"Although this question arises frequently in applied work, there is no universal agreement on how to quantify cyclical variation in global real economic activity. We show how such a measure must be ...constructed in order to be useful for modeling industrial commodity prices. We compare a wide range of alternative measures discussed in the literature and assess their merits for applied work on commodity prices. Among these indicators, we stress the advantages of the widely used Kilian index of global real economic activity, of indices based on real commodity prices and, to a lesser extent, of proxies for global industrial production'--Non-technical summary, p. 1.
How should insecure leaders deal with labor rights in the face of an economic downturn? Economic theory suggests that suppressing labor rights boosts the economy and that economic growth also dampens ...violent political opposition. As a result, the suppression of labor rights should contribute to more job security for leaders. However, some other scholars maintain that more repression actually increases the probability of opposition. As a result, the policy implication of this argument is that leaders would be better off if they choose to improve the protection of labor rights. Our simple formal model demonstrates that the second argument is more likely to be the case. The probit analysis of 146 countries from 1984 to 2004 bears out this prediction. We also find that this relationship is stronger in non-democracies than in democracies. Our study appears to provide some support to Bueno de Mesquita et al.’s (
2005
) statement that policies that are good for political survival may not necessarily be good for the economy.
Purpose – The aims of this paper are twofold. First, the trends and patterns in key variables of performance of sample software companies during the study period are overviewed. Second, the ...determinants of information technology (IT) export across the sample companies during the period of economic slowdown have been analyzed. Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data have been used in the study. Regression analysis is concerned with the study of the dependence of one variable, the dependent variable, on one or more other variables, the explanatory variables, with a view to estimating and/or predicting the mean or average value of the former in terms of the known or fixed values of the latter. The data collected through survey were scrutinized, and statistical software were used for analysis. The variables documented in the study include the exports, capacity utilization, profits, exchange rate and dummy for recession, dummy for countries of export. Findings – The Indian IT sector was set for smaller growth due to global economic slowdown. Large IT service players were able to some extent cope with tighter client spends, but it was smaller IT companies which were facing the severe heat. Production of sample companies decreased at an average of 34 per cent in 2008. The profits of the sample companies have decreased by 34.34 and 78.67 per cent, respectively, during 2008. In case of determinants of software exports, it is observed that capacity utilization is positively related to exports. The estimated mean of exports increases by about 1.370. Originality/value – This paper focuses on originality in the sphere of scientific work. Secondary data have been used in the study. The data were collected from the Annual Reports of four randomly selected software companies. Both face-to-face interview and on-line survey based on a structured questionnaire to the sample companies were used to collect the data. All the work has been done in original by the authors and the work used has been acknowledged properly.
Various crises hit China in 2009, including an economic slowdown, social unrest, ethnic conflict, and political challenges from dissidents. The People's Republic of China's 60th anniversary was ...shadowed by the regime's fears of instability. The partystate, however, was able to manage the crises capably, although its methods yielded further problems.
The aim of this study was to identify the characteristic features of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which contribute to the decrease of profits of those SMEs during a period of reduced economic ...activity. The investigation was based on a sample of 1107 SMEs functioning in the Polish market. The empirical evidence found the type of manager, market range and legal form as determining factors of SME profits during a period of reduced economic activity. The received results led to the development of a model of firm-specific variables that resul in the decrease of SMEs profits through an economic slowdown.
The article is devoted to the analysis of the key reasons for the slowdown in the global economy. According to the analysis, the slowdown in the global economy is caused by the following seven key ...reasons: trade wars and the aggravation of trade relations in the international economic market; global instability and technological uncertainty; risks of increased financial uncertainty; the impossibility on the part of some countries to overcome the consequences of the global crisis and the sanctions policy of the West; reformatting of economic activity in a political manner; wave of debt accumulation in developing countries; slowdown in labor productivity growth. The authors conclude that the global economic slowdown trend has a long-term perspective.
The aim of this study was to identify the characteristic features of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which contribute to the decrease of profits of those SMEs during a period of reduced economic ...activity. The investigation was based on a sample of 1107 SMEs functioning in the Polish market. The empirical evidence found the type of manager, market range and legal form as determining factors of SME profits during a period of reduced economic activity. The received results led to the development of a model of firm-specific variables that resul in the decrease of SMEs profits through an economic slowdown.
Clouds over China Hughes, James H
The Journal of social, political, and economic studies,
10/2015, Letnik:
40, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This article draws on recent news reports, many of them from the Taipei Times, to provide an extensive review of economic conditions in China. It tells also of China's relationships with other ...countries, especially in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This review gets into such diverse matters as China's "new normal" of slowed GDP growth, the anti-corruption campaign currently being conducted under the presidency of Xi Jinping, China's sponsorship of the Asian Infrastructure Bank, the role of State Owned Enterprises, the situation regarding China's foreign exchange reserves, China's current anti-Western rhetoric, and the revival of Confucianism. From all of this, the author concludes that there are "clouds over China" that reflect the unsettled nature of much of its economics and politics.
Paper discusses Polish consumers’ behaviour and preferences for retail channel and format choice on the background of relevant literature. Results include perception maps created using ...multidimensional scaling (MDS) on data from two studies: in 2008 and 2012, giving possibility to assess changes at the economic slowdown. Two-dimensional solutions are fitting the data very well and allow to describe compared formats in terms of perceived level of personal interactions with the sales personnel, and perceived total cost for consumer. During analysed period perception of discount stores substantially changed – previously perceived as similar to marketplace, now they are closer convenience stores. Virtual channel formats are still perceived as separate cluster in comparison to physical ones. Declared shopping frequency for 15 formats from both channels is compared with emotional attitudes toward them. Inaddition, UNIANOVA procedure has been used to find connections with shopping frequency and demographic variables as well as decision-making styles.
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