Deregulation and the competitive fringe: Owner-operators in the trucking industry

This paper assesses the direct and indirect effects of regulatory reform in the trucking industry on the employment of owner-operators. We utilize a probit estimation form derived from driver utility functions to estimate the change in the probability that a truck driver is an owner-operator following deregulation.We find that a representative driver with mean characteristics is 155.6 percent more likely to choose employment as an owner-operator in the deregulated environment. Thirty-six percentage points of this increase is due to the indirect effects of deregulation, which operate primarily through changes in wage differentials and unionization. The direct effect of deregulation accounts for a 120% increase in the probability of a driver choosing employment as an owner-operator.We are especially grateful to David Besanko, Ronald Braeutigam, Robert Drago, and John Heywood for insightful comments. For helpful discussions, we thank Marcus Alexis, Aaron Gellman, Leon Moses, Robert Porter, Ian Savage, Mark Shanley, Carol Simon, Paul Wolfson, and Christopher Udry. For their comments on an earlier draft, we thank Thomas Corsi, Curtis Grimm, and Theodore Keeler. We are grateful for information sent to us by Leon Witconis ofOwner Operator Magazine and William A. Coop ofRoad King Magazine. We acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation, Grant # SES-9111131 and from the Transportation Center of Northwestern University. We also thank two anonymous referees for their efforts in helping us to improve this paper.     

Towards an understanding of the female expatriate experience in Europe

The increased participation of women in the workforce has been one of the major changes in the structuring of the labour force in recent years, and it is anticipated that this trend will continue. Despite growing numbers of women in senior domestic management roles, the participation rates of women in international management remains low across the globe. In Europe, international management has generally been a masculine preserve. Much of our knowledge of female expatriation comes from North America and is based on the experiences of female managers working for North American MNCs. This article builds on that base of understanding but highlights a growing stream of research into female expatriation in Europe, which remains largely “invisible” to specialists outside Europe. Given the paucity of empirical research in this area in general and the need for a more international understanding of the phenomena which can arise from examining different contexts, the article suggests that researchers outside Europe may find useful insights in this paper which pulls together and summarises what we know from the existing research on female expatriates in Europe and offers some avenues for future research.     

Protecting the Rights of Alleged Sexual Harassment Perpetrators: Guidance from the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators

Recent evidence indicates that sexual harassment in the workplace continues to pose a problem for organizations. Using published arbitration awards, the current study examines the critical issues involved in discipline decisions of alleged sexual harassment perpetrators. Content analysis of 92 cases enabled the examination of critical judgment factors considered by arbitrators examining the disciplinary penalties imposed by management. Elements of the arbitrator's judgment including the just cause standards, mitigating circumstances, severity of harassment, and length of harassment were examined. The results of the analyses are discussed with an emphasis on the lessons provided for effective management practices.     

Optimal allocation of watershed management cost among different water users

The issue of water scarcity highlights the importance of watershed management. A sound watershed management should make all water users share the incurred cost. This study analyzes the optimal allocation of watershed management cost among different water users. As a consumable, water should be allocated to different users the amounts in which their marginal utilities （MUs） or marginal products （MPs） of water are equal. The value of MUs or MPs equals the water price that the watershed manager charges. When water is simultaneously used as consumable and nonconsumable, the watershed manager produces the quantity of water in which the sum of MUs and/or MPs for the two types of uses equals the marginal cost of water production. Each water user should share the portion of watershed management cost in the percentage that his MU or MP accounts for the sum of MUs and/or MPs. Thus, the price of consumable water does not equal the marginal cost of water production even if there is no public good.     

Community development using a sustainable tourism strategy: a case study of the Jordan River Valley touristway

This paper presents the results of a 10‐year collaboration among Yarmouk University, the University of Arkansas and the Jordanian government to develop a sustainable tourism strategy against the backdrop of political and economic uncertainty. It reports our efforts to develop a touristway through the Jordan River Valley that integrates the valley's heritage, archeology, and Christian and Islamic religious sites. It also analyses our community development work in Umm Qais, the touristway's northern anchor, and how our plan contributes to Northern Jordan's economic development. We conclude with a discussion of the specific insights gained from our experiences that may serve others addressing similar issues. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.