Adapting cases for a team approach

When groups of students are assigned a joint case, they are most likely to achieve the objectives of positive interdependence, individual accountability, heterogeneous interactions, and attention to group processing when the case assignment is selected and designed to promote common task activities by each participant. This article provides aids for selecting appropriate cases for a team approach, structuring assignments into individual and group components, forming teams effectively, and structuring peer feedback. The technique of assignment design is both described and applied to the “Corn & Hogs” case from Cases on Recognition and Measurement from the FASB [Johnson, L. T., & Petrone, K. R. (1996a). The FASB cases on recognition and measurement (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley]. In addition, a list of published case resources is provided for instructors to use with this pedagogy.     

THE COST OF THE U.S. SUGAR PROGRAM REVISITED

The article analyzes the welfare cost of the U.S. sugar program using a multimarket model of U.S. sweetener markets. The latter includes raw crops, sugar extraction and refining, and sweetener users (food-processing industries and final consumers). The authors address the industrial organization of food industries using sweeteners and treat the United States as a large importer. With the removal of the program, this article estimates (all figures in 1999 dollars) that in 1998 cane growers, sugar beet growers, and processors would have lost $307, $650, and $89 million, respectively; sweetener users would have gained $1.9 billion. World prices would have increased by 13.2%. The deadweight loss of the program is estimated at $532 million.     

Die Internationalisierung der Forschung

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

需要应对的不仅是RoHS

在减轻电子设备的制造和废弃对环境的影响方面,欧盟的ROHS和“废弃电气与电子设备(WEEE)”法令起到了领路作用。中国、日本、韩国、美国等国家目前都在制订类似的法律。     

Education and productivity growth in a market economy

The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of investment in education on U.S. economic growth. Education is treated as an investment in human capital, since benefits accrue to an educated individual over a lifetime of activities. One of the most important benefits is higher income from participation in the labor market. This is the key to understanding the link between investment in education and economic growth. The most important finding is that investment in human and nonhuman capital accounts for an overwhelming proportion of the growth of the U.S. economy during the postwar period. Educational investment will continue to predominate in the investment requirements for more rapid growth.Invited Address at the Thirty-Fourth Atlantic Economic Society Conference, October 15–18, 1992, Plymouth, Massachusetts.     

Voucher Privatization: A detour on the road to transition?

We explore an overlooked aspect of the design of the Czech voucher privatization programme, namely, the consequences of allowing individuals to distribute their vouchers among the voucher privatization funds (VPFs). We develop and analyse a model of voucher privatization in which we study the problem facing individuals who invest their vouchers in VPFs which, in turn, are able to use their skills to alter the performances of the firms in which they acquire shares. The VPFs have different skills and, by their bids and subsequent joint ownership patterns, affect the performances of the firms in their funds. We show that even in the case in which voucher holders have identical and full information, and wish to allocate their vouchers to the VPFs in a manner consistent with the maximization of economy–wide profit, a coordination failure generally prevents the implementation of this efficient outcome. Uncertainty, as well as differing payouts by the VPFs, is shown to exacerbate the problem. We conclude that there was an inherent flaw in the design of the Czech voucher scheme. JEL classification: D44, L33, P21, G11.     

Report: Performance Management—The Key to Higher Standards in Schools?

The object of this article is to make a critical review of a series of official documents which have emanated from the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), since the Labour Government came to office in 1997, on performance management in schools. This technique is seen by the Government as crucial in improving standards in schools. The key documents are shown in the list of references at the end of the article, and our review is divided into two parts: the first considers the defining features of performance management in schools and the role which the Government sees it playing in improving standards; the second part explores some key tensions in the performance management framework.