Piece Rates, Fixed Wages, and Incentive Effects: Statistical Evidence from Payroll Records

We develop and estimate an agency model of worker behavior under piece rates and fixed wages. The model implies optimal decision rules for the firm's choice of a compensation system as a function of working conditions. Our model also implies an upper and lower bound to the incentive effect (the productivity gain realized by paying workers piece rates rather than fixed wages) that can be estimated using regression methods. Using daily productivity data collected from the payroll records of a British Columbia tree-planting firm, we estimate these bounds to be an 8.8 and a 60.4 percent increase in productivity. Structural estimation, which accounts for the firm's optimal choice of a compensation system, suggests that incentives caused a 22.6 percent increase in productivity. However, only part of this increase represents valuable output because workers respond to incentives, in part, by reducing quality.     

Reform of China's Foreign Exchange Regime and its Implications in the Light of the Asian Financial Crisis

MOCT-MOST: Economic Policy in Transitional Economies -     

Comparing Levels of Machiavellianism of Today's College Students with College Students of the 1960s

The tactics, strategies, and behaviors thatwere suggested by Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince (1513) have become synonymous withmanipulative and unethical behavior. AlthoughMachiavelli wrote to the politician, hiswritings have since been expanded to describebusiness leaders as well as general behavior. The research we report examined theMachiavellian tendencies of current collegestudents and compares the results to theseminal study by Christie and Geis (1970). Theresearch reported here examined thecontemporary student's propensity towardMachiavellianism distinguished by major fieldof study and by gender. The data werecollected from students at colleges located inthe Midwest and the Southwest. We reportfindings that are similar to Christie and Geisand extend the trend line suggested by theirresearch. We believe these findings provideinsight for understanding the dynamics ofcontemporary college students and suggest acontinuing societal movement towardMachiavellian behavior.     

Information and Communication Technologies and their Role in Urban Regeneration

The idea that information and communication technologies (ICT) can provide a means to regenerate deprived urban areas is still a relatively new concept in the United Kingdom. There is in fact little empirical evidence to demonstrate what actually happens when ICT projects are designed with regeneration in mind. A case study of ICT regeneration is examined here, one funded through the Single Regeneration Budget and operational in an urban area in the North East of England. What became apparent during this study is how the changing policy environment meant other types of ICT initiative came on-stream before the project could firmly establish a position within its community. The authors challenge the logic of this form of activity and demonstrate that even when there seems to be a need to support ICT-led development the sustainability of such projects is highly problematic.     

On the regulation of technology: Examining the linear model

The kind, magnitude and distribution of the risks borne by industrialized societies are determined by regulations and the effectiveness of their implementation and enforcement. The authors examine the paradox that the quantified, ‘hard’ risk estimates which provide the scientific basis for the linear model of regulation are, in fact, unrealistic because they are unable to deal with human and organizational influences on regulatory processes. The principal elements of regulation are discussed and placed in a more comprehensive and realistic perspective.     

Basic improvement and pseudo-innovations and their impact on efficiency

Increasing gaps between needs and resources lead both directly and indirectly to many economic and political implications, and have a widely uncontrolled feedback to the national economy. In this situation preference of improvement policy is a real danger to the economy. It is necessary to distinguish clearly three directions of technological policy (push, compensation, and continuation) and three types of innovation: basic, improvement, and pseudo-innovation. Innovation classification can be made due to various criteria. In this study two criteria were combined to evaluate the importance of a given technological innovation: scientific-technological level and range of application. The role of basic and improvement innovation in the cyclical development of economic efficiency can be described by a periodic function over time and also as a simple optimization model for investment policy.