The Applicability of the Sectoral Shift Hypothesis in the Netherlands

The sectoral shift hypothesis in the Netherlands cannot be easily tested for the presence of rigorous structural breaks in the data. Therefore, a Kalman Filter approach is adopted. What we find, is that the variables capturing the sectoral shift hypothesis are the most important in explaining Dutch unemployment behavior during the postwar period. This means that cyclical unemployment in the Netherlands can be viewed as a fluctuation of the natural rate of unemployment.unemployment; sectoral shift hypothesis

Fables of Faubus?: Testing the Sectoral Shift Hypothesis in the Netherlands Using a Simplified Kalman Filter Model

The presence of structural breaks can seriously affect the outcome of standard regression methods like OLS. Although there are many methods available to deal with them, we focus here on a particular linear filtering method, namely the Kalman Filter. Its results vis a vis a regular OLS approach are illustrated by testing the sectoral shift hypothesis in the Netherlands. Although a rather simplified version of the Kalman Filter is used, it turns out to be a sufficient enough approximation. What we find, is that the variables capturing the sectoral shift hypothesis are the most important in explaining Dutch unemployment behaviour during the postwar period. Thus, the hypo-thesis is endorsed. On the other hand, our highly significant constant term indicates that the inclusion of other variables affecting unemploy-ment may alter the results. Our conclusion thus is a tentative one.labour economics ;

Determinants Of Sectoral Average Wage and Employment Growth Rates in a Specific Factors Model with Production Externalities and International Capital Movements

The cost-minimization part of a specific factors model with perfect capital movements and production externalities for both perfect and imperfect competition is used here to explain the growth rate of wages as a function of technical change, terms of trade or import changes, interest rate changes and the growth rate of the labour supply. Our estimation of the perfect competition model for 67 combinations of countries and sectors yields the result that technical change explains a higher percentage of both wage and employment growth than changes in the terms of trade do before the 1980s. From the 1980s onwards international trade is slightly more influential than technical progress. Much more important than these two are changes in the sector specific labour supply in all countries but the UK. In the UK terms of trade changes matter most. However, since we cannot exclude increasing returns, a model with imperfect competition is also estimated. Results support those from perfect competition. Ultimately, as compared to other literature, we identify some more sectors that seem to have been negatively affected by international trade. Finally, we consider policy conclusions.labour economics ;

The Impact of Technology on Economic Growth: Some New Ideas and Empirical Considerations

R&D based models relating technical change and economic growth have been unsuccessful in explaining the recent productivity paradox: R&D efforts have risen continuously in advanced countries during the postwar period whereas productivity growth has, if anything, declined. Several explanations of the paradox are offered, together with empirical ways of testing them. The notion that R&D efforts are more and more attributed to product differentiation, thus enlarging consumers'' welfare while simultaneously exhibiting only limited effects on economic growth, looks very promising in explaining the productivity paradox.research and development ;

The influence of management accountants on managerial decisions

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate which factors stimulate or hinder the influence management accountants operating at the business unit (BU) level have on the decisions taken by their BU manager(s). Design/methodology/approach: The authors collected data from 119 management accountants in 77 Dutch, multi-divisional organizations, using surveys. Findings: The study shows that influence on managerial decisions can have two forms: influence on strategic decisions, and influence on operating decisions. Influence on strategic decisions is positively related to the degree of decentralization of an organization. It also depends on whether a management accountant is more extravert and emotionally stable. There is a negative relationship between influence on operational decisions and management accountants’ agreeableness. Not being sufficiently critical may well diminish their influence on operational affairs. Research limitations/implications: The authors put the view that management accountants at the BU level can partially affect their own role. This may also be expected by their managers. There are more opportunities for management accountants to influence strategic decisions than operational decisions. This study, however, is limited to Dutch, multi-divisional organizations. The management accountants who completed the survey also belong to the personal networks of master degree students who assisted in the data collection process, so that the sample used is not random. Data collected in another country, or in smaller companies could yield different results. Practical implications: Knowing more about the complex relationship between BU management accountants’ personality traits and their degree of influence on managerial decisions allows organizations to make better-informed choices about who to appoint in such a role. Originality/value: This study distinguishes between management accountants’ influence on strategic decisions and influence on operational decisions. At the BU level, these are two distinct concepts. This reinforces findings from earlier studies conducted at the corporate level. In addition, it turns out that specific personality traits of management accountants, at the BU level, affect the influence they can exert on both strategic and operational decisions taken by their manager(s)

Fiscal decentralization in the nude: Discursive struggles and the stalling of its implementation in Jamaica

Despite an apparently promising start, the decentralization of property tax in Jamaica has never really progressed, nor yet been abandoned. Why is this? This paper adopts a discourse theory perspective to answer these questions. It primarily takes cues from a case study of the Portmore Municipality Council, which was tasked by Jamaica’s central government to implement fiscal decentralization. The initiative was intended to pave the way for further local government reforms in the country in line with new public management (NPM) principles, but something different happened. We conclude that several influential signifiers and signifieds were linked with fiscal decentralization. Mobilized in various politically motivated and overlapping discourses, these served different interests and attracted shifting groups of supporters and contenders, and gradually halted fiscal decentralization. The signifiers and signifieds pertained to NPM, participation, local and central government commitment, entrenchment,1 councilors’ lack of skills, nepotism, corruption, and the need for a “fix” for decentralization to progress. They were part of a larger palette of discourses relating to central government power, globalization, and societal and economic progress. The discourses in question made it impossible to abandon fiscal decentralization entirely, because they continued to be in line with the Jamaican political elite’s professed take on NPM, and helped to attract IMF funding

Prestatiemanagement bij Waardegedreven zorg: hoe verder?

Waardegedreven zorg (WGZ) wordt gezien als een potentieel belangrijke strategie voor zorgorganisaties om kwalitatief hoogwaardige zorg te bieden tegen relatief beperkte kosten. WGZ is meer concreet gericht op het maximaliseren van de (klinische en overige patiënt)uitkomsten per bestede euro. Wij bestuderen op basis van een verkenning van de Nederlandstalige en internationale literatuur in hoeverre deze strategie momenteel is ingebed in de prestatiemanagementsystemen van zorgorganisaties. Tevens reflecteren wij op de link tussen WGZ-strategieën en prestatiemanagement(systemen), die zeer beperkte aandacht krijgt in de wetenschappelijke literatuur. Wij identificeren daarnaast diverse aspecten van prestatiemanagement waarvan wij denken dat die node moeten worden behandeld in de WGZ-literatuur