Self-employment and entrepreneurship in urban and rural labour markets

We study the link between self-employment and some salient aspects of entrepreneurship - namely business creation and innovation - in urban and rural labour markets. In order to do so, we combine individual and firm-level data for Britain aggregated at the Travel-to-Work Area level. We find that a higher incidence of self-employment positively and strongly correlates with business creation and innovation in urban areas, but not in rural areas. We also document that more rural than urban workers become self-employed in areas with comparably poor labour market opportunities, although this heterogeneity is not evident when focussing on entrepreneurship. Finally, we show that the misalignment between self-employment and our proxies for entrepreneurship in rural areas disappears once we account for local labour market conditions. Our results suggest that self-employment, business creation and innovation are well lined-up in urban areas because they capture the same economic phenomenon - namely, genuine entrepreneurship. This is not the case for rural areas

The boon and bane of religiosity in dealing with uncertainties arising from social change

Current trends of social change such as globalization, individualization, and pluralization confront people in many industrialized societies with growing uncertainties concerning important developmental goals of young and middle adulthood, such as career and family formation. Because they threaten the successful resolution of these developmental goals, these uncertainties pose new demands that require a response by the individual; as such, they represent potential stressors that can impinge on psychological adaptation. An important yet understudied question is what psychosocial resources may help individuals deal with such conditions of heightened uncertainty. Burgeoning evidence in both psychology and sociology points to an important role of religiosity in coping with life stress generally, and uncertainty more specifically. Building on this precedent, the overarching goal of this dissertation, comprising three empirical studies, was to explore the role of religiosity in dealing with perceived uncertainties that arise from social change in the realm of work and family life. The Jena model of social change and human development served as the theoretical background for these studies, according to which religiosity can be conceived as a potential psychosocial resource. Data came from a cross-sectional survey among 3,078 respondents (aged 16 to 46 years) which was conducted in 2009 in Poland, a nation that is highly religious and which has recently been witnessing profound social change. The results of these three studies point to a dual role of religiosity in coping with social change. They suggest that religiosity – depending on the life domain and outcome under study – can function both as a resource and as a risk factor for psychological adaptation, in particular subjective well-being. Theoretical and practical implications of these results, as well as suggestions for future psychological studies in the emerging research area of religion and coping are discussed

Macroeconomic stabilisation and intervention policy under an exchange rate band

Exchange Rate;Stabilization;Foreign Exchange Market

Technological adjustments in textiles, clothes and leather industries: an alternative pathway for competitiveness

Labour-intensive industries, located in medium/high-cost areas are presently facing increasing low-cost competition and outsourcing with tremendous consequences at the regional employment level. The ability to react and technologically adjust to the challenges of these harder market conditions is what determines whether a region is a producer of high value-added goods or just a merely subcontractor. In fact, alternative employment opportunities may arise from complementary areas linked to technological innovations and although one can expect further job decline in manufacturing productive units, it is also expectable that more qualified jobs may be created in complementary areas, such as design, marketing, retail and management. The first objective of the present research is to characterise the process of adoption of new technologies in textile, clothes and leather (TCL) sectors from a group of Southern European regions, characterised by their economic vulnerability and dependence on these sectors. The results revealed that we are in the presence of a process: a) developed internally; b) supplier dominated and c) motivated by the international market. The second objective is to observe the impacts of technical change on local employment structures, namely regarding employment levels and skills. The results indicate that firms investing in new plant and equipment and firms investing in the development of new products are more likely to be increasing employment than the others. Also, firms hiring in these sectors, look for adequate qualifications, in particular regarding the ability to work with internet and marketing technology tools. We conclude that alternative pathways for competitiveness in these industries can be found through higher productivity levels driven from a much reduced workforce, if greater proportion of their turnover could be invested in technology and employment qualification

Gender, Family and Career in the Era of Boundarylessness: Determinants and Effects of Intra- and Inter-organizational Mobility

Changes in patterns of long-term employment make understanding the determinants of different career forms increasingly important to careers research. At the same time, the rise of dual-earner families demands greater attention to the ways in which gender and family characteristics shape careers than has been paid by traditional research. This paper addresses these issues, examining the determinants and consequences of intra-organizational and inter-organizational mobility, using a sample of employees from dual-earner couples. We find significant gender differences in these different types of career mobility, and in the effect of family relations on different forms of mobility. Women experience more inter-organizational mobility, while men experience more intra-organizational mobility. Having more children positively influences men’s intra-organizational mobility, but increases interorganizational mobility for women. Marital instability increases intra-organizational mobility among women, but has no effect among men. Each form of mobility has distinctive effects on objective and subjective indicators of career success for both men and women. Moving between organizations tends to depress earnings, but has no effect on how successful people feel in their careers. Job changes within an organization increase earnings, but have a negative effect on perceived success

Regulation, productivity, and growth : OECD evidence

The authors look at differences in the scope and depth of pro-competitive regulatory reforms and privatization policies as a possible source of cross-country dispersion in growth outcomes. They suggest that, despite extensive liberalization and privatization in the OECD area, the cross-country variation of regulatory settings has increased in recent years, lining up with the increasing dispersion in growth. The authors then investigate empirically the regulation-growth link using data that cover a large set of manufacturing and service industries in OECD countries over the past two decades and focusing on multifactor productivity (MFP), which plays a crucial role in GDP growth and accounts for a significant share of its cross-country variance. Regressing MFP on both economywide indicators of regulation and privatization and industry-level indicators of entry liberalization, the authors find evidence that reforms promoting private governance and competition (where these are viable) tend to boost productivity. In manufacturing the gains to be expected from lower entry barriers are greater the further a given country is from the technology leader. So, regulation limiting entry may hinder the adoption of existing technologies, possibly by reducing competitive pressures, technology spillovers, or the entry of new high technology firms. At the same time, both privatization and entry liberalization are estimated to have a positive impact on productivity in all sectors. These results offer an interpretation to the observed recent differences in growth patterns across OECD countries, in particular between large continental European economies and the United States. Strict product market regulations-and lack of regulatory reforms-are likely to underlie the relatively poorer productivity performance of some European countries, especially in those industries where Europe has accumulated a technology gap (such as information and communication technology-related industries). These results also offer useful insights for non-OECD countries. In particular, they point to the potential benefits of regulatory reforms and privatization, especially in those countries with large technology gaps and strict regulatory settings that curb incentives to adopt new technologies.Labor Policies,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Governance Indicators,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance

Sheep and goat production in the north west province of Cameroon with special reference to parasitic gastroenteritis

A research project was carried out between October 1983 and June 1987 partly in Scotland and partly in Cameroon covering three main areas: a survey on small ruminant production and epidemiological and experimental studies on parasitic gastroenteritis in these animals.The survey on traditional management of sheep and goats was conducted in North West Province of Cameroon using a questionnaire. The main objectives were to assess the productivity, to identify production constraints and to propose possible solutions. Sixty-five farmers in Mezam division and 50 in Momo division were interviewed. The results showed that 92% of the farmers rear goats as against only 21% who rear sheep. A traditional belief by which sheep keeping adversely affects a woman's fertility is perhaps the greatest constraint on sheep production. Flock sizes are small, typically 6-7 animals in single species flocks and up to 12 animals in mixed flocks. Females make up 88% and 84% of sheep and goat flocks respectively with 62% and 58% of the total sheep and goat flocks being breeding females over 12 months of age.Six management systems were identified. Those involving tethering during the cropping season and either tethering or semi-extensive grazing in the non-cropping season are most widely practised. The most common housing system is an enclosed shed with walls of sticks, tree fern or bamboo. Floors of planks laid on the earth or slightly raised are used by about 48% of the farmers while only 22% construct raised slatted floors.Intentional feed supplementation is rare but salt is given by most farmers on a more or less regular basis. Watering was not considered essential by about 4% of the farmers.Breeding is generally uncontrolled and progeny of the most active breeding ram/buck is often the main source of ram/buck replacement; therefore inbreeding is common.Offtake rates were 20% and 24% in sheep and goats with flock mean percentages of 26% and 23% respectively. The highest offtake rates were recorded under tethering/semi-extensive (35%, and 28% for sheep and goats respectively) and extensive/extensive (48% for sheep).Mortality rates were not significantly different in either young animals (17% and l4% in lambs and kids respectively) or adults (17% and 11% in adult sheep and goats respectively). There was some suggestion of higher mortality rates under semi-intensive/semi-intensive and semi-intensive/semi-extensive management systems. Tick infestation and diarrhoea were considered to be among the major causes of death. Five disease problems of small ruminants were identified on the basis of the signs reported by the farmers: intestinal parasitism especially helminthiasis, tick infestation and the viral diseases associated with it, pneumonia, peste des petits ruminants and Oestrus ovis infestation. Traditional medicine for treatment of sick animals is practised on a very small scale with very limited success.sed on a very small scale with very limited success. A survey on haemoglobin types was carried out on sheep and goats collected from the North West Province and Northern Cameroon as background studies to the experimental work on haemonchosis. Three adult haemoglobin variants (HbA, HbB and HbC) were identified. Haemoglobin types A and B occurred in sheep and haemoglobin types B and C in goats. The gene frequencies of the A and B alleles were 0.08 and 1.00 in Grassland Dwarf sheep and 0.06 and 1.00 in Fulani Bornu sheep. In the goats the gene frequencies of the B and C alleles were 1.00 and 0.15 in Grassland Dwarf goats and 1.00 and 0.38 in Red Sokoto goats. Abnormal production of a haemoglobin with similar electrophoretic mobility to Hb type C was observed in both species under haematological stress. The intense selection of the B gene in the sheep and goat population is of potential interest.The epidemiological studies were intended both to examine the factors which predispose sheep and goats to helminth infections and their effects on production, and to evaluate the efficiency of various control measures intended to increase production. The regime of monthly deworming with fenbendazole currently practised at the research station was used as the control for the first year's epidemiological study designed to investigate the effect of reducing the frequency of such treatment on the survival and productivity of small ruminants. Three management systems were compared: the control regime, a regime involving five strategic treatments and traditional village management with no anthelmintic. The performance of the animals was monitored for one year. At Mankon the goats gained less weight than the sheep. On the contrary the traditionally managed goats both survived better and gained more weight than traditionally managed sheepThe strongyle faecal egg counts from both sheep and goats fell at the start of the dry season and remained low until April regardless of the system of management or the frequency of anthelmintic treatment. Pasture larval counts and infection levels in tracer animals were low during this period. During the rainy season faecal egg counts were consistently lower in sheep at Mankon than in goats while in the village animals the reverse was the case. In the animals at Mankon, egg counts made 15 days after treatment were similar to the pretreatment counts. The possibility of benzimidazole resistance by the trichostrongyles in the animals at Mankon was suspected and confirmed by conducting egg counts one week after treatment and by an in vitro anthelmintic sensitivity test in which it was shown that strongyle eggs from the animals at Mankon consistently developed in higher concentrations of tiabendazole than eggs obtained from the village animals.Pasture larval counts were high during the rainy season producing two waves of larval contamination on the pastures, one in mid-June and the other towards the end of the rains in November. The period of maximum infection in tracer animals followed the June peak of pasture contamination. High mortality in traditionally managed sheep in July, August and September also coincided with periods of heavy larval challenge. Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongy/us axei, Trichostrongy/us coiubriformis and, to a lesser extent, Moniezia expansa were prevalent throughout the year but with larger numbers present during the rainy season. Oesophagostomum columbianum and Bunostomum trigonocephaium were prevalent mainly during the rainy season, heavy burdens in the animals dying during the dry season apparently having been acquired in the late rainsThe primary haematological parameters (PCV, Hb concentration and RBC counts) in the animals at Mankon tended to be low during the dry season but increased at the onset of the rains and changed very little thereafter. However, in the traditionally managed sheep, the values of these parameters tended to decline overall. In general the haematological values were somewhat lower in the animals on the reduced regime than in those on the standard regime, and in the traditionally managed sheep and goats than in those at the research station.In the animals at Mankon, the serum total protein and albumin concentrations were low during the dry season. In sheep the total protein increased significantly at the beginning of the rains while the albumin changed very little throughout the year. In goats the albumin concentration showed a more or less steady fall throughout the study. In all animals the globulin values were generally elevated during the rainy season. Serum pepsinogen levels were low during the dry season but increased during the rainy season. In the traditionally managed animals the serum biochemistry did not change significantly throughout the study.The second year of the epidemiological study examined the possibility of further reducing the frequency of anthelmintic treatment when an effective anthelmintic is used. The experimental groups received either four or two strategically timed anthelmintic doses, the traditionally managed group included an on-station simulation study and a group of sheep and goats were kept together on mixed grazing.In this year the survival rate was significantly higher in sheep than in goats under all management systems except in those on traditional management.The faecal egg count patterns in all the groups during the dry season were similar to the previous year. Following anthelmintic treatment in the 4-dose group with levamisole in early March, the faecal egg counts were initially reduced to zero in both sheep and goats. Under both the 4-dose and 2-dose regimes treatment with levamisole maintained egg counts in all animals at less than 200 epg throughout the rainy season. Nevertheless the goats at Mankon still carried slightly higher egg counts than sheep. Traditionally managed animals again showed higher egg counts in sheep than in goats.Although the peak periods of pasture larval contamination were modified by the anthelmintic treatments, the overall pattern of seasonal availability of trichostrongyles remained unchanged.Sheep maintained higher PCV values than goats throughout the year. There was a similarity in the serum protein patterns in all groups in both hosts with a tendency for the albumin levels to remain fairly constant and for the globulin levels - and hence the total protein - to fall or remain static during the dry season and then to rise during the rainy season. No consistent differences were found between age or treatment groups but some of the changes with time were significant.The albumin values determined by the bromocresol green method were consistently and significantly lower in goats and higher in sheep than those determined by electrophoresis.The experimental studies largely reflected and amplified the epidemiological findings. The development of the parasite and its relationship to haematologicai, biochemical and pathological changes were studied in lambs and kids after a single infection of 10,000 L3 of Haemonchus contortus In Scotland using a local sheep-adapted strain (ES) and European lambs and kids, the PCV and Hb concentration in the lambs declined rapidly from day 10 after infection whereas in kids this was less marked and there was an initial rise in these values during the first three days following infection. Localized areas of mucosal hypertrophy were visible on the abomasal surface by day 4 and a coagulum covered the fundic abomasal surface on day 8 in both lambs and kids and on day 14 in the kids only. There was a steady reduction in the number of worms recovered with age of the infection, more dramatic in kids than in lambs. The infections were accompanied by mucosal hypertrophy and infiltration of lymphoid-type cells, plasma cells and eosinophils. Desquamation of the mucosal epithelium was visible from day 8.The single infection studies at Mankon compared the response of indigenous lambs and kids to infection with three strains of Haemonchus contortus, two derived from local goats (LG) and sheep (LS) respectively and one ES strain. The primary haematologicai parameters were more severely lowered in kids than in lambs for at least 12 days after infection. The depression was more severe in animals infected with the LS strain than in those infected with the LG or ES strains. The changes in serum protein biochemistry were less marked but with an overall tendency for the total protein and albumin to fall after day 12 in animals infected with the LG and LS strains. Female worms in both hosts were clearly larger than the male worms from day 8 and the worms from the lambs were clearly much bigger than those from the kids from day 11. Sexual maturation was reached earlier in the worms from the lambs than in those from the kids. The pathological changes were similar to those seen in the infections in Scotland. However, the coagulum was observed in kids infected with the LG and LS strains killed on days 8, 11 and 14 whereas in lambs it was observed only in those killed on day 11. No signs of gastric haemorrhage were observed in any of the indigenous animals infected with the ES strain. Overall the severity of the parasitic effects was greater in kids than in lambs and in animals infected with the two local strains than in those infected with the ES strain.The epidemiological pattern observed in temperate countries at the end of the winter was simulated by an escalating infection study. European lambs and kids were infected with increasing doses of H. contortus (ES strain) twice weekly for five weeks. Results showed depressed liveweights in lambs from six weeks onwards. Anaemia developed in the course of the infection, being more severe in the lambs than in the kids. Serum total protein and albumin dropped significantly in the lambs while the changes in kids were not significant. Serum pepsinogen concentration rose during the infections, the rise being more consistent in the kids. Lambs had significantly more worms, a shorter prepatent period and higher faecal egg counts than kids.The daily infection of indigenous lambs and kids in Cameroon with small doses of the two local strains of Haemonchus contortus was intended to simulate a field situation in which animals are grazing continuously on lightly contaminated pastures. The results showed that there was considerable reduction in liveweight of the kids compared to the controls whereas the growth of the lambs was not affected. Most of the higher faecal egg counts in kids were in animals infected with the LG strain whereas in lambs it was the LS strain that gave rise to the highest counts. However, throughout the 20 weeks of the study most animals had less than 500 epg in their 29 faeces. Necropsy worm counts revealed that kids carried higher burdens of the LG strain and lower burdens of the LS strain than lambs, but the counts in all cases were generally less than 600 per animal. There was a prolonged depression of the primary haematological values in kids infected with both strains of H. contortus whereas these values in lambs fluctuated within the pre-infection range. Serum protein biochemistry did not change significantly while serum pepsinogen levels increased in the course of the infection.It was concluded that a management regime utilizing three strategic anthelmintic treatments under set-stocking conditions is indicated for controlling parasitic gastroenteritis in sheep and goats kept on the research station in the North West Provice of Cameroon. In the villages treatment, especially of sheep, during the rains may be beneficial and cost-effective

The use of a variable cost function in the regulation of the Italian water industry

The purpose of this study is to estimate a multivariate variable cost function in order to analyze the cost structure of a sample of Italian water distribution companies. The empirical results of this study could be used by the Italian Regulation Authority of this sector for two purposes: first, to improve the actual tariff regulation process, based on a benchmarking of variable costs, and second, to define the optimal size of a service territory in this sector. A variable cost function was estimated using panel data for a sample of 32 water distribution firms operating at the provincial level over the period 1991-1995. Results indicate the importance of explanatory variables such as price of labor, water loss and service area characteristics. Results also indicate the existence of economies of output and customer density and the presence of small diseconomies of scale