3,160 research outputs found
The Firm as a Community Explaining Asymmetric Behavior and Downward Rigidity of Wages
This paper models the firm as a community Ă la Akerlof (1980) to account for asymmetric behavior, and in particular, downward rigidity of wages. It is shown that, through social interaction among workers in the firm community, wage cuts can give rise to a large, discontinuous fall in labor productivity (known as âcatastropheâ). Furthermore, this large fall in labor productivity will persist or display inertia (known as âhysteresisâ) even if the wages are restored to the pre-cut level and beyond. Our catastrophe/hysteresis finding with respect to wage cuts can rationalize the downward rigidity of wage behavior, and is consistent with the interview evidence of fragile worker morale emphasized by Bewley (1999) and others in explaining why employers are sensitive to and refrain from cutting worker pay.Wage rigidity, Firm community, Catastrophe, Hysteresis
Receiprocity and Downward Wage Rigidity
The employment relationship is to a large extent characterized by incomplete contracts, in which workers have a considerable degree of discretion over the choice of their work effort. This discretion at work kicks in the potential importance of âgift exchangeâ or reciprocity between workers and employers in their employment relationship. Built on the seminal work of Akerlof (1980), this paper adopts a social norm approach to model reciprocity in labor markets and theoretically derives two versions of downward wage rigidity. The first version explains why employers may adopt a high wage policy far above the competitive level. This version is not a novel finding in the existing literature and is mainly served as a benchmark for later comparison in the current paper. Our main contribution lies in the second version in which not nly may employers adopt a high wage policy far above the competitive level, but one can also account for the asymmetric behavior of wages and explain why employers are hesitant about wage cuts in the presence of negative shocks. We argue that this second and stronger version of downward wage rigidity has moved the efficiency wage theory a step forward.Reciprocity, Downward Wage Rigidity, Social Norm, Efficiency Wage
Affective life, âvulnerableâ youths, and international volunteering in a residential care programme in Cusco, Peru
This paper critically engages with the implications of the âaffect turnâ in the geographies of development and volunteering. By way of considering âaffective lifeâ at a residential youth care centre in Peru through an ethnographic study, we aim to contribute to current discussions of â(selfâ)transformationâ taking place through affectivity in the experience of volunteering. Conceptually, our approach to investigating âaffective lifeâ and volunteering involves two steps. First, we critically review this body of work's recent focus on the individualistic mode of volunteer selfâtransformation in encountering âvulnerable others.â We identify the need to think about affect and embodiment also from the perspectives of the âvulnerableâ groups whose lives are entangled with the presence of international volunteering. Second, we argue for an affectâinformed approach to socioâpolitically shaped vulnerability, with a particular emphasis on lived experiences and affective capacities related to enduring social and material conditions. Against the backdrop of marginalisation of adolescent mothers from rural and indigenous backgrounds, many of whom are survivors of sexual abuse, we analyse the experiences of these youths living at a specific residential care centre and interacting with volunteers on a daily basis. In doing so, we employ a series of perspectives from the residents, while taking into account the organisational environment. We also show the complex ways in which residentâvolunteer encounters are at play in lifeâenhancing affective states, capacities, and relations emerging among the residents. Our findings on the residents' selfâ and shared capacity of transformation highlights the importance of attending to the spatialities of affective life in academic work focused on the contemporary geographies of international volunteering
Recreation Demand of Consumer with Experiential Marketing in Festival
AbstractExperiential marketing that allows visitors to fully participate and appreciate festival activities con be coupled with strategies of market segmentation, which is of great benefit to industrial and cultural activities. In this study, we used factor analysis method to understand the perception factor of visitors participate the Sweet Taiwan Year Festival in Tainan country of Taiwan. And segmented festival market by cluster analysis based on delineated experiential perception factors. The empirical result of this study shows that experiential perception clusters and the visitor type have become the most important factors in influencing the experiential value, the relation quality and the relation outcome
Classification and nondegeneracy of Toda system with singular sources
We consider the following Toda system \Delta u_i + \D \sum_{j = 1}^n
a_{ij}e^{u_j} = 4\pi\gamma_{i}\delta_{0} \text{in}\mathbb R^2, \int_{\mathbb
R^2}e^{u_i} dx -1\delta_0a_{ij}\gamma_i=0\forall \;1\leq i\leq n\gamma_i+\gamma_{i+1}+...+\gamma_j \notin \mathbb Z1\leq i\leq
j\leq nu_i$ is \textit{radially symmetric} w.r.t. 0.
(iii) We prove that the linearized equation at any solution is
\textit{non-degenerate}. These are fundamental results in order to understand
the bubbling behavior of the Toda system.Comment: 28 page
The Hedonic Experience of Enjoyment and Its Relationship to Informal Learning: A Study of Museum Websites
Online hedonic experiences are increasingly of interest in both research and practice. In particular, it has been proposed that âtraditional usability approaches are too limited and must be extended to encompass enjoymentâ (Blythe and Wright 2003, p.xvi). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among: (i) website design features; (ii) userâs experience of enjoyment; and (iii) informal learning such as that occurring with a museum website. A cross-over experimental design was employed with web pages from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan. Results indicated that, as expected, a multimedia game-based âlessonâ led to both more enjoyment and more learning than a text-based âlessonâ. With text-based pages more enjoyment also meant more learning. The situation was complicated, however, with the game-based pages, as results were not in the expected direction. The study points to the need for more research in this complex area
Maximizing the Total Resolution of Graphs
A major factor affecting the readability of a graph drawing is its
resolution. In the graph drawing literature, the resolution of a drawing is
either measured based on the angles formed by consecutive edges incident to a
common node (angular resolution) or by the angles formed at edge crossings
(crossing resolution). In this paper, we evaluate both by introducing the
notion of "total resolution", that is, the minimum of the angular and crossing
resolution. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time where the
problem of maximizing the total resolution of a drawing is studied.
The main contribution of the paper consists of drawings of asymptotically
optimal total resolution for complete graphs (circular drawings) and for
complete bipartite graphs (2-layered drawings). In addition, we present and
experimentally evaluate a force-directed based algorithm that constructs
drawings of large total resolution
Ameliorative effects of Vaccaria segetalis extract on osteopenia in ovariectomized rats
The purpose of this study was to determine the ameliorative effects of a crude extract of Vaccaria segetalis (Neck.) Garcke (Caryophyllaceae) (VSE) on osteopenia in ovariectomized (OVX) rats over 12 weeks. Rats were divided into the sham and OVX groups. The OVX rats were allowed to lose bone for 6 weeks. At 6 weeks post-OVX, the OVX rats were divided into four groups treated with water, 17 beta-estradiol (30 mu g/kg, daily subcutaneous injection), or VSE (0.5 or 1.0 g/kg, daily, orally) for 6 weeks. In OVX rats, the increases of serum total cholesterol were significantly decreased by VSE or 17 beta-estradiol treatment. There were decreases in bone density and calcium content, including the left femur and the fourth lumbar vertebra, when compared with the sham control rats. Treatment with 17 beta-estradiol or VSE ameliorated these changes induced by OVX. In addition, ovariectomy increased urinary deoxypyridinoline (DPD) amounts (P < 0.001). The increases were suppressed by 17 beta-estradiol and 0.5 or 1.0 g/kg VSE (P < 0.01, P < 0.05, P < 0.01, respectively). Our results demonstrated that VSE ameliorates ovariectomy-induced osteopenia by inhibition of bone resorption
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