Analyzing the volume and nature of emergency medical calls during severe weather events using regression methodologies

An effective emergency medical service (EMS) response to emergency medical calls during extreme weather events is a critical public service. Nearly all models for allocating EMS resources focus on normal operating conditions. However, public health risks become even more critical during extreme weather events, and hence, EMS systems must consider additional needs that arise during weather events to effectively respond to and treat patients. This paper seeks to characterize how the volume and nature of EMS calls are affected during extreme weather events with a particular focus on emergency preparedness. In contrast to other studies on disaster relief, where the focus is on delivery of temporary commodities, we focus on the delivery of routine emergency services during blizzards and hurricane evacuations. The dependence of emergency service quality on weather conditions is explored through a case study using real-world data from Hanover County, Virginia. The results suggest that whether it is snowing is significant in nearly all of the regression models. Variables associated with increased highway congestion, which become important during hurricane evacuations, are positively correlated with an increased call volume and the likelihood of high-risk calls. The analysis can aid public safety leaders in preparing for extreme weather events.     

Optimality in a financial economy with outside money and restricted participation

We analyze an economy with inside financial assets and outside money. Households have differing restricted access on both types of assets and, according to a well-known approach, they use money to pay taxes. Since competitive equilibria are generically inefficient, we perform a Pareto improvability analysis through a monetary intervention. It results that, if the government modifies the amount of money endowments for just one consumer in period one, then Pareto improvements upon the market equilibrium are possible.     

Capital flows and the boom–bust cycle: The case of Estonia

During 2000–2007, Estonia was among the fastest growing emerging market economies, but in late-2008 entered a deep recession. This paper examines shocks, institutions, and policies that have made Estonia's boom–bust cycle so severe. It finds that an open capital account, the prospect for EU entry, and the currency board facilitated massive capital inflows, which led to credit and real estate booms. In late-2008 a domestic slowdown was greatly amplified by the global financial and economic crisis. To resume sustainable growth, the country will need to regain competitiveness and rebalance resources to exports. Estonia's experience underscores the importance for other emerging market economies to retain some flexibility in their macroeconomic frameworks and approach capital account liberalization cautiously.     

Transaction Costs of Environmental Policies and Returns to Scale: The Case of Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans

Comprehensive nutrient management plans are being promoted to reduce excess nutrient applications on livestock farms to improve water quality. Development of these plans has been shown to exhibit increasing returns to scale but these costs did not include farmer time. Data from a farmer survey are used to characterize the magnitude and determinants of the transaction costs of comprehensive nutrient management plan development in the Midwest. The analyses confirm that the time spent by farmers exhibits increasing returns to scale. Ignoring the hours spent by farmers on plan development underestimates time requirements by approximately 10%.     

The home field advantage: Implications for the pricing of tickets to professional team sporting events

Existing empirical estimates of the elasticity of demand for tickets to professional team sporting events are consistently inelastic, throwing into question the assumption of profit-maximizing behavior on the part of team management. We provide a new theory of team sport ticket pricing, based on the home field advantage, which implies that the elasticity of demand relevant for profit maximization is more elastic than the traditional ceteris paribus elasticity measure. Thus, the inelastic traditional point estimates are not necessarily inconsistent with team profit maximization.     

Investigating the limits of competitive intelligence gathering: is mystery shopping ethical?

In this article we take further the debate on the ethics of competitive intelligence gathering, which until now has been very limited. Drawing on empirical research from a mobile telephone company in the United Kingdom, we present the case that while mystery shopping is not the worst activity in which an organization might be involved, it is basically unethical. Mystery shopping involves deception and the obtaining of competitive information under false pretences. Common arguments are that 'everyone is doing it' and that the information is in the public domain. Neither of these points convincingly justifies the requirement for an employer to ask an employee to lie and deceive others on behalf of the company. The use of students and those in low power positions in the organization is a further concern.     

Purchasing professionals in state government: How ethical are they?

A survey of purchasing professionals in the Arizona state government was conducted to determine how familiar the buyers were with the Arizona laws regarding ethical conduct, what ethical standards they followed in purchasing, and what types of ethical dilemmas they faced in their work. The findings indicate that no serious ethical problems exist among the respondents. Employees in the centralized purchasing office seemed to act somewhat more ethically than buyers in peripheral offices, however. Laura B. Forker is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Purchasing, Transportation, and Operations at Arizona State University. She has published in the Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management and Comparative Economic Studies.     

On Effective Interdisciplinary Alliances in European Business Ethics Research: Discussion and Illustration

Cooperation in business ethics research is important across disciplines, to help strengthen the base of a field which is still new in Europe. A study on recruitment interviewing in Germany, U.K. and the Netherlands is used to demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary business ethics research, particularly across cultures.     

Flexicurity and job satisfaction in Europe: The importance of perceived and actual job stability for well-being at work

In this paper we study the effect of a micro-level measure of flexicurity on workers' job satisfaction. To this end, using micro-data from the Eurobarometer survey, we disaggregate the sample of workers into different groups according not only to their employment contract (i.e. permanent or temporary), but also to their perceived job security, and we evaluate differences in job satisfaction between these groups. After the potential endogeneity of job type has been controlled for, the results show that what matters for job satisfaction is not just the type of contract, but mainly the perceived job security, which may be independent of the type of contract.The combination “temporary but secure job” seems preferable to the combination “permanent but insecure job”, indicating that the length of the contract may be less important if the worker perceives that s/he is not at risk of becoming unemployed. Our main conclusions are robust to the use of alternative definitions of workers' types and they generally hold within different welfare regimes and also for different aspects of job satisfaction, mainly those more related to job security.