Taxes and the Capital Structure of Partnerships,REIT's,and Related Entities

Academic finance has explored the effect of taxes on corporate capital structure in great detail. By contrast, the effect of taxes on the capital structure of partnerships, REIT's, and related entities has received little attention. The present paper shows that, under general conditions, the values of partnerships and REIT's are invariant to leverage, contradicting the sparse literature in the area. A proof similar to that of Modigliani-Miller is employed. The effect of real world imperfections is also examined.     

TRANSACTION COST IMPAIRMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE: LESSONS FROM EGYPT

Increasing evidence indicates the relative importance of transaction costs in international market penetration by LDC manufactured goods exporters. This paper identifies the sources and nature of these costs and recommends policies capable of helping LDC exporters overcome transaction cost-based obstacles to such exports. Data for the analysis are from questionnaires addressed to samples of manufactures exporters and trading intermediaries in Egypt.     

Nursing Turnover and Hospital Efficiency: An Organization-Level Analysis

This study tests the competing arguments that organization-level turnover is positively associated with organizational inefficiency or, alternatively, positively related to organizational inefficiency only in those organizations experiencing very high or very low turnover. Findings from multivariate analyses support the former argument: in a national sample of 333 hospitals, turnover among registered nurses was found to be associated in a positive linear fashion with both nonpersonnel operating and personnel costs per adjusted inpatient day.     

Employment and Local Public Sector Unions

This study examines the longitudinal effects of unionization on employment levels in 13, 749 departments of city and county government with unchanged union status between 1977 and 1982. The resluts demonstrate that, holding constant 1977 employment per capita, 1982 employment pr capita is 3.1 per cent higher in departments with bargaining units, compared to nonunion department. Employment levels in departments with nonbargaining associations are equal to nonunion levels, but associations may increase employment relative to levels employers would choose because they also set compensation above nonunion levels. The political context of local public sector employment is probably responsible for these effects.     

The Effects of Mission-Oriented Public R & D Spending on Private Industry

This paper addresses the question of how government mission-oriented R & D spending affects private R & D spending and thereby the total investment in technology. The problem is approached within the context of the capital asset pricing model in which the firm views investment projects in terms of their risk and return characteristics. The firm is assumed to produce jointly an established product and an R & D-intensive product, where the latter generates an additional output of technology, or spillover, that is used as an input into the former. By investing in R & D the firm alters its risk and return characteristics in two ways: through the expected profits from the sale of the R & D-intensive good; and through the expected profits from the spillover. In this model, government mission-oriented R & D contracting affects the firm by enabling it to separate to some extent these two sources of risk and return. The main implication of the analysis is that while some public crowding out of private R & D is likely, this is almost certain to be incomplete. The empirical evidence from the U.S. transport industry supports the model and suggests that each dollar of government funding adds around 92 cents to total R & D spending; crowding out private investment by as little as eight percent.     

SPECIALIZED SUPPLIER NETWORKS AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: EVIDENCE FROM THE AUTO INDUSTRY

This study examines the relationship between interfirm asset specificity and performance in the auto industry. More specifically, I examine the extent to which differences in supplier–automaker asset specialization may explain performance differences between Japanese automakers (Nissan and Toyota) and U.S. automakers (Chrysler, Ford, General Motors). The findings indicate a positive relationship between supplier–automaker specialization and performance. In particular, the data suggest a positive relationship between interfirm human asset cospecialization and both quality and new model cycle time. Moreover, site specialization is found to be positively associated with lower inventory costs. The findings suggest that in the auto industry a tightly integrated production network characterized by proximity and a high level of human cospecialization will outperform a loosely integrated production network characterized by low levels of interfirm specialization.     

Deliveries on Commodity Futures Contracts

Deliveries on futures contracts are widely thought to be relatively insignificant in amount; indeed sizeable deliveries are taken to indicate problems in a futures market. In fact, deliveries on five of the largest, physical delivery, futures markets in the US average approximately 10 per cent of the maximum open interest in each delivery month. Analysis also demonstrated the value of the timing and location options often provided by contract specifications. One implication is that measures of market performance like hedging effectiveness are sensitive to the imbedded options' effects on prices