Franchising: A marketing system to improve inner city conditions

One of the most pressing problems for society today is that of the Race/Poverty dilemma. The plight of the black and the ghetto are synonymous in that they are a portrait of poverty. One program which many have heard very little about can make a significant contribution to upgrading of a ghetto area. It can do so primarily by creating new opportunities for the nation's small businessman—and, in the process, for those in disadvantaged minority groups. This paper examines the many facets of thefranchise system exploring its attractiveness to minority group members who aspire to own their own businesses, in uplifting the economic base of the ghetto, and in easing the plight of its inhabitants.     

内蒙古满归林业局林业经济增长的影响因素分析

林业经济增长是林业乃至林区经济发展的重要基础,林业经济增长对于森林资源丰富,且林业经济占主导地位的地区显得尤为重要。本研究在林业经济增长理论的指导下,运用计量经济学的方法,结合内蒙古满归林业局的经济发展现状,特别是天保工程前后林业经济的总体增长状况的对比,分析资金、人力资本、森林资源、政策等要素对林业经济增长的影响,发现该林业局林业经济发展中要素投入和产业结构方面存在的问题,并提出了对策建议。     

Do managers listen to the market?

There are competing theories as to whether managers learn from stock prices. Dye and Sridhar (2002), for example, argue that capital markets can be better informed than the firm itself, while Roll [Roll, R., 1986, “The hubris hypothesis of corporate takeovers,” Journal of Business 59, 97–216.] argues managers may ignore market signals due to hubris. In this paper, we examine whether managers listen to the market in making major corporate investments, and whether agency costs and corporate governance mechanisms help explain managers' propensity to listen. We find that, on average, managers listen to the market: they are more likely to cancel investments when the market reacts unfavorably to the related announcement. Further, we find mixed evidence consistent with the notion that managers' propensity to listen is related to agency costs. We find that firms tend to listen to the market more when more of their shares are held by large blockholders, and when their CEOs have higher pay-performance sensitivities.     

The optimal trading and pricing of securities with asymmetric capital gains taxes and transaction costs

This article explores the optimal trading and pricing of taxablesecurities with asymmetric capital gains taxes and transactioncosts. In the long-term region, investors realize all gainsbelow some critical cutoff level, which we derive analytically.In the short-term region, investors defer all gains and, dependingupon the time remaining in the short-term region, may also defersmall losses. Contrary to common intuition, deferral of short-termlosses can be optimal even without transaction costs. The valueof tax timing is considerably higher under the optimal tradingstrategy than under alternative strategies previously analyzed.The impact of offset rules is also explored.     

Using extracurricular activity as an indicator of interpersonal skill: Prudent evaluation or recruiting malpractice?

There is widespread agreement that success in organizations requires more than high intellect. Thus, college recruiters commonly examine job candidates' extracurricular activities in search of “well‐rounded,” emotionally intelligent, and interpersonally skilled students. Intuitively, extracurricular activities seem like valuable student experiences; however, research evidence is sparse, suggesting far more questions than answers. Is participation in extracurricular activity truly linked to interpersonal skill performance? Does leadership experience make a difference? Do extracurricular experiences yield higher skill development? Six hundred eighteen business students and the relationship of their extracurricular involvement to four interpersonal skills were examined. Significant relationships were found and recruitment implications are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The resolution of financial distress

Most models of financial structure embody an assumption aboutfinancial distress that causes debt to be costly to the issuingfirm. This approach has been criticized on the grounds thatthe assumed costs could be avoided by a costless financial reorganization.In this article we show that despite the possibility of costlessreorganization, it may be rational for firms to incur significantcosts in the resolution of financial distress. The main assumptionsthat give rise to our results are the existence of asymmetricinformation and of judicial discretion that allows courts toimpose a reorganization on the claimants of a firm.     

Economic and fiscal impact analysis of energy development projects: Coal liquefaction in the Illinois Basin

This paper addresses the problem of anticipating the local economic, demographic and fiscal impacts occurring from the siting of coal liquefaction facilities in the Illinois Basin. This region (primarily western Kentucky) will contain some of the most ambitious liquefaction projects in the U.S., yet no comprehensive method for the estimation of these impacts currently exists. It is suggested that the solution might lie with the development of an integrated econometric impact evaluation model. The potential economic, demographic and fiscal impacts of these projects are also described, preliminary analyses using existing economic impact assessment methods are presented, and certain policy analysis applications are highlighted.     

Loss aversion and the quantity–quality tradeoff

Firms face an optimization problem that requires a maximal quantity output given a quality constraint. But how do firms incentivize quantity and quality to meet these dual goals, and what role do behavioral factors, such as loss aversion, play in the tradeoffs workers face? We address these questions with a theoretical model and an experiment in which participants are paid for both quantity and quality of a real effort task. Consistent with basic economic theory, higher quality incentives encourage participants to shift their attention from quantity to quality. However, we also find that loss averse participants shift their attention from quality to quantity to a greater degree when quality is weakly incentivized. These results can inform managers of appropriate ways to structure contracts, and suggest benefits to personalizing contracts based on individual behavioral characteristics.