A principal wants two sequential tasks to be performed by wealth-constrained agents. When the tasks are conflicting (i.e., when a first-stage success makes second-stage effort less effective), the principal's profit-maximizing way to induce high efforts is to hire one agent to perform both...

A principal wants two sequential tasks to be performed by wealth-constrained agents. Suppose that there is an outcome externality; i.e., a first-stage success can make second-stage effort more or less effective. If the tasks are conflicting, the principal's profit-maximizing way to induce high...

We study the cyclical fluctuations of leverage and assets of financial intermediaries and GDP in the United States. Leverage and assets are several times more volatile than GDP, and experience larger fluctuations for unregulated (‘shadow’) intermediaries than for regulated ones. While the...

In Europe, anthropocentric organization models – an updated version of the sociotechnique approach – had their maximum expression in the Swedish model, which came to be known as “uddevalism” or “volvoism”. Several factors were presented as conditioners of this success [1], and some...

The main objective of this paper is to discuss how far the cultural environment is related to the potential that new forms of work organization, namely autonomy and teamwork, have for success. To accomplish this objective two main approaches will be used: on the one hand, the Socio-Technical...

High-performance work systems (HPWS) can be seen as a set of new forms of work organization combined with flexible human resources (HR) practices that enhance organizational performance through employee involvement and empowerment. Although in the past two decades much research has been...

The present economic context is heavily marked by a global crisis without precedents. Facing this constraint, companies feel pressured to undertake even greater efforts in order to optimize available resources. Work organisation is one of the mechanisms that managers use to align human resources...

In this paper, I consider a specific channel through which trust between parties to an exchange can go on to affect nations’ comparative advantage in certain industries. My approach revolves around the autonomy that employers (principals) grant to workers (agents), which is a key feature of...

If indicators of international competitivity of the Portuguese industry reveal very strong weaknesses in the field of education and vocational training, the achievement of a solution is not based only (and should not!) in a decisive increase of investment and support in the education and...

This paper analyses the problems and trends of the introduction of anthropocentric production systems (APS) in small less industrialized member states of the European Union, specifically the case of Portugal, based on the report for the FAST-Anthropocentric Technology Assessment Project (Monitor...