Vienna University of Economics and Business
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mistr: A Computational Framework for Mixture and Composite Distributions
Get PDFFinite mixtures and composite distributions allow to model the probabilistic representation of data with more generality than simple distributions and are useful to consider in a wide range of applications. The R package mistr provides an extensible computational framework for creating, transforming, and evaluating these models, together with multiple methods for their visualization and description. In this paper we present the main computational framework of the package and illustrate its application. In addition, we provide and show functions for data modeling using two specific composite distributions as well as a numerical example where a composite distribution is estimated to describe the log-returns of selected stocks
Labour markets in a Post-Keynesian growth model: the effects of endogenous productivity growth and working time reduction
Get PDFWe study endogenous employment and distribution dynamics in a Post-Keynesian model of Kalecki-Steindl tradition. Productivity adjustments stabilize employment and the labour share in the long run: technological change allows firms to replenish the reserve army of workers in struggle over income shares and thereby keep wage demands in check.
We discuss stability conditions and the equilibrium dynamics. This allows us to study how legal working time and its reduction affect the equilibrium. We find that a demand shock is likely to lower the profit share and increase the employment rate. A supply shock in contrast tends to have detrimental effects on employment and income distribution. Labour market institutions and a working time reduction have no long-term effect on growth, distribution and inflation in the model. The effects on the level of capital stock and output however are positive in a wage-led demand regime. Furthermore, an erosion of labour market institutions dampens inflation temporarily. The model provides possible explanations as to the causes of several current economic phenomena such as secular stagnation, digitalisation, and the break-down of the Philips curve.Series: Ecological Economic Paper
A different way of looking at things: The role of social science film in organisation studies
Get PDFDespite growing interest in the use of moving images for representing management and organisation research, films are still widely considered as an addendum to the ‘proper’ textual work of the social sciences. Drawing on our own experience in social science film production, we consider the unique epistemological opportunities afforded by the production of moving images as compared to other methods rooted in the primacy of text. We discuss the techniques of eliciting and editing (by presenting actual editing decisions in detail) as a visual method for organisation studies and its theoretical and methodological implications. We demonstrate the ways in which the act of filming facilitates the production of contextually sensitive life accounts that place participants and viewers in the picture. The main contribution of the paper lies in its explanation of the ways in which film represents epistemic knowledge in itself – a particular way of seeing and relating – without recourse to written material. This includes the potential for film to elicit understanding that could not be accessed or represented in any other way. While not minimising the challenges involved in the production and assessment of social science films, we argue that such films warrant a status similar to that of the journal article
Sustainable Industry 4.0 in Production and Operations Management: A Systematic Literature Review
Get PDFThis study draws attention to the upcoming changes within sustainable value chains and manufacturing environments caused by the digital transformation. With a special focus on Industry 4.0 (I4.0), the presented study explores the scientific progress within this research field. A systematic literature review approach using a set of predefined keywords and with several exclusion criteria was adopted in order to identify the literature that is related to sustainability in I4.0 and its impact in the area of production and operations management (P&OM). A total of 89 papers from the period 2010–2020 were identified, which were then examined along the lines of the most influential journals, key topics of the selected literature, geographical distribution, and sustainability dimensions. The analysis was executed via bibliometric and text mapping tools, namely NVivo and BibExcel. Furthermore, a focus group discussion with experts from European semiconductor manufacturing companies and researchers from several academic institutions was conducted to derive practical insights. The results of this study will contribute to the evaluation of sustainable I4.0 innovations from the past 10 years. The key issues and research gaps identified in this article will provide a reference point to encourage and guide interested researchers for future studies, thus supporting both theoretical and practical progress in this research area
COVID-19 Shutdown: die Sicht der Bürger*innen – Persönliche und gesellschaftliche Nachteile
Get PDFZielsetzung und Design: Die Umfrage (482 in Österreich lebende Personen) erhebt in Form von zwei offenen Fragen die Wahrnehmung von persönlichen und gesellschaftlichen Nachteilen in der Zeit des COVID-19 bedingten Shutdowns. Die Daten werden im Hinblick auf Inhalt und Häufigkeit für die Gesamtgruppe sowie geschichtet nach Alter und Geschlecht analysiert. Zielsetzung ist, die direkten sozialen, wirtschaftlichen, ökologischen und politischen Folgen der Krise bzw. der zur Bewältigung gesetzten Maßnahmen zu identifizieren, und für die wissenschaftliche und politische Auseinandersetzung mit Krisensituationen aufzubereiten.
Erkenntnisse: Die Ergebnisse zeigen ein gewisses Auseinanderfallen der wahrgenommenen individuellen Nachtteile und der gesellschaftlichen Nachteile: Während als die drei wichtigsten persönlichen Nachteile das Social Distancing, der Alltag in der neuen Situation und die eingeschränkte (Bewegungs)freiheit genannt werden, wird auf gesell-schaftlicher Ebene primär der wirtschaftliche Nachteil, Social Distancing und der Bereich Politik | Medien | Gesellschaft genannt
Untangling the radical imaginaries of the Indignados’ movement: commons, autonomy and ecologism
Get PDFUnder regimes of austerity, social movements' transformative eco-politics may appear endangered. What kinds of environmentalism and radical imaginaries can unfold in social movements in crisis-ridden societies? I focus on the ‘move-ment of the squares’ during its post-encampment phase, with a case study of three urban projects of the Indignados movement in Barcelona. Observation of these projects reveals the importance of three common and intertwined radical imaginaries embodied in participants’ social practices and orienting their future visions: the commons, autonomy, and ecologism. The ecologism imaginary cannot be properly understood if disembedded from the other two: the ‘Indignant’ projects constitute community structures re-embedding (re)produc-tion, jointly covering and generating needs differently, in response to the global capitalist forces that are threatening their social reproduction. Eco-politics can only be plausibly transformative if it is able to articulate a politics of intersec-tionality linking social reproduction with ecological interconnectedness and struggles against dispossessions and social injustice
Public servant stereotypes: It is not (at) all about being lazy, greedy, and corrupt
Get PDFAs stereotypes strongly influence social interactions, this study explores the stereotypical associations about public servants, and about various professions in the public sector as well as the for‐profit and non‐profit sectors. This leads to a better understanding of the theoretical and practical challenges, such as citizen behavior towards public servants, attractiveness, and political decisions about public service jobs. With a mixed‐method analysis of cognitive associations (7,470 associations by 415 respondents for 12 professions), the defining epithets of public servants are clarified, along with their positive or negative connotation. Despite the strongest associations for public servants being positive (caring, helpful, and dedicated), as an overall category, it has a less positive connotation, compared to some specific professions typical in the public sector (nurse, firefighter, and police). However, cognitive associations are substantially more positive for public servants, compared to politicians, lawyers, and salesmen
Scope of Using Autonomous Trucks and Lorries for Parcel Deliveries in Urban Settings
Get PDFCourier, express, and parcel (CEP) services represent one of the most challenging and dynamic sectors of the logistics industry. Companies of this sector must solve several challenges to keep up with the rapid changes in the market. In this context, the introduction of autonomous delivery using self-driving trucks might be an appropriate solution to overcome the problems that the industry is facing today. This paper investigates if the introduction of autonomous trucks would be feasible for deliveries in urban areas from the experts’ point of view. Furthermore, the potential advantages of such autonomous vehicles were highlighted and compared to traditional delivery methods. At the same time, barriers that could slow down or hinder such an implementation were also discovered by conducting semi-structured interviews with experts from the field. The results show that CEP companies are interested in innovative logistics solutions such as autonomous vans, especially when it comes to business-to-consumer (B2C) activities. Most of the experts acknowledge the benefits that self-driving vans could bring once on the market. Despite that, there are still some difficulties that need to be solved before actual implementation. If this type of vehicle will become the sector’s disruptor is yet to be seen
The dynamics of global R&D collaboration networks in ICT: Does China catch up with the US?
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to identify and characterize the structure and Dynamics of global R&D collaboration Networks in ICT by analyzing cross-country co-patents, with a special focus on the role of China. We employ a Social Network Analysis(SNA)perspective, using information on more than 77 thousand co-patents from 2001–2015. The seco-patents are disaggregated by three time periods and four ICT subsectors. Global measures for the net-work as a whole, as well as local measures on the positioning of countries in the networks are interpreted. The empirical results are highly interesting. First, international R&D collaboration networks in ICT show a dynamic transformation in becoming larger in magnitude (more countries but also more inter-linkages), less centralized and more densely connected, though with varying degrees across ICT subsectors. Second, the powerful position of the US weakens relatively compared to other, increasingly connected countries, in particular China. While China has already surpassed the US in total patenting in ICT in 2015, China is now also catching up from a Network perspective shown by its growing central position over the observed time period
The impact of building location on green certification price premiums: Evidence from three European countries
Get PDFGreen building certification has gained global prominence in the wake of the recent calls for ensuring the
sustainable development of expanding urban areas. This trend rooted in the fact that buildings are
among the main sources of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Green certification therefore
emerged in response to sustainability concerns throughout the building sector. Nonetheless, the significant
costs required by green investments have elicited scholars' attention, in an attempt to determine
if the benefits of green certification outweigh its costs. This study uses a proprietary data-set of office
building transactions from three major European countries - Finland, France, and Germany - in order to
analyze the price premium of green certification over the 2010-2015 period. Considering the increasing
demand for certification in the European Union (EU) after 2010, it is expected that green office buildings
would sell at higher prices relative to non-green buildings. Empirical tests suggest that office buildings
with green certification have a 19 percent higher price relative to non-certified buildings. Further, the
study aims to assess whether the premium varies with the location of the green buildings within the
urban area. Given the price premium brought by a central location - irrespective of green certification - it
is expected that the price premium of green investments would incrementally increase in non-central
locations. The distance variable is hand-constructed based on geocoding all properties in the dataset -
empirical results indicate that the green certification price premium incrementally increases by 10.5
percent for 1-km distance from the city center. Further tests show that the distance effect becomes
insignificant in both (i) large cities and (ii) cities of under 200,000 inhabitants. In these two contingencies,
the price premium associated with central locations is reduced - which also diminishes the
relevance of the green buildings' location. The empirical results are robust to eliminating 2010 and 2011
from the sample and to employing a propensity score matching approach, aimed at increasing the
similarity of the treatment and control groups. This paper adds to the rising literature on the topic of
green buildings, as it is the first international study to assess the price impact of green certification as a
function of office building location