The HIPAA privacy rule and HR/benefits outsourcing: does the business associate label belong on your recordkeeper?

Employers that sponsor group health plans and serve as the plan administrator of those plans are required by the HIPAA Privacy Rule to execute business associate contracts with vendors that provide services on behalf of the plans. The business associate contracts must contain many specific provisions regarding the protection, use and disclosure of health information. This article looks at the implications of imposing business associate contract obligations on an integrated HR and benefits-outsourcing recordkeeper and cautions employers against an overly broad application of the requirements.     

Fund Advisor Compensation in Closed-End Funds

This paper examines the relation between the premium on closed-end funds and organizational features of the funds and advisors, including the compensation scheme of the investment advisor. We find that the fund premium is larger when: (a) the advisor's compensation is more sensitive to fund performance; (b) the assets managed by the advisor are concentrated in the fund in question; (c) the advisor manages other funds with low compensation sensitivity to performance and with low concentration of assets managed by the advisor; and (d) the advisor's compensation contract evaluates performance relative to a benchmark.     

The effects of education in early-stage agriculture: some evidence from China

The stochastic production frontier approach is used to study the effects of education on agricultural efficiency for a cross-section of 'early-stage' farms from Guanghan County, Sichuan Province, China. Education for farm families in rural China is multifaceted with a combination of formal education, intragenerational transfer of knowledge within the home, and agricultural extension services. Since our survey data span two different years with markedly different policy environments, we are able to examine not only which aspects of education affect agricultural efficiency, but also whether or not the policy environment matters. We find limited evidence that in a policy environment that is conducive to agriculture, formal education provides positive returns in agriculture. Furthermore, general education may provide greater returns than the more targeted extension services.     

The effect of seasonal adjustment on the properties of business cycle regimes

We study the impact of seasonal adjustment on the properties of business cycle expansion and recession regimes using analytical, simulation and empirical methods. Analytically, we show that the X‐11 adjustment filter both reduces the magnitude of change at turning points and reduces the depth of recessions, with specific effects depending on the length of the recession. A Monte Carlo analysis using Markov‐switching models confirms these properties, with particularly undesirable effects in delaying the recognition of the end of a recession. However, seasonal adjustment can help to clarify the true regime when this is well underway. These results continue to hold when a seasonally non‐stationary process with regime‐dependent mean is misspecified as one with deterministic seasonal effects. The empirical findings, based on four coincident US business cycle indicators, reinforce the analytical and simulation results by showing that seasonal adjustment leads to the identification of longer and shallower recessions than obtained using unadjusted data. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Housing wealth,business creation and dissolution,in the U.K. regions

A number of recent studies have suggested that access to collateral in the form of housing assets may be an important factor in the process of new firm formation. In particular, it has been suggested that variations in housing wealth may be able to account for a substantial proportion of the variation in rates of business creation within and between the U.K. regions. Re-examining this issue, the paper finds that once appropriate allowance is made for the presence of dynamics in the formation process, the evidence for a positive relationship between housing wealth and regional rates of new business creation disappears. However, there is evidence in favour of the proposition that access to external collateral in this form may help established firms to stay in business.I am grateful to David Keeble and Peter Johnson for their helpful and timely comments. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Moderately thin advertising models are optimal,most of the time: Moderating the quadratic effect of model body size on ad attitude by fashion leadership

The authors hypothesize and find that an advertising model’s body size has an inverted U-shaped relationship with ad attitude in the apparel product category, in which moderately thin advertising models are optimal. They assess the moderating effect of consumers’ fashion leadership on this quadratic relationship, proposing that this moderation may shift the optimum and/or create a flatter inverted U-shape. In the empirical studies, the authors find both types of moderation may occur and that there may be conditions under which slightly larger, intermediate sized models are most effective for fashion followers and that under other conditions model body size seems to be irrelevant for fashion leaders. As expected, the authors find a positive effect of ad attitude on brand attitude and purchase intentions.     

Becoming an evidence‐based HR practitioner

Evidence‐based HR (EBHR) is a decision‐making process combining critical thinking with use of the best available scientific evidence and business information. We describe how to get started as an evidence‐based HR practitioner. Actively managing professional decisions is a key aspect of EBHR. Doing so involves making decisions, especially consequential or recurring ones, using practices supported by high‐quality research. We present a step‐by‐step set of approaches to becoming an evidence‐based HR practitioner: from getting started, through everyday practices and continuous learning to integrating EBHR into your organisation. In offering guidance for evidence‐based practice, this article underscores the connection between effective practice and organisational research.     

The Vertical Multinational Enterprise and International Trade

This paper analyzes an endogenous vertical multinational enterprise by explicitly modeling a distortion in the intermediate goods sector. Firms invest abroad to lower the cost of multistage production. The implications for international trade and investment differ markedly from the conventional wisdom of multinationals. Particularly, intrafirm trade in intermediates implies vertical investment complements rather than substitutes for trade. The decision to become a multinational depends on the level on foreign factor prices, the nature of the competition with foreign suppliers, transport, tariffs, and subsidiary plant costs. Marginal change in tariff may result in unintended welfare jumps as firm configuration shifts.     

Working part time: by choice or by constraint

The selection of workers into part-time jobs and the wages they earn are analysed using the 1989 Labour Market Activity Survey. We focus on the distinction between voluntary and involuntary part-time workers, since involuntary part-time workers earn substantially lower wages than other workers. We find that the selection of individuals into involuntary part-time work is more closely tied to job characteristics than personal or human capital characteristics. The lower wage earned by involuntary part-time workers is largely due to differences in returns and selection effects, rather than differences in endowments. JEL Classification: J22, J23, J31     

Constancy and integrity: (un)measurable virtues?

Positive psychology seeks to establish a classification of character strengths and virtues based on objective measures, and so to provide guidance on how good character might be developed. However, it offers no substantive theory of the good life. A short critique of this approach is offered, and an alternative mode of empirical enquiry is explored following Alasdair MacIntyre's philosophy. The virtues of constancy and integrity as they appear in the career narratives of leaders in Scottish banking illustrate this mode of enquiry. Empirical enquiry into these virtues reveals a process of interpretation, which is dependent on an understanding of structures in virtue ethics and an understanding of the way that particular agents pursue their own ideas of human flourishing in some particular social milieu. One consequence of this is that, while behavioural tendencies or dispositions might be measurable through statistical method, virtues are not.