The redistributive effects of inflation and of the introduction of a real tax system in the U.S. bond market

This paper investigates which types of borrowers and lenders in the U.S. bond market gain (or lose) as result of the interaction of inflation with a nominal and discriminating tax structure. It is shown that an increase in the rate of inflation favors tax exempt institutions, and probably other lenders too. Corporate borrowers probably gain while mortage borrowers probably lose. The paper also investigates the one shot redistributive effects of indexing the tax structure. It is shown that the reform hurts tax exempt institutional investors and, probably, other lenders too. It hurts corporate borrowers and probably favors state and local governments and mortgage borrowers.     

Critical realism and Kantian transcendental arguments

Tony Lawson has made use of transcendental arguments, as developedby Roy Bhaskar, to criticise mainstream economics. This importationof Kantian ideas into economic methodology is commendable, sincethey offer the best means available for diagnosing and overcomingthe empiricism that underlies mainstream economics. This paperargues, however, that instead of using Bhaskar's transcendentalarguments, critical realists would do better to employ Kant'sown, which are of direct relevance to economic methodology andhave greater persuasive force than Bhaskar's.     

New Contractual Relationships in the Agency Worker Market: The Case of the UK's National Health Service

In recent years, there has been a trend towards the negotiation of closer contractual relationships between employers and employment agencies. However, little is known about this change or its likely consequences. In theory, such relationships can benefit employers by lowering fees and also reducing many of the hidden costs associated with the use of agency staff by improving the effectiveness of placement matching. Against this is the suggestion that formal partnerships are unlikely to have a positive impact given the uncertainty of demand for temporary labour and broader tendencies for risk displacement in buyer–supplier networks. In this article, our aim is to explore this matter focusing on recent developments in the UK's National Health Service. We find that new contractual relationships such as framework agreements and master vendor contracts are having mixed effects. While they serve to reduce direct costs for employers in the short term, this has been at the expense of relationship building and improvements in placement matching. These developments are also found to have some potentially negative consequences for the agency workforce itself.     

Consumer acceptance of provitamin A-biofortified maize in Maputo,Mozambique

Biofortified staple foods hold the potential to alleviate micronutrient malnutrition in many impoverished regions of the world. However, biofortification often alters the flavor, appearance, and other features of foods in ways that may limit consumer acceptance of the new varieties and diminish their impact. This research examined the acceptance of provitamin A-biofortified maize through taste tests and a trading experiment conducted in Maputo, Mozambique. On average, participants ranked the taste, texture, and appearance of their local white maize over an orange, biofortified variety and over a white variety with similar texture and flavor as the biofortified maize. Nonetheless, a large share of participants in a framed experiment accepted offers to trade local white maize meal for meal from the biofortified maize. Household size, the presence of small children, dietary diversity, and perceived taste were statistically significant determinants of acceptance. Results suggest that existing preferences for white maize do not preclude acceptance of orange, biofortified varieties and that provitamin A-biofortified maize may be a self-targeting nutritional intervention.     

The role of mentoring in promoting organizational commitment among black managers: An evaluation of the indirect effects of racial similarity and shared racial perspectives

Due to the effort and expense of recruiting black managers, there is a need to maximize the chances of retaining those that are most productive. Effective mentoring may be one avenue to reach this objective by enhancing job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Using the responses of 139 members of the National Black MBA Association (MBMBAA), this study explored the indirect or mediated effects of demographic (i.e. white mentors-black protégés vs. black mentors-black protégés) and attitudinal (i.e. perceived complementary racial perspectives) similarity on the affective commitment of black managers. The results suggest that attitudinal similarity is a more critical factor than demographic similarity in enhancing mentoring-driven affective commitment among black managers. In addition, the results reveal that in certain circumstances demographic similarity can actually have an adverse impact on the career benefits realized from mentoring relationships.     

Online Auction Fraud: Ethical Perspective

Internet fraud is an issue that increasingly concerns regulators, consumers, firms, and business ethics researchers. In this article, we examine one common form of internet fraud, the practice of shill bidding (when a seller in an auction enters a bid on his or her own item). The significant incidence of shill bidding on eBay (in spite of the fact that it is illegal just as it is in live auctions) exemplifies the current ineffectiveness of regulatory means as well as the lack of effective societal mechanisms to prevent online fraud. Further, the proliferation of shill bidding along with other types of internet fraud may have broader implications. If unethical behavior such as shill bidding becomes too widespread on the internet, regulators and other societal forces may deem it necessary to institute controls that will impact the entire online marketplace as well as the future development and regulation of business activities on the internet. Our results indicate that shill bidding is perpetrated on eBay significantly more often than 0.1% rate of fraud estimated by the firm. This suggests that regulators, users, and others stakeholders may become concerned enough to act. The impact of those responses on the internet of the future may affect a broad array of users beyond the unethical sellers on eBay. Alex Nikitkov is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada Darlene Bay is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada     

Establishing a reputation for dependability by means of inflation targets

This paper develops a simple intertemporal model of inflation targets within a framework in which the public is uncertain about the dependability of policymakers, and in which policymakers do not perfectly control inflation. The framework is used to evaluate the effects of various parameters like the rate of time preference, initial reputation, and transparency (or precision of inflation control) on planned inflation, announced targets and the evolution of reputation and of inflationary expectations. The paper also shows that, when allowed to choose the precision of inflation control, more dependable policymakers will often choose relatively more precise control procedures. Implications for the type of inflation stabilization (cold turkey or gradual) chosen by dependable policymakers are also derived. Received: February 15, 1999 / Accepted: March 26, 1999