36 research outputs found
Age Structure of the Workforce and Firm Performance.
No full textIn this contribution, we examine the interrelation between corporate age structures and firm performance. In particular, we address the issues, whether firms with young rather than older employees are successful and whether firms with homogeneous or heterogeneous workforces are doing well. Several theoretical approaches are discussed with respect to these questions and divergent hypotheses are derived. Using Danish linked employer-employee data, we find that both mean age and dispersion of age in firms are inversely u-shaped related to firm performance.Firm performance; Corporate age structures; Demographic change
Economic Cooperation and Social Identity: Towards a Model of Economic Cross-Cultural Integration
No full textIn arguing that borders not only should be understood as economic barriers to trade, but also as cultural barriers to interaction, this paper attempts to operationalize a broader interpretation of borders with regards to economic cross-cultural integration. Thus, by formalizing the cultural effects of borders as mental distances (interpreted as social identities), and by using an agentbased simulation model, I analyze how the border affects, and is itself affected by, economic integration. The model is based on two regions separated by a border. Based on expected payoffs and mental distance, agents first choose whether to interact at home or to cross the border. Then, agents choose their action in a simple PD game based on a general disposition of trust, as well as the mental distance should the interaction partner be from across the border. The agent’s mental distance and trust level are then updated according to the agent’s experience of the interaction (positive or negative). The model generally reveals that underlying cultural processes may affect the success of economic integration considerably, and suggests that the success of the integration depends significantly (and in asymmetric ways) on mental distances between regions, on economically vs. culturally motivated behavior, and on collectivistic vs. individualistic characters of the regional cultures.Agent-Based Modeling; Cooperation; Culture; Social Identity; Economic Integration
Firm Spin-offs in Denmark 1981-2000 - Patterns of Entry and Exit
No full textThe motivation of this paper is to add new, large sample evidence on the extent to which the likelihood of business failure or success is related to relationships between parent firms and their 'off-spring'. For this purpose we make use of an exhaustive matched employer-employee data set covering the entire Danish private sector in years 1981 to 2000 to study firm entry and exit. Special focus is on spin-offs, a particular group of small entries, which are founded by groups of persons originating from the same former workplace. We estimate a multinomial logit model in order to examine which characteristics of the founders and the parent firms increase the probability of spinning off. Next, we carry out a duration analysis of the subsequent transitions of the spin-offs, and compare their exit risks with those of other entries, which have less strong parent-progeny relationships in terms of worker flows. With respect to entry, poor performance of the parent firm is found to be a key determinant of the decision to spin off. The spin-offs are shown to have a lower death risk than the comparison group, also after controlling for a host of firm and employee characteristics. The exit risks of spin-offs and the comparison group are observed to converge over time. However, when we cater for unobserved heterogeneity the convergence turns out to be predominantly an outcome of selection rather than the result of other start-ups catching up via some learning process. For the entire sample of entries, we find a positive association between size of the entry and survival probability, and a countercyclical sensitivity of exit risk.Entry; Exit; Spin-offs; Duration analysis
Social Capital and Market Centralisation: A Two-Sector Model
No full textWe develop a two-sector model to analyze which kind of social organization generates social capital. The hypothesis is that social capital must be added as an important production factor when considering decentralization of production. Thus, market centralization processes in a capitalist society eventually may fragmentize and thus destroy social capital if the positive externality of local production and social capital is not taken into account. To our knowledge, no such attempt to model social capital has yet been undertaken and this gap or ‘missing link’ in economic debates has to be developed to grasp a more holistic understanding of the big differences in the wealth of nations or regions. The model shows that if the policy maker decides to centralize the economy, then the economy moves from an potentially stable equilibrium to an unstable one that may under certain condition even fluctuate forever.Social capital; market centralization; two-sector model; economic growth growth
Factor Intensity Reversal and Ergodic Chaos
No full textThis paper studies a two-sector endogenous growth model with labour augmenting externalities or Harrod-Neutral technical change. The technologies are general and the preferences are of the CES class. If con- sumers are su±ciently patient, ergodic chaos and geometric sensitivity to initial conditions can emerge if either (1) there is factor intensity reversal; or (2) if the consumption goods producing sector is always capital intensive. The upper bound on the discount rate is determined only by the transver- sality condition. If utility is linear, there can be chaos only if there is factor intensity reversalErgodic Chaos; Two-sector endogenous growth model; Factor intensity reversal; Labor-augmenting externalities
A Method of Auxiliary Sources Approach for Modelling the Impact of Ground Planes on Antenna
No full textThe Method of Auxiliary Sources (MAS) is employed to model the impact of finite ground planes on the radiation from antennas. Two different antenna test cases are shown and the calculated results agree well with reference measurement
An L-Band, Circularly Polarised, Dual-Feed, Cavity-Backed Annular Slot Antenna For Phased-Array Applications
No full textThe results of a parametric study for the development of an L-band, circularly polarised, dual-feed, cavity-backed annular slot antenna is presented. The study included detailed numerical simulations and measurements on a prototype with different ground planes, to assess the antenna’s applicability as an element in a small phased array antenna
Implementation and Applications of the Method of Auxiliary Sources for Analysis of Smooth Scatterers and Wires:R 731
No full textThis report documents the implementation of Method of Auxiliary Sources techniques developed for smooth scatterers and wire scatterers. The work was done in the course of the PhD project "Electronically Steerable Antennas for Satellite Communication" where the techniques were employed to investigate finite ground planes, dielectric resonator antennas and arrays, and arrays of wire antennas. The described techniques are compared with reference results with good resulting agreement. In addition some representative examples of application are given which, for the most part, are of similar nature as the investigations done in the PhD project
A spherical wave expansion model of sequentially rotated phased arrays with arbitrary elements
No full textAn analytical model of sequentially rotated phased arrays with arbitrary antenna elements is presented. It is applied to different arrays and the improvements of axial ratio bandwidth and copolar directivity are investigated. It is compared to a numerical method of auxiliary Sources model to ascertain the accuracy and limitations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
