Institutional legacies in TNCs and their management through training academies: the case of transnational law firms in Italy

In this article we highlight the effects of heterogeneous institutional contexts on transnational professional service firms, a relatively poorly studied issue. Specifically, we provide empirical analysis of how the specificities of the Italian institutional context affect the activities of English legal professional service firms in Milan. This reveals the intimate connection between a variety of capitalism, place specific workplace cultures and practices, and the institution‐related challenges transnational professional service firms and all transnational corporations (TNCs) face. We also reveal the way institutionally generated differences at the level of work practices are managed in transnational law firms through worldwide training programmes designed to ‘govern’ the practices of workers in different parts of the TNC's network. This emphasizes the importance of studying attempts to manage institutional heterogeneity at the level of workplace practices, something often missed in existing mesoscale studies of TNC governance structures. Consequently, we highlight detailed empirical archaeologies that explore the direct links between institutions and practices as an important component of future research on the effects of institutions on TNCs.     

G.H. Mead's Understanding of the Nature of Speech in the Light of Contemporary Research

The following analysis demonstrates that G.H. Mead's understanding of human speech (what Mead often referred to as “the vocal gesture”) is remarkably consistent with today's interdisciplinary field that studies speech as a natural behavior with an evolutionary history. Mead seems to have captured major empirical and theoretical insights more than half a century before the contemporary field began to take shape. In that field the framework known as “Tinbergen's Four Questions,” developed in ecology to study naturally occurring behavior in nonhuman animals, has been an effective organizing framework for research on human speech. It is used in this paper to organize the comparison of Mead with contemporary scholars. The analysis concludes that Mead was, in a sense, “beyond” the Four Questions by recognizing the limitations of reductionist methods in understanding the nature of conscious phenomena, especially language. Mead's socially situated model of the nature of human speech makes him relevant to today's field where some see an undervaluation of the treatment of language as a social process.     

DIFFERENTIAL DEPOSIT GUARANTEES AND THE EFFECT OF MONETARY POLICY ON BANK LENDING

This paper utilizes differences in de jure deposit insurance coverage across banks and changes in coverage over time to identify a bank‐lending channel in Poland. Banks with partial guarantees have a stronger loan response to monetary policy than banks with full guarantees. Furthermore, the weak response of the fully guaranteed banks is attributed to their ability to raise low‐reserve, uninsured time deposits relative to the partially covered banks. When differential coverage is eliminated, there is no disparity in the loan response between the two groups. This lending channel has implications for credit control and financial system development in emerging markets. (JEL E52, G21, G28)     

SOME LIKE IT HOT: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RESPONSES TO GROUP FEELING THERMOMETERS

In this paper we explore the nature and causes of individualdifferences in the use of feeling thermometer items to evaluatesocial groups. Some respondents have a general tendency to assignhigher overall temperature readings and some tend to use a widerrange of the temperature scale. These tendencies are partiallyunderstandable in terms of the respondent's evaluations of socialgroups, but other important predictors are identified. Methodsof adjusting feeling thermometer scores to account for individualdifferences are explored, using data from the 1984 AmericanNational Election Study. The conclusion is that some sort ofadjustment is probably useful for those studying supportersof conservative groups, though such a procedure may not be neededfor those who focus on liberal groups.     

CURBSIDE RECYCLING IN THE PRESENCE OF ALTERNATIVES

We measure the extent to which curbside access affects quantity recycled. We use novel data to distinguish between new recycling and material diverted from other recycling modes. We find that the marginal impact of expanding curbside programs on total recycled quantities is small, in part because curbside programs significantly cannibalize returns from drop-off recycling centers. Failure to account for cannibalization from other modes may substantially overestimate the benefits of curbside programs. We conclude with simple cost-effectiveness comparisons. Results suggest that incremental expansion of curbside access may not be cost-effective. ( JEL Q53, Q58, H72)     

SUPPLY CONTRACTS WITH PERIODIC,STATIONARY COMMITMENT

The purpose of this paper is to model and analyze supply contracts with periodical commitment, in which the order quantities are fixed and stationary, with limited flexibility to change the order quantity at a cost to the buyer. A solution methodology is provided for the general, stochastic problem, and consideration is given to specific demand distributions. The deterministic model is also investigated, formulating the problem as a mixed‐integer linear program and as a network flow problem. Computational analyses are conducted, and the extension of the basic problem to the multiple‐product, multiple‐constraint problem is discussed.     

The Taking of a Position: A Reinterpretation of the Elaboration Likelihood Model

This article explains how data associated with attitude change and persuasion in mainstream psychology and social psychology can be reinterpreted as evidence of the agentive ability of taking a position. A critical review is made of the elaboration likelihood model and a position model is adapted from positioning theory. The postulates of the elaboration likelihood model are then subjected to critical scrutiny by means of comparison with our position model. In this way regularities associated with attitude change and persuasion are interpreted as evidence of a deliberative process, involving negotiation and the use of supporting and opposing arguments. We present this as evidence of the commonly held agentive ability to position oneself and anticipate the positions of others.     

RELIABILITY OF STATED PREFERENCES FOR CHOLERA AND TYPHOID VACCINES WITH TIME TO THINK IN HUE,VIETNAM

We examine the effect of giving respondents time to think about their stated choices (SC) in a survey of cholera and typhoid vaccine preferences in Hue, Vietnam. Because neither vaccine is widely available in Vietnam, we used the SC approach (a stated preference technique) and gave half of our respondents overnight to think about their choices to make the hypothetical valuation scenario as similar to a real‐life choice situation as possible. Respondents who were given extra time made fewer choices that violated internal validity tests of utility theory, and had lower average willingness to pay (WTP), confirming a result found in similar studies in the contingent valuation literature. (JEL D12, I18, C25)     

THE REACTION OF INTEREST RATES TO UNANTICIPATED FEDERAL RESERVE ACTIONS AND STATEMENTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MONEY ANNOUNCEMENT CONTROVERSY

This paper examines the reaction of long- and short-term interest rates to monetary policy surprises that influenced market expectations of the future behavior of the federal funds rate in the period after October 1979. We find that the relative reaction of long- and short-term rates to policy surprises is similar to the relative reaction of these rates to money announcements. Consequently, we conclude that the large reaction of long-term interest rates to money announcements in the period after October 1979 is consistent with the "policy anticipations hypothesis" which views this reaction as a movement in real interest rates.