Business Commons^™

Oxytocin Increases Generosity In Humans, Paul J. Zak, Angela Stanton, Sheila Ahmadi

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Human beings routinely help strangers at costs to themselves. Sometimes the help offered is generous-offering more than the other expects. The proximate mechanisms supporting generosity are not well-understood, but several lines of research suggest a role for empathy. In this study, participants were infused with 40 IU oxytocin (OT) or placebo and engaged in a blinded, one-shot decision on how to split a sum of money with a stranger that could be rejected. Those on OT were 80% more generous than those given a placebo. OT had no effect on a unilateral monetary transfer task dissociating generosity from altruism. OT …

Solving The Bargaining Democracy Problem Using A Constitutional Hierarchy Of Law, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

In the “bargaining democracy” groups form coalitions that are able to grant benefits to themselves through legislation. These benefits may lack popular support. A constitutional hierarchy of conflicting laws is proposed to resolve this democratic problem. In the hierarchy more “rule-oriented” legislation dominate. The hierarchy would create a momentum of the political process towards more rule-oriented legislation and policy debate. The difficulty of defining a rule operationally is overcome by limiting the task of a constitutional court to simply rank conflicting policy actions in terms of criteria for rules.

Recognizing Macroeconomic Fluctuations In Value Based Management, Lars Oxelheim, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Value Based Management (VBM) has become a common tool for evaluating corporate strategies and projects from the perspective of shareholder value maximization, and can be an important input for corporate compensation systems. But traditional VBM frameworks make no systematic effort to distinguish between changes in performance attributable to macroeconomic fluctuations beyond management's control and changes in performance that reflect the intrinsic competitive position of the firm.

The authors have developed an approach for “filtering out” the impact of macroeconomic fluctuations on cash flows for purposes of performance evaluation. Such fluctuations are captured by changes in exchange rates, interest rates, and …

The New Basel Capital Accord: Making It Effective With Stronger Market Discipline, Harald Benink, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

In January 2001 the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision proposed a new capital adequacy framework to respond to deficiencies in the 1988 Capital Accord on credit risk. The main elements or ‘pillars’ of the proposal are capital requirements based on the internal risk-ratings of individual banks, expanded and active supervision, and information disclosure requirements to enhance market discipline. We discuss the incentive effects of the proposed regulation. In particular, we argue that it provides incentives for banks to develop new ways to evade the intended consequences of the proposed regulation. Supervision alone cannot prevent banks from ‘gaming and manipulation’ of …

Strategic Flexibility In Information Technology Alliances: The Influence Of Transaction Cost Economics And Social Exchange Theory, Candace Ybarra, Margarethe Wiersema

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Utilizing a model drawn from both transaction cost economics and social exchange theory, we analyze determinants of strategic flexibility in a sample of strategic alliances involved in joint development agreements or joint research pacts. Findings indicate that, in general, determinants suggested by transaction cost economics provided flexibility in modification and inflexibility in exit. From social exchange theory, trust was found to be positively related to both types of flexibility while another component of social exchange theory, dependence, was found to be negatively related to the strategic flexibility of the alliance. Results also found that factors suggested by both transaction cost …

How Super Are Video Supers? A Test Of Communication Efficacy, Noel Murray, Lalita A. Manrai, Ajay K. Manrai

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Interest in the role of video supers-superimposed video presentations of verbal information-has grouwn among consumers, advertisers, the television networks, and public policymakers, as supers have become prevalent in television commercials. The authors empirically address the communications efficacy of video supers in a sample of 200 different commercials that contain video supers Drawing on a theory of modality effects, the authors examine the comprehensive of video supers relative to commercial content. The authors develop hypotheses and analyze structural determinants of video super comprehension, such as presence of a voice-over, rate of presentation, and presentation size. The findings are supportive of the …

The Value Line Enigma Extended - An Examination Of The Performance Of Option Recommendations, Jack B. Broughton, Don M. Chance

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We extend the research on the Value Line Enigma by examining the performance of call recommendations in Value Line Options. Galai's hedge decomposition procedure identifies the components of the calls' returns. Abnormal call returns were most pronounced immediately following the purchase, which is consistent with studies of Value Line's stock rankings. The largest and most significant abnormal performance was by calls assigned the highest rank written on stocks judged by Value Line to be correctly priced. Abnormal call return performance by joint call and stock ranks was consistent with the hypothesis that Value Line identifies underpriced call options.

Relative Price Changes And Exchange Rate Determination With Slow Price Adjustment: An Empirical Analysis, Clas Wihlborg, Madelyn Antoncic

Business Faculty Articles and Research

The general purpose of this paper is to analyze empirically sectoral price adjustment in the exchange rate adjustment process. Relative price changes may occur within a sector between countries, and within a country between sectors. Our main objective is to test the hypothesis that both kinds of relative price changes occur in the adjustment process to disturbances in money demand and supply. In particular, we expect that the relative prices among goods of different "tradedness"--ranging from perfectly traded to non-traded goods--are affected by such disturbances. Our second objective is to test empirically whether the nature of exchange rate adjustment is …

Price Determination In A Competitive Industry With Costly Information And A Production Lag, Reuven Glick, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We analyze the role of information for price and output adjustment when competitive firms with rational expectations cannot directly distinguish between industrywide and firm-specific cost disturbances. Firms may become informed about industrywide cost conditions by acquiring information at a cost. The sensitivity of price and output to cost disturbances decreases as more firms choose to purchase information. The equilibrium industry share of informed firms increases as the cost of information falls and total cost variability increases. The equilibrium share of informed firms is largest when there is a comparable degree of variability in both industrywide and firm-specific costs.