Volume 47 (2015): Issue 1 (September 2015)

This paper develops a simple model of trade and “quality-ladders” growth without scale effects to study the implications of general purpose technologies (GPTs) for international trade. GPTs refer to a certain type of drastic innovations, such as electrification, the transistor, and the Internet, that are characterized by the pervasiveness in use, innovational complementarities, and technological dynamism. The model presents a two-country (Home and Foreign) dynamic general equilibrium framework and incorporates GPT diffusion within Home that exhibits endogenous Schumpeterian growth. The model analyzes the long-run and transitional dynamic effects of a new GPT on the pattern of trade and relative wages. The main findings of the paper are: 1) when the GPT diffusion across industries is governed by S-curve dynamics, there are two steady-state equilibria: the initial steadystate arises before the adoption of the new GPT and the final one is reached after the GPT diffusion process has been completed, 2) when all industries at Home have adopted the new GPT, Home enjoys comparative advantage in a greater range of industries compared to Foreign, 3) during the transitional dynamics, Foreign gains back its competitiveness in some of the industries that lost its comparative advantage to Home.

The issue of systemic risk regulation and management has gained substantial attention following the latest financial crisis. In the case of the EU it became crucial to deal with the systemic risk problem on a supranational level since the banking sectors of the member countries are highly integrated. While substantial measures have been undertaken to mitigate systemic risk in the EU, the discussion of further reforms continues. This study’s goal is to assess basic indicators of systemic risk in the EU banking sector by using three complementary methods: a forward-looking stock market data analysis, an EU-stress test analysis for systemically important banks, and an empirical investigation of the relation between banking regulation and systemic risk as measured by bank balance sheet indicators. The results lead to a recommendation of further necessary regulatory reforms, which appear in the conclusion.

In this paper we test whether inter-country variation in individuals’ tendency to conform, as measured by the Lie (social desirability) scale used in the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, can explain differences in the propensity to employ corporate earnings management around the world. Such a link is feasible, given that survey data suggest executives tend to be under severe pressure to meet earnings benchmarks, to which they often succumb by engaging in earnings management (to the detriment of the company’s long-term prospects). We hypothesize that in countries where the propensity to act in a socially desirable (outsider-satisfying) way is stronger, earnings management should be more prevalent. Research results support our hypothesis, and demonstrate the existence of a positive relationship between the prevalence of earnings management in a country and the mean score of individuals from that country on the Eysenck Lie scale, which further evidences that capital market pressure is a significant determinant of earnings management.

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether susceptibility to selected behavioral biases (overconfidence, mental accounting and sunk-cost fallacy) is correlated with the Eysenck’s [1978] personality traits (impulsivity, venturesomeness, and empathy). This study was conducted on a sample of 90 retail investors frequently investing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Participants filled out a survey made up of two parts: 1) three situational exercises, which assessed susceptibility to behavioral biases and 2) an Impulsiveness Questionnaire, which measures impulsivity, venturesomeness, and empathy. The results demonstrated the relationship between venturesomeness and susceptibility to all behavioral biases explored in this study. We find that higher level of venturesomeness was linked with a lower probability of all behavioral biases included in this study.

The main purpose of the article is to examine workers’ mobility expectations under the risk of investments in human capital. We focus on the earnings risk associated with investments in human capital. In particular, we attempt to identify the specific risk for occupational groups and then conduct a descriptive analysis of the mobility expectations in occupational groups with different risk levels. The empirical analysis is based on the cross-sectional data from the survey Bilans Kapitału Ludzkiego (Human Capital Balance).

This paper concerns the problem of generation gap management resulting from personnel restructuring in foundries in Poland. Structural changes to steelworks led to a sharp decline in employment caused by decreased steelworks production. New hiring was limited as a part of employment rationalisation in the steelworks sector. Such personnel policy eventually led to a generation gap. Ratios between individual age groups of employees are imbalanced at steelworks: the numbers of young personnel are low and of those aged 50+ are high. This research forecasts changes in employment levels for the 2013-2019 period, aimed at closing the generation gap. The paper consists of three parts: (1) a descriptive analysis of labor market demographics in Poland’s steel industry; (2) proposed methodology for HR management model, and (3) econometric models forecasting labor demographics in Poland’s steel industry.