Social upgrading and cooperative corporate social responsibility in global value chains: the case of Fairphone in China

In this article, we explore how a lead firm's strategy for corporate social responsibility influences the social upgrading of a supplier in a global value chain. Based on a single case study approach, we investigate the interaction between Dutch smartphone producer Fairphone and its Chinese supplier Guohong. On the one hand, the case illustrates how a cooperative approach to corporate social responsibility can lead to progress in suppliers' social upgrading. In particular, we highlight the role of a so‐called workers' welfare fund as a mechanism not only for improving measurable labour standards but also for enabling rights. On the other hand, the case demonstrates how the limited production and technological capabilities of the suppliers, a competitive market environment and lead firms' limited strategic access to the supply chain might constrain the extent of social upgrading through a cooperative approach towards corporate social responsibility in a global value chain.     

STEREOTYPE THREAT AND THE STUDENT‐ATHLETE

Achievement gaps may reflect the cognitive impairment thought to occur in evaluative settings (e.g., classrooms) where a stereotyped identity is salient (i.e., stereotype threat). This study presents an economic model of stereotype threat that reconciles prior evidence on how student effort and performance are influenced by this social‐identity phenomenon. This study also presents empirical evidence from a framed field experiment in which students at a selective college were randomly assigned to a treatment that primed their awareness of a negatively stereotyped identity (i.e., student‐athlete). This social‐identity manipulation reduced the test‐score performance of athletes relative to non‐athletes by 12%. These negative performance effects were concentrated among male student‐athletes who also responded to the social‐identity manipulation by attempting to answer more questions. (JEL I2, C9, D0)     

COMBINED PRODUCTION AND MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING FOR A MULTIPLE‐PRODUCT,SINGLE‐ MACHINE PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Traditionally, the problems of equipment maintenance scheduling and production scheduling in a multi‐product environment have been treated independently. In this paper, we develop a Markov decision process model that simultaneously determines maintenance and production schedules for a multiple‐product, single‐machine production system, accounting for the fact that equipment condition can affect the yield of different product types differently. The problem was motivated by an application in semiconductor manufacturing. After examining structural properties of the optimal policy, we compare the combined method to an approach often used in practice. In the nearly 6,000 test problems studied, the reward from the combined method was an average of more than 25 percent greater than the reward from the traditional method.     

Marriage in nineteenth-century Canada*

Les données de recensement sur le marriage au Canada pour la période 1851–1891 sont examinées. La nuptialité canadienne est perçue dans le contexte du type de marriage unique et historique d'Europe occidentale, et la conclusion en est tirée que le niveau de nuptialité au Canada est peu élevé, comme du reste, celui d'Europe occidentale qu'il essaye de suivre. Les éléments qui influencent les tendances et le taux de nuptialité sont discutés avec l'emphase sur les variables démographiques. Les variations inter-provinciales du marriage au xix^e siècle sont présentées et analysées.
Census data concerning marriage in Canada for the period from 1851 to 1891 are examined. The Canadian nuptiality experience is viewed in the light of the unique, historical western European marriage pattern, with the finding that Canadian nuptiality levels are low, in keeping with the western European pattern. Factors accounting for nuptiality level and trend are discussed, with a particular focus on demographic variables. Provincial variation in nineteenth-century marriage behaviour is described and analyzed.     

A QUALITY-ADJUSTMENT MODEL OF THE ACADEMIC LABOR MARKET: THE CASE OF ECONOMISTS

This paper uses some new data on the initial academic placements of new Ph.D. economists to test a quality-adjustment model, which is consistent with the hypothesis that most academic appointments follow a "downstream" pattern. By the use of weighted least squares the authors confirm the importance of the perceived quality of the faculty of the degree granting program, the publishing performance of former graduates of these programs, and the student/faculty ratio of these programs in economics over the period 1960 to 1978. Finally, it is shown that contrary to popular opinion, the extent of the "downstream" pattern has not been magnified in the so-called buyers markets of the 1970's.     

The Optimal Trade-Off Between Quality and Quantity with Unknown Number of Survivors

In a model of endogenous fertility where individuals know the probability of child survival but not the final number of survivors, parents do not always formulate a precautionary demand for children. For some utility functions, parents have fewer children than what they would have in a situation in which the number of survivors is known earlier. The properties of the optimal economic policy depend on the degree to which the social welfare function takes ignorance into account. If social welfare is evaluated after parents know how many children survived, the parental response to uncertainty is socially inefficient. Individual decisions then should be corrected through tax or transfer on both births and education. This property helps determine the optimal public response to mortality crisis in the presence of educational externalities.     

Gender,Racial, and Ethnic Disclosure in NIH K-Award Funded Diabetes and Obesity Clinical Trials∗

In 1993, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) passed The Revitalization Act (Subtitle B) which mandated that all NIH funded clinical trials have “appropriate representation” of minority and women subjects. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of the mandate by examining the reporting and inclusion of minority and female subjects into NIH K-Award funded clinical trials, addressing the minority predominant diagnoses of diabetes and clinical obesity. Using the CRISP search engine and PUBMED, we selected publications published by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) K-grant recipients during 1989–2004, associated with all the diabetes and obesity clinical trials. Studies were stratified into three timeline categories (1989–1993, pre-mandate; 1993–1996, post-mandate, and 1997–present, well past mandate) to evaluate trends in the recruiting of minorities and women before, during, and after the passing of the Revitalization Act. Of the 165 papers, only 37% disclosed race, a number that did not improve over time (p = .15), whereas 92% disclosed gender. Clinical trials that focused on females increased across the 3 timeframes (p < .001) for diabetes studies but not obesity studies. Overall, disclosure of race declined over the 3 timeframes whereas individually, the disclosure of African Americans improved.     

Children's Dispositions Toward Proprietary Drugs and the Role of Television Drug Advertising

This study of 668 children aged 8 to 13 from diverse socialbackgrounds suggests that children are, to a measurable extent,influenced by exposure to TV advertising for proprietary drugsbut that the net result is moderate dispositions rather thanstrongly favorable dispositions toward these products. Subgroupanalysis confirms the generality of these conclusions: somesubgroups appear to be more responsive to TV drug advertisingbut none show strongly favorable attitudes or behaviors towardproprietary drugs.     

Risk Adjustment for Health Insurance: Theory and Implications

This paper explores the potential for welfare-improving public risk adjustment in health insurance markets characterized by adverse selection. The optimal risk adjustment system is derived in a theoretical model under a range of assumptions regarding government information and market equilibrium. Special attention is focused on the interaction between risk adjustment and the private transfers that can occur in markets characterized by adverse selection. Risk adjustment has the potential to improve both equity and efficiency; however, it can also have the effect of crowding out private transfers.