Debate: Local government selfimprovement— benchmarking through LG Inform

This article reports findings from a qualitative study of the implementation and outcomes of Practice-Based Commissioning (PBC) in the English National Health Service. Focusing on the local construction of ‘budgets’ and ‘savings’, it reports in detail the issues that arose in the study sites, and discusses the implications for the future development of PBC.     

Do economics journal archives promote replicable research?

Abstract. All the long‐standing archives at economics journals do not facilitate the reproduction of published results. The data‐only archives at Journal of Business and Economic Statistics and Economic Journal fail in part because most authors do not contribute data. Results published in the FRB St. Louis Review can rarely be reproduced using the data+code in the journal archive. Recently created archives at top journals should avoid the mistakes of their predecessors. We categorize reasons for archives' failures and identify successful policies.     

It Makes a Village: Residential Relocation after Charter School Admission

Although numerous studies investigate how student achievement is impacted by educational vouchers and charter schools, there appears to be no research on how these programs impact the surrounding environment. This study examines residential relocation of families whose children attend a charter school. We develop a conceptual model that predicts where relocating families are likely to move, given ex ante distance and direction to the school. The model is parameterized using data from student mailing address changes. We find that families are almost twice as likely to relocate toward the school as would be expected if the school did not exert any attraction. Moreover, although families are not required to live near the school, the child's school exerts a significantly stronger attraction than parent workplaces. This result may have important implications for mitigating urban sprawl, fostering urban renewal and promoting sustainable real estate development.     

Gone fishin’: Seasonality in trading activity and asset prices

We use seasonality in stock trading activity associated with summer vacation as a source of exogenous variation to study the relationship between trading volume and expected return. Using data from 51 stock markets, we first confirm a widely held belief that stock turnover is significantly lower during the summer because market participants are on vacation. Interestingly, we find that mean stock return is also lower during the summer for countries with significant declines in trading activity. This relationship is not due to time-varying volatility. Moreover, both large and small investors trade less and the price of trading (bid-ask spread) is higher during the summer. These findings suggest that heterogeneous agent models are essential for a complete understanding of asset prices.     

Revenue growth in not-for-profit organisations: The effects of interactive and diagnostic controls and organisational culture

Using survey and archival data for 180 not-for-profit aged care organisations, we find that interactive use of performance measurement systems positively affects the organisations’ revenue growth, while the diagnostic use negatively affects revenue growth. We also find that organisational culture, specifically attention to detail, innovation and respect for people, moderates these effects. Our findings have implications for the literature in terms of understanding the combinatorial effects of formal management control and culture on organisational performance. The findings also have practical implications for designing performance measurement systems and developing organisational cultures, to create an internal environment effective in enabling revenue growth.     

Subjective beliefs and economic preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Experimental Economics - The COVID-19 pandemic presents a remarkable opportunity to put to work all of the research that has been undertaken in past decades on the elicitation and structural...     

Reducing Strategic Forbearance under the CARES Act: an Experimental Approach Utilizing Recourse Attestation

The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics - The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed in response to both the global pandemic’s immediate negative and...     

Relational care in communication as the basis of nonprofit fundraising: Theorizing professional ethics based in stewardship and ethics of care

At its core, fundraising is relationship building. Therefore, ethical fundraising requires cultivating genuine, care-based relationships between various stakeholders by considering relational goals and communicative practices. We advance an ethics of care-oriented approach toward fundraising based in nurturing authentic relationships with multiple organizational stakeholders, including donors, employees, beneficiaries, and volunteers. Drawing upon ethics of care and stewardship scholarship based in public relations, the purpose of this article is to propose relational care in communication through dialogue as an ethical springboard of nonprofit fundraising.     

From laboratory to clinic: science commercialization within university-centered entrepreneurial ecosystems

The commercialization of scientific discoveries within the university-industry nexus is multifaceted and complex, characterized by dynamic interactions between multiple agents, organizations, and institutions. These interactions support a university-centered entrepreneurial ecosystem (UCEE). Our study investigates agent-institution dynamics within the UCEE to explore how individual agents seek to commercialize their scientific discoveries. Specifically, relying on 47 narrative interviews, we explore how UCEE agents across three UCEEs in the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia respond and adapt to institutional commercialization mandates during commercialization of their stem cell-based regenerative medicine discoveries. Our findings emphasize the bi-directional relationship between individual agents and institutions within a UCEE, facilitating a much-needed multi-level perspective on academic entrepreneurship research. We extend recent frameworks that propose how the formative stages of the entrepreneurial process – opportunity evolution – influences ecosystem emergence. Specifically, by investigating the latter stages of the entrepreneurial process – how (science-based) opportunities are commercialized within UCEEs – we reveal distinct behavioral responses to science commercialization mandates, which underscore how UCEEs evolve. Furthermore, by explicating the importance of UCEE agent behavior during science commercialization, our study shines an important spotlight onto the microfoundations of science commercialization and UCEEs. Our research imparts important policy implications for institutions tasked with commercializing scientific discoveries and policy makers challenged with developing high growth, sustainable UCEEs.