A rush of blood to the head: Temporal dimensions of retrenchment, environment and turnaround performance

In this work we test the general assumption in the turnaround literature that time is critical for firm survival, especially during the retrenchment stage.We study three time dimensions of change at this stage: timing, speed and rhythm. Drawing on the downward spiral and threat-rigidity perspectives, we posit that the positive impact these time dimensions have on turnaround performance is highly contingent on two types of environment. Our findings, based on a sample of 263 declining US firms over a 26-year period (1983e2009), demonstrate that an early timing of retrenchment has a positive impact on performance when the environment is munificent. On the contrary, an early timing has a negative impact when the environment is dynamic. We also note that a fast pace of retrenchment positively impacts firm performance in dynamic environments. Finally, we find that declining firms display better performances when following an irregular rhythm of retrenchment, both in highly munificent and highly dynamic environments. Our results indicate that, in general, declining firm performance improves with time-aggressive retrenchment actions in both types of environment. We discuss the contribution of our research to the turnaround literature, and the downward spiral and threat-rigidity perspective

Is nursing home demand affected by the decline in age difference between spouses?

We investigate whether declines in the age difference between spouses has influenced widowhood and nursing home demand. We first use life-table methods to simulate the impact of the declining age gap on the risk of widowhood. We then use the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and the Census Public Use Microdata Samples to estimate the impact of widowhood, and other characteristics, on the probability of nursing home entrance. These help us estimate the impact of the declining age gap on nursing home use. We estimate that the decline in the difference in ages between spouses that took place between the birth cohorts of 1900 and 1955 may raise women's annual nursing home expenditures by about $1.4 billion, but lower men's expenditures by about$600 million.age/aging, long-term care, marriage, nursing home

The Impact of Regional and Demographic Factors on the Efficiency of German Savings Banks

This paper examines the influence of environmental factors on technical, cost, scale and revenue efficiency of German savings banks in 2001‐2005. Taking into account growing regional disparities in economic wealth and population size, it differentiates between declining and growing regions. Regional and demographic factors explain part of the variation in efficiency levels. Population density and branch penetration positively affect efficiency in growing regions. A negative impact of economic power and a positive impact of competitive pressure on efficiency support the quiet life hypothesis. In declining regions, a larger share of elder people reduces bank efficiency. Savings banks seem to be well adapted to unfavorable environmental conditions.savings banks, efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, demographic change, regional disparities

Impact of Climate Change on Poverty in Laos

The climate change is global problems. It is predicted to have more severe impact on developing country which most of population are poor. The main impact of climate change on poverty is changing crop productivity and commodity prices. However, there are few studies on the relationship between climate change and poverty. Therefore, this study will use Laos which has a high share of agriculture sector on GDP and high poverty rates as a case study to assess the impact the climate change on national wide-economy and climate change using CGE model. The preliminary result shows that climate change has serious impact of Lao economy in term of declining GDP. On the other hand, the micro-simulation indicates that the impact on poverty was negligible. This is because the households in Laos are autarky and not affected by the changes of prices and wages due to climate change.Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty,

Evaluating the Employment Impact of Business Incentive Programs in EU Disadvantaged Areas. A case from Northern Italy

Business incentive programs have been increasingly popular within the EU as regional economic development tools to promote employment growth in areas with severely distressed and/or declining socio-economic conditions. Reliable evidenced on the effective net employment impact of such initiatives are greatly needed to help refining future intervention as, to these days, European policy makers' decisions can mostly be supported only by monitoring and survey analyses. This paper proposes a method of analysis to assess the employment impact of the business incentive initiatives implemented in the EU areas with declining industrial production (EU 'Objective 2' areas). The proposed method is a comparison-group evaluation approach that uses panels of employment data aggregated by geographic areas (similarly to the evaluation approach successfully adopted by recent studies of the US Enterprise Zone Programs). Details of the proposed method of analysis are illustrated through an empirical application: the evaluation of the business incentive program co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund in the 'Objective 2' areas of the Piedmont region (Italy). Results from such application prove the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed method for impact evaluation analyses with longitudinal data, and highlight how the Piedmont's business incentive program did not significantly affect employment in the 'Objective 2 areas'.

The Declining Effects of OSHA Inspections on Manufacturing Injuries: 1979 to 1998

This study compares the impact of OSHA inspections on manufacturing industries using data from three time periods: 1979-85, 1987-91, and 1992-98. We find substantial declines in the impact of OSHA inspections since 1979-85. In the earliest period we estimate that having an OSHA inspection that imposed a penalty reduces injuries by about 15%; in the later periods it falls to 8% in 1987-91 and to 1% (and statistically insignificant) in 1992-98. Testing for different effects by inspection type, employment size, and industry, we find differences across size classes, but these cannot explain the overall decline. In fact, we find reductions in OSHA's impact over time for nearly all subgroups we examine, so shifts across subgroups cannot explain the whole decline. We examine various other hypotheses concerning the declining impact, but in the end we are not able to provide a clear explanation for the decline.

The Impact of Social and Tax Policies on Families with Children: Comparative Study of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia

The paper compares the impact of government measures focused on families with children in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The ageing of population and the decline in fertility rates will in future importantly influence economic as well as social environment in the European countries. One of the responses on declining fertility rates is the promotion of demographic renewal in Europe through various kinds of policy measures ranging from better availability of quality provisions for combining child care and work, child care facilities and family support. We focus on the overall financial impact of governmental policies on families with children in the four examined countries. The paper evaluates impact of government subsidies and tax systems in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia on the net income of families with children compared to the childless couples.family policy, income taxation, subsidies, fertility

U.S. DEMAND FOR IMPORTED LAMB BY COUNTRY: A TWO-STAGE DIFFERENTIAL PRODUCTION APPROACH

Due to a depressed wool industry sheep inventories have been declining resulting in significant increases in lamb and mutton imports. Goals of this paper are to estimate the derived demand and output supply for U.S. lamb imports, estimate demand elasticities, and to determine the impact of TRQ reductions on imports.Demand and Price Analysis,

Pension reform in a rapidly ageing country: the case of Ukraine

Ukraine has a rapidly ageing and declining population. A dynamic forward-looking Computable General Equilibrium(CGE)model with an explicitly modelled Pay-As-You-­Go pension scheme is constructed to perform simulations of different pension reform scenarios and investigate the impact of population ageing on a wide range of macroeconomic variables. It is shown that, changes in age structure will result in a significant negative impact on the economy and stability of the pension system. Analysis of the potential changes to the pension system is limited to modelling an increase of the pension age, keeping either the workers' contribution rate or replacement rate constant.Ukraine, CGE Modelling, Pension Reform, Ageing