State mandated benefits and the small firm's decision to offer insurance

In the last decade, the number of Americans without health insurance has grown, partly due to an erosion in employer-based coverage among workers. This paper examines the extent to which state-mandated benefit requirements and other state insurance regulations discourage small firms in the private sector from providing health benefits. Using data on 1320 firms observed in 1985 and 492 firms observed in 1988, we estimate two models of small firms' decisions to offer health insurance (one for each data set), and then use them to assess the effects that mandates had on purchasing decisions in both years. We estimate that 19 percent of noncoverage among sample businesses in 1985 and 43 percent of noncoverage in the 1988 sample was attributable to state-mandated benefits. State continuation-of-coverage requirements were particularly burdensome for firms. With continued growth in the number of state mandated benefit requirements, we should expect a steady rise in the small firm's propensity to forgo insurance coverage.     

Cumulative offer process is order-independent

This note shows that in the matching-with contracts model, the outcome of the cumulative offer process is order-independent if every hospital has a choice function that satisfies the bilateral substitutability condition and the irrelevance of rejected contracts condition.     

Bayesian and consistent assessments

In a Bayesian assessment, beliefs are computed from the strategy profile applying Bayes rule at positive probability information sets. A consistent assessment is the limit point of a sequence of completely mixed Bayesian assessments. We characterize the set of extensive forms for which the sets of Bayesian and consistent assessments coincide. As an illustration of the results, we characterize consistency in some multi-period games with simultaneous actions.     

Toward effective international technology assessments

A cross-national understanding of technology policy decision processes and basic premises underlying technology assessment must be established before an effective technology assessment methodology can be developed to conduct substantive technology assessments on an international scale.     

项目现场:施工管理的英雄用武之地

一个国际工程承包项目的现场施工管理是由项目总承包商对项目工程现场施工全过程进行的管理,其宗旨是使施工各方明确目标、统一步调、紧密配合,努力工作,确保施工质量和施工进度,使整个工程项目能够按时顺利完成。总承包商要对整个项目的质量和工程进度负责,而项目施工是实现工     

基于系统动力学的建筑废料分类分拣管理模型

阐述了将系统动力学用于建筑废料分类分拣管理研究的原理和方法,构建建筑废料现场分类分拣管理模型,结合深圳的基础数据进行实证分析。结果表明,将系统动力学用于建筑废料分类分拣管理研究是合理的,该模型揭示了建筑废料分类分拣过程中诸多因素的相互联系。     

建筑工程项目投标报价策略研究

建筑市场竞争日趋激烈,施工企业应合理科学地运用报价策略来提高投标成功率,从而获得良好的经济效益和社会效益。分析投标报价的策略与技巧,为建筑企业中标指明方向。     

Equilibrium opacity in ultimatum‐offer bargaining

We consider ultimatum bargaining between a seller and a buyer of an asset. They know each other's valuation of the asset. Both can defer their decisions to delegates. These delegates have opaque preferences. Seller and buyer choose the opacity of their delegate. For the seller's delegate this choice is restricted to a random reservation price drawn from the set of symmetric two‐point distributions around the seller's true reservation price. The opacity choice of the buyer's delegate is restricted to a random willingness‐to‐pay drawn from the set of symmetric two‐point distribution around the buyer's true willingness‐to‐pay. We characterize the set of pure‐strategy equilibria in their delegation choices. Multiple equilibria arise. Except for two corner solutions, both players will exploit the strategy of opacity. A large set of efficient equilibria exist. For these, opacity choices do not reduce the probability of transacting, but benefit the buyer compared with the no‐delegation equilibrium. We also study the robustness of the results with respect to the player's ability to also resort to a tougher delegate in addition to the opacity choice.     

Domestic partnership benefits

Employers extending health insurance coverage to "domestic partners" of employees must be concerned with issues related to design, administration and cost as well as possible tax consequences.     

The effects of rent asymmetries in posted offer markets

We report the results of six posted-offer market experiments designed to analyze the effects of asymmetric supply and demand configurations on the price convergence path to competitive equilibrium. The posted-offer experiments are compared with twelve double-auction experiments reported by Smith and Williams (1982). Results differ markedly across trading institutions. Unlike trading under double-auction rules, we cannot reject the proposition that contract price convergence paths are unaffected by the distribution of consumer and producer surplus. Posted-offer contract prices tend to converge to the competitive equilibrium from above regardless of the distribution of the exchange surplus.     

Life cycle benefits

Life cycle benefits are designed to meet the needs of employees throughout the stages of life. Many employers in both the public and private sectors are finding that this approach to benefits makes sense from a number of perspectives.     

Evaluation designs for technology assessments and forecasts

The worth of technology assessments and technological forecasts need not remain a matter of faith; indeed, it cannot. Evaluation of technology assessments and forecasts is indicated both to assess their effectiveness and to provide feedback useful for improving the state of the art. Drawing upon evaluation research, we present a range of alternative evaluation designs that fit into four general categories; pre-planned or post-hoc evaluations of single studies; pre-planned or post-hoc comparisons among multiple studies. We distinguish among three classes of performance objectives meriting evaluative attention: validity, utility, and advancement of the methodological art. For each objective we in turn consider pros and cons of several specific evaluation designs. We conclude with recommendations for two coordinated, but selective, evaluation programs, one focused on comparison among extrapolative forecasting techniques and one devoted to certain aspects of technology assessment methods and utilization.