The myth of price convergence under economic integration: A proposed explanation for the difference in food prices across European countries

Conventional globalization theory states that regional economic integration will precede price standardization across participating countries due to the increased buying power of large retail groups and parallel imports. The resulting price corridor should merely reflect differences in logistic costs and short-term, local competitive actions. Yet, this study uses panel data from 25 European countries to examine how hefty food and beverage price differentials between regions remained constant over the last decade. Income, store productivity, and market concentration all contribute to the explanation for regional price differences. These findings suggest that, contrary to straight-line globalization theory, large European retailers’ decisions can influence price convergence and maintain important price dispersion between economically integrated countries. We provide recommendations to enhance market integration.     

Information and communication technology adoption in micro and small firms: Can internet access improve labour productivity?

The rapid spread of information and communication technologies (ICT) may increase firms’ productivity with important consequences for job creation and for economic growth. This article contributes to this discussion by analysing the impact of internet adoption on labour productivity and the mechanisms shaping this relationship in Peruvian micro and small manufacturing firms over the period 2011–2013. The article estimates a reduced form where labour productivity is a function of internet adoption and other explanatory factors. Internet adoption is instrumented using a measure of the availability of financial opportunities for micro and small firms in Peru. Findings indicate that internet adoption: (a) increases firms’ labour productivity; (b) reallocates employment away from temporary administrative workers and non‐remunerated workers and expands employment of permanent production workers; (c) leads to the formalization of labour relationships, to the implementation of new organizational practices and to the improvement of training measures. While changes in employment and formalization of workers are linked to labour productivity gains, increases in training measures and organizational changes do not generate any additional productivity increase. Policies oriented to promote the adoption of ICT in micro and small firms can be beneficial to close the productivity gap with larger firms in Peru. Moreover, policies directed to the formalization of the workforce can provide an extra benefit, i.e. additional labour productivity gains in firms adopting the internet. Finally, policies oriented to the development of digital skills are also important to ease the re‐employment of those workers losing their jobs and the achievement of additional productivity gains that new organizational practices can provide.     

历史文献学视野下的重大历史事件

重大历史事件的提出源于国家文艺创作政策,是重大历史题材的内核。从历史文献学的视角来看,重大历史事件的文献形态表现为本源事件、衍生事件和文本事件。重大历史事件的衍生特征主要体现为本源事件的内容选择性、视角多样性、衍生多态性和历史叙事的结构层次性。重大历史事件具有文献能产性,其根本动力来源于历史主体的社会认可需要、纪念活动的客观物证需要和文艺创作的传奇叙事需要。     

Eros in the field? Bourdieu's double account of socialized desire

In his later works, Bourdieu draws extensively on psychoanalytic approaches in accounting for his concept of socialized subjectivity as bound to the social world by an intense affective grip. This emotional turn holds potential for further developing Bourdieu's account of subjectivity as a formation of socialized desire. However, in accounting for this socialized desire, Bourdieu relapses into a dualism of subjective and objective structures, incompatible with the Merleau‐Pontyian roots of his practice theory. Tracing this problem to the antagonism between desire and culture in the psychoanalytic accounts that Bourdieu draws on, I propose that the psychoanalytic scholar Hans Loewald's account of Eros may enable a move beyond this impasse, offering a promising conceptual basis for taking further the account of socialized subjectivity and socialized desire in Bourdieu's practice theory.     

Structural change in Ethiopia

This article investigates the pace and pattern of structural change in Ethiopia. It departs from the existing literature in two main ways. First, it uses a methodology that enables a more comprehensive assessment of structural change. Second, it entailed the construction of a consistent dataset for Ethiopia—comprising three labour force surveys—tracking 10 economic sectors between 1999 and 2013. Our analysis suggests that the structure of production has changed considerably, but that shifts in the composition of employment have lagged behind. Output per capita growth has been strong and mainly driven by within‐sector productivity improvements. However, the contribution of structural change has increased over time, which is encouraging. Evidence of a growing demographic dividend is also uncovered.     

社会化媒体时代科普宣传的路径厘析

社会化媒体时代已经来临，信息传播逐渐由内容为主步入渠道为主。新媒体、新技术的发展为科普工作的开展带来了新的机遇，即提供了更为广阔的渠道、更为丰富的内容和更为多样的呈现形式。但是，机遇与挑战并存，新媒体的发展在给科普工作带来机遇的同时也带来了挑战，主要表现在：信息的多元、多变、多样淹没了科普信息；虚假、伪科学、迷信信息大行其道；网民习惯性质疑挑战权威（权威到威权）；科普信息的枯燥无法吸引网民等问题也较为突出。如何在社会化媒体环境下赢得话语权，抢占科普宣传制高点，已经成为当前开展好科普工作的重要任务。     

Academic Affiliations of Social Work Journal Article Authors from 1999–2003

Abstract

The academic affiliations of the authors of all articles published between 1999 and 2003 in six major social work journals were tabulated to produce a ranking of the colleges and universities whose faculty made the most substantive contributions to the social work literature. The results of this analysis are compared with findings of four identical, previously published studies, which cover the five-year periods of 197–1983, 1984–1988, 1989–1993, and 1994–1998. The limitations of this method of analysis are discussed, as are its merits.     

Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators

This paper examines some of the recent literature on the estimation of production functions. We focus on techniques suggested in two recent papers, Olley and Pakes (1996) and Levinsohn and Petrin (2003). While there are some solid and intuitive identification ideas in these papers, we argue that the techniques can suffer from functional dependence problems. We suggest an alternative approach that is based on the ideas in these papers, but does not suffer from the functional dependence problems and produces consistent estimates under alternative data generating processes for which the original procedures do not.     

The Pursuit of Productivity

This study names a pantheon of entrepreneurs and managers who have introduced a range of far‐reaching productivity innovations throughout modern history. The thread tying together all of the innovations, in whatever sector of the economy one examines, is the theory of swift, even flow. The study argues why swift, even flow explains the power and long‐lasting nature of these innovations and why other factors thought by some to affect productivity fall short.     

社会资本对居民生活垃圾分类行为的影响机理分析

社会资本与环境保护合作行为的逻辑关系已经成为环境管理的一个重要研究方向。基于219户城镇居民调查数据的实证研究发现,除了年龄、受教育年限和中共党员身份外,以社会网络、社会规范和社会信任为要素的社会资本,对提高居民生活垃圾分类水平有显著的正向影响。具体而言,社会网络能够降低居民机会主义和“搭便车”的行为倾向;社会规范能够提高居民行为的可预测性,增强居民投资环境保护集体行动的信心;社会信任则通过降低交易成本,促进居民生活垃圾分类的自主合作行为。为从源头上化解我国生态环境管理面临的“垃圾围城”困境,政府应积极促进居民间的网络互动,完善互惠共享的社会规范,提升居民间的普遍信任,同时加大对生活垃圾分类知识和技巧的宣传力度、发挥党员在遵守社会规范中的带头作用,通过社会资本发展促进公众的自主环境保护合作行为。