A Guide for Submissions to the Features and Information Section—A Wealth of Opportunities

The associate editor for the Features and Information (F&I) section of the Journal of Economic Education provides an overview of articles published in this section over the last 20 years with emphasis on pieces that serve as exceptional models for potential contributions. She also offers advice on topics and stylistic approach to authors considering a submission to F&I.     

Planetary Boundaries: Ecological Foundations for Corporate Sustainability

Management studies on corporate sustainability practices have grown considerably. The field now has significant knowledge of sustainability issues that are firm and industry focused. However, complex ecological problems are increasing, not decreasing. In this paper, we argue that it is time for corporate sustainability scholars to reconsider the ecological and systemic foundations for sustainability, and to integrate our work more closely with the natural sciences. To address this, our paper introduces a new development in the natural sciences – the delineation of nine ‘Planetary Boundaries’ which govern life as we know it. We call for more systemic research that measures the impact of companies on boundary processes that are at, or possibly beyond, three threshold points – climate change, the global nitrogen cycle, and rate of biodiversity loss – and closing in on others. We also discuss practical implications of the Planetary Boundaries framework for corporate sustainability, including governance and institutional challenges.     

Medicare payment generosity and access to care

All payments to physicians under Medicare Part B are adjusted to reflect geographic differences in practice costs. The methods used for this adjustment, and temporary price floors imposed by Congress, have created longstanding systematic under and overpayment across physicians, whereby some are routinely underpaid while others are routinely overpaid. Using a nationally representative 2008 survey of physicians, this study examines whether the relative generosity of Medicare influences beneficiary access to care. We find that in areas where Medicare payments are more generous physicians are more likely to accept new Medicare patients, whereas in less generous areas, they are less likely. Our estimated models suggest that if Medicare could eliminate the systematic biases inherent its payment formula, it would see a net improvement to access to care under Medicare Part B.     

The precautionary principle and EMF: implementation and evaluation

The precautionary principle, a recommendation to consider action to avoid a possible harm even if it is not certain to occur, is variously defined and interpreted. We present a range of definitions with an emphasis on their requirements for strength of evidence of harm and for actions to be taken. We describe the variety of approaches that have been adopted in developing policy to address the issue of possible health effects of electric and magnetic fields (EMF) in the face of scientific uncertainty. Further, we discuss specific aspects of scientific uncertainty regarding EMF health risks particularly relevant to the development of precautionary principle policy. We define and discuss prudent avoidance and other unique features of applications of the precautionary principle to EMF. We conclude with examples from EMF policy decisions of risk tradeoffs that need to be considered in developing any precautionary principle policy, and provide recommendations for better ways to define and implement the precautionary principle.     

Studies to Evaluate COBIT's Contribution to Organisations: Opportunities from the Literature, 2003–06

Information Technology control frameworks such as the Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) are designed to promote effective IT governance. This paper guides future scholarly evaluations of COBIT by identifying gaps in, and facilitating, research. It uses a framework to update a classification of the COBIT literature, by examining publications that report on how COBIT has been used in organisations. The findings from content analysis of extensive printed resources carried out on three occasions between 2003 and 2006 suggest that very few academically‐focused evaluations of COBIT implementations have been undertaken, despite COBIT's extensive use in organisations throughout the world. Analysis points to growing acceptance of COBIT by both academics and practitioners, as well as a maturation in practitioner discussion of the framework. However, considerable potential exists for academic research that evaluates COBIT's effectiveness, to determine COBIT's value for organisations.     

Overcoming the “recency trap” in customer relationship management

Purchase likelihood typically declines as the length of time since the customer’s previous purchase (“recency”) increases. As a result, firms face a “recency trap,” whereby recency increases for customers who do not purchase in a given period, making it even less likely they will purchase in the next period. Eventually the customer is effectively lost to the firm. We develop and illustrate a modeling approach to target a firm’s marketing efforts, keeping in mind the customer’s recency state. This requires an empirical model that predicts purchase likelihood as a function of recency and marketing, and a dynamic optimization that prescribes the most profitable way to target customers. In our application we find that customers’ purchase likelihoods as well as response to marketing depend on recency. These results are used to show that the targeting of email and direct mail should depend on the customer’s recency and that the optimal decision policy enables the average high recency customer, who currently is virtually worthless to the firm, to become profitable.