Firm suburbanization and urban subcenters

The theory of firm location within an urban area is extended to consider a city in which firms can export their output via a suburban terminal as well as via the usual CBD terminal. Firms benefit from suburbanization since freight transport costs are reduced and since they can pay lower wages, but labor may be scarce in the suburbs. This forces suburban firms to readjust their wages, causing some workers to out-commute and giving all workers an incentive to relocate. The existence of an employment subcenter under labor scarcity conditions is shown to cause household utility levels to rise, the size of the metropolitan area to increase, and overall urban land value to change indeterminately. Finally, determination of the optimal location for a suburban terminal is considered.     

How good are two-point estimates of urban density gradients and central densities?

Some researchers have estimated urban density gradients and central densities using only information on the population and area of the inner city and the outer ring of suburbs. The statistical properties of these two-point estimates have not been previously analyzed. This paper shows the difficulties in providing a definitive analysis of these properties and provides, as an alternative, some Monte Carlo experiments. It appears that the two-point density gradients are mildly biased downward (toward zero), while the bias on the central density depends on the underlying error structure. Two-point estimates are compared with OLS and nonlinear least-squares estimates. Some results for actual cities are also provided.     

Small Banks, Small Business, and Relationships: An Empirical Study of Lending to Small Farms

We examine small banks lending to small farms. We find that relationships, as measured by the length of tenure of farm operators, are positively related to bank lending. We also find that de novo banks have a positive tendency to lend to small farms. When existing relationships between borrowers and incumbent lenders are stronger, de novo banks have greater difficulties in lending to small farms. We further find that, even within the category of small banks, lending to small farms (as a percentage of a banks assets) tends to decrease as the bank increases in size.     

The Impact of Perceived Leader Integrity on Subordinates in a Work Team Environment

Over the last decade, the increased use of work teams within organizations has been one of the most influential and far-reaching trends to shape the business world. At the same time, corporations have continued to struggle with increased unethical employee behavior. Very little research has been conducted that specifically examines the developmental aspects of employee ethical decision-making in a team environment. This study examines the impact of a team leader’s perceived integrity on his or her subordinates’ behavior. The results, which came from a survey of 245 MBA students functioning for 2 years in a work team environment, indicate an interaction between leader integrity and team member ethical intentions.     

Private Equity: Accomplishments and Challenges

The authors provide an overview of the main accomplishments of private equity since the emergence of leveraged buyouts in the 1980s, and of the challenges now facing the industry—challenges that have been encountered before during three major growth waves and two full boom‐and‐bust cycles. In so doing, the authors review a large and growing body of academic studies responding to questions like these:

• (1) How have PE buyout companies performed relative to their public counterparts? And to the extent there have been improvements in operating performance and productivity gains, how have such gains been achieved? What role have PE firms played in this process?
• (2) Especially in light of the large fees and profit shares paid to the PE firms, or GPs, and the significant “control” premiums over market paid to the selling companies, how have the returns to the LPs that provide the bulk of the funding for PE funds compared to the returns earned by the shareholders of comparable public companies?
• (3) Apart from the high fees earned by its GPs, why is PE so controversial? Beyond their effects on productivity and benefits for investors, what are the employment and other social effects of buyouts and PE?
• (4) What are the prospects for future PE returns to their LPs, especially in light of the volume of capital commitments and high purchase multiples that were being paid, at least until the onset of the COVID pandemic? And what role, if any, should PE activity be expected to play in the recovery from the pandemic?