Search results

There are striking similarities between publicly-held government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and investor-owned public utilities. Each firm enjoys large scale economies that give a significant competitive advantage over other companies, possesses a dominant market position that it may be able to exploit to earn profits above competitive levels, and has a strong incentive to enter new markets when the life cycle of its core markets constrain its ability to increase profits. The recent behavior of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac indicates that the government must impose more stringent economic regulation on those GSEs in order to be sure that they achieve their public purposes.

Using an instant response device within the context of a controlled experiment, we find that people’s self‐assessment of susceptibility to normative influence (SNI) differs substantially from the actual, or true, degree to which they are influenced by the actions of others. Actual SNI, a subconscious reaction to the behavior of those around us, can be altered when participants (falsely) believe their peers differ in their willingness to sign a new lease under various rental reduction incentives when their landlord has defaulted on his mortgage. The results are insensitive to eight alternative measures of actual SNI. This study supports the behavioral finance literature relating to herding in that we show people are very much willing to follow the lead of their peers, even in situations where information gain is not the likely derived benefit. Instead, people appear to herd in our study for social reasons.

In a study of agreement between self‐ratings and supervisor ratings, self‐rating data from 293 teachers in 14 different high schools were cor‐related at the individual‐level with supervisor ratings. The average intracase correlation showed moderate agreement between self‐ and supervisor ratings. Intracase correlations were associated with gender and tenure, but not associated with satisfaction with one's supervisor or the quality of one's relationship with one's supervisor. Also, agreement between self‐ and supervisor ratings was significantly greater for sub‐ordinates with lower organizational tenure. Implications for the use of self‐ratings are discussed.

This monograph considers recent developments in management techniques and proposes their use in physical distribution system planning. The recent developments in physical distribution management are reviewed and the author considers how such techniques as missions analysis and systems thinking may be combined into a useful planning model with which the problems of physical distribution system design may be analysed and solved. The monograph is not specific in that it does not offer management “ten easy steps to system design”. It takes a broad view of the problems involved and is concerned with an approach to system planning rather than specific problem solutions.

In healthcare, overuse and underuse of medical treatments represent equally dangerous deviations from an optimal use equilibrium and arouse concerns about possible implications for patients’ health, and for the healthcare system in terms of both costs and access to medical care. Medical liability plays a dominant role among the elements that can affect these deviations. Therefore, a remarkable economic literature studies how medical decisions are influenced by different levels of liability. In particular, identifying the relation between liability and treatments selection, as well as disentangling the effect of liability from other incentives that might be in place, is a task for sound empirical research. Several studies have already tried to tackle this issue, but much more needs to be done. In this chapter, we offer an overview of the state of the art in the study of the relation between liability and treatments selection. First, we reason on the theoretical mechanisms underpinning the relationship under investigation by presenting the main empirical predictions of the related literature. Second, we provide a comprehensive summary of the existing empirical evidence and its main weaknesses. Finally, we conclude by offering guidelines for further research.

This study examines the historical return behavior surrounding foreseeable or expected special closings of the New York Stock Exchange. Pre and Post special closing return behavior supports no existing hypothesis, but instead clearly demonstrates a new pre and post special closing effect similar to the pre and post holiday effect found by Ariel (1990, 1987).

Arditti (1973) was the first article to discuss the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Since then, numerous papers have fine tuned the exact definition and interpretation of the WACC and how it can be used in capital budgeting as a cutoff rate [Ang (1973), Babcock (1985), Ben‐Horin (1979), and Miles and Ezzell (1980)]. To date, however, no article has quantified the magnitude and frequency of capital budgeting errors. The purpose of the article is to show the significance and frequency of errors that will occur when the WACC is even slightly miscalculated.

The main emphasis of nutritional study, until within comparatively recent years, was placed on a consideration of the energy or calorie value of a diet. A diet was considered sufficient or otherwise depending on the number of calories it contained. The modern trend in nuitrition, however, has tended to follow an opposite direction—the quantitative aspect has been relegated to a subsidiary position, and the quality of the diet is now considered as of supreme importance. In this qualitative assessment vitamins have been placed in the forefront, and there has been a tendency to overstress the nutritional importance of these essentials to the exclusion of perhaps as important dietary constituents.

The Competitive Advantage of Nations is an impressive piece of historical research. Michael Porter meticulously documents a series of studies intended to answer the question, “Why do some nations succeed and others fail in international competition?” The exposition is certainly timely, given the recent economic developments of German unification; the flux in Eastern Europe; the US‐Canada Free Trade Act; and the imminence of EEC '92 and Hong Kong '97. All presage major shifts in the rules of the market and the economic game. But those looking for the definitive answer on how to play to win had best keep looking elsewhere for practical solutions and direction.

The overall goal of science is to build a valid and reliable body of knowledge about the functioning of the world and how applying that knowledge can change it. As personnel and human resources management researchers, we aim to contribute to the respective bodies of knowledge to provide both employers and employees with a workable foundation to help with those problems they are confronted with. However, what research on research has consistently demonstrated is that the scientific endeavor possesses existential issues including a substantial lack of (a) solid theory, (b) replicability, (c) reproducibility, (d) proper and generalizable samples, (e) sufficient quality control (i.e., peer review), (f) robust and trustworthy statistical results, (g) availability of research, and (h) sufficient practical implications. In this chapter, we first sing a song of sorrow regarding the current state of the social sciences in general and personnel and human resources management specifically. Then, we investigate potential grievances that might have led to it (i.e., questionable research practices, misplaced incentives), only to end with a verse of hope by outlining an avenue for betterment (i.e., open science and policy changes at multiple levels).