We analyse the puzzling behavior of the volatility of individual stock returns around the turn of the Millennium. There has been much academic interest in this topic, but no convincing explanation has arisen. Our goal is to pull together the many competing explanations currently proposed in the...

There is little empirical research on how the Chinese Government should function in innovation management, particularly during its critical period of economic transition. This study explores and investigates the Chinese Government’s innovation management structure, procedures and functions by...

There is currently a worldwide shortage of registered nurses, driven by large shifts in both the demand for and supply of nurses. Consequently, various policies to increase the recruitment and retention of nurses are under discussion, in particular, the role that wage increases might have in...

The current study was motivated by statements made by the Economic Strategies Committee that Singapore’s recent productivity levels in services were well below countries such as the US, Japan and Hong Kong. Massive employment of foreign workers was cited as the reason for poor productivity...

Over the past few decades the brisk development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has had a phenomenal impact on the economic stability and development of many countries. Empirical studies show that most developed economies have gained significant payoffs (in terms of economic...

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between labour productivity and employment in Australian manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The results indicate that labour productivity of SMEs varies substantially between industries within the manufacturing sector, but on average...

Trade in services has outpaced trade in merchandise over the last two decades. The services sector has increased steadily in importance both in terms of it shares in GDP and employment over the lat 30 years in Australia and its contribution to trade will continue to increase. The significance of...

There has been a significant shift in trade policy orientation in Bangladesh over the last two decades. A dirigiste policy orientation has gradually been replaced by a more outward oriented economic policy. In line with such policy orientation, a series of trade liberalisation measures has been...

Background: Private psychiatric services are produced and consumed on a fee-for-service (FFS) basis in Australia. The Commonwealth Government subsidises these (and all) medical services via Medicare, a universal, comprehensive, tax-financed medical and hospital financing mechanism. A key purpose...

In this paper we examine unemployment rate dispersion across the (statistical) regions in theMelbourne metropolitan area. We find that the level of dispersion is positively correlated withthe unemployment rate in all the regions taken together and that the ‘elasticity’ of dispersionwith...