Workplace violence and corporate policy for health care settings

Incidents of workplace violence have been of significant concern to health care employers and the public at large. Many employers now find themselves confronted with sentinel events in the workplace, such as assault; property damage; racially, ethnically, or religiously motivated violence; sexual assault; employee suicide; or homicide. Regardless of a health care agency's size or mission, when employees are unexpectedly confronted with workplace violence, they are typically overwhelmed with shock and multiple questions surrounding how the event could have occurred in the safety of the workplace. It is difficult to imagine returning to work only minutes after hearing such news and, yet, in this modern era of corporate health care, this is what usually happens. Awareness of the dynamics and issues related to workplace violence can guide policy development and related interventions to promote safety, stability, and provide a platform for adapting to the devastation of such a disturbing event.     

Evaluating interval forecasts of high‐frequency financial data

A number of methods of evaluating the validity of interval forecasts of financial data are analysed, and illustrated using intraday FTSE100 index futures returns. Some existing interval forecast evaluation techniques, such as the Markov chain approach of Christoffersen ( 1998 ), are shown to be inappropriate in the presence of periodic heteroscedasticity. Instead, we consider a regression‐based test, and a modified version of Christoffersen's Markov chain test for independence, and analyse their properties when the financial time series exhibit periodic volatility. These approaches lead to different conclusions when interval forecasts of FTSE100 index futures returns generated by various GARCH(1,1) and periodic GARCH(1,1) models are evaluated. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐Interest vs. Greed and the Limitations of the Invisible Hand

Markets can only function well if there is an appropriate legal framework to restrict the behavior of market participants; however, the legal framework is inevitably inadequate. A “greedy” market participant that seeks to gain at the expense of others can usually find some way to do so. This might be done within the legal framework, or it might involve a violation of the law that is difficult to enforce. Since the legal system does not generally guarantee that markets can function efficiently, there is a role for other institutions to foster a more enlightened self‐interest as a social norm and thus improve efficiency.     

Explanations of the inconsistencies in survey respondents’ forecasts

A comparison of the point forecasts and the probability distributions of inflation and output growth made by individual respondents to the US Survey of Professional Forecasters indicates that the two sets of forecasts are sometimes inconsistent. We evaluate a number of possible explanations, and find that not all forecasters update their histogram forecasts as new information arrives. This is supported by the finding that the point forecasts are more accurate than the histograms in terms of first-moment prediction.     

Stochastic Index Numbers: A Review

The stochastic approach is a new way of viewing index numbers in which uncertainty and statistical ideas play a central role. Rather than just providing a single number for the rate of inflation, the stochastic approach provides the whole probability distribution of inflation. This paper reviews the key elements of the approach and then discusses its early history, including some previously overlooked links with Fisher's work contained in his book The Making of Index Numbers. We then consider some more recent developments, including Diewert's well-known critique of the stochastic approach, and provide responses to his criticisms. We also provide a review of Theil's work on the stochastic approach, and present and extend Diewert's work on this topic within the context of the Country Product Dummy method which measures price levels internationally. The paper also contains some recent material on the value of information from the perspective of the stochastic approach, as well as illustrative applications.     

What happens to social spending in IMF-supported programmes?

This article finds that education and health spending has risen during International Monetary Fund (IMF)-supported programmes at a faster pace than in developing countries as a whole. The analysis is based on the most comprehensive dataset assembled thus far for this purpose, with data covering 1985 to 2009 for 140 countries. Controlling for other determinants of education and health spending, including macroeconomic conditions, the results confirm that IMF-supported programmes have a positive and significant effect on social spending in low-income countries. Over a 5-year period with IMF-supported programmes, spending for education increases by about ¾ percentage point of Gross Domestic Product (GDP); and for health, by about 1 percentage point of GDP. IMF-supported programmes are also associated with increases in the share of government spending allocated to education and health.     

书中自有黄金屋

也许到了该复古的时候了。每年投资和个人理财方面出版的新书可谓是汗牛充栋。当我看到新书书评,找到原著来读,每本只须看一两分钟,一般就可断言,那些造纸印书的树真是白砍了。     

OUTSIDE UPSIDE: FINDINGS FOCUS THROUGH FINANCE OUTSOURCING

More and more companies are outsourcing aspects of the finance and accounting function to cut costs and increase process efficiency. This article draws on survey results and numerous real-world examples to make the case for outsourcing finance and accounting functions, either outright or through shared service centers. As expected, cost and efficiency gains can be dramatic. But there are also important strategic benefits, including the freedom to focus on core businesses, greater access to specialist knowledge, standardization of processes across business units, and the ability to launch operations quickly without staffing back offices.
Maximizing the benefits of outsourcing requires careful planning and execution. Executives who have successfully navigated the process recommend allowing adequate time to ensure buy-in and consensus building, incorporating the appropriate performance-based incentives, taking steps to build morale during the transition, ensuring proper oversight, and building a strong partnership with the provider. When properly implemented, outsourcing is a powerful ally in the corporate struggle to cut costs—and it can be a vital complement to strategy as well.     

Are lifecycle funds appropriate as default options in participant-directed retirement plans?

Since the enactment of Pension Protection Act of 2006, lifecycle funds that reduce exposure to stocks with age have rapidly replaced money market funds as the most commonly nominated default investment options for participant-directed retirement plans. We examine their appropriateness in meeting a threshold level of retirement wealth required by plan participants. Using a utility function motivated by prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979), we show that whilst lifecycle funds are vastly superior to money market funds (except for very low thresholds), they rank below balanced funds that maintain constant exposure to equities over time. As thresholds increase, lifecycle funds are also dominated by funds that switch assets conditional to prior investment performance. Even in the absence of a minimum threshold wealth level, lifecycle funds do not emerge as the most preferred choice among the investment options considered by our paper.     

Better,faster, cheaper: Pick any three

A strategy called software product line engineering, or SPLE, is taking hold in industries in which software is an integral part of product offerings. Where it has found a foothold, SPLE has brought about remarkable results such as unprecedented product variation, substantial production cost savings, slashing of time to market, and massive productivity gains. SPLE is the software version of an old manufacturing concept: building a suite of products from common parts assembled under a common design in a common production facility. The special properties of software make SPLE a particularly high-payoff proposition. SPLE exploits the commonalities among products to achieve economies of scale, by creating core assets—assets that will be applied to multiple products in the product line. SPLE accommodates the differences among products by explicitly identifying and planning for those variations in product behavior and qualities. This management of variation allows the organization to achieve economies of scope and provides the capability of mass customization where every market is treated as a niche. Management ensures that core asset developers create effective core assets and product builders efficiently build products by using them. This requires oversight, coordination, and melding of purpose of groups that have slightly different inherent goals.