Resource flows through the multilateral system for food and agriculture : Trends of the decade

The tenth session of the World Food Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, held on 11–15 June 1984, undertook an assessment of international activities in the decade since 1974 for meeting the World Food Conference objectives of improving the global food system and overcoming the blight of world hunger. One document prepared for the session looks specifically at the activities of the multilateral institutions since the 1974 conference, in terms of both resource and programme commitments. This article provides a summary of that WFC document.     

The Costs and Benefits of Long-Distance Entry: Regulation and Non-Price Discrimination

A primary goal of the 1996 Telecommunications Act isto encourage competition in long-distance telephonemarkets. Four years after passage of thislegislation, Bell Operating Companies (``BOCs') havebeen granted permission to offer long-distanceservices in only one state. The regulatory barrier toentry is justified on grounds that the BOCs have theability to discriminate against incumbentlong-distance carriers in the provision of essentialaccess services. We take this premise as given andquantify the critical level of discrimination requiredto offset the positive consumers' surplus gainsassociated with the enhanced competition resultingfrom BOC entry into long-distance markets.     

The pregnant applicant: normal alterations in physiologic parameters and testing

Pregnancy affects virtually every organ system, and "baseline" normal laboratory test levels change throughout gestation.     

Cocaine revisited

Insurance companies often test applicants for the presence of cocaine. Because a positive test may automatically preclude further consideration, such cases often never reach the medical director. The negative impact of cocaine use on insurability is reviewed.     

The predictive ability paradox in behavioral accounting research

The purpose of this brief paper is to illustrate a problem with certain “types” of behavioral experiments predicated on a test of predictive ability. Such studies possess the following common characteristics: (1) They employ the implicit prediction models of individual human subjects; (2) They utilize as criteria for assessing predictive usefulness events whose outcomes cannot be independent of expectations about them (e.g. bankruptcy); (3) They use historical values for both criterion events and treatment factors. The difficulty with such experimental designs lies in the necessity to assume unalterable prior behavior in order to utilize a known value for the criterion event. Such an assumption makes it difficult to demonstrate the predictive usefulness of any information treatment factors.     

Characteristics determining the efficiency of foreign banks in Australia

The factors determining foreign bank efficiency are investigated using a three stage research method. It is found that host market incumbency reduces efficiency of foreign banks in Australia, resulting in over use of inputs. Factors underlying the limited global advantage hypothesis of Berger et al. [Berger, Allen N., DeYoung, Robert, Genay, Hesna, Udell, Gregory F., 2000. Globalisation of financial institutions: Evidence from cross-border banking performance. Brookings-Wharton Papers on Financial Service 3, 23–120] are identified, in that nationality specific factors represented by dummy variables are not significant once other relevant effects are controlled for. Parent profitability is not found to result in increased host nation efficiency, while parent credit rating effects are mixed. Some evidence is presented that banks from more financially sophisticated nations are more efficient. The implications of these results are explored from the perspectives of bank management and bank regulators.