Employee referrals and the inter-industry wage structure

This paper investigates the role of employee referrals in the labor market.Using an original data set, I find that industries that pay wage premia andhave characteristics associated with high-wage sectors rely mainly on employeereferrals to fill jobs. Moreover, unemployment rates are higher in industries which use employee referrals more extensively. This paper develops an equilibrium matching model which can explain these empirical regularities. Inthis model, the matching process sorts heterogeneous firms and workers into two distinct groups: referrals match "good" jobs to "good" workers, while formalmethods (e.g., newspaper ads and employment agencies) match less-attractive jobs to disadvantaged workers. Thus, well-connected workers who learn quickly aboutjob opportunities use referrals to jump job queues, while those who are less well placed in the labor market search for jobs through formal methods. The split of firms and workers between referrals and formal search is, however, not necessarily efficient. Congestion externalities in referral search imply that unemployment would be closer to the optimal rate if firms and workers 'at themargin' searched formally.

Processes and consequences in business ethical dilemmas: The oil industry and climate changes

This paper proposes a framework to examine business ethical dilemmas andbusiness attitudes towards such dilemmas. Business ethical dilemmas canbe understood as reflecting a contradiction between a socially detrimentalprocess and a self-interested profitable consequence. This representationallows us to distinguish two forms of behavior differing by whetherpriority is put on consequences or on processes. We argue that theseforms imply very different business attitudes towards society:controversial or competitive for the former and aligned or cooperativefor the latter. These attitudes are then analyzed at the discursive level in order to address the question of good faith in businessargumentation, i.e. to which extent are these attitudes consistent withactual business behaviors. We argue that consequential attitudes mostlyinvolve communication and lobbying actions aiming at eluding the dilemma.Therefore, the question of good faith for consequential attitudes liesin the consistency between beliefs and discourse. On the other hand,procedural attitudes acknowledge the dilemma and claim a change of theprocess of behavior. They thus raise the question of the consistencybetween discourses and actual behavior. We apply this processes/consequencesframework to the case of the oil industry s climate change ethical dilemmawhich comes forth as a dilemma between emitting greenhouse gases and making more profits . And we examine the different attitudes of two oilcorporations-BP Amoco and ExxonMobil-towards the dilemma.

Theimpact of industry collaboration on research: Evidence from engineering academics in the UK

We study the impact of university-industry research collaborations on academicoutput, in terms of productivity and direction of research. We report findings froma longitudinal dataset on all the researchers from the engineering departments inthe UK in the last 20 years. We control for the endogeneity caused by the dynamicnature of research and the existence of reverse causality. Our results indicate thatresearchers with industrial links publish significantly more. Productivity, though,is higher for low levels of industry involvement. Moreover, growing ties with theindustry skew research towards a more applied approach.

Estimating cross-industry cross-country models using benchmark industry characteristics

International industry data permits testing whether the industry-specific impact of cross-countrydifferences in institutions or policies is consistent with economic theory. Empirical implementationrequires specifying the industry characteristics that determine impact strength. Most of the literature has been using US proxies of the relevant industry characteristics. We show that usingindustry characteristics in a benchmark country as a proxy of the relevant industry characteristicscan result in an attenuation bias or an amplification bias. We also describe circumstances allowingfor an alternative approach that yields consistent estimates. As an application, we reexamine theinfluential conjecture that financial development facilitates the reallocation of capital from decliningto expanding industries.

Logistics integration processes in the food industry

This paper analyses the integration process that firms follow toimplement Supply Chain Management (SCM). This study has beeninspired in the integration model proposed by Stevens (1989). Hesuggests that companies internally integrate first and then extendintegration to other supply chain members, such as customers andsuppliers.To analyse the integration process a survey was conducted amongSpanish food manufacturers. The results show that there are companiesin three different integration stages. In stage I, companies are notintegrated. In stage II, companies have a medium-high level of internalintegration in the Logistics-Production interface, a low level ofinternal integration in the Logistics-Marketing interface, and a mediumlevel of external integration. And, in stage III, companies have highlevels of integration in both internal interfaces and in some of theirsupply chain relationships.

Endogeneous matching in university-industry collaboration: Theory and empirical evidence from the UK

We develop a two-sided matching model to analyze collaboration between heterogeneousacademics and firms. We predict a positive assortative matching in terms of both scientificability and affinity for type of research, but negative assortative in terms of ability on one sideand affinity in the other. In addition, the most able and most applied academics and the mostable and most basic firms shall collaborate rather than stay independent. Our predictionsreceive strong support from the analysis of the teams of academics and firms that proposeresearch projects to the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Animal Industry News, 2009, Vol. 10, no. 1

Newsletter produced by Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship about the animal industry in Iowa.

Animal Industry News, February 2000, Vol. 1, No. 1

Newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Animal Industry News, March 2007, Vol. 8, No. 1

Newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Animal Industry News, 2010, Vol. 11, no. 1

Newsletter produced by Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship about the animal industry in Iowa.

The database industry in Catalonia: a ten year overview

Reviews growth in database production in Catalonia (ASCII, videotext, CD-ROM) over the past decade, with particular attention to the level of development, classification of producers, distribution, users and language. Examines the principal problems affecting the Catalan context: the lack of an informationand documentation policy, deficiencies in distribution of databases, the special situation in telecommunications, insufficient financial resources and the lack of specialized personnel.

Advantages of using TEM when analysing asbestos in ambient air

Asbestos is an industrial term to describe some fibrous silicate minerals, which belong to the amphiboles or serpentines group. Six minerals are defined as asbestos including: chrysotile (white asbestos), amosite (grunerite, brown asbestos), crocidolite (riebeckite, blue asbestos), anthophyllite, tremolite and actonolite, but only in their fibrous form. In 1973, the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) classified the asbestos minerals as carcinogenic substances (IARC,1973). The Swiss threshold limit (VME) is 0.01 fibre/ml (SUVA, 2007). Asbestos in Switzerland has been prohibited since 1990, but this doesn't mean we are over asbestos. Up to 20'000 tonnes/year of asbestos was imported between the end of WWII and 1990. Today, all this asbestos is still present in buildings renovated or built during that period of time. During restorations, asbestos fibres can be emitted into the air. The quantification of the emission has to be evaluated accurately. To define the exact risk on workers or on the population is quite hard, as many factors must be considered. The methods to detect asbestos in the air or in materials are still being discussed today. Even though the EPA 600 method (EPA, 1993) has proved itself for the analysis of bulk materials, the method for air analysis is more problematic. In Switzerland, the recommended method is VDI 3492 using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), but we have encountered many identifications problems with this method. For instance, overloaded filters or long-term exposed filters cannot be analysed. This is why the Institute for Work and Health (IST) has adapted the ISO10312 method: ambient air - determination of asbestos fibres - direct-transfer transmission electron microscopy (TEM) method (ISO, 1995). Quality controls have already be done at a French institute (INRS), which validate our practical experiences. The direct-transfer from MEC's filters on TEM's supports (grids) is a delicate part of the preparation for analysis and requires a lot of trials in the laboratory. IST managed to do proper grid preparations after about two years of development. In addition to the preparation of samples, the micro-analysis (EDX), the micro-diffraction and the morphologic analysis (figure 1.a-c) are also to be mastered. Theses are the three elements, which prove the different features of asbestos identification. The SEM isn't able to associate those three analyses. The TEM is also able to make the difference between artificial and natural fibres that have very similar chemical compositions as well as differentiate types of asbestos. Finally the experiments concluded by IST show that TEM is the best method to quantify and identify asbestos in the air.

Potential use of a chemical leaching reject from a kaolin industry as agricultural fertilizer

The industrial refining of kaolin involves the removal of iron oxides and hydroxides along with other impurities that cause discoloration of the final product and depreciate its commercial value, particularly undesirable if destined to the paper industry. The chemical leaching in the industrial processing requires treatments with sodium hyposulfite, metallic zinc, or sulfuric and phosphoric acids, in order to reduce, dissolve and remove ferruginous compounds. To mitigate the environmental impact, the acidic effluent from the leaching process must be neutralized, usually with calcium oxide. The resulting solid residue contains phosphorous, zinc, and calcium, among other essential nutrients for plant growth, suggesting its use as a macro and micronutrient source. Samples of such a solid industrial residue were used here to evaluate their potential as soil fertilizer in an incubation greenhouse experiment with two soil samples (clayey and medium-textured). The small pH shift generated by applying the residue to the soil was not a limiting factor for its use in agriculture. The evolution of the concentrations of exchangeable calcium, and phosphorous and zinc extractability by Mehlich-1 extractant during the incubation period confirms the potential use of this industrial residue as agricultural fertilizer.

The so-called "Spanish model" - Tobacco industry strategies and its impact in Europe and Latin America

Background To demonstrate the tobacco industry rationale behind the "Spanish model" on non-smokers' protection in hospitality venues and the impact it had on some European and Latin American countries between 2006 and 2011. Methods Tobacco industry documents research triangulated against news and media reports. Results As an alternative to the successful implementation of 100% smoke-free policies, several European and Latin American countries introduced partial smoking bans based on the so-called "Spanish model", a legal framework widely advocated by parts of the hospitality industry with striking similarities to "accommodation programmes" promoted by the tobacco industry in the late 1990s. These developments started with the implementation of the Spanish tobacco control law (Ley 28/2005) in 2006 and have increased since then. Conclusion The Spanish experience demonstrates that partial smoking bans often resemble tobacco industry strategies and are used to spread a failed approach on international level. Researchers, advocates and policy makers should be aware of this ineffective policy.