The role of the family in development

It is important for the development planner to view the family as a flexible organizational unit of individuals who have different roles, privileges, rewards, options, and obligations. In developing countries the criteria for distributing resources and responsibilities within families are not the same as the Western criteria of development needs and requirements. Neither do sex and age, particularly among the poor, determine the roles people play in the family. Women play important productive roles in developing countries and a critical role in the cultivation of all crops, subsistence and cash, in sub-Saharan Africa. Children also make important contributions. Although all family members must work hard, scarce resources and immediate needs frequently result in unequal distribution of resources and access to services. All members of low-income families in developing countries are involved in the struggle for survival, for no 1 income source is adequate. The family's decision-making process is implicit in all its distribution of both responsibilities and resources. If wives in poor households are able to retain control of their earnings, they can have more power. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the women have a major agricultural role, their power bases are broader.     

Nurse shortage or nursing shortage: have we missed the real problem?

Many strategies have been used to solve the nurse shortage. The shortage of nurses has in many ways alerted us to the need to provide safe and efficient care using the latest technology. Nursing needs to adopt, refine, and use this technology so the impact of the nursing shortage is just another statistic and not a disruptive and costly threat to the public.     

Sustainable growth, the DuPont way

Like many manufacturers, DuPont traditionally has grown by making more and more "stuff." And its business growth has been proportional to the amount of raw materials and energy used--as well as the resulting waste and emissions from operations. Over the years, though, DuPont became aware that cheap supplies of nonrenewable resources wouldn't be endlessly available and that the earth's ecosystems couldn't indefinitely absorb the waste and emissions of production and consumption. Chad Holliday, chairman and CEO of DuPont, believes strongly in the challenge of sustainable growth and makes the business case for it: By using creativity and scientific knowledge effectively, he says, companies can provide strong returns for shareholders and grow their businesses--while also meeting the human needs of societies around the world and reducing the environmental footprint of their operations and products. In fact, a focus on sustainability can help identify new products, markets, partnerships, and intellectual property and lead to substantial business growth. Holliday describes how DuPont developed a three-pronged strategy to translate the concept of sustainability into nuts-and-bolts business practices. Focusing on integrated science, knowledge intensity, and productivity improvement, the strategy was accompanied by a new way to measure progress quantitatively. Sustainable growth should be viewed not as a program for stepped-up environmental performance but as a comprehensive way of doing business, one that delivers tremendous economic value and opens up new opportunities. Ultimately, companies will find that they can generate substantial business value through sustainability while both enhancing the quality of life around the world and protecting the environment.     

Alcohol abuse and liver enzymes (AALE): results of an intercompany study of mortality

Evaluation of applicants for life insurance who have elevations of their liver function tests or an increased probability of alcohol abuse has always been difficult for underwriters. This paper reports the results of an intercompany study in which the pooled mortality experience of a group of insureds with evidence of alcohol abuse, an adverse driving record or elevations of the liver transaminases or gamma-glutamyl transferase is summarized.     

Competition and market power in option demand markets

We call markets in which intermediaries sell networks of suppliers to consumers who are uncertain about their needs "option demand markets." In these markets, suppliers may grant the intermediaries discounts in order to be admitted to their networks. We derive a measure of each supplier's market power within the network; the measure is based on the additional ex ante expected utility consumers obtain from the supplier's inclusion. We empirically validate the WTP measure by considering managed care purchases of hospital services in the San Diego market. Finally, we present three applications, including an analysis of hospital mergers in San Diego.