Unemployment and education mismatch in the EU before and after the financial crisis

This paper investigates whether general formal education still helps youth avoid situations of unemployment and inactivity in favour of other labour force statuses (dependent employment, self-employment, education) across EU countries over the period 2006–2010. In a second step, we analyse whether the relationship between education and the labour statuses above is affected by different degrees of country-level education mismatch. Our results show that after the outbreak of the crisis and in countries with high educational mismatch there is an additional reduction in unemployment risk for highly educated people that is accompanied by a higher probability of being an employee than of remaining in education.     

Invariant dependence structure under univariate truncation

The class of all bivariate copulas that are invariant under univariate truncation is characterized. To this end, a family of bivariate copulas generated by a real-valued function is introduced. The obtained results are also used in order to show that the Clayton family of copulas (including its limiting elements) coincides with the class of copulas that are invariant under bivariate truncation and contains all exchangeable copulas which are invariant under univariate truncation.     

Larger posterior mode wavelet thresholding and applications

This paper explores the thresholding rules induced by a variation of the Bayesian MAP principle. The MAP rules are Bayes actions that maximize the posterior. The proposed rule is thresholding and always picks the mode of the posterior larger in absolute value, thus the name LPM. We demonstrate that the introduced shrinkage performs comparably to several popular shrinkage techniques. The exact risk properties of the thresholding rule are explored, as well. We provide extensive simulational analysis and apply the proposed methodology to real-life experimental data coming from the field of atomic force microscopy.     

From Mass Production to Mass Customization: Hindrance Factors,Structural Inertia,and Transition Hazard

Research on mass customization has largely overlooked the issue of organizational change associated with the mass production‐to‐mass customization transition. To address this gap in the literature, we conduct a longitudinal case study of a manufacturing facility belonging to a division of a Fortune 1000 discrete manufacturing firm as it seeks to transition from mass production to mass customization. We empirically identify five factors hindering the mass production‐to‐mass customization transition within the research site and articulate five corresponding generalizations explaining how and why these hindrance factors relate to the mass production‐to‐mass customization transition hazard beyond the research site (i.e., how and why the five hindrance factors, in general, threaten the likelihood of a successful mass production‐to‐mass customization transition). We then theoretically validate the five hindrance factors and corresponding generalizations by mapping them onto the antecedents and tenets of structural inertia theory. We conclude with a brief discussion of the scientific and pragmatic significance of the findings and highlight opportunities for future research.     

DISTANCE TO FRONTIER,SELECTION, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

We analyze an economy where firms undertake both innovation and adoption of technologies from the world technology frontier. The selection of high‐skill managers and firms is more important for innovation than for adoption. As the economy approaches the frontier, selection becomes more important. Countries at early stages of development pursue an investment‐based strategy, which relies on existing firms and managers to maximize investment but sacrifices selection. Closer to the world technology frontier, economies switch to an innovation‐based strategy with short‐term relationships, younger firms, less investment, and better selection of firms and managers. We show that relatively backward economies may switch out of the investment‐based strategy too soon, so certain policies such as limits on product market competition or investment subsidies, which encourage the investment‐based strategy, may be beneficial. However, these policies may have significant long‐run costs because they make it more likely that a society will be trapped in the investment‐based strategy and fail to converge to the world technology frontier. (JEL: O31, O33, O38, O40, L16)     

Measures of non-exchangeability for bivariate random vectors

We introduce a set of axioms for measures of non-exchangeability for bivariate vectors of continuous and identically distributed random variables and give some examples together with possible applications in statistical models based on the copula function.     

Work-related upper extremity injuries: prevalence,cost and risk factors in military and civilian populations

Persons with musculoskeletal-related disorders represent a prevalent source of outpatient visits, lost work time and disability in the military; however, research concerning the extent of work-related upper extremity disorders (WRUEDs) within this population is lacking. This literature review examined studies in civilian and military settings to ascertain the prevalence, cost and risk factors associated with WRUEDs. The results indicated that the prevalence and cost of WRUEDs in the civilian workforce are significant, justifying the need to research the military population. The literature also outlined physical, individual and psychosocial factors associated with WRUEDs that will help identify potential risk factors within military occupations.     

Infinitesimal sensitivity of posterior distributions

We measure the local sensitivity of a posterior expectation with respect to the prior by computing the norm of the Fréchet derivative of the posterior with respect to the prior over several different classes of measures. We compute the derivative of the posterior upper expectation when the prior varies in a restricted ?-contamination class. A bound on the global sensitivity of a class of priors is obtained. As an application, we show that of all sets with posterior probability 1 — α, the likelihood region minimizes the norm of the Fréchet derivative over the ?-contamination class and so is, in some sense, the most robust region with this posterior probability. But there exist counterexamples to this result for other classes of priors.     

Shaping the digital transformation of the retail banking industry. Empirical evidence from Italy

Although numerous studies have investigated the determinants of users’ acceptance of online channels, little attention has been paid to the continuous usage of a direct bank. To address this research gap, we analysed data collected via semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire distributed in 2017 to a sample of Italian bank customers. Responses were evaluated using a different statistical methodology based on the Shapley Value regression analysis. In brief, user-friendliness and economic advantages appear to be more decisive at an early stage of adoption. Moreover, structural assurance mechanisms (e.g. clarifying security policies and guarantees) have a robust impact on keeping customers online and loyal to electronic channels. Surprisingly, accessibility and compatibility do not seem to be determinant factors.