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The purpose of this article is to investigate the problem of international income inequality and the growth rates of different income classes. The Myrdal thesis of the cumulative process of the international mechanism of inequality is challenged. Countries which have reached a certain level of per capita income and have acquired a re‐allocative and transformative capacity grow at an accelerated pace which tends to narrow the gap between them and rich countries. The widely held view that the rich countries become richer and the poor become poorer does not hold without qualifications and further analysis.

The main advantages of vapour phase soldering are a non-oxygen environment, the elimination of overheating and the possibility of the vacuum application, which can guarantee undeniably higher quality of solder joints, especially as regards void formation. These features are less affected by the alloy composition. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The quality of solder joints made in two VPS options (with and without vacuum) was investigated in terms of voids formation. Solder alloys of 37%Pb63%Sn (PbSn) and 96%Sn3.5%Ag0.5%Cu (SAC 305) were applied to an etched Cu layer on a glass-epoxy substrate using the screen-printing method. 1206 SMD resistors were placed on the solder pads with a Quadra pick-and place machine. For the inspection of joint structure and void identification, 3D X-ray images of samples were taken using a computed tomography system with a 180 kV/15 W nanofocus. For comparison, traditional cross-sections of the samples were performed using a metallographic polisher. The cross-section analysis was done in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). To confirm the relevance of these data, a statistical analysis was carried out.

The paper shows that alloy composition has less impact on the quality of joints as regards void formation. The tendency for a different arrangement of voids in a junction depending on the distance SMD element and the thickness of the solder layer was investigated using X-ray computed tomography.

The use of 3D computed tomography for void investigation gives full information about the internal structure of the joint and allows for precise void identification. Vacuum application during the soldering allows significant voids elimination.

Cross-section data suggest that the relationship between age and hourly earnings is an inverted U shape. Evidence from panel data does not necessarily confirm this finding suggesting that older workers may not experience a reduction in earnings at the end of their working life. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In this paper the authors use panel data on males for Great Britain in order to examine why the two types of data provide conflicting conclusions. Concentrating on the over 50s, several hypotheses are examined: overlapping cohorts, job tenure, job-changing, labour supply behaviour, and selectivity bias.

Cohort and individual fixed effects partly explain the divergent conclusions. However, for fully, year-on-year employed individuals, there is no evidence of earnings decline at the end of working life. The authors find no role for selectivity due to retirement, although shorter working hours or partial retirement along with job-changing late in life does provide an explanation for why hourly earnings decline for certain older workers.

The authors find no evidence that the process of ageing itself leads to lower earnings as suggested by the cross-section profile.

The authors track the well-being of individuals across five European countries during the course of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and relate their well-being to working from home. The authors also consider the role of pandemic-policy stringency in affecting well-being in Europe.

The authors have four waves of novel harmonised longitudinal data in France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Sweden, covering the period May–November 2020. Well-being is measured in five dimensions: life satisfaction, a worthwhile life, loneliness, depression and anxiety. A retrospective diary indicates whether the individual was working in each month since February 2020 and if so whether at home or not at home. Policy stringency is matched in per country at the daily level. The authors consider both cross-section and panel regressions and the mediating and moderating effects of control variables, including household variables and income.

Well-being among workers is lower for those who work from home, and those who are not working have the lowest well-being of all. The panel results are more mitigated, with switching into working at home yielding a small drop in anxiety. The panel and cross-section difference could reflect adaptation or the selection of certain types of individuals into working at home. Policy stringency is always negatively correlated with well-being. The authors find no mediation effects. The well-being penalty from working at home is larger for the older, the better-educated, those with young children and those with more crowded housing.

The harmonised cross-country panel data on individuals' experiences during COVID-19 are novel. The authors relate working from home and policy stringency to multiple well-being measures. The authors emphasise the effect of working from home on not only the level of well-being but also its distribution.

Longitudinal investigations are often suggested but rarely used in operations and supply chain management (OSCM), mainly due to the difficulty of obtaining data. There is a silver lining in the form of existing large-scale and planned repeated cross-sectional (RCS) data sets, an approach commonly used in sociology and political sciences. This study aims to review all relevant RCS surveys with a focus on OSCM, as well as data and methods to motivate longitudinal research and to study trends at the plant, industry and geographic levels.

A comparison of RCS, panel and hybrid surveys is presented. Existing RCS data sets in the OSCM discipline and their features are discussed. In total, 30 years of Global Manufacturing Research Group data are used to explore the applicability of analytical methods at the plant and aggregate level and in the form of multilevel modeling.

RCS analysis is a viable alternative to overcome the confines associated with panel data. The structure of the existing data sets restricts quantitative analysis due to survey and sampling issues. Opportunities surrounding RCS analysis are illustrated, and survey design recommendations are provided.

The longitudinal aspect of RCS surveys can answer new and untested research questions through repeated random sampling in focused topic areas. Planned RCS surveys can benefit from the provided recommendations.

RCS research designs are generally overlooked in OSCM. This study provides an analysis of RCS data sets and future survey recommendations.

Tests a new series of models which attempt to describe the relationship between advertising and sales. Describes an attempt to obtain information of this kind by investigating the effect of advertising on sales and brand shares. States that a number of researchers are now attempting to develop models to explain the workings of the market for a particular product. Emphasises that the prime area of interest of the study is the effect of advertising on sales and brand shares. States the study does not have the objective of constructing a complete marketing model involving all the variables that are thought to influence a brand's share of a product. Concludes that many results herein are disappointing, but it is perhaps too optimistic to expect the models dealt with earlier to be successful.

The last few decades have seen increasing attention to problems of open and disguised unemployment (and underemployment) in developing countries. Open unemployment appears to have increased in the sixties. Disguised unemployment of persons in the labour force (as defined by marginal product of labour below the wage) is a key element in the labour surplus interpretations of underdeveloped economies. In developed countries, hidden or disguised unemployment is thought of primarily in terms of nonparticipation related to the difficulty of obtaining a job; the usual proxy for such difficulty is the unemployment rate. As open unemployment has risen in the urban areas of many L.D.C's, while participation rates have at the same time been falling, it is natural to ask whether this particular form of hidden unemployment is becoming increasingly important in those countries. More generally, a country's participation rate is a valuable indicator of the degree of utilization of the labour force; the hints it may provide as to the nautre of the labour market and the demand for labour are one of several contributions it makes to the understanding of an economic system.