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1 – 10 of 13Luigi Aldieri, Maxim Kotsemir and Concetto Paolo Vinci
The purpose of this paper is to look at the factors driving labour creation in Russia, while paying attention to the role of innovation policy. The study considers innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at the factors driving labour creation in Russia, while paying attention to the role of innovation policy. The study considers innovation variables with indicators linked to social conditions (social filter component) and geographical spillovers for 85 regions during the period 2010-2016.
Design/methodology/approach
In particular, the study uses latitude and longitude coordinates to compute the distance between Russian regions according to the Haversine formula. In this manner, it measures the spillovers as the weighted sum of R&D capital stock on the basis of computed distance, according to the accessibility index procedure.
Findings
The finding is very important in terms of policy implications for supporting employment. As the results stress that own innovation produces labour creation effects, while knowledge spillovers are labour-saving, the study could conclude that regional innovation policy may have undetermined the objective of an efficient level of absorptive capacity able to benefit positively from external innovation.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature by exploring whether geographical spillovers are labour-friendly or labour-saving in Russia.
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Luigi Aldieri, Maxim Kotsemir and Concetto Paolo Vinci
What is the effect of an increase of migration inflows on the R&D and innovative performance of developing countries? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of…
Abstract
Purpose
What is the effect of an increase of migration inflows on the R&D and innovative performance of developing countries? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of migration inflows on the R&D and innovation activity (measured as expenditures on R&D and technological innovations) in Russian regions.
Design/methodology/approach
To this end, the authors use data on 85 Russian regions for the period 2010-2016 through a multi-region economic geography model. In particular, the authors test the hypothesis about the importance of migration inflows on R&D and technological innovation activity (H1) and the hypothesis about the importance of immigrants’ (incoming migrants) human capital (measured by the education level of incoming migrants) on R&D and innovation activity (H2).
Findings
Empirical findings support the evidence in favour of a positive causal link between innovation and migration inflows. Results of our investigation are important because they suggest useful insights for formulating science and innovation policies in Russia, which is a developing country where the recent policies favouring the technological innovation as the transition period have not yet achieved a satisfying outcome.
Originality/value
This paper increases the knowledge in the field with respect to the existing literature, shedding further light on the migration inflows effects, which is a political topic to manage very relevant in all countries.
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Antonio Garofalo, François Rycx and Concetto Paolo Vinci
This paper aims to introduce the contributions in this special issue on “Unemployment, innovation and R&D”, and provide a brief outline of the international conference organised…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce the contributions in this special issue on “Unemployment, innovation and R&D”, and provide a brief outline of the international conference organised by the Applied Econometrics Association on “Policies against Unemployment”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is descriptive in nature.
Findings
The papers presented in this special issue shed some light on the key determinants of unemployment levels, and help to identify policies that can tackle unemployment successfully.
Originality/value
Some radically different approaches to the issue of tackling unemployment are presented. The special issue, of which this paper is a part, provides further new evidence on the impact of innovation and R&D on employment/unemployment and unemployment persistence.
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Hussam Al Halbusi, Kent A. Williams, Thurasamy Ramayah, Luigi Aldieri and Concetto Paolo Vinci
With the growing demand for ethical standards in the prevailing business environment, ethical leadership has been under increasingly more focus. Based on the social exchange…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growing demand for ethical standards in the prevailing business environment, ethical leadership has been under increasingly more focus. Based on the social exchange theory and social learning theory, this study scrutinized the impact of ethical leadership on the presentation of ethical conduct by employees through the ethical climate. Notably, this study scrutinised the moderating function of the person-organisation fit (P-O fit) in relation of ethical climate and the ethical conduct of employees.
Design/methodology/approach
To evaluate the research hypotheses, two-wave data were collected from 295 individuals who are currently employed in various Iraqi organizations (i.e. manufacturing, medical and insurance industries).
Findings
In line with the hypotheses, the outcomes from a sample of 295 workers working in different Iraqi entities exhibited a positive relation between the ethical behaviour of leaders and the ethical conduct of employees in the ethical climate. Moreover, it was observed that the P-O fit of employees moderated the relationship between ethical climate and the ethical conduct of employees such that the relationship was more robust for those with a high P-O fit in comparison to those with a low P-O fit.
Research limitations/implications
The primary limitation of this study is in the data, which was obtained from a single source. Although the study conducted two surveys and utilised a mediation and moderation variables model that was less likely to be influenced by common method bias (CMB) (Podsakoff et al., 2012), one cannot completely rule out CMB. Apart from the potential effects of the CMB, the consistency of the empirical findings could have also been compromised since self-reported data were utilised in measuring ethical behaviour, which can be a very complex and sensitive issue. For this reason, the social desirability response bias cannot be ruled out completely. When possible, future studies must gather data from multiple sources. Furthermore, supervisors must evaluate the ethical behaviour of employees. Another limitation was that the findings of this study were based on a sample in a Middle Eastern cultural context such as in Iraq. Perhaps, the particular cultural features of this context, which encompassed, among other things, a strong adherence to religious values (Moaddel, 2010), could have influenced the findings of this study. It is true that the effects of differences (P–O fit) are highly likely to replicate across cultural contexts (Triandis et al., 1988). However, it can be seen that further studies are needed to evaluate the context-sensitivity of these findings (Whetten, 2009) by analysing other cultures, where the importance of religiosity is on the decline (i.e. in Western countries, Ribberink et al., 2018) or where the cultural features are very much different from those that apply to Iraq. Lastly, other external factors were not taken into account by this study as it tried to explain ethical behaviour. Ethics is a highly complex subject and is influenced by numerous variables at the organisational, individual and external environment levels. Thus, caution must be observed when making inferences from the present study which, to a certain degree, offered a simplified version of ethical behaviour by concentrating on a few variables such as the Arab culture's traditional ideology, which dominates even science (Abu Khalil, 1992). In addition, there are the political conflicts in the Middle Eastern cultural context such as what is happening in Iraq (Harff, 2018). Thus, it is important to include such aspects in future researches.
Practical implications
In terms of management, the findings send a clear signal to those in the upper echelon that, without ignoring the issue of ethics in organizations, employees are a critical aspect to be taken into account to encourage ethical behaviour at the workplace. This study has important practical implications. First, this study determined that ethical leadership (here, of the supervisors) positively influences the behaviour of subordinates (refers to the supervisors here); this in turn further improves the ethical behaviour of employees. It is vital that managers or supervisors are motivated to practice ethical leadership because they directly influence the employees. It has been suggested that top managers, especially chief executive officers, have the ability to shape the ethical climate, which also influences the ethical behaviour of employees further. This study offered several feasible ways that managers can apply to achieve that. In particular, top managers may utilise the ethical climate as a way of communicating the ethical values that they have to their subordinates, thereby serving as a motivation for the subordinates to adopt an ethical behaviour. It was also suggested by this study that ethical climate and the P–O fit may, to some degree, substitute each other as they influence the ethical behaviour of employees. Therefore, firms that were identified to have a low level of ethical standards, practices, and policies, at least from the employees' perspective, are better poised to conduct ethical issues in order to construct the ethical behaviour of their subordinates. More importantly, it is highly essential that the value congruence between an organization and its followers be considered.
Social implications
This study highlighted the notion of ethics and how it’s essential for society. Ethics refer to the norms, standards, and values that direct the behavior of an individual. Ethical behaviour is vital in society because we need to be treated with respect as human beings.
Originality/value
This study responds to recent calls for more research to identify factors which may strengthen or mitigate the influence ethical behavior in the workplace such as ethical leadership, ethical climate and Person–Organization.
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Luigi Aldieri and Concetto Paolo Vinci
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the correlation between the educational level and the number of children in Italy, where a very low fertility rate may be observed.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the correlation between the educational level and the number of children in Italy, where a very low fertility rate may be observed.
Design/methodology/approach
Since the number of children ever born is a count variable, Poisson regression is the suitable statistical procedure used to conduct the empirical analysis. First, the authors estimate the correlation between the female's education and her number of children, and then the authors use also partner's education to take into account the family dimension. Furthermore, in the context of fertility, zero observations might be due either to the choice not to have children, or to the impossibility of becoming a mother. For this reason, the authors adopt also a more appropriate tool, that is a zero‐inflated Poisson regression.
Findings
From the empirical results, a significant negative correlation may be observed between the level of education and the number of children.
Originality/value
There are other studies in the literature focusing on the correlation between female participation rate and her fertility rate in the Italian case. In those frameworks, the education variable is usually considered as a control variable. The paper's contribution to the literature is twofold: on one hand the authors develop a theoretical model giving an intuition reason of mechanism underlying the fertility behaviour of families; on the other hand, the authors implement more appropriate empirical models to test for this hypothesis, taking education as the main variable.
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Giuseppina Autiero and Concetto Paolo Paulo Vinci
– The purpose of this paper is to examine how rulers by supporting religion influence the growth of human capital and physical capital.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how rulers by supporting religion influence the growth of human capital and physical capital.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors consider a model where the government, on the one hand, sets the output quota transferred to religious activities and workers and entrepreneurs, on the other, choose human and physical capital, which are complementary. The findings of the model are used to interpret some historical evidence.
Findings
When a religious denomination puts a strong emphasis on children’s education, the rulers who back religion, may encourage the diffusion of education among the followers of that denomination. Conversely secular rulers may face a religion that they consider a force opposing modernization and may develop a secular system promoting the diffusion of education. In both cases, the diffusion of education triggers the increase in physical capital and economic growth.
Originality/value
The contribution of the paper is to show how religion may be either a progressive force and promote education by contributing to economic growth or present a conservative dimension opposing the diffusion and rise of human capital.
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Carlo Altavilla, Antonio Garofalo and Concetto Paolo Vinci
How many hours per week should workers in the USA and Germany spend at their paying jobs? The present paper aims to address this question by constructing policymakers' reaction…
Abstract
Purpose
How many hours per week should workers in the USA and Germany spend at their paying jobs? The present paper aims to address this question by constructing policymakers' reaction functions capable of modelling the optimal length of working time as a function of the relevant labour market variables.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a counterfactual policy experiment. Given a policymaker's loss function and a structural model of the labour market alternative specifications of reaction functions are defined where the response coefficients indicate how policymakers should react to any news in the labour market in order to stabilise employment and wages.
Findings
The results suggest that simple rules perform quite well and that the advantages obtained from adopting an optimal control‐based rule are not so great. Moreover, the analysis emphasises the success of the wage‐based rule and of the employment‐based rule in the USA and Germany, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on a counterfactual policy experiment, which perhaps limits its operational value.
Practical implications
Labour market authorities might stabilise employment and wages by implementing policy rules.
Originality/value
The paper proposes a policy rule to capture the dynamics of the weekly working hours. According to the rule in the paper the length of the workweek is an inverse function of the deviation between the actual and potential employment level.
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L. Aldieri, M. Cincera, A. Garofalo and C.P. Vinci
The aim of this paper is to assess the effects of traditional inputs and firms' R&D capital on labour productivity growth.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to assess the effects of traditional inputs and firms' R&D capital on labour productivity growth.
Design/methodology/approach
The study measures the effects of the traditional inputs on firms' productivity growth, through four procedures: OLS in first differences, within group, GMM in first differences and GMM system.
Findings
Whatever the specification considered, the more efficient estimates obtained from the GMM system show a similar effect of the firm's R&D stock upon its labour productivity performance.
Practical implications
The results suggest that physical capital plays a more prominent role for European firms than for US ones, while employees are more productive in the USA.
Originality/value
By presenting some empirical evidence on the effects of R&D on labour productivity, at the firm level, the present study makes two main contributions to the existing literature. First, a unique firm‐level database for European and US firms is used. It is self evident that firms in these countries operate in different economic and institutional settings; as a consequence the results identify some robust common effects concerning the two areas considered (the USA versus Europe) at the micro level. Second, service and manufacturing sectors are merged.
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Nathalie Chusseau and Joël Hellier
The paper seeks to analyse the impact of different public policies on inequality, unemployment, growth and the tax burden.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to analyse the impact of different public policies on inequality, unemployment, growth and the tax burden.
Design/methodology/approach
A dynamic general equilibrium model is built, in which growth is driven by endogenous technical progress, to analyse the impacts of several policies (minimum wage, redistribution and R&D subsidies financed by an income tax).
Findings
All policies except pure redistribution are better than non‐intervention in terms of growth. The authors distinguish three major policy patterns. The Anglo‐Saxon model is characterised by high growth, high inequality, low unemployment and a low tax burden. The Nordic model combines high growth, low inequality and low unemployment, and a high tax burden. The Continental European model puts together medium inequality and a medium tax burden, and higher long‐term growth is paid for by high unemployment.
Research limitations/implications
The model could be extended by the introduction of educational policy.
Originality/value
The paper distinguishes three configurations that capture the main features of the developments in Anglo‐Saxon countries, Scandinavian countries, and Continental European countries in the 1990s. It thereby provides a general framework to analyse and compare these experiences.
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Amynah Gangji and Robert Plasman
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causes of unemployment persistence among the Belgian labour force. The underlying issue is to determine the eventual existence of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causes of unemployment persistence among the Belgian labour force. The underlying issue is to determine the eventual existence of a true causal relationship between successive unemployment spells.
Design/methodology/approach
The model used is a dynamic random effects probit model controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and the initial condition problem. It was applied to the Panel Study on Belgian Households (1994‐2002).
Findings
The results suggest that while observed and unobserved heterogeneity explain between 57 per cent and 82 per cent of unemployment persistence, the remainder is induced by the presence of state dependence. All else being equal, an individual unemployed this year will be between 11.4 and 33 percentage points more likely to be unemployed next year as compared with an employed person.
Practical implications
The presence of a stigmatisation effect of unemployment means that the costs of unemployment are much higher than the simple loss of income and human capital associated with the current job loss. The study demonstrates the importance of concentrating efforts on the prevention of unemployment.
Originality/value
The paper's contribution is to test again the hypothesis of the presence of state dependence in unemployment using a different technique, allowing, among other things, to control for exogenous variables. The paper demonstrates its existence and measures its contribution in the explanation of unemployment persistence in Belgium, besides that of observed and unobserved characteristics.
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