Functional equivalence in cross-cultural consumer behavior: Gift giving in Japan and the United States

The functional equivalence of products and consumer activities across cultures is a largely unexplored area. Yet, the lack of functional equivalence that exists may suggest the need for modification of some concepts and theories of consumer behavior. The study reported in this paper explores the functional equivalence that exists between U.S. and Japanese consumers in an important consumer activity—gift giving. The results suggest a lack of functional equivalence of this activity and illustrate how researchers should give explicit consideration to this issue in the development and testing of consumer concepts and models.     

Ecosystem Service Value and Agricultural Conversion in the Amazon: Implications for Policy Intervention

We explore the welfare implications of agricultural expansion in the Brazilian Amazon by comparing spatially explicit estimates of soybean rents and the value of ecosystem services. Although these estimates are generated from different datasets, models, and estimation techniques, the values are comparable, such that the value of ecosystem services is greater than soybean rents for about 61% of the total area and 24% of the area where soybean rents are positive if protected areas are well enforced. Based on the balance between the benefits and costs of conversion, failure to value ecosystem services reduces total social welfare by 7.13 billion dollars annually relative to an optimum. Policy instruments that internalize the value of ecosystem services via protected lands, land conversion taxes, conservation subsidies, or excise taxes can avoid much of this loss. Regardless of intervention regime, policy makers should be cognizant of the diminishing net benefits of converting natural ecosystems to agriculture. Realizing the final 3.8% requires the conversion of an additional 15% natural ecosystems to soybean production.     

Linking nursing workload and performance indicators in ambulatory care

More and more ambulatory care organizations are using nursing report cards to monitor and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of nursing care in the ambulatory setting. Nurse staffing levels is usually one of the items included in a nursing report card and the one most scrutinized by ambulatory care administrators. One strategy employed by the nursing leadership at the South Texas Veterans Healthcare System to justify nurse staffing levels is linking administrative staffing monitors with nurse-sensitive outcomes via workload and performance indicators. Through this approach, nurse leaders are able to justify nurse staffing level changes, needed technology changes, process improvements, and/or workflow needs to administrators with positive results and support.     

Guest editorial

In the corporate world, leadership development programs are standard fare. Such programs often include well‐defined competencies and performance metrics, as well as regularly scheduled feedback and mentoring sessions, especially for those employees designated “high potential” performers. Not so in the public sphere. There are no defined career paths or standardized training curricula for heads of state. There are, however, requisite competencies for effective public sector leadership. As Gardner (1990) observed, “Leadership is not a mysterious activity. It is possible to describe the tasks that leaders perform....[But] we have barely scratched the surface in our efforts toward leadership development” (p. xix). The learning curve is steep for a newly elected leader, and fraught with potential landmines. Speaking with the candor of someone no longer seeking public office, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said recently, “When I came to office, prime minister was the only job I'd ever held; I'd never been a government minister before....The business of running a government is like anything else: You get better the longer you do it. And there are lessons out there that, had they come to me in an identifiable form, would have been useful to know” (talk given on December 16, 2010b). Both Gardner and Blair are emphatic that leadership is not something one is born with but something learned over time. And as Blair (2010a) put it, “Government is a race between expectations and capability.” In the essays that follow, several leadership coaches discuss the unique challenges and effective approaches they are using to help government leaders build the competencies that will enable them to govern effectively—and win that race between their constituents's expectations and their own capabilities.     

Review of the fed and Lehman brothers: setting the record straight on a financial disaster,by Laurence Ball

Business Economics -     

2017 KLEIN LECTURE: THE SCIENCE OF USING SCIENCE: TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE THREATS TO SCALABILITY

Policymakers are increasingly facing the challenge of scaling empirical insights. This study provides a theoretical lens into the science of how to use science. Through a simple model, we highlight three elements of the scale-up problem: (1) when does evidence become actionable; (2) properties of the population; and (3) properties of the situation. Until these three areas are fully understood, the threats to scalability will render any scaling exercise as particularly vulnerable. Accordingly, our work represents a call for more policy-based evidence, whereby the nature and extent of the various threats to scalability are explored in the original research program.     

Happiness and freedom in direct action: critical mass bike rides as ecstatic ritual,play, and temporary autonomous zones

Most leisure research does not consider collective action and social change, while most social movement research overlooks carnivality and spontaneity. A counter-example is the alternative bicycling movement critical mass (CM), a rebellious, liberatory leisure and cultural event. CM is goal-oriented and a libidinal expression of participant desire. This paper investigates CM’s production of happiness and freedom via three heterodox theories. Ecstatic rituals are repetitive, cathartic collective events that people engage in to express joy and flaunt convention. Political theories of play interpret individual’s physically-embodied, creative, and performative actions. Temporary autonomous zones are spatial locations of resistance to authority that evade state detection and suppression. CM – unlike standard bike races or conventional movement protest – transcends the limitations of physical exercise, lackadaisical leisure, and militant direct action. Instead it is a hybrid form of collective action, combining premeditated ritual, rebellious play, and mobile freedom-seeking.     

‘til Dissolution Do Us Part: (Re)Assessing the First Contract and Trial Marriage Goals of First Contract Arbitration in Ontario

Using a series of labor law reforms in the Canadian province of Ontario between 1991 and1998, this article seeks to (re)assess and compare the effectiveness of two forms of first contract arbitration (FCA) in satisfying the primary policy goals of aiding in the achievement of a first contract and in establishing lasting bargaining relationships. In contrast to previous research findings using this setting, the analysis fails to identify any statistically significant difference in the achievement of first contracts across the automatic and no‐fault forms of FCA. Further, estimates do not appear to identify a statistically significant difference in the establishment of lasting bargaining relationships, defined as the settlement of three of more collective agreements, across the two forms of FCA. These findings indicate that differences observed during this period in the first contract success rate and the establishment of bargaining relationships may be confounded with other factors than the changes to first contract arbitration.     

Improvement in clinical trial disclosures and analysts’ forecast accuracy: evidence from the pharmaceutical industry

This paper examines whether financial analysts use the information contained in clinical trial disclosures to improve their forecast accuracy for pharmaceutical companies. Findings indicate that the improved clinical trial disclosures due to a quasi-regulation issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) significantly reduce analysts’ long-term forecast error. In addition, a propensity-score matching analysis provides additional strong evidence that issuance of the 2005 ICMJE’s regulation is accompanied by an average 45 % decrease in long-term forecast error, and a more than 50 % decrease in long-term forecast dispersion. This study contributes to the accounting literature regarding nonfinancial disclosures by providing the first insights into financial analysts’ use of clinical trial disclosures in their forecasts of future earnings. In addition, because the major event examined in this study is a quasi-regulation issued by the ICMJE, we provide additional insights on the effectiveness of industry-initiated regulations (or quasi-regulations) on nonfinancial disclosure practice.     

Estimating healthcare resource use associated with the treatment of metastatic melanoma in eight countries

Objectives Studies reporting healthcare resourse use (HRU) for melanoma, one of the most costly cancers to treat, are limited. Using consistent, robust methodology, this study estimated HRU associated with the treatment of metastatic melanoma in eight countries.

Methods Using published literature and clinician input, treatment phases were identified: active systemic treatment (pre-progression); disease progression; best supportive care (BSC)/palliative care; and terminal care. HRU elements were identified for each phase and estimates of the magnitude and frequency of use in clinical practice were obtained through country-specific Delphi panels, comprising healthcare professionals with experience in oncology (n?=?8).

Results Medical oncologists are the key care providers for patients with metastatic melanoma, although in Germany dermato-oncologists also lead care. During the active systemic treatment phase, each patient was estimated to require 0.83–2 consultations with a medical oncologist/month across countries; the median number of such assessments in 3 months was highest in Canada (range?=?3.5–5) and lowest in France, the Netherlands and Spain (1). Resource use during the disease progression phase was intensive and similar across countries: all patients were estimated to consult with medical oncologists and 10–40% with a radiation oncologist; up to 40% were estimated to require a brain MRI scan. During the BSC/palliative care phase, all patients were estimated to consult with medical oncologists, and most to consult with a primary care physician (40–100%).

Limitations Panelists were from centers of excellence, thus results may not reflect care within smaller hospitals; data obtained from experts may be less variable than data from broader clinical practice. Treatments for metastatic melanoma are continually emerging, thus some elements of our work could be superseded.

Conclusions HRU estimates were substantial and varied across countries for some resources. These data could be used with country-specific costs to elucidate costs for the management of metastatic melanoma.