Journal of Applied Business and Economics

What Is the Return From Hiring a Bankruptcy Attorney for Chapter 7 Asset Case Filings?

Donald D. Hackney, Daniel L. Friesner — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This manuscript assesses the returns to hiring an attorney to represent an individual who holds exempt-eligible assets when filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. A panel of closed Chapter 7 asset case filings was collected over the years 2016-2021 from the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system in the Eastern District of Washington State. The study results indicate that filers with an attorney of record, and who report attorney payments to the Court, can shield 83.3 percent of assets through the exemption process, compared to the overall sample mean of 68 percent. This implies a return of approximately 22.5 percent. Therefore, hiring an attorney and reporting attorney payments in a filing leads to a higher expected return. We also find statistically significant evidence suggesting that filer specific factors, such as county of residence and year of filing, influence the expected return from hiring an attorney.

Mapping the Material World— Logistics in the Historical Narratives of Fernand Braudel

Gilles Paché — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This article examines the influence of logistics on economic and social structures, drawing on the work of French historian Fernand Braudel. Braudel emphasizes the crucial role of logistical facilities in managing the technical aspects of flow and shaping human societies throughout history. He notes that logistics impacts everyday life, particularly through the availability of goods and transportation costs. For example, the advent of railroads significantly transformed social and economic dynamics. Logistics also serves as instruments of power, allowing elites to control the flow of goods and capital, reinforcing social hierarchies. Technological innovations such as the telegraph and steamships have greatly enhanced the efficiency of logistical networks, promoting the integration of global markets. However, while Braudel underscores the importance of logistics, his analysis has certain limitations, particularly in overlooking the effects of political and cultural factors on societal transformation. To deepen the analysis, future research could explore global supply chain dynamics or the impact of logistics on contemporary social hierarchies.

Workplace Gratitude’s Impact on Banking and Financial Services Employees’ Psychological Capital, Intention to Stay and Satisfaction With Life

Kristi M. Bockorny, Aaron Scholl, Todd Muehler, Theresa Giannavola — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Gratitude research has experienced increased attention from scholars; however, much is still unknown. This study investigated the relationship between gratitude, Psychological Capital, satisfaction with life, and intention to stay with current employers among banking and financial services employees. This research also analyzed gratitude’s moderating role between Psychological Capital, satisfaction with life, and intention to stay. Results indicated gratitude has a statistically significant relationship with Psychological Capital, satisfaction with life, and intention to stay among banking employees. The study supports gratitude as a moderator between Psychological Capital and satisfaction with life. This study supports the importance of gratitude in the workplace.

Environmental Impact of Foreign Direct Investment: The Role of Economic Complexity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ngwinui Belinda Azenui, Oguzhan Batmaz — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This study investigates the short-run and long-run effects of foreign direct investment (FDI), corruption, and economic complexity on the environment in twenty-five sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1996 to 2018. Using a dynamic panel data model, the results provide broad support for the pollution haven hypothesis and the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve in SSA. Our results indicate that the economic complexity index (ECI) is associated with rising environmental degradation. Low-quality FDI weakens environmental standards, and corruption facilitates the shift of polluting industrial activities from advanced countries to developing countries with less strict environmental rules. The paper finds that corruption, low quality FDI, and higher ECI tend to exacerbate environmental degradation in SSA. By considering the ECI, this studies contributes to the literature, analyzing the relationship between these key variables and the environment for some of the most vulnerable African countries that are said to be greatly impacted by climate change.

Stability of Multi-Part Pricing in the U.S. Less-Than-Truckload Industry: Evidence From the Panel Stationarity Test With Structural Breaks

Angela Yan Du, Chi Keung Marco Lau, Ke Yang — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This paper aims to examine the stationarity of LTL carriers’ multi-part pricing structures. We construct a spillover index of inter-firm linkages among base yield, fuel surcharge, and total yield (measured by fuel surcharge plus base yield), and use a heterogenous panel stationarity test developed by Hadri and Rao (2008) to allow for structural breaks. After accounting for cross-sectional dependence, results indicate that a structural break occurred in all three revenue dimensions but with quite different break patterns, since the inter-firm price structure gap has narrowed and converged toward the industry average. In short, competition has intensified in the LTL industry.

Carbon Tax and Economic Stability: A Broader Approach to the Double Dividend of Ecological Taxation

Nicolas Piluso, Clément Rau — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This article develops a Keynesian model of economic growth with involuntary unemployment in a situation of perfect competition in which we introduce an environmental tax. We show that it is possible to demonstrate a triple dividend from ecological taxation. This triple dividend is characterized by an ecological effect of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and two possible economic effects: a possible positive effect on employment, and an effect of reducing the instability of the economy. We therefore broaden the double dividend issue by highlighting an implication of ecological taxation that has been little studied in the literature. We show that highlighting a double or triple dividend from ecological taxation does not require introducing elements of imperfect competition.

BRICS: Rebalancing the New World Order An Impassioned Trajectory

Prema Nakra — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

It has been more than 23 years since Jim O’Neil, head of economic research at the investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS), wrote in an internal policy paper that four countries, Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). Seeking to attract investors, in his 2001 GS Global Economic Paper No. 66, “Building Better Global Economic BRICs,” O’Neil focused on investment opportunities in four developing countries— Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC), O’Neill further argued that the balance of world economic powers was already tilting in favor of these four countries which he labeled as “BRIC” economies. The BRIC nations embraced the term and invited South Africa In 2010 to join them. Hence the acronym BRIC became “BRICS.”

In this paper, I plan to focus on economic progress of BRICS countries, as reflected in their GDP, international trade, and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). I will illustrate the power of BRICS as well as the global challenges these countries will face in the coming decades in achieving their mission to change the global order.