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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Aleksandra Boutin |
| Keywords: | technology licensing; patent pools; substitutes and complements; independent licensing; price caps; joint marketing |
| JEL: | K11 K21 L12 L24 L41 M20 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/159222&r=law |
| By: | TODA Akihito; TSURU Kotaro |
| Abstract: | We investigate workers' responses to and evaluation of the change in the Labor Contract Act in 2013 through the result of a web survey conducted by the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). The revised Labor Contract Act (i) stipulates that temporary workers, after five years of work, are allowed to ask employers for permanent status and employers must comply (five years rule), (ii) restricts the rejection of the extension of temporary contracts, and (iii) prohibits unbalanced treatment between permanent workers and temporary workers only due to the length of their contract periods. The results show that around the half of the respondents do not know the effect of the revision, and, among the other half, the percentage of consent is more than that of non-consent toward each content of the revision. Considering the fact that some workers do not know the period of their contract, it is necessary to notify them of the contents of their labor contract. Regarding the five years rule, some temporary workers are afraid of their contracts being terminated before the end of their five years of employment with the company. Others have an opinion that they should not ask for permanent status after five years of work, which implies that policy should take care of the diversified opinions. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rpdpjp:14004&r=law |
| By: | Camacho, N.M.A.; de Jong, M.G.; Stremersch, S. |
| Abstract: | Customers often receive expert advice related to their health, finances, taxes or legal procedures, to name just a few. A noble stance taken by some is that experts should empower customers to make their own decisions. In this article, we distinguish informational from decisional empowerment and study whether empowerment leads customers to adhere more or less to expert advice. We empirically test our model using a unique dataset involving 11,735 respondents in 17 countries on four continents. In the context of consumer adherence to doctors’ therapy advice (patient non-adherence to doctor advice may cost about $564 billion globally to the pharmaceutical industry every year), we find that decisional empowerment lowers adherence to expert advice. The effect of informational empowerment varies predictably across cultures and is only universally beneficial when initiated by the customer. These findings have important implications for professional service providers. |
| Keywords: | relationship, services marketing, expert services, professional services, advice-taking, advice-giving, adherence to expert advice, empowerment, delegation, international marketing research, cross-cultural studies, health marketing, consumer behavior |
| Date: | 2014–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:eureri:50909&r=law |
| By: | Guido de Blasio (Bank of Italy); Samuele Poy (FBK-IRVAPP) |
| Abstract: | This paper measures the impact of wage zones – minimum wage differentials at the province level – on Italy's local labor markets during the 1950s. Using a spatial regression discontinuity design, it finds that for the industrial sectors covered under wage zones there was an increase in employment when one crossed the border from a high-wage province into a low-wage one; the effect diminished, however, as the distance from the boundary increased. The paper also illustrates that the impact on the overall (non-farm) private sector, which includes both covered and uncovered sectors, was basically zero. On balance, the scheme generated some reallocation of economic activity, albeit confined to areas close to the province border. |
| Keywords: | minimum wages, regional economic activity, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | C14 J38 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_953_14&r=law |