Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cnh: Fine-Scale Dynamics Of Human Adaptation In Coupled Natural And Social Systems: An Integrated Computational Approach Applied To Three Fisheries, James A. Wilson, James Acheson, Robert Steneck, Yong Chen, Teresa R. Johnson

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The purpose of this project is to gain a better understanding of the way competition between individual fishermen lead to the emergence of private incentives and informal social arrangements that are (or are not) consistent with conservation of the resource. These informal arrangements and incentives are important because they help us understand the extent to which private interests might strengthen or weaken on-going resource management and, consequently, the sustainability of coupled human and natural systems. The broad hypothesis driving the study is that the informal social structure that emerges from competitive interactions among fishermen reflects the particular circumstances of the …

Does Market Competition Lead To Customization?, Wen-Tai Hsu, Yi Lu, Travis Ng

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper proposes a theory of competition and customization. When firms allocate their production to both custom-made and standardized products, the fraction of sales from the former will increase in the face of increased competition. Recent surveys conducted by the World Bank on Chinese firms provide a rare direct measure of customization that allows us to test the above-mentioned prediction. We find empirical results consistent with the prediction.

The Psychology Of Competitive Dance: A Study Of The Motivations For Adolescent Involvement, Samantha Sobash

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

"Competition is a social process that is so pervasive in Western civilization that no one can escape it" (Robson 2004). Dance training for most people begins at an early age, and thus the art form akin to sports introduces youth to competition. The booming dance competition industry has only enhanced the competitive aspect of the art form. Currently there are upwards of 200 local, regional, and national competitions held annually with participants as young as four years old. Is competition innate or are we introducing it as part of youth development in the Western world? Youth are increasingly pushed by …

Competition And Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis With Special Reference To Mena Countries, Marwa W. Gomaa

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

The underlying study analyzes the impact of competition on economic growth, and tests whether this impact might change according to the technological gap between the observed country and the technological leader country. Using panel data estimation for a sample of 115 countries over the period 1995-2010, and controlling for the MENA countries in the sample, the results suggest that intensive domestic competition, proxied by business freedom, tends to hinder the growth rate of an economy independent of the country's distance from the technological frontier, providing evidence in support to the Schumpeterian argument. However this effect is almost negligible for MENA …

Means-Tested Vouchers: Impacts On Public School Performance & Racial Stratification, Anna Jacob

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the systemic effects of private school choice in the context of two statewide, means-tested school voucher programs-- the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP) and the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP). Specifically, I examine public school responses to private school competition from the ICSP and the LSP and the direct impacts of the LSP on racial stratification in public and private schools. In Louisiana, I show that the lowest-graded public schools had a modest, statistically significant, positive response to the injection of competition, with impacts ranging from .001 to .06 SD. In Indiana, the evidence is slightly weaker. In …

Vying For Scholars, Jeff Wuorio

Colby Magazine

As students, parents and alumni watch college costs creep upward, the sound they make slapping their foreheads is often followed by a question: "Why so much?" Or "How has it come to this?" Jeff Wuorio '79 is a business and finance writer who returned to Colby this fall to try to answer those questions. In short, he found that competition among colleges has raised the quality of programs and services; the increased quality of programs and services has raised students' expectations; students' expectations have increased competition among colleges; and around again. Wuorio, who writes for Money, Worth and The New …

Framing A Purpose For Corporate Law, William W. Bratton

All Faculty Scholarship

This article seeks to frame a short statement of purpose for corporate law on which all reasonable observers can agree. The statement, in order to succeed at its intended purpose, must satisfy two strict conditions: first, it must have enough content to be meaningful; second, it must be completely uncontroversial, both descriptively and normatively. The exercise, thus described, involves avoiding the issues that occupy center stage in discussions about corporate law while at the same time highlighting the discussants’ generally held presuppositions. Three closely interconnected issues arise. First, whether the statement of the purpose of corporate law should speak in …

Modal Shift And High-Speed Rail: A Review Of The Current Literature, Mti Report 12-35, Peter J. Haas

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report provides a review of scholarly literature with direct relevance to the topic of modal shift and high-speed rail (HSR). HSR systems are usually planned on the expectation that they will attract riders who would have chosen other modes (such as air, automobile, bus, etc.) had the HSR not been created. Identifying and measuring the actual ability of HSR to effect modal shift is therefore critical. This report examines the evidence concerning HSR and modal shift in both secondary analyses of previous studies and in newer studies that use primarily original data. The studies that were reviewed comprise a …

Attachment Style And Its Role In Perceived Team-Efficacy And Individual Self-Efficacy In Sports, Meghan Kupiec

Honors Theses

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between athletes’ attachment styles and their team- and self-efficacy after wins or losses in sporting contests. The study followed up on a theory proposed by Sam Carr (2012), which posits that attachment style plays an important role in athletic competition and can act as a buffer to negative outcomes in sport. In order to test this idea, a research study was conducted surveying Union College Varsity athletes during both the fall and winter sporting seasons. Across the course of the participants’ athletic seasons, four surveys were distributed. The first …

Essay On Firm Inventory And Innovation Behavior, Ye Gu

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies firm’s decisions on inventory investment and innovation activities. The first chapter examines firm inventory behavior. It resolves and simulates the production smoothing/buffer stock model using different sets of parameters. It shows that the relationship between a sales shock and inventory investment could be ambiguous which is different from previous predictions. The production smoothing/buffer stock model and the (S, s) model of inventory are tested using a rich Chinese firm-level dataset covering 769 manufacturing firms from 1980 to 1989, and I find that sales are positively correlated with inventory for raw materials, but negatively correlated with …

Ouachita To Host Annual Virginia Queen Piano Competition May 2, Jessica Stewart, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachit Baptist University's Division of Music will host the annual Virginia Queen Piano Competition Friday, May 2, at 3:30 p.m. in McBeth Recital Hall in Mabee Fine Arts Center. The competition performances are free and open to the public.

Ouachita Student Foundation To Host Annual Tiger Traks Competition April 25-26, Bethany Peevy, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Spring is here, the sun is out and Ouachita Baptist University students are gearing up for "Arkansas' most exciting college weekend." On April 25 and 26, the Ouachita Student Foundation will host the university's annual Tiger Traks.

Banking Sector Reform In Ethiopia, Admassu Bezabeh, Asayehgn Desta

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The fragile and inefficient state-dominated banking sector that existed in Ethiopia during the military government (1974-1991) was a major hindrance to economic growth. Since it took power in 1991, the current government has implemented a number of reforms. For instance, in 1994, the government legalized domestic private investment in the banking industry. In addition, it restructured the two development banks as commercial banks, and introduced a new Banking and Monetary Proclamation that gave more autonomy and further clarified the National Bank of Ethiopia’s activities as the regulator and supervisor of the banking sector. Although these measures have led to marginal …

Nine Ouachita Students Honored As State Nats Finalists, Jessica Stewart, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Nine Ouachita Baptist University students were named finalists at the 39th annual Arkansas National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) conference held at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Ark., earlier this month.

Ouachita Students To Compete In Governor's Cup Business Plan Competition March 18-19, Taylor Tomlinson, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University seniors Michael Crowe, Evan Malcolm and Alex Nelson were recently awarded named undergraduate innovation finalists in the 14th annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup Business Plan Competition for their plan, PUREnovation, Inc. Two other Ouachita teams also will deliver oral presentations in the Governor's Cup March 18-19 as undergraduate semifinalists.

Caitlin Secrest Wins Ouachita's 16th Annual Shambarger Competition, Bethany Peevy, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Caitlin Secrest, a senior vocal performance major from Arkadelphia, Ark., was awarded first place in Ouachita Baptist University's 16th annual Mary Shambarger Competition for Singers on Feb. 25.

Merger Policy And The 2010 Merger Guidelines, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

New Horizontal Merger Guidelines were issued jointly by the Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission in August, 2010, replacing Guidelines issued in 1992 that no longer reflected either the law or government enforcement policy. The new Guidelines are a striking improvement. They are less technocratic, accommodating a greater and more realistic variety of theories about why mergers of competitors can be anticompetitive and, accordingly, a greater variety of methodologies for assessing them.

The unifying theme of the Horizontal Merger Guidelines is to prevent the enhancement of market power that might result from mergers. The 2010 Guidelines state that “[a] …

Economic Determinants Of Quality Of Care In Nursing Homes, Wei Lu

Wayne State University Dissertations

ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF CARE IN NURSING HOMES

This dissertation examines the factors that will affect nursing home quality of care using several national data sources on market regulation, county demographic characteristics, market structural and the characteristics of different types of long-term care providers in 2010.

The first study examines how nine different measures of nursing home care quality respond to the greater levels of local market competition from these alternative providers of long-term care, as well as other nursing homes. Findings reveal that faced with greater competition from assisted living facilities, nursing homes are left to care for …

Self-Construal Moderates Testosterone Reactivity To Competitive Outcomes, Keith Welker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Previous research shows that testosterone reactivity to competitive outcomes predicts aggressive behavior in men. However, some studies have failed to find these effects, and it has been suggested that individual differences moderate the relationships between competitive outcomes, testosterone fluctuations, and aggressive behavior. The current research examined whether one individual difference--self-construal--would moderate these effects. In Study 1, participants were assigned to win or lose a competitive video game and engaged in a reactive aggression task. Results indicated that increases in testosterone in response to winning and decreases in response to losing occurred in men with independent, not interdependent, self-construals. These changes …

Selective Contracting In Prescription Drugs: The Benefits Of Pharmacy Networks, Joanna Shepherd

Faculty Articles

Selective contracting in health care involves contractual arrangements among insurers and health care providers that give covered individuals a financial incentive to obtain health care from a limited panel of providers. Although selective contracting has been an important strategy of health insurance plans for decades, it has only recently expanded to prescription drug coverage. Drug plans now create pharmacy networks that channel customers to in-network pharmacies. Pharmacies compete to be part of the networks by offering discounts on the drugs they sell to covered customers and drug plans. Although networks can lower prescription drug costs for drug plans and consumers, …

Barreras A La Competencia Y Libre Concurrencia E Insumos Esenciales, Carlos Mena-Labarthe

Carlos Mena-Labarthe

En la Constitución Mexicana y la Ley Federal de Competencia Económica se establecen facultades para que la autoridad de competencia elimine barreras y regule insumos.

Las investigaciones de mercado son una herramienta adicional que permite obtener una perspectiva integral de los mercados para la corrección de fallas conductuales y estructurales.

Se trata de un procedimiento muy riguroso con plazos establecidos para su ejecución.

Las investigaciones de mercado han resultado exitosas en otras jurisdicciones con una sólida tradición en competencia económica.

Students’ Views On Assessment: Preliminary Results Of Survey With 1st Year Students In Department Of Social Sciences, Fiona Mcsweeney

Other resources

This presentation reports on the views of assessment of first year students in a social sciences department. Data was collected using a structued questionnaire from 104 students studying social care and early childhood education. While many positive findings are evident with regard to preparation, feedback and the approachability of lecturers there are lessons to be learned for educators.

Students' Views On Assessment, Fiona Mcsweeney

Other resources

The aim of the study was to explore the views and experiences of students in a Social Science department in an institute of higher education. All undergraduate students were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. 258 valid questionnaire were returned and analysed to ascertain students’ opinions on the purpose of assessment, how prepared they felt for assessments, their experiences and views of formative feedback and their reactions to grades. Findings show that while students have completed a good range of assessment types and show awareness of the learning potential of assessments they do not feel they understand lecturers’ expectations nor are …

Horizontal Product Differentiation In Auctions And Multilateral Negotiations, Charles J. Thomas, Bart J. Wilson

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

We experimentally compare first-price auctions and multilateral negotiations after introducing horizontal product differentiation into a standard procurement setting. Both institutions yield identical surplus for the buyer, a difference from prior findings with homogeneous products that results from differentiation's influence on sellers' pricing behaviour. The data are consistent with this finding being driven by concessions from low-cost sellers in response to differentiation reducing their likelihood of being the buyer's surplus-maximizing trading partner. Further analysis shows that introducing product differentiation increases the intensity of price competition among sellers, which contrasts with the conventional wisdom that product differentiation softens competition.

Friend Or Foe: The Effect Of Shared Group Status On Aggressiveness And Testosterone In Response To Provocation, Eric William Fuller

Wayne State University Dissertations

Previous research has found that individuals display behavioral and hormonal differences when engaged in competition with natural and experimental ingroup and outgroup members. The current work expands on this line of research by examining the impact of shared group status on reactive aggression in response to provocation. Using a previously validated measure of reactive aggression, participants were provoked by and given a chance to aggress on to either a racial ingroup or outgroup member. Participants also provided saliva samples to allow for monitoring changes in testosterone. It was hypothesized that behavioral aggression would be predicted by changes in testosterone and …

Physical, Emotional, And Competitive Aggression Tendencies In Contact And Non-Contact Collegiate Athletes, Samyra Rose Safraoui

Online Theses and Dissertations

Differences in aggression tendencies between athletes who play a contact sport and athletes who play a non-contact sport at the collegiate level were investigated. Specifically, emotional, physical, and competitive aggression tendencies were measured for both groups and then compared to each other using independent t tests and effect sizes. One hundred student-athletes from a medium sized midwestern university participated in the study, with an even split between contact and non-contact athletes. Student-athletes were sent an electronic survey via email and Survey Monkey; all materials were approved by the university's Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Athletics department.

It was determined that …

Consumer Welfare In Competition And Intellectual Property Law, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Whether antitrust policy should pursue a goal of "general welfare" or "consumer welfare" has been debated for decades. The academic debate is much more varied than the case law, however, which has consistently adopted consumer welfare as a goal, almost never condemning a practice found to produce an actual output reduction or price increase simply because productive efficiency gains accruing to producers exceeded consumer losses.

While some practices such as mergers might produce greater gains in productive efficiency than losses in consumer welfare, identifying such situations would be extraordinarily difficult. First, these efficiencies would have to be "transaction specific," meaning …

Possible Paradigm Shifts In Broadband Policy, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

Debates over Internet policy tend to be framed by the way the Internet existed in the mid-1990s, when the Internet first became a mass-market phenomenon. At the risk of oversimplifying, the Internet was initially used by academics and tech-savvy early adopters to send email and browse the web over a personal computer connected to a telephone line via networks interconnected through in a limited way. Since then, the Internet has become much larger and more diverse in terms of users, applications, technologies, and business relationships. More recently, Internet growth has begun to slow both in terms of the number of …