Does Latin America Comprise Transnational ‘Subregions’?

We live in a world of nations, but also one of multi‐nation systems. These systems, or transnational regions, affect global economics, politics and diplomacy. Latin America is a widely recognised and documented transnational region. It contains subregional nation systems that might have all of the characteristics and significance of regions and might also affect the broader integration of Latin America. The author defines regionality on the basis of economic integration and measures it with two methods for Latin America, North America, three Latin American subregional systems and one arbitrarily defined nation system within Latin America. He finds a high degree of integration in Latin America, the Andean nations and the Southern Cone of South America. He finds only a modest degree of integration in North America and not significantly greater integration in South America than in Latin America. The division of Latin America into subregions is consistent with the incidence of sub‐regional trade initiatives in the past two decades and might be at least partly responsible for the limited progress to date towards Latin America‐wide integration. Latin American subregions might now be providing a foundation on which to build regionalism in the future.     

Ekistics,ecumenopolis and the wilderness

In this paper, threats to the world's wilderness areas are reviewed. The author argues for a global approach to this encroachment, so that countries struggling against adverse social and economic conditions are not forced to pay the price of mistakes made due to genuine ignorance or the greed of the more advanced nations. A classification of wilderness areas is given, and the threats facing them are outlined. The author then moves on to explain how ekistics, the science of human settlments, can be applied to the problem. In this way, he suggests, man's need to develop and the environment's need for protection can be united. The paper concludes with a plea for a multi-disciplinary approach and, more important, a general awareness that all environmental issues are related.     

The impact of free and exaggerated prices on perceived quality of services

Previous research in the price-quality area has largely limited its focus to the normal price range and has concentrated on physical goods almost entirely. This study examines the effect of offering a service for free and at an exaggerated price on the perception of its quality. Consistent with the theory developed in this paper, the experimental results suggest that when the tested services are offered for free and for exaggerated prices, they are perceived as lower in quality than when they are offered in a normal price range.     

Are Business Incubators Really Creating New Jobs by Creating New Businesses and New Products

This article examines the use of business incubators to enhance industrial innovation and new venture formation. Currently, the number of business incubators is rapidly growing. Yet, we have little solid evidence that such centers actually stimulate the growth and success of either innovations or new ventures. Gerald Udell examines incubators' resources and services in an effort to assess their potential impact. He conducted a survey of two hundred incubators and linked the results to a partial review of the literature to aid in the assessment of business incubators.     

The coupon-induced tax clientele effect in bond prices

A pricing model for default-free bonds under differentia! taxation of coupon income and capital gains is presented which explicitly considers coupon-induced tax clienteles. Subsequent analysis provides indirect evidence in support of the existence of the coupon-induced tax clientele effect, while direct evidence is provided by analyzing differences in marginal tax rates estimated across different coupon levels for sets of US Treasury bonds with the same maturity date. The results are also generally consistent with the traditional notion that marginal tax rates are inversely related to coupon levels.     

Modelling Deforestation and Land‐Use Change: Sparse Data Environments

Land‐use change in developing countries is of great interest to policy‐makers and researchers with diverse interests. Concerns about consequences of deforestation for global climate change and biodiversity have received the most publicity, but loss of wetlands, declining land productivity and watershed management are also problems facing developing countries. Analyses of these problems are especially constrained by lack of data. This article reviews modelling approaches for data‐constrained environments that involve discrete choice methods including neural nets and dynamic programming, and research results that link individual household survey data with satellite images using geographic positioning systems.     

The Pragmatic Theory of the Firm

Four key ideas provide the foundation for the pragmatic theory of the firm, which is expecially useful for managements and boards in developing an understanding of how companies create long‐term value for the benefit of all stakeholders. First, and a necessary point of departure, is clarity about the purpose of the firm. Maximizing shareholder value is viewed not as the social purpose of the firm, but as a consequence of a company's effectiveness in carrying out a purpose that recognizes the benefits of success to all key corporate stakeholders. Second, a company's knowledge‐building proficiency, in relation to that of its competitors, is viewed as the primary determinant of its long‐term performance. Nurturing and sustaining a knowledge‐building culture facilitates the discovery of obsolete assumptions and early adaptation to a changing environment. Third, the theory avoids “compartmentalizing” a company's activities into silos by treating the firm as a holistic system. A key component of the theory that quantifies corporate performance is the life‐cycle framework in which economic returns exhibit “competitive fade” over the long term. This holistic way of thinking provides insights about intangible assets and other sources of excess shareholder returns. Fourth, managing corporate risk should focus on identifying and removing all major obstacles to achieving the firm's purpose. Such obstacles can lead to value destruction through, for example, unethical behavior and all forms of shortsighted failure to recognize and make the most of opportunities to increase long‐run productivity and value. This theory of the firm is pragmatic in the sense that it aims to produce insights about a company's (or business unit's) performance that can improve management's decisions, especially in allocating capital and other corporate resources. The author uses John Deere's life‐cycle track record over the past 60 years to illustrate a successful application of the theory.     

Local public goods and private suppliers: Musical suburbs replayed

This paper deals with the existence of private market suppliers in a standard local public goods model. The result of this modification can be a cycling process instigated by rich households rather than poor households. The theoretical model provides empirical implications for capitalization studies and policy implications for the provision and financing of local public goods including education.