by economists and develops a more coherent re-conceptualization of these aspects of knowledge production and distribution activities. It seeks also to show that a proposed alternative framework for the study of knowledge codification activities offers a more useful guide for further research directed to informing public policies for science, technological innovation...
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Galton's fallacy and economic convergence - Bliss, C
The term Galton's Fallacy has more than one meaning. Usages of the term starting with Galton are reviewed. Recently the term has been used to denote problems encountered when the neoclassical convergence model is tested in a cross-section of country GNP histories (Barrow-Baumol regressions). Friedman and Quah independently identify problems which they separately call Galton's Fallacy. Friedman and Quah mean different things by the term. Once the nature of various Galton fallacies have been clarified, it is possible to elucidate some issues of econometric estimation which may be encountered in economic convergence regression estimation.
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On the economic consequences of civil war - Collier, P
A model of the economic effects of civil war and the post-war period is developed. A key feature is the adjustment of the capital stock through capital flight. Post-war this flight can either be reversed or continue, depending partly upon how far the capital stock has adjusted to the war. The model is tested on data for all civil wars since 1960. After long civil wars the economy recovers rapidly, whereas after short wars it continues to decline. We then consider the effect on the composition of economic activity, distinguishing between war-vulnerable and war-safe activities. Evidence for Uganda shows such...
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Employment constraints and sub-optimality in Chinese enterprises - Knight, J; Song, L
In China the employment of rural migrants is tightly controlled by government, with regard both to numbers and to jobs: urban residents receive preference and are protected against competition from migrants. A survey of enterprises employing both urban residents and rural migrants in four cities is analysed, using enterprise-level earnings comparisons, employment functions and production functions. We find both 'job discrimination' and 'wage discrimination' against migrants. The two groups are highly imperfect substitutes or, in a sense, complementary: migrants do the jobs that non-migrants will nor or cannot do. The marginal product of migrants exceeds their wage whereas that of...
8.
Professional autonomy and the cost of legal aid - Gray, A; Rickman, N; Fenn, P
This paper considers whether lawyers, acting as agents, respond to financial incentives which are extraneous to their clients' requirements. We take as a case study lawyers performing legal aid work in England and Wales. An empirical model of legal aid expenditure variations across areas in relation to changes in the demand for conveyancing services and the structure of the industry is estimated using dynamic panel data methods. The results may help to explain rising government legal aid expenditure in recent years.
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The importance of networks in the market for university graduates in Japan: a longitudinal analysis of hiring patterns - Rebick, M
This study examines the extent to which the transition from university education to work is characterised by persistent hiring flows between university faculties and employers, rather than being characterised by an open market process. More than half of all hires may be attributed to persistence in hiring by employers from specific faculties. Persistence appears to be related to the screening of potential employees and to the assurance of supply. Persistence is also stronger in hiring from faculties with higher percentages of male graduates, supporting the view that investment in employment ties rises with the expected tenure of the hired employee.
10.
Group selection and the evolution of altruism - Cooper, Ben; Wallace, Chris
'Group selection' is an oft-cited but controversial explanation for the survival of altruism. Rather than enter this debate, this paper asks whether a group structure alone can provide a reasonable explanation for the survival of altruistic behaviour in an evolving population. If altruism (defined as taking a cooperative action in a standard Prisoners' Dilemma) is to flourish, either groups need to be isolated from one another for multiple generations, or groups need to be constructed in a positively-assortative manner. Concentrating on the former case the paper shows that the size of the group, the relative benefit to cost of altruism...
11.
Organizational Ecology and Industrial Economics: a Comment on Geroski - Barron, David N.
Geroski's discussion of organizational ecology from the point of view of an industrial economist is useful and illuminating. However, I believe that there are a few areas in which someone not familiar with the ecological literature might be misled. I therefore provide a slightly more detailed discussion of work done by ecologists in three key areas: the relationship between density, legitimacy, competition and the rates at which organizations enter and exit a population; the ways in which ecologists conceptualize and model legitimacy; and the theory of structural inertia.
13.
The evolution of regulatory relationships; regulatory institutions and firm behaviour in privatized industries - Willman, Paul; Coen, David; Currie, David; Siner, Martin
The radical changes instituted in the regulation of privatized public utilities in the UK in the 1980s and early 1990s have been the subject of extensive discussion, and have been partly instrumental in the development of 'regulatory economics' more widely. In this paper we argue that the conventional economics of regulation, based on principal-agent and related perspectives, treat the issue too narrowly and statically. Drawing on organizational sociology and cooperative game theory, we contend that it is essential to understand the process by which the interaction between the regulator and the regulated firms evolves. Using interview and documentary data, the...
14.
Dynamics of Trade-by-Trade Price Movements: Decomposition and Models - Rydberg, Tina Hviid; Shephard, Neil
In this article we introduce a decomposition of the joint distribution of price changes of assets recorded trade-by-trade. Our decomposition means that we can model the dynamics of price changes using quite simple and interpretable models which are easily extended in a great number of directions, including using durations and volume as explanatory variables. Thus we provide an econometric basis for empirical work on market microstructure using time series of transaction data. We use maximum likelihood estimation and testing methods to assess the fit of the model to one year of IBM stock price data taken from the New York...
16.
Social capital and technical information flows in the Ghanaian manufacturing sector - Barr, A
Social capital in the form of entrepreneurial networks is found to be a determinant of Ghanaian manufacturing enterprise performance. Entrepreneurs with larger, more diverse sets of contacts have more productive enterprises. Entrepreneurs also benefit from the networking activity of others. There is some evidence that the networks facilitate flows of knowledge between enterprises. A simple theoretical model indicates that where such flows take place, there is a potential for sustained endogenous economic growth. However, in Ghana, the flows are not sufficiently complementary to the enterprises' own knowledge for this potential to be realized.
17.
Jobs for the skilled: how technology, trade and domestic demand changed the structure of UK employment, 1979-90 - Gregory, M; Zissimos, B; Greenhalgh, C
A new method is developed for allocating the changing use of skills among final demand growth, trade and technological change. In a multi-sector framework the skills content of intermediate and capital goods purchased is captured through input-output data. Technological change is measured through the changing use of labour, within the sector and in its purchased inputs. Three skill levels are identified from detailed occupations. Domestic demand growth (employment-creating) and technological change (labour-saving) both show marked skill-bias. The effects of trade are small. Most strikingly, the services sector generates high-skilled even more than low-skilled jobs, and new employment through supply chains.
19.
Social roles, human capital, and the intrahousehold division of labor: evidence from Pakistan - Fafchamps, Marcel; Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Using detailed data from rural Pakistan, this paper investigates whether human capital, learning-by-doing, gender, and family status affect the division of labor within households. Results suggest the presence of returns to individual specialization in all farm, non-farm, and home based activities. The intrahousehold division of labor is influenced by comparative advantage based on human capital and by long-lasting returns to learning-by-doing, but we also find evidence of a separate effect of gender and family status. Households seem to operate as hierarchies with sexually segregated spheres of activity. The head of household and his or her spouse provide most of the...
20.
The European business cycle - Artis, Mike; Krolzig, Hans-Martin; Toro, Juan
This paper deals with the existence and identification of a common European growth cycle. Univariate Markov switching autoregressions are used for individual countries in order to detect changes in the mean growth rate of industrial production. A Markov switching vector autoregression model is then used to identify a common cycle in Europe. Three important results are obtained: we find a common unobserved component governing European business cycle dynamics, suggesting the existence of a common business cycle; we propose a dating of the business cycle, both for an index of industrial protection and GDP, and both chronologies appear to be consistent;...
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