An analysis of potential firm survival within the Alabama and Mississippi shrimp fishery

Two different vessels are evaluated under alternative scenarios of replacement and no replacement of the vessel The older vessel’s ability to survive in the industry is determined by its annual cash flow. When forced to replace the vessel there is 88 percent chance of bankruptcy. The newer vessel has a greater potential for borrowing based on the value of the vessel and therefore a greater potential for success in the industry. The analysis prediets an exodus of older vessels from the industry and survivability linked to the ability to minimize the costs of operation.     

Job Satisfaction in Britain

Little recent empirical work in economics or industrial relations has examined job satisfaction, despite its demonstrated correlation with labour market behaviour such as quits, absenteeism and productivity. This paper uses information from a study of 5000 British employees to investigate the relationship between three measures of job satisfaction and a wide range of individual and job characteristics. Notably, men, workers in their thirties, the well-educated, those working longer hours and workers in larger establishments have lower levels of job satisfaction. The estimated job satisfaction equations are used to calculate a measure of the shadow wage and to provide some evidence that is consistent with the existence of non-compensating differentials in the industry and occupational wage structure.     

New Ventures and Small Business Innovation for Economic Growth

Over the last twenty years evidence has been accumulating in favour of targeting innovative early-stage entrepreneurs for new forms of assistance. Experimental programming has been underway to find new ways to effectively support technologically innovative entrepreneurs. Further experimentation is needed to overcome remaining uncertainties and continuing objections.     

Lessons from a low-budget innovation centre

In the two years from November 1983 to September 1985, an experimental innovation centre was set up at the University of Calgary to offer services to community ventures by using the existing resources to serve those people developing new ventures in the community. A conservative estimate of $250, 000 worth of resources was leveraged out of an initial operating grant of $20, 000. Outcomes from the first year's operations included $ 1.75 million value added to 50 of 65 community businesses receiving support.
This article places the strategy used at the University of Calgary's Low Budget Innovation Centre with the context of related strategies for supporting new innovative ventures. The history of the centre is reviewed, some lessons drawn, and an operational model formulated.     

Options with Constant Underlying Elasticity in Strikes

Closed-form solutions are derived and interpreted for European options, with stochastic strike prices, that maintain constant elasticity of the strike with respect to the price of the underlying asset. We refer to such options as CUES. CUES preserve the relative shares of exercise price risk for both the buyer and writer of the option, regardless of whether the price of the underlying asset moves up or down. The relevance of the CUES concept is established through applications in two distinct fields. First, it is established that CUES-like options are embedded in private equity investments. This concept is then used in a novel application to determine the equity share of a private company corresponding to a given level of investment. Secondly, the advantages that CUES would provide over traditional executive stock option grants are considered and it is shown that CUES can provide enhanced incentive-alignment without increasing options expense to the company. JEL Classification: G130     

Models of world food supply,demand and nutrition

Computer simulation of the world problematique offers a policy maker an interesting opportunity to see the dynamics of relationships within and between the global subsystems of which food and agriculture is one. The four major modelling studies reviewed in this article make assumptions about the possible level of food supply, technological and economic impacts on production, ecological consequences, and social and political factors influencing demand. Following their analysis of agricultural data inputs in all these areas, the authors discuss the type of policy measures likely to be recommended on the basis of global modelling.