Robert D. Mohr

Workplace Organization and Innovation

This study uses panel data on Canadian establishments to explore the relationship between the organization of work - in particular decentralization, information-sharing, and incentive pay schemes - and innovation. Like other studies, ours finds a clear positive link between these factors. However, the data give strong indications that this relationship is not causal. We show that: (1) the correlation between workplace organization and innovation holds for information-sharing but is much weaker for decentralized decision-making or incentive pay programs, (2) controls for unobserved heterogeneity significantly weaken results, and (3) lagged variables give no clear evidence that organizational changes predate innovation.

Distribution of Environmental Costs and Benefits, Additional Distortions, and the Porter Hypothesis

The Porter Hypothesis argues that environmental regulations benefit firms by fostering innovation. We discuss four examples consistent with this idea, highlighting either the distribution of benefits or costs, or the presence of some additional distortion, other than pollution. Examples are organized according to the list of market failures. Adding any one market failure creates the possibility that firms benefit from regulations. While each example can be fully consistent with the Porter Hypothesis, it is also possible that regulations benefit firms even without fostering innovation, a result that would be empirically difficult to distinguish from the Porter Hypothesis. (JEL Q55, Q58)

Public-Private Partnerships and Cooperative Agreements in Municipal Service Delivery

Abstract This study uses quantitative and qualitative survey data on the use of public-private partnership in provision and production of public services by municipalities in predominantly rural New Hampshire (USA). Descriptive analysis suggests that town officials are less satisfied with the quality of privatized services, suggesting that privatization involves some tradeoff between costs and quality. These results differ from the experiences of large metropolitan areas and suggest that conclusions of previous research do not necessarily generalize to the challenges faced by small rural communities. Statistical analysis confirms that available fiscal health, geography, and voting patterns are linked to privatization decisions.

The Decentralization of Decision Making and Employee Involvement within the Workplace: Evidence from Four Establishment Datasets

Participatory work practices, like teams, quality circles and joint consultative committees (JCCs) can, but do not necessarily, decentralize decision making and increase worker autonomy. We use broad, cross‐sectional establishment data from the European Union and three Commonwealth countries to measure the extent of decision making by workers across these countries, and to analyse how this measure varies with the use of participatory practices. Within Europe, workers in Sweden, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Ireland are most likely to be given the authority to make decisions. In Spain, Portugal and Italy, decentralized decision making is more unusual. While decision making is generally higher in establishments with teams, JCCs and quality circles, this result does not hold across all countries. Even where the relationships are significant, use of participatory practices explains a surprisingly small amount of the overall variation in decision making.