Business Commons^™

Prenatal Stress And Birth Weight: Evidence From The Egyptian Revolution, Ronia A. Hawash

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The Egyptian Revolution that ignited in January 2011 resulted in intense violent conflict between protestors and former regime allies. This generated a significant amount of fear and stress among people who lived in proximity to such events. We use this exogenous shock as a natural experiment to test the causal relationship between prenatal stress and birth weight. Governorate-level fatalities resulting from this conflict will be used as an exogenous indicator for prenatal stress. Using fixed effects and difference-in-difference analysis, results show that higher prenatal stress resulting from political conflict during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy has a …

Communication And Effectiveness In A Us Nursing Home Quality-Improvement Collaborative, Priscilla Arling, Kathleen Abrahamson, Edward J. Miech, Thomas S. Inui, Greg Arling

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

In this study, we explored the relationship between changes in resident health outcomes, practitioner communication patterns, and practitioner perceptions of group effectiveness within a quality-improvement collaborative of nursing home clinicians. Survey and interview data were collected from nursing home clinicians participating in a quality-improvement collaborative. Quality-improvement outcomes were evaluated using US Federal and State minimum dataset measures. Models were specified evaluating the relationships between resident outcomes, staff perceptions of communication patterns, and staff perceptions of collaborative effectiveness. Interview data provided deeper understanding of the quantitative findings. Reductions in fall rates were highest in facilities where respondents experienced the highest levels …

Subsidizing Non-Polluting Goods Vs. Taxing Polluting Goods For Pollution Reduction, Robert S. Main

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Pigovian taxes on polluters are politically unpopular, but subsidies for non-polluting sources are politically attractive. This paper presents a linear demand and supply model and numerical example to explore the trade-offs between taxing polluting sources of a good versus subsidizing non-polluting sources of the same good. While the model (along with the associated numerical example) shows the optimality of Pigovian taxes, it also shows how much welfare is reduced if subsidies for nonpolluters are employed instead. Further, it shows the optimal tax, given any level of subsidy and the optimal subsidy, given any level of tax.

Knowledge Sharing And Knowledge Management System Avoidance: The Role Of Knowledge Type And The Social Network In Bypassing An Organizational Knowledge Management System, Susan A. Brown, Alan R. Dennis, Diana Burley, Priscilla Arling

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Knowledge sharing is a difficult task for most organizations, and there are many reasons for this. In this article, we propose that the nature of the knowledge shared and an individual's social network influence employees to find more value in person-to-person knowledge sharing, which could lead them to bypass the codified knowledge provided by a knowledge management system (KMS). We surveyed employees of a workman's compensation board in Canada and used social network analysis and hierarchical linear modeling to analyze the data. The results show that knowledge complexity and knowledge teachability increased the likelihood of finding value in person-to-person knowledge …

Does Self-Efficacy Influence The Application Of Evidence-Based Practice?, Kathleen Abrahamson, Priscilla Arling, Jenna Gillette

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Background: Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is complex and consequently, even within organizations that have made efforts to promote EBP use, EBP is often underutilized by individual clinicians.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to better understand the relationship between self-efficacy and EBP implementation in clinical environments that have undergone efforts to increase EBP utilization. We suggest that EBP is a set of behaviors that result from individuals acquiring, applying, and sharing new knowledge with others in the organization. We hypothesize, based upon a social cognitive theoretical approach, that these behaviors are influenced by clinician perception of self-efficacy.

Methods: …

Asset Allocation For Retirement: Simple Heuristics And Target-Date Funds, Steven D. Dolvin, William K. Templeton, William Rieber

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

We examine common asset allocation strategies for retirement investing, considering both static and dynamic approaches, as well as those allocation policies used by leading target-date fund providers. We studied the average performance of each strategy over historical rolling periods (that is, bootstrapping), using actual annual returns starting in 1926. Then we applied the simulation method to review potential future results, as well as to provide additional insight into the structure and characteristics of each approach. We find that, over time, certain static approaches are essentially equivalent to dynamic strategies that reduce equity exposure through time. Further, we find that most …

Improving Financial Information Literacy In Introduction To Financial Accounting, Anne Kelly, Teresa Williams, Brad S. Matthies, J. Burdeane Orris

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The motivation for this study came from a desire to improve teaching of the use of accounting information for decision making. The information literacy standards and related performance indicators guided the development of a semester-long case study by accounting faculty and academic business librarians. Their collaboration yielded a series of instruction modules and related student exercises leading up to a group activity involving the evaluation of a company as a potential investment for retirement savings. Students enrolled in two sections of an introductory accounting course volunteered to participate in this study. They provided information about their knowledge before and after …

The Jec Revisited: Did Debt Undermine Stability?, Peter Z. Grossman, Kathy A. Paulson Gjerde

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The Joint Executive Committee (JEC), one of the most studied cartels in all of economics, was at best partially successful at maintaining collusion. The railroad cartel faced frequent breakdowns and re-contracting efforts. This paper considers the effects that large capital debt may have had on the members of the JEC. The JEC is compared to the express cartel of the period in which all firms were creditors. The latter had no breakdowns during the same period. It is shown through a small modification in an oligopolistic supergame that debt-burdened firms are Jess likely to maintain a stable cartel agreement than …

U.S. Energy Policy And The Presumption Of Market Failure, Peter Z. Grossman

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The article presents an analysis of U.S. energy policy, focusing on the question of whether it is able to correct market failures in terms of alternative energy sources. The question of whether any such market failures exist is said to be a separate question, and an argument is presented that governments generally are not competent to fix such problems even when they do exist. A discussion of U.S. energy policy from the early 1970s to the 21st century is presented. Programs designed to encourage technological innovations such as biofeuls, nuclear fusion, and electric vehicles are analyzed.

Reit Ipos And The Cost Of Going Public, Steven D. Dolvin, Mark Pyles

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

We examine Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that went public between 1986 and 2004. Consistent with previous studies, we find that REIT IPOs are associated with lower levels of underpricing relative to traditional issues. We also find that REITs are associated with smaller file price revisions. Both findings are potentially attributable to the lower level of uncertainty associated with pricing REITs. In contrast, using an alternative measure of issuance costs that incorporates the share retention decision by preexisting owners, we find no significant difference between REIT and non-REIT issues, suggesting the results of previous studies …

High-Versus Low-Context National Cultures: Preferences For Type Of Retailer And For Human Interaction, Gregory E. Osland, Bela Florenthal

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

A purpose of this research is to investigate differences between low-and high-context national cultures in retail settings. In particular, we examined cultural differences in preference for human interaction while shopping, "emotional warmth" characteristics, perception of quality service, and retail channel preferences. As businesses more frequently employ multi-channel strategies in global settings, this topic of national culture gains importance and can shed light on key factors that shape consumers' retail preferences. Our findings indicate that national cultures differ in terms of retail channel preferences, preference for human interaction, and relationships between the two. Managerial implications and future research are addressed, as …

The Effect Of Telework, Priscilla Arling

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Priscilla Arling's letter to the editor of "Computerworld".

If Ethanol Is The Answer, What Is The Question, Peter Z. Grossman

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Since 2005, in the face of rising oil and gasoline prices, many Americans have looked to plant-based fuels, particularly ethanol, as the "answer" to our energy dilemmas. Section III examines the issues connected specifically to ethanol, how market forces as well as government subsidies have worked to make corn-based ethanol economically viable at times, why that viability has been lost in recent months even with subsidies, and further, why ethanol from corn on the scale the legislation demands is impractical. Clearly it would be technically possible to produce the mandated 15 billion gallons of ethanol, and distilling capacity will nearly …

Market Efficiency At The Derby: A Real Horse Race, Steven D. Dolvin, Mark K. Pyles

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Using race data from each Kentucky Derby from 1920 to 2005, we examine whether the horse wagering market is efficient. Most prior studies in this arena test potential betting strategies that rely on posted odds, generally finding that it is extremely difficult to devise and implement any consistently successful wager (i.e., market efficiency). We extend these studies by examining underlying determinants of posted race odds, specifically focusing on the experience of auxiliary members (e.g., jockey, breeder and trainer) associated with each entrant. We find that past Derby experience is an important determinant of posted odds and that the odds-making system …

How Do Environmental And Natural Resource Economics Texts Deal With The Simple Model Of The Intertemporal Allocation Of A Nonrenewable Resource, Robert S. Main

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Textbooks in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics invariably deal with the problem of allocating a non-renewable resource over time. The simplest version of that problem is the case of a resource that is to be allocated over two periods. The resource has a constant Marginal Extraction Cost (MEC). Most textbooks treat this case before moving on to more complex and realistic cases. This paper suggests the results that should be emphasized and the method that should be used to arrive at those results. It also points out the possible confusions that should be avoided. Finally, it examines how several well-known …

Ecotourism In Latin America: Four Types Of Birding Tours, Gregory E. Osland

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

No abstract available

A Rationale For Meeting Quotas Asymmetrically, J. Patrick Meister, Robert S. Main

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Under certain conditions, otherwise identical, competing firms may find it jointly preferable to face differing degrees of trade barriers on individual products rather than symmetric trade barriers. The key is the ability to reduce marginal production cost via research and development. The economic significance of this insight is that there could be a role for a market for quota allotments. This insight also has applications to Voluntary Export Restraints in which a priori symmetric, restricted firms may prefer to have individual production levels allocated asymmetrically. This indicates the need for detailed studies of how quotas are met by individual firms. …

Determinants Of Share Price Movements In Emerging Equity Markets: Some Evidence From America's Past, Peter Z. Grossman

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Emerging equity markets are plagued by poor information, which is a barrier to outside shareholder participation. This paper examines the determinants of share prices of two United States companies over a 14-year period during the late 19th century, when America had an emerging equity market. These two companies withheld all information on profits and assets until the end of the period, yet traded regularly. Overall, the evidence suggests that outside investors received sufficient compensation for their ignorance, and that these outsiders set the market price. An event study shows that when information about company assets was revealed, market returns were …

The Dynamics Of The Hungarian Hyperinflation, 1945-6: A New Perspective, Peter Z. Grossman, János Horváth

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

From late 1945 through the middle of 1946, Hungary experienced the most gigantic inflation of modern history. But in August 1946, the astronomical price increases stopped, and lasting price stability followed. Indeed, the contrast is so dramatic that it is viewed by some as an economic miracle surpassing even the post-war German Wirschaftswunder.

On the surface, the Hungarian hyperinflation, which witnessed a depreciation of the currency unit, the pengo of about 10-27, seems a kind of madness that raises two interlinked questions: First, how could such a fantastic destruction in the value of a currency take place, and second, what …

Correcting Turnover Correlations: A Critique, Chuck R. Williams, L. H. Peters

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

In this article, the authors argue that turnover correlations do not need to be corrected. First, they maintain that correction formulas cannot correct for poor construct validity. Second, they discuss the original purposes of turnover correction formulas. Third, the authors describe the logical fallacies of correcting turnover correlations. Finally, they show why turnover correlations are not, as is widely believed, statistically limited to a maximum of .80.

Effects Of Library Instruction On University Students’ Satisfaction With The Library: A Longitudinal Study, Anthony Stamatoplos, Robert Mackoy

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Consideration of satisfaction should be an important part of the evaluation of library services. Satisfaction depends, to some extent, on patron expectations of services. This study evaluated changes in student expectations following library instruction and how they were related to overall, long-term satisfaction with the library. Satisfaction appeared to be related to student perceptions of information accessibility, staff competence and helpfulness, computer usefulness and ease of use, and skill level for using libraries. The study suggests that libraries may be well served by measuring patron satisfaction and learning what variables drive satisfaction at particular libraries.

Socially Efficient Control Of Carcinogen Emissions From Open Top Vapor Cleaners In Lndiana, Robert S. Main

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Robert Main's contribution to the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences Proceedings, 1995.

Aspects Of Countertrade And Development, William Rieber

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Countertrade or international barter has enjoyed a flourish of activity during the 1980s. Some authors have suggested that countertrade is an effective development tool for third world countries and indeed represents the beginning of a rearrangement of the international economic order in favor of lesser developed. countries....On the other hand, others have suggested that countertrade is an aberration reflecting a misguided understanding of international trade and finance by LDC policymakers.

Polluters’ Profits And Political Response: Direct Control Versus Taxes: Comment, Robert S. Main, Charles W. Baird

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

In a recent issue of this Review, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock (B-T) presented a public choice analysis of the relative merits of direct controls and taxes in externality control. In Section IV of their paper, B-T consider the case of reciprocal external diseconomies of consumption. They ask whether "... persons in this sort of interaction, acting through the political processes of the community, will impose on themselves either a penalty tax or direct regulation" (p. 143). Their analysis is carried out within the context of a two-person model in which each person consumes the same quantity of a …