When Preference Is Not Satisfied but the Individual Is: How Power Distance Affects Person-Job Fit

One aspect of person-job fit reflects congruence between personal preferences and job design; as congruence increases so should satisfaction. We hypothesized that power distance would moderate whether fit is related to satisfaction with degree of job formalization. We obtained measures of job-formalization, fit and satisfaction, as well as organizational commitment from employees (n = 772) in a multinational firm with subsidiaries in six countries. Confirming previous findings, individuals from low power-distance cultures were most satisfied with increasing fit. However, the extent to which individuals from high power-distance cultures were satisfied did not necessarily depend on increasing fit, but mostly on whether the degree of formalization received was congruent to cultural norms. Irrespective of culture, satisfaction with formalization predicted a broad measure of organizational commitment. Apart from our novel extension of fit theory, we show how moderation can be tested in the context of polynomial response surface regression and how specific hypotheses can be tested regarding different points on the response surface.

When in peril, retrench: Testing the portfolio channel of contagion

One plausible mechanism through which financial market shocks may propagate across countriesis through the impact that past gains and losses may have on investors risk aversion and behavior. This paper presents a stylized model illustrating how heterogeneous changes in investors risk aversion affect portfolio allocation decisions and stock prices. Our empirical findings suggest that when funds returns are below average, they adjust their holdings toward the average (or benchmark) portfolio. In so doing, funds tend to sell the assets of countries in which they were overweight , increasing their exposure to countries in which they were underweight. Based on this insight, the paper constructs an index of financial interdependence which reflects the extent to which countries share overexposed funds. The index helps in explain the pattern of stock market comovement across countries. Moreover, a comparison of this interdependence measure to indices of trade or commercial bank linkages indicates that our index can improve predictions about which countries are more likely to be affected by contagion from crisis centers.

Pitfalls to avoid when measuring institutions: Is "Doing Business" damaging business?

Over recent years, both governments and international aid organizations have been devoting large amounts of resources to simplifying the procedures for setting up and formalizing firms. Many of these actions have focused on reducing the initial costs of setting up the firm, disregarding the more important role of business registers as a source of reliable information for judges, government departments and, above all, other firms. This reliable information is essential for reducing transaction costs in future dealings with all sorts of economic agents, both public and private. The priorities of reform policies should therefore be thoroughly reviewed, stressing the value of the legal institutions rather than trivializing them as is often the case.

Intergenerational justice when future worlds are uncertain

Let there be a positive (exogenous) probability that, at each date, the human species will disappear.We postulate an Ethical Observer (EO) who maximizes intertemporal welfare under thisuncertainty, with expected-utility preferences. Various social welfare criteria entail alternativevon Neumann- Morgenstern utility functions for the EO: utilitarian, Rawlsian, and an extensionof the latter that corrects for the size of population. Our analysis covers, first, a cake-eating economy(without production), where the utilitarian and Rawlsian recommend the same allocation.Second, a productive economy with education and capital, where it turns out that the recommendationsof the two EOs are in general different. But when the utilitarian program diverges, thenwe prove it is optimal for the extended Rawlsian to ignore the uncertainty concerning the possibledisappearance of the human species in the future. We conclude by discussing the implicationsfor intergenerational welfare maximization in the presence of global warming.

When "hope springs eternal": The role of chance in risk taking

In most naturally occurring situations, success depends on both skill and chance. We contrastexperimental market entry decisions where payoffs depend on skill as opposed tocombinations of skill and chance. Our data show differential attitudes toward chance by thosewhose self-assessed skills are low and high. Making chance more important induces greateroptimism for the former who start taking more risk, while the latter maintain a belief that highlevels of skill are sufficient to overcome the vagaries of chance. Finally, although weobserved excess entry (i.e., too many participants entered markets), this could not beattributed to overconfidence.

Non-stationary job search when jobs are not forever: A structural estimation

This paper considers a job search model where the environment is notstationary along the unemployment spell and where jobs do not lastforever. Under this circumstance, reservation wages can be lower thanwithout separations, as in a stationary environment, but they can alsobe initially higher because of the non-stationarity of the model. Moreover,the time-dependence of reservation wages is stronger than with noseparations. The model is estimated structurally using Spanish data forthe period 1985-1996. The main finding is that, although the decrease inreservation wages is the main determinant of the change in the exit ratefrom unemployment for the first four months, later on the only effect comesfrom the job offer arrival rate, given that acceptance probabilities areroughly equal to one.

When are layoffs acceptable? Evidence from a quasi-experiment

Many authors have discussed a decline in internal labor markets and an apparent shift to a new employment contract, characterized by less commitment between employer and employee and more portable skills. These discussions occur without much evidence on what employment contract employees currently feel is fair. We perfomed quasi-experimental surveys to study when employees in the U.S. andCanada feel that layoffs are fair.Layoffs were perceived as more fair if they were due to lower product demand than if the result of employee suggestions. This result appears to be solely due to norms of reciprocity (companiesshould not punish employees for their efforts), rather than norms of sharing rents, as new technology was also considered a justification for layoffs.Consistent with theories of distributive and procedural equity, layoffs were perceived as more fair if the CEO voluntarily shared the pain. CEO bonuses due to layoffs lowered their reported fairness only slightly.Respondents in Silicon Valley were not more accepting of layoffsthan were those in Canada on average, although the justificationsconsidered valid differed slightly.

Ignoring information in binary choice with continuous variables: When is less 'more'?

When can a single variable be more accurate in binary choice than multiple sources of information? We derive analytically the probability that a single variable (SV) will correctly predict one of two choices when both criterion and predictor are continuous variables. We further provide analogous derivations for multiple regression (MR) and equal weighting (EW) and specify the conditions under which the models differ in expected predictive ability. Key factors include variability in cue validities, intercorrelation between predictors, and the ratio of predictors to observations in MR. Theory and simulations are used to illustrate the differential effects of these factors. Results directly address why and when one-reason decision making can be more effective than analyses that use more information. We thus provide analytical backing to intriguing empirical results that, to date, have lacked theoretical justification. There are predictable conditions for which one should expect less to be more.

When rare is just a matter of sampling: unexpected dominance of clubtail dragonflies (Odonata, Gomphidae) through different collecting methods at Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

When rare is just a matter of sampling: Unexpected dominance of clubtail dragonflies (Odonata, Gomphidae) through different collecting methods at Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Capture of dragonfly adults during two short expeditions to Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais State, using three distinct collecting methodsaerial nets, Malaise and light sheet trapsis reported. The results are outstanding due the high number of species of Gomphidae (7 out of 26 Odonata species), including a new species of Cyanogomphus Selys, 1873, obtained by two non-traditional collecting methods. Because active collecting with aerial nets is the standard approach for dragonfly inventories, we discuss some aspects of the use of traps, comparing our results with those in the literature, suggesting they should be used as complementary methods in faunistic studies. Furthermore, Zonophora campanulata annulata Belle, 1983 is recorded for the first time from Minas Gerais State and taxonomic notes about Phyllogomphoides regularis (Selys, 1873) and Progomphus complicatus Selys, 1854 are also given.

Epilepsy meets cancer: when, why, and what to do about it?

The lifetime risk of having epileptic seizures is profoundly increased in patients with cancer: about 20% of all patients with systemic cancer may develop brain metastases. These patients and those with primary brain tumours have a lifetime risk of epilepsy of 20-80%. Moreover, exposure to chemotherapy or radiotherapy to the brain, cancer-related metabolic disturbances, stroke, and infection can provoke seizures. The management of epilepsy in patients with cancer includes diagnosis and treatment of the underlying cerebral pathological changes, secondary prophylaxis with antiepileptic drugs, and limiting of the effect of epilepsy and its treatment on the efficacy and tolerability of anticancer treatments, cognitive function, and quality of life. Because of the concern of drug-drug interactions, the pharmacological approach to epilepsy requires a multidisciplinary approach, specifically in a setting of rapidly increasing choices of agents both to treat cancer and cancer-associated epilepsy.

Incidence and types of illness when travelling to the tropics : a prospective controlled study of children and their parents

RESUME De plus en plus de familles se rendent vers des destinations tropicales, s'exposant à des agents infectieux et des maladies tropicales qu'ils ne rencontrent pas chez eux. Nous avons étudié 157 enfants (0-16 ans) et leurs parents partant pour les tropiques, qui ont tous consulté une clinique pré-voyage et qui étaient généralement compliants aux conseils prodigués. Les taux d'incidence de maladies communes chez les enfants et les adultes étaient respectivement de 16.9 (14.3-19.7) et 15.1 (12.7-17.8) épisodes/ 100 personnes-semaines. La diarrhée, les douleurs abdominales et la fièvre représentaient les plaintes les plus fréquentes. Il n'y avait pas de différence significative d'incidence des épisodes morbides entre les enfants et les adultes sauf pour la fièvre (plus fréquente chez les enfants). La plupart des épisodes avaient lieu dans les dix premiers jours du voyage. L'incidence de morbidité similaire chez les enfants et les adultes ainsi que l'aspect bénin des épisodes remet en question l'opinion selon laquelle il n'est pas sage de voyager avec des jeunes enfants.