On the probability distribution of economic growth

Three important and significantly heteroscedastic gross domestic product series are studied. Omnipresent heteroscedasticity is removed and the distributions of the series are then compared to normal, normal mixture and normal–asymmetric Laplace (NAL) distributions. NAL represents a skewed and leptokurtic distribution, which is in line with the Aghion and Howitt [1 Aghion, P. and Howitt, P. 1992. A model of growth through creative destruction. Econometrica, 60: 323–351. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]] model for economic growth, based on Schumpeter's idea of creative destruction. Statistical properties of the NAL distributions are provided and it is shown that NAL fits the data better than the alternatives.     

What explains frontline workers' views on poverty? A comparison of three types of welfare sector institutions

The study analysed views on poverty among Finnish frontline workers in three welfare sector institutions. Two different institutional logics, universal and selective, and two sectors, the public and the voluntary, were represented. A nationwide survey among social security officials, municipal social workers and diaconal workers was utilised (N = 2,124). The methods applied included factor analysis, the examination of means and multivariate analysis of variance. Frontline workers were found to support structural reasons for poverty regardless of institutional affiliation. Analyses, however, also revealed significant differences between the institutions, but not of the kind expected. Social security officials, working in a universal institution, were less likely to endorse structural factors and more likely to endorse individualistic poverty explanations than were social and diaconal workers. Type of education and personal political ideology, respectively, were also found to be of significant importance for poverty perceptions, independent of institutional logic.     

Entitlement and the efficiency-equality trade-off: an experimental study

When randomly assigning participants to experimental roles and the according payment prospects, participants seem to receive “manna from heaven.” In our view, this seriously questions the validity of laboratory findings. We depart from this by auctioning off player roles via the incentive compatible random price mechanism thus avoiding the selection effect of competitive second price auctions. Our experiment employs the generosity game where the proposer chooses the size of the pie, facing an exogenously given own agreement payoff, and the responder is the residual claimant. We find that entitlement crowds out equality seeking and strengthens efficiency seeking. More generally, we find that inducing entitlement for the roles in which participants find themselves makes a difference. Interpreting participants’ willingness to pay for their role as their aspiration level further allows to test satisficing and explore “mutual satisficing.” We find that responder participants apparently do not anticipate proposer generosity in aspiration formation.     

Sparse Markov Chains for Sequence Data

Finite memory sources and variable‐length Markov chains have recently gained popularity in data compression and mining, in particular, for applications in bioinformatics and language modelling. Here, we consider denser data compression and prediction with a family of sparse Bayesian predictive models for Markov chains in finite state spaces. Our approach lumps transition probabilities into classes composed of invariant probabilities, such that the resulting models need not have a hierarchical structure as in context tree‐based approaches. This can lead to a substantially higher rate of data compression, and such non‐hierarchical sparse models can be motivated for instance by data dependence structures existing in the bioinformatics context. We describe a Bayesian inference algorithm for learning sparse Markov models through clustering of transition probabilities. Experiments with DNA sequence and protein data show that our approach is competitive in both prediction and classification when compared with several alternative methods on the basis of variable memory length.     

Statistical estimation of quadratic Rényi entropy for a stationary m-dependent sequence

The Rényi entropy is a generalisation of the Shannon entropy and is widely used in mathematical statistics and applied sciences for quantifying the uncertainty in a probability distribution. We consider estimation of the quadratic Rényi entropy and related functionals for the marginal distribution of a stationary m-dependent sequence. The U-statistic estimators under study are based on the number of ε-close vector observations in the corresponding sample. A variety of asymptotic properties for these estimators are obtained (e.g. consistency, asymptotic normality, and Poisson convergence). The results can be used in diverse statistical and computer science problems whenever the conventional independence assumption is too strong (e.g. ε-keys in time series databases and distribution identification problems for dependent samples).     

Verlustnutzung von Kapitalgesellschaften bei Umwandlungen – Eine ökonomische Vorteilhaftigkeitsanalyse

This paper investigates the potential utilization of tax loss carry-forwards in case of reorganizations of corporations from an economic point of view. Thereby, we analyze the tax impacts of indirect utilizations of tax loss carry-forwards by means of increasing assets’ book values as well as the tax impacts of the minimum taxation. The paper illustrates that the implementation of minimum taxation on transfer gains – which is reasonable at first glance – results in the following effects: Contrary to assumptions made in literature, the consequence of the regulation is that no reorganization can be utilized in order to avoid minimum taxation of current earnings in a profitable way. Surprisingly, for reorganizations due to other intentions it may be economically reasonable to let tax loss carry-forwards lapse at least partially. From an economic viewpoint this is in breach of the objective net principle.     

Emotions and the optimality of uneven tournaments

Standard results from tournament theory show that an employer should avoid organizing uneven tournaments in which workers are characterized by different cost functions. In this paper, we introduce a concept of emotions that workers have when comparing their own performance with the performances of their co-workers. We can show that under emotional workers the employer may prefer uneven tournaments to even ones. In that case, the employer benefits from both positive and negative emotions. Moreover, the behavior of emotional workers fits well with experimental findings on uneven tournaments where players choose excessive effort levels.     

Compulsory intergenerational family solidarity shaping choices between work and care: Perceptions of informal female carers and local policymakers in Estonia

Estonians are obliged by law to provide maintenance for family members who are unable to cope by themselves. As a result, 80% of fragile older people receive informal care. Whether this is because the carers themselves feel solidarity and choose informal caring or because they lack alternatives is the question. We applied the cultural approach for explaining the construction of compulsory family solidarity in care provision to older people through the perceptions of informal carers and policy actors. Our interest is in how filial norms framed by individual responsibilities of care provision required by law can influence (i) informal carers’ perceptions concerning their choices between work and care and (ii) impact policy actors’ perceptions concerning eldercare service provision. Analysing the empirical data produced during focus groups with female carers and interviews with policy actors, we demonstrate the triple‐fold pressure to informal caregiving as an expression of compulsory family solidarity. Key Practitioner Message: ? The article demonstrates how the national Family Law Act constitutes a compulsory requirement of family solidarity in society; ? The compulsory family solidarity norm influences local‐level policymaking and inhibits the development of formal care services for older people; ? Informal carers’ choices between work and care are shaped by their personal filial norms, familialistic policymaking, and pressure exerted by older people.     

The trinity of wage setting in EMU: A policy proposal

Diverging labor cost developments are often considered to be one of the most important factors that led to large current account imbalances in the euro area (EA) in the run-up to the global financial crisis. It has also been shown that wage growth differentials have significantly lowered the co-movement of EA countries’ business cycles – the most widely used meta-criterion for optimum currency areas. Against this background, this paper develops a wage-setting benchmark that aims to keep the economy in internal equilibrium and to maintain price stability, while it also exhibits the capacity to correct for external imbalances. The proposed wage benchmark is very simple and may serve as an anchor for the macroeconomic dialogue in Economic and Monetary Union. In order to demonstrate the potentially beneficial effects of such a wage benchmark we present some simulations showing how current account balances and labor costs would have developed across EA countries if the rule had served as a benchmark already in the run up to the crisis.     

Making the locational choice: A case approach to the development of a theory of offshore outsourcing and internationalization

Offshore outsourcing is one of the most sustained management strategies of the 21st century, and researchers are paying attention to this contemporary, yet complex and controversial phenomenon. Despite the increasing amount of research, from the theoretical and managerial perspectives several important aspects remain inconclusive. The focus in this article is on theory development in two complex areas. The first concerns the location, the idea being to identify the factors that influence the final decision, in which ownership is not the mode of control. Secondly, the aim is to explore whether offshore outsourcing facilitates international expansion. Through a process of theoretical rationalization and inductive case analysis propositions are arrived at according to which non-locational factors most heavily impact the firm's decision to outsource offshore and its subsequent internationalization. The results indicate that this subsequent internationalization may be a by-product of offshore outsourcing, or it may be an intentional strategy. The article thus adds new aspects to the existing theory on outsourcing decision-making, which forms the basis of an emergent theory for future academic research.