Runway safety at airports: A systematic approach for implementing ultra-safe options

Enhancing airport runway safety is a difficult problem because runway accidents are rare events. Nonetheless, investments are being directed at improving safety for US airport ground traffic control systems. This paper shows that under these circumstances it is difficult to assess and measure the added safety offered by new replacement systems. We develop a framework for introducing and sequencing system improvements to provide greater assurances in enhancing safety. This framework shows how a new method can first be introduced as a secondary system, to test and verify its efficacy prior to its adoption as a primary system.     

The asymptotic efficiency of semiparametric estimators for censored linear regression models

This paper presents numerical comparisons of the asymptotic mean square estimation errors of semiparametric generalized least squares (SGLS), quantite, symmetrically censored least squares (SCLS), and tobit maximum likelihood estimators of the slope parameters of censored linear regression models with one explanatory variable. The results indicate that the SCLS estimator is less efficient than the other two semiparametric estimators. The SGLS estimator is more efficient than quantile estimators when the tails of the distribution of the random component of the model are not too thick and the probability of censoring is not too large. The most efficient semiparametric estimators usually have smaller mean square estimation errors than does the tobit estimator when the random component of the model is not normally distributed and the sample size is 500–1,000 or more.     

Prostitutes,Pimps, and Brothels: Intermediaries,Information, and Market Structure in Prostitution Markets

Prostitution is a multi‐billion dollar, globally distributed, low‐concentration service industry that is receiving increasing attention in the economics literature. This article focuses on a widespread, but little studied, feature of this environment—the role of intermediaries (pimps or brothel owners) on market outcomes. Prostitution laws and markets are perhaps unique in that transactions between principals (prostitutes and johns) are legal in many countries, while intermediary activity (pimping) is illegal. After surveying the varying cross‐country legality of agents we develop a simple theoretical model to analyze how the presence or absence of intermediaries shifts the distribution of market surplus. We show that eliminating pimps and brothels may shift surplus in non‐obvious ways, depending on the precise function they perform and on whether equilibrium is pooling or separating across “high quality” and “low quality” market segments. The implications of alternative policy regimes (intermediaries legal or illegal) are considered.     

Rethinking the aid–growth relationship: A network approach

Over 40 years of conventional economic analysis has not reached consensus on the effect of foreign aid on recipient country growth. We provide new insight into this relationship by using a network approach to characterize the topological properties of the Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) foreign aid network. Viewing the OECD foreign aid community as an interdependent and complex system, we characterize not only the amount of aid but also the position of both donor and recipient within the network. We find that the degree centrality of the recipient, with an edge inclusion threshold that sets a minimum share of a donor’s aid to a particular recipient, is significantly correlated with the growth impact of that donor’s aid. Contrarily, aid is uncorrelated with growth with a recipient‐side filter on the importance of the donor to the recipient. These results suggest that the importance of a recipient within the donor’s network, rather than the volume of aid alone, is associated with the growth impact of bilateral aid. We explore mechanisms for these findings that include the complementarity of aid from multiple attentive donors. Our findings speak to the aid–growth puzzle and suggest that network metrics may illuminate non‐obvious channels of aid impact.     

A voice from the silent masses: An exploratory and comparative analysis of noncomplainers

This study used a critical incident survey with both qualitative and quantitative sections to investigate noncomplainers. Noncomplainers are customers who experience service failures but do not voice complaints. The qualitative study (n=149) explored reasons why customers do not complain after experiencing service failures. In the quantitative study (n=530), two kinds of noncomplainers who either (a) received organization-initiated recoveries or(b) exited the encounters without recoveries were compared with three kinds of complaining customers who received (a) satisfactory recoveries, (b) dissatisfactory recoveries, or (c) no recoveries. The five customer groups were compared across repurchase intentions, negative affect, perceived regret, and intentions to engage in negative word of mouth. The results of the comparative analyses challenge existing views of noncomplainers’ repurchase intentions and negative outcome levels. Clay M. Voorhees (voorhees@bus.msu.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at Michigan State University. His research interests are in the areas of service decision making, consumer complaining behavior, customer equity, and the development and application of innovative research methods to service decision making models. Clay’s research has been published inJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, andJournal of Services Marketing. Michael (“Mike”) K. Brady (mbrady@cob.fsu.edu) is an associate professor of marketing and director of the doctoral program at Florida State University. His research interests are in the areas of managing the service decision-making process, managing service failure, and the strategic ramifications of branding for service firms. Mike’s research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Retailing, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Services Marketing, International Journal of Service Industry Management, and other outlets. Mike has won both the M. Wayne Delozier Award for Best Conference Paper at the Academy of Marketing Science Conference and the Steven J. Shaw Award for Best Conference Paper at the Society for Marketing Advances Conference. Mike serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, andJournal of Retailing and was named an Outstanding Reviewer by theJournal of Retailing in 2004. David M. Horowitz (dmh03@fsu.edu) is a marketing doctoral candidate at Florida State University whose interests include services marketing, cognitive anthropology research methods, and marketing and public policy issues. He completed his MBA at San Diego State University and holds a BS in industrial engineering from Stanford University. David’s research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and the proceedings of national and regional conferences.     

A Longitudinal Analysis of Satisfaction with Group Work

Satisfaction with group work is an important and frequently studied phenomenon that often determines whether a new tool, technology, or method is successfully implemented in an organization. We report on a longitudinal study of small groups which used regression to model how satisfaction with the process, outcome, and group evolves over multiple sessions as a function of performance measures and prior satisfaction levels. The results indicated that current performance contributed less to satisfaction as the study proceeded and by the end of the study period satisfaction with the process and outcomes were determined almost exclusively by prior satisfaction levels. In general, the conclusions were dependent on the point in time at which the analysis was conducted and on the object of satisfaction under consideration. The results highlight the importance of longitudinal studies, rather than one-shot approaches, for understanding individual satisfaction with group work.     

Dynamic pollution regulation

This paper examines pollution regulation in a dynamic setting with complete information. We show that tradeable pollution permits may not achieve the social optimum even when the permit market is perfectly competitive. The reason is that the optimal tradeable permits regulation will typically be time inconsistent. We then show that pollution taxes can achieve the first best and are time consistent.We thank Claudio Mezzetti, Wally Oates, and Paul Rhode for helpful comments. The last two authors thank the National Science Foundation for financial support.     

On the persistence of business alliances: the case of Major League Baseball trading patterns

Informal relationships play an important role in the business world. Major League Baseball provides a unique business setting in which the personal relationships among the competing managements would appear to be critical. A contingency table analysis of all intraleague Major League trades between 1903 and 1959 shows, however, that economic efficiency and synergies offer the most cogent explanation for who has been trading or not with whom. The personal factor is more notable by its scarcity than by its surfeit.