Localized externalities,contagious processes and the deterioration of urban housing: An empirical analysis

Housing deterioration can develop in spatial-temporal patterns which are compatible with the operation of localized externalities if deteriorated structures exert negative effects on the condition of nearby structures or if structures are affected by unfavorable conditions which are endemic to entire neighborhoods. The pattern of housing deterioration in space and time is examined, using a time series of housing condemnations for Indianapolis. A non-linear logit model with a spatial-temporal lag structure is used to analyze the association between the occurence of new condemnations and the location of existing condemned structures. The model predicts the probability that a housing condemnation occurs within a given time period as a function of the numbers of condemned structures in the same area and adjoining areas at the beginning of the time period. The size of the areas is flexible and an appropriate scale for the process is identified by varying the size of the areas.     

Urbanization effects on survey nonresponse: a test within and across cities

This paper addresses differences in survey response across city size by applying an explanation from House and Wolf to areas within cities. The data are from Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener, in Canada. Consistent with other literature, response falls sharply from largest to smallest place, but variation in response rates within the cities is negligible. The intra-city analysis is accomplished by factor analyzing variables such as population density, crime rate and ethnic structure, mostly computed for census tracts, into a variable labelled social disorganization. What House and Wolf termed compositional variation in response is handled by record linking with municipal assessment information. The analysis is based on micro data taking the people listed for the sample as unit of observation.     

The economics of decision making in the new manufacturing firm

Decision making in a modern manufacturing firm producing a variety of products while meeting order deadlines appears at first to have little basis in the economic Theory of the Firm. It is shown that optimal budget allocations, the fractions of revenue expended on inputs, are likely to remain constant for a succession of orders for each of a family of products, thus simplifying the decision process. Well-known heuristic decision rules may not only have a sound basis in economic theory but are evidently the best way to incorporate economic logic into a stream of fast-moving decisions. The discussion is extended to an explanation of the economic value of decision making to the firm, and why this value is usually assumed to be zero in theory.     

The use of cycles? explaining employee involvement in the 1990s

Drawing on evidence from twenty-five case studies from different sectors and parts of the country, the authors challenge Ramsay's influential ‘cycles of control’ theory of participation as a managerial response to industrial relations pressures from below. Through a series of ‘ideal type’ scenarios, they indicate the range of management motives behind the new ‘wave’ of employee involvement schemes.     

Decomposing Redistributive Effects of Taxes and Transfers in Australia: Annual and Lifetime Measures

This paper decomposes the redistributive effect on annual and lifetime inquality of a range of taxes and transfers in Australia, using a dynamic cohort lifetime simulation model. The redistributive effect is decomposed into vertical, horizontal and reranking effects. Horizontal inequities in the tax and transfer system are found to be negligible. The extent of reranking is greater in the lifetime than in the annual context and is affected by the equivalence scales used to adjust household incomes. If no adjustment is made to household incomes, reranking is about nine per cent of the reduction in lifetime inequality. However, if each child is counted as equivalent to one-third of an adult, reranking is found to be less than one per cent.     

A reconciliation of recent results in optimal taxation theory

The recent papers by Guesnerie and Diewert on tax reforms are interpreted as contributions to the characterization of second-best optima. This paper demonstrates that when it is possible to achieve any feasible direction of change in supplies by a differential change in producer prices, there are unique producer support prices. Under these circumstances, the apparent differences between Guesnerie and Diewert are reconciled. Optimality conditions with nonunique support prices are also considered.     

IMPLEMENTING A TRADE FACILITATION AGREEMENT IN THE WTO: WHAT MAKES SENSE?

Abstract.  In the Doha Round, trade facilitation is the negotiating issue in which the 'implementation issue' is most prominent. At the WTO (the Doha Development Agenda) the international community has approached the implementation problem as a challenge to restore mercantilist balance rather than as a need to build good economics into future agreements. The international community has taken on aggressively the development dimensions of trade facioitation through the development banks, bilateral aid agencies and other specialized institutions. Considerable funding has been provided. Though little progress has been made through WTO negotiations, the content of these development programs is supportive of development.     

Seasonal decomposition and forecasting of telecommunication data: A comparative case study

In this paper, forecasting models for the monthly outgoing telephone calls in a University Campus are presented. The data have been separated in the categories of international and national calls as well as calls to mobile phones. The total number of calls has also been analyzed. Three different methods, namely the Seasonal Decomposition, Exponential Smoothing Method and SARIMA Method, have been used. Forecasts with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each method and compared with the actual data. The outcome of this work can be used to predict future demands for the telecommunications network of the University.     

Directors'' remuneration in the theory of the firm: Specification and testing of the null hypothesis

One basis for the managerial theories has been the strong correlation between firm size and executive remuneration. This may, however, simply reflect variations in managerial quality across firms. We also show that the absence of a correlation between profitability and remuneration is not evidence in favour of the managerial theories. In this paper we follow the rewards to individual U.K. managers over time, thereby controlling for quality variation. We conclude that growth is highly rewarded and involvement in mergers and takeovers attracts an extra premium. This may explain the continued popularity of mergers despite knowledge of their general unprofitability.