Real estate sales agents and the code of ethics: a Voice Stress Analysis

This study evaluates responses to the Real Estate Ethical Code. Voice Stress Analysis (VSA) is used to evaluate the responses of real estate sales people to ethically-based questions. The process and the responses given enabled the authors to gain insight into pressure-causing ethical situations and to explore new uses of VSA. Some respondents were stressed while following the ethical code guidelines. Others showed no stress about breaking the formal code. The study reaffirms that the presence of formal ethical guidelines does not assure that the rules will be willingly followed.Dean Allmon, Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of West Florida and James Grant IV of the University of South Alabama have worked in the field of Voice Stress for almost 10 years. Both Professors have been lecturers on Society and Ethics in the business field.     

Regional Economic Impacts of Fusarium Head Blight in Wheat and Barley

Fusarium Head Blight is a fungus affecting wheat and barley in the upper Midwest region of the United States. The purpose of this study is to estimate the direct and secondary regional economic impacts of Fusarium Head Blight infestations from 1998 to 2000. Cumulative direct production and price impacts from Fusarium Head Blight in hard red spring, soft red winter, durum wheat, and barley are estimated at $871 million over the period, with secondary economic losses of $1.8 billion. The total impacts of $2.7 billion were concentrated in North Dakota and Minnesota, which accounted for 55% of total losses over the period.     

Linking Transformational Leadership and Team Performance: A Conflict Management Approach

This study develops a model in which transformational leadership affects team coordination and performance through the conflict management approaches adopted by team members. Data were collected from three different sources in a lagged design from 108 teams in a large enterprise in China. Results support the reasoning that transformational leadership promotes team coordination and thereby team performance by encouraging teams to adopt a cooperative, as opposed to competitive, approach to conflict management. These results suggest that transformational leadership may help team members manage conflicts for their mutual benefit. This is an important mechanism through which transformational leadership enhances team coordination and, in turn, achieves higher team performance.     

From protectionism to free trade fever? Recent reforms in developing countries

During the 1980s, increasing numbers of developing countries unilaterally liberalized their trade regimes. This paper presents an overview of this dramatic shift from protectionism toward freer trade. South Asia, Latin America, and East Asia have implemented extensive reforms, yet each region has shown a distinct difference in approach and in the degree of liberalization actually achieved. Latin America stands out as moving sharply toward the level of openness of the East Asian Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs). Only in Africa is there little progress toward freer trade.     

让援助更为明智

为全世界儿童提供初等学校教育将是一项漫长而且耗费甚大的工程。幸好，自1990年以来，主要的捐助者极大地增加了他们对于总体教育，特别是初等教育的官方发展援助（ODA）。2003年对所有教育目标的捐赠承诺额达到了67亿美元，是6年前承诺额真实数量的两倍以上。对于初等教育的承诺额增加得甚至更快，在1990—2003年间增长了四倍，达到19亿美元。对于初等教育的援助比总体ODA增长的更快，其在承诺额中的份额从1990年的0．4％增长到2003年的1．9％（见图1和图2）。     

Food Stamp Benefits and Child Poverty

In 2000, 8.8 million children lived in households participating in the Food Stamp Program, making this assistance program a crucial component of the social safety net. Despite its importance, little research has examined food stamps' effect on children's overall well-being. Using the Current Population Survey from 1989 to 2001, we consider the impact of food stamps on three measures of poverty—the headcount, the poverty gap, and the squared poverty gap. We find that in comparison to the headcount measure, food stamp benefits lead to large reductions in the poverty gap and squared poverty gap measures.