A new look at the two-mode problem

This paper considers the second-best policy problem that arises when auto travel is priced below its marginal cost and there is a substitute mass transit mode. We analyze the problem by combining a model of a rail line based on Kraus and Yoshida (J. Urban Econ. 51 (2002) 170) with the highway bottleneck model. The model involves a transit authority which optimizes, in addition to the fare, two dimensions of transit capacity. These are (1) the number of train units serving the route and (2) the capacity of an individual train unit. Under a very weak condition, second-best optimality involves expanding both dimensions of transit capacity. The larger percentage effect is on train capacity.     

Public capital and regional output : Another look at some Japanese and American data

Japanese and American data are used to recover estimates of regional production functions that include government capital as an input. Estimated parameters are used to simulate allocations of government capital which would have resulted in equal per employee outputs across states and regions. Base case estimates indicate that complete equalization would have increased aggregate output by about 8 percent in 1954 but reduced it by 14 percent in 1963, in Japan, and reduced aggregate output by about 25 percent in the U.S. in 1972. Sensitivity analyses show that these results are not affected much by small changes in the parameters.     

A new look at performance appraisal: The specimen check-list

The specimen check-list represents a breakthrough in appraisal because its format minimizes appraiser-errors common in rating, ranking, and essay appraisal methods. The specimen check-list requires the appraiser to diagnostically report behavioral incidents observed, based upon prompted recall.     

Efficiency and productivity growth comparisons of European and U.S. Air carriers: A first look at the data

In this paper we carry out technical efficiency and productivity growth comparisons among the four largest European carriers and eight of their American counterparts. The time period of our comparisons is 1976 through 1986. This is a particularly interesting period since it begins just after the informal steps toward deregulation in the United States and ends just prior to the introduction of the first wave of reforms by the Council of Ministers in Europe. We also identify the potential efficiency gains of the European liberalization by comparing efficiency differences between the two carrier groups. The reductions in inefficiency describe the amount that inputs can be decreased without altering output.     

A look at productivity at the firm level in eight French service industries

In this paper, we take advantage of information collected by the French annual survey of market services to analyze productivity differences and changes among firms in eight major industries (restaurants, hotels, engineering, computer programming, computer processing, legal services, accounting and building cleaning), over the five-year period 1984–1988. We find a pattern of cross-sectional and time-series type estimates of the Cobb-Douglas production function, which is comparable to that typically found in studies of manufacturing industries, thus raising similar issues of interpretation and modeling. Using a capital stock measure corrected for rented equipment and building and taking into account the number of hours of work of work per employee improve these estimates to some extent. An interesting finding is that the output elasticity seems significantly smaller with respect to hours per employee than with respect to the number of employees.     

The employee selection interview: A fresh look at an old problem

This article takes a fresh look at employee selection interviews as they are practiced in most organizations. Interviewers' selection decisions are demonstrated to be idiosyncratic and it is concluded that variation in interviewers' decision processes jeopardizes organizational effectiveness. Practical recommendations for improving employment interviews are offered. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A data envelopment analysis of gas utilities' efficiency

This study examines the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) policies that culminated in Order 636 in 1992. The regulatory environment in which natural gas distribution utilities operate was altered. FERC policies forced local gas distribution utilities into an increasingly competitive environment. Restructuring of the industry may affect economic efficiency. Data Envelopment Analysis is used to examine the economic efficiency of gas distributors during 1975–94. Federal policy appears to lead to a reduction in scale due to restructuring and more competition. Reduced scale economies have not altered the economic efficiency of the utilities.     

A further look at linkages between NAFTA equity markets

Recent research finds evidence for convergence among the North American equity markets and argues that this is generated by the North Atlantic Free Trade Accord (NAFTA). In this paper, we re-examine these conclusions and show that the documented cointegration property among the NAFTA equity markets was in fact confined to a sub-period in the late 1990s. We argue that the comovement was caused by the global boom in information technology shares and the resulting change in the sector mix of the value-weighted benchmark indexes used in prior work. We present evidence supporting this alternative hypothesis using an updated data set that includes global industry indexes. Our results have implications for transmission of information across global equity markets and international portfolio diversification.     

Retransformation bias: A look at the box-cox transformation to linear balanced mixed ANOVA models

Summary After a Box-Cox transformation to data following a linear balanced mixed ANOVA model, final results may be presented after retransformation to the original scale of measurement. Consequently, estimation of means which may be unbiased in the transformed scale will not be so after retransformation. In this article, the bias introduced together with the corresponding variance is assessed. It is found that whereas bias may not be a serious problem, the variances are inflated for positive transformation parameter the closer it is to zero.     

A new look at the relationship between time-series and structural econometric models

This paper examines the relationship between dynamic structural econometric models (SEM) and time series (TS) models. It extends the work of others by suggesting a reconciliation of SEM and TS models based on classical linear parameter restrictions in regression models rather than on time series methods. The paper demonstrates that in a number of common economic contexts there exist sets of plausible restrictions on the stochastic properties of the disturbances and on the dynamic adjustment processes in a SEM such that familiar structural models take on the form of univariate TS models. Consequently, it is argued that TS models should not be arbitrarily dismissed as being devoid of economic content.     

A fresh look at the contribution of project management to organizational performance

A better understanding of organizational performance and the contribution that project management can make is the aim. The article adopts the “Competing Values Framework,” a rich framework that is well established both theoretically and empirically but is not well known in the field of project management. The framework is summarized and applied in an empirical investigation of the contribution of project management in general and project management offices (PMOs) in particular to organizational performance. The examination of 11 case studies revealed multiple concurrent and sometimes paradoxical perspectives. The criteria proposed by the framework have been further developed through the identification of a preliminary set of empirically grounded performance indicators. The empirical results contribute to a better understanding of the role of project management generally and PMOs specifically. They also demonstrate the usefulness of this framework for the study of project management's contribution to organizational performance.     

Does immigration affect wages? A look at occupation-level evidence

Previous research has reached mixed conclusions about the effect of higher levels of immigration on the wages of natives. This paper reexamines this question using data from the Current Population Survey and the Immigration and Naturalization Service and focuses on differential effects by skill level. Using occupation as a proxy for skill, we find that an increase in the fraction of foreign-born workers tends to lower the wages of natives in blue collar occupations—particularly after controlling for endogeneity—but does not have a statistically significant negative effect among natives in skilled occupations. The results also indicate that immigrants adjusting their immigration status within the U.S., but not newly arriving immigrants, have a significant negative impact on the wages of low-skilled natives. This suggests that immigrants become closer substitutes for natives as they spend more time in the U.S.     

Partnering: a closer look at one group's programs

The word "partner" brings to mind myriad thoughts and ideas: an association, a sharing relationship, joint interests, marriage. "Partnering" is arguably the most overused term in health care purchasing so far in the 1990s; nonetheless, it represents a change in how business is being conducted and an effective way to lower costs. The following is a representation of how one of the nation's leading group purchasing organizations (GPOs) uses partnerships with a variety of associates to provide opportunities for health care providers to lower costs.     

Prolonged gestation: Energy efficiency and renewable energy businesses

Life cycle theories suggest that businesses evolve through a number of stages: from an embryonic stage of introduction to growth, maturity, and decline. The force that propels their development is consumer acceptance. Industries pass through life cycles as well. However, not all industries pass through each stage of the life cycle, and the duration of stages varies across industries. Some industries skip the slow introductory phase; others avoid the decline stage and are continually revitalised through technological innovation. Still others continue to show substantial promise, but fail to take-off. It is this industry condition, persistent promise without corresponding growth, that we characterise as extended gestation. We believe that energy efficiency and renewable energy (EERE) businesses in Minnesota face the challenge of extended gestation. In this paper, we review the literature on the traditional stages of industry development, explore some of the factors that may lead an industry to remain in a state of extended gestation, and report the results of a study undertaken to better understand the factors that affect the growth of EERE businesses.