What states are doing to control health insurance costs

Like other employers, state governments are struggling with continued health care cost increases. A 50-state survey reveals that these large public employers are actively attempting to control the cost of their plans while ensuring quality and a commitment to their employees' overall good health.     

Age of rental housing units and vacancy characteristics A filtering explanation

Aggregate data on rental units indicate that older units have lower vacancy frequencies and higher vacancy durations than newer units. A formulation consistent with the filtering hypothesis of the housing literature is presented that explains the above empirical regularity.     

Bidder collusion

We analyze bidder collusion at first-price and second-price auctions. Our focus is on less than all-inclusive cartels and collusive mechanisms that do not rely on auction outcomes. We show that cartels that cannot control the bids of their members can eliminate all ring competition at second-price auctions, but not at first-price auctions. At first-price auctions, when the cartel cannot control members’ bids, cartel behavior involves multiple cartel bids. Cartels that can control bids of their members can suppress all ring competition at both second-price and first-price auctions; however, shill bidding reduces the profitability of collusion at first-price auctions.     

An empirical investigation of technology acceptance in a field sales force setting

Gaining technology acceptance by salespeople is critical in modern organizations. Sales technology is an integral tool for enhancing customer-related information management and knowledge development. Knowledgeable salespeople are able to use the information and knowledge to practice adaptive selling, improve performance, and enhance their firm's competitive advantage in the marketplace. This study proposes and tests a model linking technology acceptance to adaptive selling and job performance of field salespeople. The results provide evidence that behavioral intentions to use technology positively affect salesperson performance through enhanced propensity to practice adaptive selling. Implications of the study for managers and researchers are discussed.     

International Equity and Differentiation in Global Warming Policy

ne of the major obstacles to reaching a comprehensive agreement on global warming is the setting of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for individual countries. Long-standing tensions between industrialized and developing countries have raised the issue of equity in burden-sharing. Moreover, individual industrialized nations have pleaded special circumstances and have sought differentiation in their obligations. This paper analyzes alternative rules for distributing tradable carbon dioxide emissions permits. A non-linear programming model, which distinguishes between allocation-based and outcome-based rules, is used to analyze the relative welfare outcomes. The model is applied to the world body of nations and yields several important policy implications.     

The second fundamental theorem of asset pricing: a new approach

This article presents a new definition of market completenessthat is independent of the notions of no arbitrage and equivalentmartingale measures. Our definition has many advantages, allshown herein. First, it preserves the Second Fundamental Theoremof Asset Pricing, even in complex economies. Second, under ourdefinition, the market can be complete yet arbitrage opportunitiesexist. This is important in practice, and stands in contrastto the traditional definitions. Third, under the assumptionsof no arbitrage and when used in the standard models, our definitionis equivalent to the traditional one.     

Going Out by Going In: Business Model Innovation with Chinese Characteristics

A radical model of “going out by going in” is proposed. Conventionally, firms enter overseas markets by selling and ultimately investing—this is “going out.” Here, I argue that firms in emerging markets can draw revenues from overseas by penetrating previously inaccessible domestic markets and then renting their distribution and service channels to foreign competitors—this is “going out by going in.” Further, firms in emerging markets can combine knowledge platforms with distribution and service platforms to create markets for innovative products and, again, rent these platforms to overseas competitors. Two cases, both from the Haier Group, are on point: Haier's Integrated Channel Services business targeting rural markets, and the Haier “water box” project aimed at supplying potable water to households throughout China. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The relative quality of black economists

This paper identifies the top black economists and ranks them in terms of their quality. The measure used as the indicator of quality is the number of citations received by an individual economist. It is argued that citations represent influence in that they reflect the degree to which others have found that work to be useful in their research and are an indication of the amount of recognition an economist’s research has received. Using citation tabulations as the measure of quality, the rankings of the top twenty economists were calculated.