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Motivated by the introduction of the UK Gender Pay Gap Reporting legislation to large firms, defined as over 250 employees, we use linked employee–employer panel data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings to explore pre‐legislation variation in the gender pay gap by firm size. In doing so, we contribute to the evidence on the relationship between two prominent empirical regularities in the labour economics literature, namely the gender pay gap and the firm‐size wage premium. We find that both the raw and adjusted gender pay gaps increase with firm size in the UK private sector, even after controlling for unobserved worker heterogeneity, consistent with the legislation being targeted effectively. However, this conclusion changes after accounting for unobserved firm‐level heterogeneity. Large firms have smaller within‐firm raw gender pay gaps and similar adjusted gender pay gaps when compared to smaller firms. Our findings are not specific to the current definition of large firms but hold more generally, including at alternative proposed size thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study has been conducted with 302 original contributions with a total of 8347 citations contributed by 549 authors published in volumes 74 (393) to 83 (332) of the renowned Journal, Economica, New Series during 2007-2016. An analysis of the different forms of literature, authorship pattern, language-wise cited articles, country-wise distribution, subject-wise distribution, ranking of cited journals, and obsolescence study has been made. Among the citations, articles accounted for 63.83% and books 26.49%. The highest number of articles totaling 5319(99.83%) has emanated from the English language. The first two countries USA and UK are responsible for 83.75% of the articles and 90.49% of the books. Most articles (59.891%) were published on core subjects of research, which include Econometrics, American Economics, Political Economics, International Economics, Monetary Economics, European Economics, and Public Economics. Literature in Economics published during the last 20 years contributes almost 68.506% of the total literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is conventional in the sports economics literature to assume that professional sports teams are local monopolists and that stadium attendance below capacity has approximately zero marginal cost, implying that prices should optimally be set at the point of unit elasticity, regardless of whether teams are win maximisers or profit maximisers. The empirical literature has puzzled over the finding that prices appear to be set on the inelastic part of the demand curve. This paper approaches the problem in a different way. If the assumptions are true, then tax theory implies that an ad valorem tax such as VAT should be absorbed in full by the sellers. The paper uses company records that identify attendance and gate revenue for over 6000 English Football League games between 1971 and 1974, to examine the impact of the adoption of 10% VAT in the UK on April 1, 1973. The data suggests that pass through rates varied considerably, averaged around 25%, and were seldom zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The literature of financial economics documents a causal relationship between the level of information asymmetry in the firm and its dividend policy. Nevertheless, this relationship suffers endogeneity problems arising from reverse causality and omitted variable bias. The purpose of this study is to examine how the dividend policy reacts to changes in asymmetric information in an exogenous research setting. Design/methodology/approach: To overcome endogeneity concerns, the authors employ the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in the US in 2002 as a source of an exogenous variation in the level of information asymmetry to study the potential effect that this variation might have on the dividend policy. In doing so, we utilize a difference-in-differences research design, in which the treatment group is US publicly traded firms that were exposed to the policy and the control group is publicly traded companies in the UK where SOX was not enacted. Both countries have similar institutional settings and enforcement of laws, which makes them comparable in this research context. Findings: The authors' findings show that, compared to UK companies, US firms increase their dividend payments following a reduction in asymmetric information as a result of the SOX enactment. Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature of financial economics by showing that policy makers can mitigate agency conflicts and protect shareholders by improving the corporate information environment and reducing asymmetric information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mobility of highly skilled employees is seen as a critical way for organizations to transfer knowledge and to improve organizational performance. Yet, the relationship between mobility and individual performance is still largely a theoretical and empirical puzzle. Integrating human capital mobility research and the economics of science literature, we argue that mobility of academics should have a positive effect on individual productivity. Additionally, we argue that this positive effect is strengthened when academics move towards better-endowed institutions. We find support for our predictions using a unique dataset of 348 academics working in biology department in the United Kingdom supplemented with qualitative evidence from a survey of the focal academic researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic literature is giving new attention to Lionel Robbins' main contributions to economic theory, confined for several decades to the Essay, systematically misunderstood as the manifesto of the epistemology of neoclassical economics, where its underlying ontology characterized by rational maximizing agents, social atomism and a positivistic approach to economics is systematized and laid down. This paper aims at verifying ‘which’ Robbins was received in Italy in the 1930s and 1940s and what was the attitude of Italian economists, from the manifold approaches that characterized the debate in Italy in that period, towards him. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the development of domestic sourcing by foreign-owned subsidiaries (FOS) in the UK. The regional development and international-business literatures are used to develop a conceptual framework on the links between autonomy, the use of networks, and domestic sourcing. Data from a survey of German, French, and US FOS in the UK is used to test the model. The results indicate that increased use of networks and increased operational decision-making autonomy are associated with increased domestic sourcing, but that only a minority of FOS are increasing their use of domestic sourcing. The growing importance of global sourcing is considered as a possible explanation for the low proportion of FOS that are increasing their use of domestic sourcing. The implications for regional-development policy of the findings are also assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the impact of the work of Gustav Schmoller in the economics literature in Britain and America. It shows that Schmoller's reputation was not significantly eroded as a result of the Methodenstreit. In particular, Alfred Marshall retained a high opinion of Schmoller's contribution and aligned himself with Schmoller's mature methodological position. However, references to Schmoller's work began to decline after the publication of the two volumes of the Grundriss in 1900 and 1904. Nevertheless, a direct theoretical assault on Schmoller's contribution did not appear in the Anglophone journals of economics until the 1930s when Friedrich Hayek and Lionel Robbins wrongly caricatured Schmoller as an opponent of all theory and an advocate of atheoretical description. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores some of the main bibliographical dimensions of economic literature at a time when there was much interest in economic matters but no discipline of economics. By looking at what was published in the round much economic literature is shown to be short, ephemeral, unacknowledged, polemical, and legislatively orientated. This fluidity is underscored by the uncertaintities about what constituted key works of economic literature and by the failure of attempts to make sense of that literature through dictionaries and histories. Economic literature in the period was, consequently, more unstable and uncertain than has often been acknowledged. It cannot, therefore, be simply characterized as either ‘mercantilist’ or nascent ‘political economy’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lists thesis titles on various topics of economics for degrees in Great Britain during 2001-02 and 2002-03. Methodology and History of Economic Thought; Mathematical and Quantitative Methods; Macroeconomics.

This paper examines the role played by real oil price shocks in influencing the growth in UK GDP. Our particular interest is the possibility that asymmetries might exist in such a relationship. Using Hamilton's regime-switching estimation, we consider whether oil price shocks influence both the deepness and duration of the business cycle. We find that asymmetries arise insofar as oil price appreciation is most likely to curtail the duration of the expansionary phase of the business cycle. This result is in contrast to existing studies of the oil price--macroeconomy relationship that have largely concerned the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant discourse in economic theory in Great Britain from the 1940s to the 1970s was Keynesian. The making of economic policy resulted from a complex interplay of economic, political and personal factors. The making of macroeconomic policy implies decisions made by politicians on the basis of advice from generalist Treasury officials. The problem for the substantial literature on Keynesian ideas and macroeconomic policy is to check whether economic advisers within the Keynesian tradition managed to influence the final decision takers. Analytical approaches need to be made explicit so that opportunistic selection of evidence, the use of initial assumptions to determine conclusions and the creation of straw women can all be avoided.

The article presents a qualitative analysis of economic articles and articles on religious subjects in three journals in Great Britain. It informs that the evidence reveals a steep decline in the percentage of articles on religious subjects in the reviews; a small rise in the percentage of articles on economic subjects; and, the most significant finding, a sharp fall in the percentage of the latter devoted to economic theory. The decline in the percentage of articles devoted to religion undoubtedly reflects the tendency that has been analyzed exhaustively for decades, the secularization of European thought in the nineteenth century. After 1873, the rocky performance of the British economy, the success of which had been so closely linked with orthodox political economy, may have chilled the ardor for economic theory. Particularly disquieting was the fact that Britain appeared to be yielding ground to a nation that had eschewed free trade, imperial Germany. The related discovery in the 1880s, of extensive poverty in Britain also may have dampened enthusiasm for classical political economy.

Evaluates several articles on the economics of British colonialism. Contention regarding the acquisition of colonies as the consequence of the development of capitalism; Political motives behind British colonial expansion; Economic factors in British annexation; Implications of British dependence on its colonies for raw materials and markets; Link between commercial interest and British colonial policy.

Analysing UK economic data over an extended historical timespan, from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries, the authors use 'quantitative' or 'empirical' Marxist techniques to test key Marxian theses and categories. They argue that Marxian economics has nothing to fear from a confrontation with empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of literary publications related to the economic and social history of Great Britain and Ireland. Some of them are: "The Need for a Consular Service in France: An Eighteenth-Century British Memorandum," by J. Black; Extracts From the Account Books of St. Peter's Parish in Cork City, 1770-1814," by R. Folliott; "The Red Earl: The Papers of the Fifth Earl Spenser, 1835-1910," edited by P. Gordon; "The Rolls and Register of Bishop Oliver Sutton," edited by R.M.T. Hill; "The Port of Bristol, 1848-84," by D. Large; "Elizabeth Montagu: Bluestocking Turned Landlady," by J.V. Beckett; "Rural Poverty Eighty Years Ago," by R. Cotchin; "Agricultural Protection in Berkshire and opposition to the Collection of Agricultural Statistics," by J.P. Dodd; "Medieval Assarting Hamlets in Bilsdale, North-East Yorkshire," by J. McDonnell;" "English Settlements,"by J.N.L. Myres; "The Perception of Profit Before the Leasing of Demesnes,"by D. Postles; "Forestry in Northern Powys," by R.E. Stumbles.

This article provides information on various published papers related to economic and social changes in Great Britain since 1850. The concept of social control--essentially middle-class manipulation of the masses for the sake of social stability--that leapt abruptly to prominence in the late 1970s lies behind much of the work produced in 1984. Pat Thane looks at the question from the point of view of the recipient in her article, "The Working Class and State 'Welfare' in Britain, 1880-1914," and demonstrates that the working classes were not enthusiastic about welfare proposals from the state. Accepting the difficulty of discovering attitudes, she finds, through an examination of the records of several agencies, widespread suspicion of Liberal politics as a threat to working class independence. Further support from a different kind of article is brought by Victor Bailey in "In Darkest England and the Way Out: The Salvation Army, Social Reform and the Labour Movement, 1855-1910." This brings out the parallels between religious evangelism and socialism as moralizing agencies appealing to self-respect and working for social reform.

This article provides information on various published papers related to economic and social changes in Great Britain from 1700 to 1850. J.V. Beckett's article, "The Peasant in England: A Case of Terminological Confusion," is a useful preliminary warning that contemporaries would have understood the term to include landless agricultural labor. The small landholder was, however, far more widespread, even after 1800, than is usually believed. Mick Reed, a historian, argues that if the census figures are reworked and the extent of commons and sub-letting acknowledged, small-holders can be seen to have played a crucial role in mediating economic and class relations in farming communities through noncommercial reciprocal relationships, their responsibilities to the poor, and their support for the protests of wage laborers. In his article, "The Peasantry of Nineteenth-century England." Reed contributes to the debate about agrarian protest and social control models. He maintains that conflict extended beyond protest incidents into the day-to-day relationships between farmers and their servants and was a phenomenon of both open and closed parishes.

This article provides information on various published papers related to economic and social changes in Great Britain from 1500 to 1700. The yield of 1984 saw some recovery from the dearth of the previous year. There is still a lack of articles in economic history, which suggests a prolonged deviation of the course of the discipline towards social issues. Agricultural history, upon which there was little to report in 1985, has been better served in 1984, although much of the work is of a particular, local, and often specialized character. Michael Reed's article, "Enclosure in North Buckinghamshire, 1500-1750," stresses the importance of preparliamentary enclosure in a typical midland landscape and draws one's attention especially to the volume of enclosure by voluntary agreement. Changes in English agrarian society between 1500 and 1700 are examined in depth only for parts of the north. The article by R.W. Hoyle, "Lords, Tenants and Tenant Right in the Sixteenth Century: Four Studies," analyses the structure of four manors of north Yorkshire, England and shows that the regime of customary tenant right was flexible so far as the lord's options in managing his estates were concerned.

The article presents information on several books on economics. The book "Private Foreign Investment and the Developing World," edited by P. Ady, contains ten papers delivered in a conference on private foreign investment. The discussions frequently amplify and elucidate the papers, and the coverage is fairly broad, including papers discussing the effects of current fiscal systems on the flow of investible funds, profits and goods, and several papers discussing joint ventures, both by private companies and government agencies. The book "The Remoter Rural Areas of Britain," by J. Ashton and W.H. Long, is a record of on the theme of adjustment problems of the areas of Great Britain that are relatively remote, either in geographical terms or in terms of their low level of access to transport and welfare facilities. Some other books are: "Southeast Asia's Economy in the 1970s"; "The Labour Government's Economic Record 1964-1970"; "Persistent Poverty: Underdevelopment in Plantation Economies of the Third World."

This article presents information on various periodical articles on the English economic history that were published in 1968. The medieval English economy seems to have taken less space than usual in the journals in 1968. Two articles on the history of settlement, reportedly, appeared in the journal "Agricultural History Review." One of those is E.A. Pocock's "The First Fields in an Oxfordshire Parish," which investigates the fields of Clanfield with the keen eye of a practising farmer plus an enthusiastic use of archaeological and documentary evidence. This is an interesting attempt to put the settlement pattern of a single parish under the microscope to get a chronology of cultivation and use. The other article is B.K. Roberts's "Study of Medieval Colonization in the Forest of Arden, Warwickshire," which is a collection of deeds and related documents. Historical demographers and others in recent years have begun to dispel a little of the thick mist obscuring the demography of early modern England and the relationships between population and other economic variables. Of special interest is a report by economist E.A. Wrigley on Colyton, "Mortality in Pre-Industrial England: The Example of Colyton, Devon, Over Three Centuries," which presents the methods and results of a family reconstitution study of mortality, both infant and adult.

Presents a series of abstracts on various topics of economics and polity published in the May 1964 issue of the periodical 'Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science,' vol. 30. Benefits of restrictive trade practices in Great Britain; Importance of nationality in petroleum exploration in Western Canada; Overview of a linear programming estimate of changes in industrial input coefficients.

This article focuses on the determinants of real net investments of physical assets leading to fixed capital formation in Great Britain during 1956-1965. Some of the econometric analyses dealing with aspects of the post-war British economy are illustrated and analyzed here. In 1968, a study sponsored by the Brookings Institution was compelled to acknowledge the absence of any econometric investigation of the British system of investment incentives. Economic models that were used to measure the post-war British economy explicitly include variables representing three types of capital allowances and a variable representing a composite tax-rate. The latter takes account of income tax, profits tax and a number of other special levies. The Jorgenson's model provided a convenient starting point in the process of building these models, although its translation to a different economy involved the rejection of Jorgenson's specification for the system of tax allowances chargeable against gross income as defined for tax purposes. A part of British economic data for the period which extends from the first quarter of 1956 to the present is used here as the basis for the empirical results for the dependent variable from the third quarter of 1957 to the final quarter of 1965 inclusive.

Provides an overview of the book "The CBI," by Wyn Grant and David Marsh.

A list of documents, reports, and legislation related to economics is presented. The United States Tariff Commission has continued its publication of "Imports Into the United States for Consumption by Countries." The Division of Labor Standards of the federal Department of Labor has published Bulletin No. 11, a study of "British Factory Inspection: A Century of Progress in Administration of Labor Laws," by J. B. Andrews. The Hearings on Tax Evasion and Avoidance before the Joint Committee on Tax Evasion and Avoidance of the 75th Congress have been printed in four parts.

Provides an overview of the book "Government and Industry," by Gabriele Ganz.

This article presents information on research related to economic and social changes in Great Britain during the medieval period. That reorientation of research towards structural analysis noted in 1985 has once more asserted itself in 1986 literature bringing forth an abundant harvest of exciting new pieces of research. The organizational forms and mechanisms deployed within the economy and society are revealed, illuminating the framework within which medieval men and women accomplished the tasks of every-day life. The preexisting inter-sectoral imbalance of studies between agrarian and non-agrarian pursuits is redressed bringing the previously neglected areas of trade, industry, and urban life once more to the fore.