RESTRUCTURING THE NHS AGAIN: SUPPLY SIDE REFORM IN RECENT ENGLISH HEALTH CARE POLICY

Introducing market-like structures to public services is a key aspect of New Public Management. The restructuring of the NHS into an internal market of the 1990s is an example. Recent policies have further developed this notion. A new aspect of the restructuring is a focus on increasing the diversity of types of provider of healthcare organisations. The objectives of the restructuring policy entailing the increase in supply side diversity are examined, and the challenges raised by these changes are discussed. It is argued that the government is too optimistic about the benefits, and insufficiently concerned about possible undesirable consequences.     

The time frames of entrepreneurs

This study investigated past and future temporal depths (distances into the past and future) of entrepreneurs. The results provide the first statistics describing these depths in a sample of entrepreneurs. A significant positive correlation was found between past and future temporal depths, and relationships were examined between both temporal depths and polychronicity, preference for working fast, perceived temporal flexibility of work, emphasis on schedules and deadlines, emphasis on punctuality, and general life stress. Entrepreneurs' ages, lengths of future temporal depth, and perceived temporal flexibility were all found to be negatively related to life stress in a hierarchical regression analysis.     

One Monopoly Is Better Than Two: Antitrust Policy and Microsoft

The Department of Justice recent case against Microsoft is that it should not be allowed to aggressively maintain control over the internet browser market with the objective of preventing the internet from becoming the platform that could ultimately destroy Microsoft's operating system market. The aim of this paper is not to attack the Department of Justice case. Rather, it is to argue that for consumers one monopoly dominating both the operating system and applications is better than two separate monopolies. In our model we integrate Cournot's theory of two goods that are jointly used in the production of a third composite good with the fixed-proportion model. Utilizing our model we develop a possible explanation for Microsoft's actions – protection of its monopoly profits in the operating systems package market. Additionally we show that the price of the final product is lower if one firm monopolizes all markets. Consequently, the ordered split-up of Microsoft by Judge Thomas P. Jackson, aiming at creating two separate companies, one that will produce the windows and the other the operating systems, will harm consumers.     

Tests of ex ante versus ex post theories of collateral using private and public information

Collateral is a widely used, but not well understood, debt contracting feature. Two broad strands of theoretical literature explain collateral as arising from the existence of either ex ante private information or ex post incentive problems between borrowers and lenders. However, the extant empirical literature has been unable to isolate each of these effects. This paper attempts to do so using a credit registry that is unique in that it allows the researcher to have access to some private information about borrower risk that is unobserved by the lender. The data also include public information about borrower risk, loan contract terms, and ex post performance for both secured and unsecured loans. The results suggest that the ex post theories of collateral are empirically dominant, although the ex ante theories are also valid for customers with short borrower–lender relations that are relatively unknown to the lender.     

Behavioural Orientations of Non‐Profit Boards as a Factor in Entrepreneurial Performance: Does Governance Matter?

Relatively little is understood about factors triggering entrepreneurial behaviour within organizations not driven by profit motives. Governance plays an important role in non‐profits, particularly boards of directors. Integrating resource‐based theory and entrepreneurial orientation research, we examine the influence of non‐profit boards as strategic resources shaping the organization's entrepreneurial orientation and performance. In particular, we focus on the non‐profit board's underlying behavioural orientations, or the extent to which the board is strategic, activist, conservative, and cohesive. Findings from a cross‐sectional survey on arts and culture organizations demonstrate that three of these behavioural orientations impact levels of entrepreneurship occurring within non‐profits. Higher levels of entrepreneurship affect social performance, but not financial performance.     

Empirical likelihood block bootstrapping

Monte Carlo evidence has made it clear that asymptotic tests based on generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation have disappointing size. The problem is exacerbated when the moment conditions are serially correlated. Several block bootstrap techniques have been proposed to correct the problem, including Hall and Horowitz (1996) and Inoue and Shintani (2006). We propose an empirical likelihood block bootstrap procedure to improve inference where models are characterized by nonlinear moment conditions that are serially correlated of possibly infinite order. Combining the ideas of Kitamura (1997) and Brown and Newey (2002), the parameters of a model are initially estimated by GMM which are then used to compute the empirical likelihood probability weights of the blocks of moment conditions. The probability weights serve as the multinomial distribution used in resampling. The first-order asymptotic validity of the proposed procedure is proven, and a series of Monte Carlo experiments show it may improve test sizes over conventional block bootstrapping.     

Research laboratory architecture and the structuring of communications

This paper brings together results of a number of studies of communication in R & D organizations. These studies show very clearly the way in which communication is influenced by the physical, architectural arrangement of the laboratory. Communication between individuals is very sensitive to both the horizontal and vertical distances separating them. The point at which it becomes desirable to add floors to a building was derived as a function of required floor area. Finally, a partially successful experiment is reported in which an attempt was made to improve communication in an organization through architectural change. The results presented here should form the basis for further experimentation in this same manner. The possibilities are almost limitless. It only remains for some good imagination to be applied to the problem.     

The National Collegiate Athletic Association Cartel: Why it Exists,How it Works,and What it Does

In this essay we consider why American colleges and universities participate in big-time commercialized intercollegiate sports, and how sports came to play such a prominent role on American college and university campuses. We also review how the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) developed as a body to regulate player safety and transformed itself into an economic regulator, the means by which the NCAA attempts to maintain its control, increase revenues, and reduce costs for college sports programs. We also examine how the organization succeeds in the face of institutional characteristics that imply that its cartel activities would be doomed. Finally, we speculate on what changes might be on the horizon for the NCAA and college athletics.