Monetary anticipation and the demand for money in the U.K.: Testing rationality in the Shock-Absorber hypothesis

The Carr-Darby shock-absorber hypothesis that unanticipated changes in the money supply cause changes in real balances but anticipated changes have a unit impact on the price level (and therefore leave real balances unchanged) is tested using two-step and joint estimation techniques. For the U.K., two-step methods appear to support the shock-absorber hypothesis, but the superior joint estimation technique decisively rejects the hypothesis, particularly the implicit rational expectations cross-equation restrictions.     

Decoupled Farm Payments and Expectations for Base Updating

The degree to which U.S. farm programs are decoupled from production has been a central issue in recent trade disputes. Several authors have suggested producer expectations for base acreage and yield updating in future farm bills create an incentive to alter planting and input decisions. This article reports analysis of the subjective expectations of producers for base updating and an analysis of the effect these expectations have on producer willingness to accept a buyout of the right to update. On average, producers think the chances of updating in the next farm bill are about 40%, but less than 17% indicate adjusting acreage or yields in anticipation of updating.     

Resuscitating the wage channel in models with unemployment fluctuations

Higher wages all else equal translate into higher inflation. More rigid wages imply a weaker response of inflation to shocks. This view of the wage channel is deeply entrenched in central banks’ views and models of their economies. In this paper, we present a model with equilibrium unemployment which has three distinctive properties. First, using a search and matching model with right-to-manage wage bargaining a proper wage channel obtains. Second, accounting for fixed costs associated with maintaining an existing job greatly magnifies profit fluctuations for any given degree of wage fluctuations, which allows the model to reproduce the fluctuations of unemployment over the business cycle. And third, the model implies a reasonable elasticity of steady state unemployment with respect to changes in benefits. The calibration of the model implies low profits, but does not require a small gap between the value of working and the value of unemployment for the worker.     

"Is It Commercially Irresponsible to Trust?"

This paper considers a recent U.K. legal dispute where a supplier sued a large organization, which had been a long-term customer, for breach of implied contract. It uses this case to discuss aspects of the nature of trust between organizations. The discussion encompasses a consideration of the distinction between trust and reliability; and, why the concept of blanket trust is not helpful. In conclusion, by contrasting business-to-business and personal relationships, the paper suggests that firms in their relationships with other institutions should never follow an unquestioning form of strong trust.     

Ethical judgments on selected accounting issues: An empirical study

This study investigates the judgments made by accounting majors when confronted with selected ethical dilemmas that pertain to accounting practice. Drawing upon literature in philosophy and moral psychology, it then examines these judgments for potential gender differences. Five case studies, each involving a specific ethical dilemma that a practicing accountant might face, were administered to 151 acounting majors (males = 67; females = 84), in four sections of intermediate accounting II at a large, state university. The results suggest that although the vast majority of participants wouldnot engage in unethical behavior, a reasonable opportunity exists to improve the participants' ethical awareness. The results do not, however, support the existence of gender differences in ethical judgments. Keith G. Stanga is Distinguished Professor of Accounting at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His most recent publications include a book, Intermediate Accounting(3rd edition, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989, 1486 pp.), and articles published in the Journal of Accountancy, Accounting and Business Research, Accounting Horizons,and Advances in Accounting.Professor Stanga's teaching and research interests are in financial accounting. His most recent research topics have included the relevance of segment cash flow reporting, the Financial Accounting Standards Board's conceptual framework, and the last-in, first-out method of inventory costing. Richard A. Turpen is an Assistant Professor at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His primary teaching interest is in financial accounting, while his research focuses mainly on competitive issues in the market for audit services. Professor Turpen has published most recently in Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory.     

Applications of business analytics in healthcare

The American healthcare system is at a crossroads, and analytics, as an organizational skill, figures to play a pivotal role in its future. As more healthcare systems capture information electronically and begin to collect more novel forms of data, such as human DNA, how will we leverage these resources and use them to improve human health at a manageable cost? In this article, we argue that analytics will play a fundamental role in the transformation of the American healthcare system. However, there are numerous challenges to the application and use of analytics: the lack of data standards, barriers to the collection of high-quality data, and a shortage of qualified personnel to conduct such analyses. There are also multiple managerial issues, such as how to get end users of electronic data to employ it consistently to improve healthcare delivery and how to manage the public reporting and sharing of data. In this article, we explore applications of analytics in healthcare, barriers and facilitators to its widespread adoption, and ways in which analytics can help us achieve the goals of the modern healthcare system: high-quality, responsive, affordable, and efficient care.     

Economics at the FTC: Office Supply Retailers Redux,Healthcare Quality Efficiencies Analysis,and Litigation of an Alleged Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

We discuss in this essay three of the matters on which economists in the Bureau of Economics (BE) at the Federal Trade Commission have worked this past year. BE revisited familiar ground in the first matter, a proposed merger of office supply retailers. The second part of the essay considers efficiency claims in health care mergers, with focus on the acquisition of a physician group by a health care system in Idaho. The final part of the essay discusses empirical work that was undertaken by the Bureau to investigate claims made by marketers of an alleged get-rich-quick scheme.