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Article
Publication date: 10 October 2016

João P. Romero and John S.L. McCombie

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to investigate the existence of different degrees of returns to scale in low-tech and high-tech manufacturing industries; and to examine…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to investigate the existence of different degrees of returns to scale in low-tech and high-tech manufacturing industries; and to examine whether the degrees of returns to scale change through time.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical investigation implemented in the paper uses data from the EU KLEMS Database, covering a sample of 12 manufacturing industries in 11 OECD countries over the period 1976-2006. The investigation employed two different estimation methods: instrumental variables and system GMM. The robustness of the results was assessed by employing two different specifications of Kaldor-Verdoorn’s Law, by using lags and five-year averages to smooth business-cycle fluctuations, and by dividing the sample into two time periods.

Findings

The results reported in the paper provide strong evidence in support of the hypothesis of substantial increasing returns to scale in manufacturing. The investigation suggests that high-tech manufacturing industries exhibit larger degrees of returns to scale than low-tech manufacturing industries. Finally, the analysis revealed also that the magnitude of the returns to scale in manufacturing have increased in the last decades, driven by increases in the magnitude of returns to scale observed in high-tech industries.

Originality/value

No previous work has assessed the hypothesis that increasing returns to scale vary according to the technological content of industries. Moreover, no previous work has used system GMM or data from EU KLEMS to test Kaldor-Verdoorn’s Law. Most importantly, the findings of the paper present new evidence on the degree of returns to scale in high-tech and low-tech manufacturing industries.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 43 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 May 2017

Rafael Saulo Marques Ribeiro, John S.L. McCombie and Gilberto Tadeu Lima

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on demand-driven Keynesian growth in open economies by developing a formal model that combines Dixon and Thirlwall’s…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on demand-driven Keynesian growth in open economies by developing a formal model that combines Dixon and Thirlwall’s (1975) export-led growth model and Thirlwall’s (1979) balance-of-payments constrained growth model into a more general specification. Then, based on the model developed in this paper, the authors analyse more broadly some important issues concerning the net impact of currency depreciation on the short-run growth.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors build upon Dixon and Thirlwall’s (1975) export-led growth model and Thirlwall’s (1979) balance-of-payments constrained growth model in order to develop the theoretical framework. The authors also run numerical simulations to illustrate the net impact of devaluation on the short-run growth rate in different scenarios.

Findings

The authors demonstrate that the net impact of currency devaluation on growth can go either way, depending on some structural conditions such as the average share of imported intermediate inputs in prime costs of domestic firms and the institutional capacity of trade unions to set nominal wages through the bargaining process. The model also shows that the effectiveness of a competitive real exchange rate to promote growth is higher in countries where the share of labour in domestic income is also higher.

Research limitations/implications

This paper provides a coherent formal starting-point for further theoretical developments on the interrelatedness between currency devaluation, income distribution and growth. These findings provide empirically testable hypothesis for future research.

Originality/value

The present study proposes an alternative formal solution for the theoretical problem of imposing a balance-of-payments constraint on the process of cumulative causation often incorporated in Kaldorian growth models. In terms of policy, the framework sheds further light on the relevance of income distribution and the labour market institutional framework for the dynamics of the exchange rate pass-through mechanism and allows us to map out related conditions under which currency devaluation can promote growth.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 44 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1915

Before the appearance of our next issue, the Annual Meeting of the Library Association will have taken place. In many ways, as indicated last month, it will be an interesting…

Abstract

Before the appearance of our next issue, the Annual Meeting of the Library Association will have taken place. In many ways, as indicated last month, it will be an interesting meeting, largely because it is in the nature of an experiment. International conditions, the state of national and municipal finance, the absence of library workers with the colours, and the omission of social events, all tend to influence its character. It is possible, however, that these very circumstances may increase the interest in the actual conference business, especially as the programme bears largely upon the War. The programme itself is formidable, and it will be interesting to see how the section on the literature of the war, for example, will be treated. Probably the Publications' Committee have in mind the book symposia which are a feature of the meetings of various library associations in the United States. These consist of a few minutes' characterisation, by an opener, of a certain book or type of literature, and a discussion after it. The experiment was attempted in London last year at one of the monthly meetings, but owing to a misapprehension the speaker gave an excellent lecture on Francis Thompson of more than an hour's duration, when he had been expected to give a brief description of Francis Meynell's biography of that poet. If any gatherings for a similar purpose are arranged, we hope the speakers will be primed sufficiently to avoid that error. As for social events, their omission is less likely to be felt in London than anywhere else in the Kingdom. London is a perennial source of social amusement in itself, and the evenings can readily be filled there—“chacun à son goût”—really better than by attending pre‐arranged gatherings.

Details

New Library World, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1912

THE Woolwich Borough Council have made the retirement of Dr. Baker from the post of Borough Librarian the opportunity of adopting the reactionary policy of dividing the Woolwich…

Abstract

THE Woolwich Borough Council have made the retirement of Dr. Baker from the post of Borough Librarian the opportunity of adopting the reactionary policy of dividing the Woolwich library system into three independent parts. They do not propose to fill Dr. Baker's post, and have made three members of the staff librarians‐in‐charge of the Woolwich, Eltham, and Plumstead libraries. Within recent years West Ham and Lewisham have adopted a similar policy; while an opposite course has been taken by Southwark and Westminster. It is obvious that an already limited income will be even more inadequate when it is administered in three separate parts. A small temporary advantage may accrue to certain localities of the borough, but the library service of the borough as a whole is bound to suffer. There is plenty of evidence that the greatest library service can be given to a district when the libraries form one organic whole. So much for the present; now for the future. Woolwich is growing rapidly in some localities, and when the inevitable library extension is required, what is going to happen ? Each of the older districts is going to be mulcted of a part of its already far from adequate share in order to finance still another separate administration. Instead of the Borough library service under one administration becoming increasingly efficient with the growth of the district, it is going to remain a series of small and comparatively ineffective units. Then there is another aspect of the question which touches us even more closely professionally. If library systems are going to be divided in this way, men and women are not going to be found willing to go through the long and special training necessary for an administrative librarian, because the position of “librarian‐in‐charge” is no return for such training. In this way, if this policy is going to spread, a much more serious blow still will be struck at the library efficiency of the country.

Details

New Library World, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 7 October 2019

Adam B. Turner, Stephen McCombie and Allon J. Uhlmann

This paper aims to demonstrate the utility of a target-centric approach to intelligence collection and analysis in the prevention and investigation of ransomware attacks that…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to demonstrate the utility of a target-centric approach to intelligence collection and analysis in the prevention and investigation of ransomware attacks that involve cryptocurrencies. The paper uses the May 2017 WannaCry ransomware usage of the Bitcoin ecosystem as a case study. The approach proves particularly beneficial in facilitating information sharing and an integrated analysis across intelligence domains.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducted data collection and analysis of the component Bitcoin elements of the WannaCry ransomware attack. A note of both technicalities of Bitcoin operations and current models for sharing cyber intelligence was made. Our analysis builds on and further develops current definitions and strategies for sharing cyber threat intelligence. It uses the problem definition model (PDM) and generic target network model (TNM) to create an analytic framework for the WannaCry ransomware attack scenario, allowing analysts the ability to test their hypotheses and integrate and share data for collaborative investigation.

Findings

Using a target-centric intelligence approach to WannaCry 2.0 shows that it is possible to model the intelligence problem of collecting and analysing data related to inflows and outflows of Bitcoin-related ransomware transactions. Bitcoin transactions form graph networks and allow to build a target network model for collecting, analysing and sharing intelligence with multiple stakeholders. Although attribution and anonymity prevail under cryptocurrency usage, there is a means for developing transaction walks using this method to target nefarious cryptocurrency exchanges where criminals are inclined to cash out their proceeds of crime.

Originality/value

The application of a target-centric intelligence approach to the cryptocurrency components of a ransomware attack provides a framework for intelligence units to break down the problem in the financial domain and model the network behaviour of illicit Bitcoin transactions relating to ransomware.

Details

Journal of Money Laundering Control, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-5201

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1996

Rajah Rasiah

Structural economists have been amongst the foremost proponents of a pro‐active industrial policy as the mechanism for promoting rapid economic growth (Lewis, 1956; Myrdal, 1957;…

1316

Abstract

Structural economists have been amongst the foremost proponents of a pro‐active industrial policy as the mechanism for promoting rapid economic growth (Lewis, 1956; Myrdal, 1957; Kaldor, 1967; Thirlwall, 1989). This is substantiated by the argument that manufacturing being characterised by increasingly specialised inter‐related activities, radiates tremendous impulses both intra and inter sectorally (Young, 1928: 527–42). Using a sample of 12 developed countries, Kaldor (1967:3–23; 1975:891–6; 1979; 1989:282–310) attempted an empirical study to support this relationship. A positive correlation between manufacturing growth and that of the economy has been defended on the grounds that manufacturing growth increases static (relate to size and scale of production units and are characteristic largely of manufacturing where in the process of doubling the linear dimensions of equipment, the surface increases by the square and the volume by the cube), as well as dynamic (relate to increasing returns brought about by ‘induced’ technical progress, learning by doing, external economies in production, etc.) returns (Thirlwall, 1989: 60). Since manufacturing also produces capital goods that are used in different industrial branches and other sectors, it is seen as a powerful mechanism for transmitting technical change (Weiss, 1988). It is for these reasons, structuralists generally prescribe government policies that favour manufacturing expansion. Malaysia is a good example of a natural resource rich country that has made manufacturing its main plank of economic growth especially since the launching of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971 (see Malaysia, 1976). However, as industrial policy in each socio‐political space offers state‐specific characteristics, we will analyse industrialisation within Malaysia's setting.

Details

Managerial Finance, vol. 22 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4358

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1987

Geoffrey M. Hodgson

Present‐day economics is characterised by the fragmentary and reductionist approach that typifies most social sciences. Economists generally fail to recognise that the economy is…

Abstract

Present‐day economics is characterised by the fragmentary and reductionist approach that typifies most social sciences. Economists generally fail to recognise that the economy is merely one aspect of a whole ecological and social fabric; a living system composed of human beings in continual interaction with one another and with their natural resources, most of which are, in turn, living organisms. The basic error of the social sciences is to divide this fabric in fragments, assumed to be independent and to be dealt with in separate academic departments (Capra, 1982, pp. 194–5).

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Article
Publication date: 2 July 2019

Lorenzo Pasculli

This study aims to assess the risks of systematisation of corruption in the UK following the Brexit referendum.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to assess the risks of systematisation of corruption in the UK following the Brexit referendum.

Design/methodology/approach

The study applies theoretical and empirical findings of criminological, social, psychological, economic and legal research on the causes of systemic corruption to the socio-institutional developments following the Leave vote.

Findings

The events surrounding the referendum confirm that the resort to corrupt practices is normalised in certain sectors of the British institutions, business and media and that socio-political processes activated by the Leave vote and inadequate UK policymaking and lawmaking can aggravate the situational and socio-psychological enablers of systemic corruption. Effective solutions must go beyond mere anti-corruption laws and address deeper social issues.

Research limitations/implications

The study focuses only on some of the major situational and socio-psychological causes of systemic corruption, including the unintended criminogenic effects of the law. More interdisciplinary research is required to address other causes, such as historical and cultural factors.

Practical implications

The findings of this study can inspire practical solutions by policymakers and future research.

Social implications

The study contributes to raising social awareness and stimulating public discussion on systemic corruption in the UK and on the consequences of the referendum on public and private integrity.

Originality/value

The study offers the first systematic analysis of the effects of Brexit and the referendum on corruption through an integrated interdisciplinary approach to systemic corruption in the UK.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 January 2010

Celia Harding and Julie Wright

This review explores some of the key issues relevant to children and adults who have dysphagia, or eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties, and a learning disability. It…

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Abstract

This review explores some of the key issues relevant to children and adults who have dysphagia, or eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties, and a learning disability. It explores the methods for attempting to identify this area of difficulty effectively, and reflects on some of the other issues that may affect management, such as carer support and training and use of appropriate communication strategies to support and enable participation from the client with learning disability.

Details

Tizard Learning Disability Review, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-5474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 September 2008

Phillip Anthony O'Hara

This paper seeks to evaluate how some of the core general principles of heterodox political economy (HPE) can be applied to the issue of how HPE has managed to undergo resurgence

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to evaluate how some of the core general principles of heterodox political economy (HPE) can be applied to the issue of how HPE has managed to undergo resurgence and development over recent decades.

Design/methodology/approach

Four major principles of heterodoxy are applied successively to this issue: historical specificity; contradiction; heterogeneous agents and groups; and circular and cumulative causation.

Findings

These principles assist in comprehending how HPE is able to develop its own concepts, networks, publications, academic departments, teaching and policy‐relevant material.

Research limitations/implications

HPE has had considerable success in developing a conceptual apparatus, which helps to explain the emergence of much of its edifice being developed in academic and policy circles. The performance of HPE has been impressive.

Practical implications

The conceptual apparatus of heterodoxy can be applied to real world situations; specifically a component of world history over especially the past 40 years.

Originality/value

This is the first time such a theme has been explored in the literature.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

Keywords

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