Maastricht II: Are real convergence criteria needed?

In the run-up to the Intergovernmental Conference of the Member States of the EU in 1996, criticism of the convergence criteria laid down in the Maastricht Treaty selection and the scope left for interpretation is becoming ever vociferous. Will the shortcomings be rectified if, as demanded by the British Government in particular, the monetary and fiscal convergence criteria are complemented by real economic criteria?     

Optimal use of futures markets when input and output prices are uncertain

The purpose of this paper is to extend the analysis of the use of futures markets by a competitive firm facing an uncertain market price for its output to the case where both input and output prices are uncertain.     

I. Allgemeine wirstchaftslehre

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Further evidence on the robustness of the Tobit estimator to heteroskedasticity

When the error terms in a Tobit model are heteroskedastic, the MLE which assumes homoskedasticity is inconsistent. For the special case of a constant-term-only model, we investigate the size of the inconsistency. The inconsistency is greater the greater the heteroskedasticity and the greater the degree of censoring (i.e., the greater the number of limit observations). However, the inconsistency is much smaller than in the corresponding truncated-normal model considered by Hurd.     

Multisource effects on the satisfaction formation process

Customer satisfaction research is integrated with research on higher education in developing a model of alumni satisfaction with college education. The model proposes that alumni satisfaction with higher education is a function of two performance and disconfirmation attributes: intellectual environment and employment preparation. The model was tested among 475 alumni of a major Eastern undergraduate business school and demonstrates the advantage of modeling the disconfirmation paradigm with multiple sources of satisfaction. She holds a Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University. Her work has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, and proceedings of the American Marketing Association and the Association for Consumer Research. She was formerly an account executive at Needham Harper Worldwide and Director of Marketing at Maxwell Advertising. Her research interests include consumer satisfaction, complaining behavior, and advertising management. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University. His work has appeared in theJournal of Advertising, Journal of Retail Banking, Journal of Services Marketing, and theHaring Symposium Proceedings. He has held several positions in the banking industry, most recently as Group Vice President at Michigan National Bank in Grand Rapids. His research interests include services marketing, consumer satisfaction, and direct marketing. She received her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Cincinnati. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Retailing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Education, and other marketing-related publications. Her research interests include not-for-profit organizations, consumer satisfaction, and services marketing.     

Organizational characteristics and their effect on health

There is a complex relationship between work, employee health, and successful business results. At the individual level, multiple factors including physical, psychological, and social aspects of the work environment affect workers' health and well-being. At the organizational level, the consequences of unhealthy work environments may be traced to a decrease in the quality of service and products, and a loss in productivity. A brief overview of the contemporary literature on workplace stressors is presented to help identify future research directions.