Packaging Ethics: Perceptual Differences among Packaging Professionals, Brand Managers and Ethically-interested Consumers

In this article, we explore ethical perceptions of three product packaging issues as viewed by packaging professionals, brand managers, and ethically-interested consumers. We examine, differences between business practitioners and consumers with respect to ethical sensitivity, perceived consequences of business practices, and perceived industry norms. Additionally, we explore the prevalence of two types of values, pragmatic and moral, to determine if the use of these value-types differs among the three groups. We find that business practitioners exhibit less ethical sensitivity. Businesspeople also feel that the likelihood and severity of negative consequences resulting from a packaging practice is lower than do ethically-interested consumers. Finally, business practitioners do not differ from consumers with respect to moral values.     

PREFERENTIAL CREDIT AND INSURANCE AS MEANS TO PROMOTE EXPORTS

Rationales for preferential export credit and export creditinsurance are reviewed and several countries' programs are examinedto determine if these preferential programs are appropriateexport promotion instruments for developing countries. Marketfailure is the most compelling rationale for their introductionbut these arguments have not been well articulated and thereis no systematic analysis of the costs of alternative governmentresponses. Industrial countries' programs have histories ofsubsidy while developing countries' preferential programs havenot been significant factors in stimulating exports.      

On the neutrality of fiscal policy

The paper explores the relationships between fiscal policy and real economic activity and prices for the six largest industrialized economies. Fiscal policy variables are shown to be consistent and rational functions of the behaviour of the economy. It is also confirmed that fiscal policy seems to have a consistent impact on subsequent real economic activity and prices. When multivariate time series analysis is used to breakdown overall fiscal policy into anticipated and unanticipated components, the anticipated components are shown generally to have just as much forecasting ability for subsequently realized economic variables as the unanticipated components. This does not appear to be consistent with the implications of pure rational expectations models.     

Socially Responsible Processes of Small Family Business Owners: Exploratory Evidence from the National Family Business Survey

The purpose of this exploratory study is to ascertain the impact of family, business, and community factors on the socially responsible processes of small family businesses, and investigate the influence of financial success and attitudes toward community on these processes. The research is grounded in the Sustainable Family Business Theory, which has been enhanced to include the interactive and collaborative action, both economically and socially, of family businesses and their communities. Data are from the National Family Business Survey, 2000 panel. The processes studied include interpersonal transactions in the form of community leadership and holding an elected or appointed office, and resource transactions in the form of providing financial or technical assistance in community development, and providing donations to local programs. Models assessed the probability and intensity of assistance provided by family businesses. The findings indicate that the social and economic climate of the community may contribute to the performance of responsible actions by businesses because human, social and financial capital resources from both the family and the business can be used to solve problems in the community. The most robust result was that individuals with very positive attitudes about their local communities were more likely to serve in leadership positions and make financial and technical contributions to the community. Business owners in economically vulnerable communities were willing to assume more responsibility to fill leadership positions in the community and make substantial contributions of financial and technical assistance than those in less vulnerable communities. Policymakers must recognize the many contributions of family businesses and forge rural developmentpolicies that not only help sustain existing businesses and fuel the engine of economic growth, but encourage human capital development, and, in turn, enhance the contributions of the family and the business to their community.     

Can trade costs explain why exchange rate volatility does not feed into consumer prices?

If countries specialize in imperfectly substitutable goods, trade costs increase the share of expenditure devoted to domestic output, reducing the exposure of consumer price inflation to exchange rate changes. I present a multi-country flexible-price model where expenditure shares are inversely related to trade costs through a gravity equation. In this setting, consumer price inflation can be approximated as an expenditure-share-weighted average of the contributions to inflation from all countries. I use data from 24 OECD countries, 1970-2003, to estimate a structural gravity model. I combine the fitted expenditure shares from the estimation with actual data on exchange rates to construct predictions of inflation. The behavior of these predictions indicates that trade costs can explain both qualitatively and quantitatively the failure of exchange rate volatility to feed into inflation.     

Audit Partner Tenure and Internal Control Reporting Quality: U.S. Evidence from the Not‐For‐Profit Sector

This study examines the effects of audit partner tenure and audit partner changes on internal control reporting quality for large U.S. not‐for‐profit (NFP) organizations. Regulators contend that audit partners lose their objectivity over successive audits, reducing audit quality. A large body of research has examined this issue, primarily in non‐U.S. jurisdictions, with mixed results. We examine the associations between audit partner tenure and audit partner changes and the incidence of reported internal control deficiencies (ICDs), the quality of internal control reports (following PCAOB audit quality indicators), and the severity of reported ICDs. We find negative associations between audit partner tenure and the incidence of reported ICDs, the quality of internal control reports, and the severity of reported ICDs. Together, these findings indicate that internal control reporting quality deteriorates with audit partner tenure. However, we find no association between audit partner changes and internal control reporting, which is consistent with partners lacking client specific knowledge in their first year with a client. Finally, we find no association between either audit partner tenure or changes and the likelihood of remediation. Our findings contribute large‐sample U.S. evidence on the association between audit partner tenure and internal control reporting quality and provide useful information to government regulators, NFP boards charged with the oversight of the external auditor and internal controls, and NFP stakeholders.     

Rationality and Politics in Pit Closure Decisions

This paper considers whether pit closure decisions can be justified solely on financial grounds. It examines a variety of approaches drawn from accounting and economics, which may be arranged in a crude ‘hierarchy of sophistication’. The paper's conclusion is that the pit closure problem is far more complex than has generally been portrayed to the public, and that satisfactory solutions to it cannot be derived solely from within traditional accounting or economic approaches. The paper is a pedagogic exercise which exposes the limitations and partiality of accounting and finance by applying them to a particular, well-documented case. The paper argues for the inclusion of externalities and social welfare considerations in a planning framework for British Coal guided by Schumacher's principle of conservation.     

Fish consumption: efficacy among fishermen of a brochure developed for pregnant women

The risk to human consumers from contaminants in fish is often dealt with by issuing consumption advisories, or in some cases, information brochures. Normally advisories and brochures are developed and tested with anglers. We examine the efficacy of a fish consumption brochure that was developed for pregnant women on people engaged in fishing in the Newark Bay Complex. The brochures were in English and Spanish, and subjects could read and be interviewed in either language. Of the 151 people interviewed, 32% were women, 58% spoke only English, 22% spoke mainly Spanish and the rest felt comfortable with both languages. There were no differences in the percent that were present as a function of preferred language. There were significant differences in the understanding of the brochure, depending upon preferred language (and the language of the brochure). In general, anglers preferring Spanish and who read the brochure in Spanish obtained fewer of the messages correctly than those who preferred English (seven of seven questions). There were also gender differences in efficacy of the brochures; a higher percentage of female anglers thought that the fish were not safe to eat from the port and thought that eating contaminated fish from the port could harm their baby. Although the correct message was obtained by 34–100% of the anglers, depending upon the question, and 60–75% of the anglers believed the pamphlet, only 16% (Spanish‐speaking) to 47% (Bilingual) planned on changing the species of fish they eat or the method of cooking. These data suggest that a pamphlet designed for pregnant women is useful for anglers, and they can obtain the ‘correct’ message from it. However, a relatively small percentage of subjects were persuaded to change their cooking or consumption behavior. In addition to television, subjects felt that the direct approach of distributing brochures face‐to‐face was an important method of communication of fish consumers.     

The debt crisis in Ireland

This paper takes a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the current debt crisis in Ireland. It briefly reviews Irish economic performance from 1980 to 2008 and in particular the Celtic Tiger years. The paper looks at changes in the Irish money supply and its contribution to the Irish housing bubble and the subsequent economic problems facing Ireland. An estimate of the negative wealth effect in Ireland since 2007 is made. Given that Ireland is a small open economy, a number of other factors which are both domestic and international are considered in an attempt to explain what has happened in Ireland, where might Ireland go from here and what lessons can be learnt. These factors include: the theory of political economics, the principal-agent problem, the theory of optimal currency areas, the Balassa Samuelson effect, the dynamics of a capitalist economy, neo-liberalism, European monetary integration, international bond markets and ‘insurance’ that was sold to cover a Eurozone breakup. The Irish culture is considered to differentiate Ireland from other EU countries, in particular, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain.     

Fiduciary responsibility and potential liabilities in health care cost management

This article addresses the key legal issues facing ERISA welfare plan fiduciaries in health care cost management and explores the current status of a number of fiduciary obligations particularly relevant to welfare plan trustees. The authors discuss the fiduciary issues raised by the selection of a health care delivery system, plan design decision making and provider discount arrangements with health plans, and provide suggestion for administering reimbursements for health care costs from third party recoveries and addressing provider fraud.