Comparative Economic Systems: Culture, Wealth and Power in the 21st Century explains how culture, in various guises, modifies the standard rules of economic engagement, creating systems that differ ...markedly from those predicted by the theory of general market competition. This analysis is grounded in established principles, but also assumes that individual utility seeking may be culturally determined, that political goals may take precedence over public well being, and that business misconduct may be socially detrimental.
Over the last decade the neo-institutionalist literature on comparative capitalism has developed into an influential body of work. In this book, Colin Crouch assesses this literature, and proposes a ...major re-orientation of the field. Crouch critiques many aspects of this work and finds a way of modelling how creative actors trying to achieve change - institutional entrepreneurs - tackle these constraints. Central to the account is the concept of governance, as it is by recombining governance mechanisms that these entrepreneurs must achieve their goals. In seeking how to analyse the spaces in which they operate, Crouch criticises and deconstructs some dominant approaches in socio-political analysis: to typologies, to elective affinity and complementarity, to path dependence. He develops a theory of governance modes, which includes potentially decomposing them into their core components. Finally, he proposes a reorientation of the neo-institutionalist research programme to take more account of detailed diversity and potentiality for change. The book is primarily theoretical, but it makes liberal use of examples, particularly from studies of local economic development and politics. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/management/9780199286652/toc.html
The Synthetic Control Method (SCM) has become a widely used tool in both identifying and estimating the causal impact of policies, shocks, and interventions of interest on economic and social ...outcomes. The technique has become particularly popular in estimating the effect of these shocks on a single treated unit. As a transparent and data‐driven statistical technique, the goal of the SCM is to construct an artificial control group for the treated unit that has similar pretreatment characteristics but has not undergone the treatment itself thus developing a plausible counterfactual against which impacts resulting from structural changes can be evaluated as part of a historical investigation. The method works well when the control group balances pre‐intervention outcomes and auxiliary covariates as much as possible. In spite of its widespread adoption, the use of the SCM in comparative economic history has lagged behind other areas of economics. In this article, we critically review the properties of the SCM and discuss the necessary conditions for a plausible application of the technique to comparative economic history in support of research designed to answer some of the long‐running historical questions and demonstrate the potential to use SCM in comparative economic history studies by estimating the impact of the oil discovery in the 1920s on Venezuela's long‐term economic growth.
In this remarkable collection of essays, Michael Burawoy develops the extended case method by connecting his own experiences among workers of the world to the great transformations of the twentieth ...century—the rise and fall of the Soviet Union and its satellites, the reconstruction of U.S. capitalism, and the African transition to post-colonialism in Zambia. Burawoy's odyssey began in 1968 in the Zambian copper mines and proceeded to Chicago's South Side, where he worked as a machine operator and enjoyed a unique perspective on the stability of advanced capitalism. In the 1980s, this perspective was deepened by contrast with his work in diverse Hungarian factories. Surprised by the collapse of socialism in Hungary in 1989, he journeyed in 1991 to the Soviet Union, which by the end of the year had unexpectedly dissolved. He then spent the next decade studying how the working class survived the catastrophic collapse of the Soviet economy. These essays, presented with a perspective that has benefited from time and rich experience, offer ethnographers a theory and a method for developing novel understandings of epochal change.
Investors, regulators, academics, and researchers all emphasize the importance of financial statement comparability. However, an empirical construct of comparability is typically not specified. In ...addition, little evidence exists on the benefits of comparability to users. This study attempts to fill these gaps by developing a measure of financial statement comparability. Empirically, this measure is positively related to analyst following and forecast accuracy, and negatively related to analysts' dispersion in earnings forecasts. These results suggest that financial statement comparability lowers the cost of acquiring information, and increases the overall quantity and quality of information available to analysts about the firm.
Entrepreneurship has been the engine propelling much of the growth of the business sector as well as a driving force behind the rapid expansion of the social sector. This article offers a comparative ...analysis of commercial and social entrepreneurship using a prevailing analytical model from commercial entrepreneurship. The analysis highlights key similarities and differences between these two forms of entrepreneurship and presents a framework on how to approach the social entrepreneurial process more systematically and effectively. We explore the implications of this analysis of social entrepreneurship for both practitioners and researchers.
The paper deals with the recent resurgence of interest in the concept of “socialism” from an economic perspective. The most significant contemporary proposals for a new model of socialism are ...surveyed across five major thematic areas: socialism as a voluntary endeavor and socialist ethics; socialism as a process of democratization; socialism, efficiency and profit maximization; the problem of planning and the new calculation debate; and, socialism as a means versus socialism as an end. A common framework to assess the new blueprints is constructed to identify the likely directions of the research on these themes in the near future.
This study examines whether application of IFRS by non-US firms results in accounting amounts comparable to those resulting from application of US GAAP by US firms. IFRS firms have greater accounting ...system and value relevance comparability with US firms when IFRS firms apply IFRS than when they applied domestic standards. Comparability is greater for firms that adopt IFRS mandatorily, firms in common law and high enforcement countries, and in more recent years. Earnings smoothing, accrual quality, and timeliness are potential sources of the greater comparability. Although application of IFRS has enhanced financial reporting comparability with US firms, significant differences remain.
► Accounting system and value relevance comparability with US firms is greater when IFRS firms apply IFRS. ► Comparability is greater for mandatory adopters, for firms in common law and high enforcement countries, and recent years. ► Earnings smoothing, accrual quality, and timeliness are potential sources of the greater comparability. ► Widespread application of IFRS has enhanced financial reporting comparability, but differences remain.
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