Effects of residential relocation on household and commuting expenditures in Shanghai, China

Over the past three decades, China's cities have undergone massive spatial restructuring in the wake of market reforms and economic growth. One consequence has been a rapid migration of urban residents to the periphery. Some movers have been forced out either by rising urban rents or government reclamation of their residences. Others have relocated willingly to modernized housing or for other lifestyle reasons. This article examines the effects of relocation to the urban edge on household well-being. It explores the factors underlying changes in housing and transportation costs as households move to the periphery. The research also examines whether those who moved involuntarily are affected differently from those who moved by choice. Results show that, relative to those who moved by choice, involuntary movers are disproportionately and adversely affected in terms of job accessibility, commute time, housing consumption and disposable income. The findings also show that, compared with higher-income households, lower-income groups are disproportionately affected in relation to housing costs, accessibility losses, disposable income and household worker composition. These results indicate that relocation compensation for involuntarily relocated households should be expanded to include more than just housing value: it should encompass urban location changes, household needs and relocation costs.     

On the edge: Perceptions and responses to life imbalance

How do experienced managers build and maintain life balance when confronted with day-to-day demands that complicate their lives and drive them further and further into the realm of life imbalance? Drawing from comprehensive interviews with members of managerial couples, we provide a keen view of the personal and elusive nature of managerial balance. Digging deeper, we uncover and describe the signals or cues of imbalance, and explore the fundamental steps taken to regain lost balance.     

Beyond the computer: Changing medium from digital to physical

How can organizations use digital infrastructure to realize physical outcomes? The design and construction of London Heathrow Terminal 5 are analyzed to build new theoretical understanding of visualization and materialization practices in the transition from digital design to physical realization. In the project studied, an integrated software solution is introduced as an infrastructure for delivery. The analyses articulate the work done to maintain this digital infrastructure and also to move designs beyond the closed world of a computer to a physical reality. In changing medium, engineers use heterogeneous trials to interrogate and address the limitations of an integrated digital model. The paper explains why such trials, which involve the reconciliation of digital and physical data through parallel and iterative forms of work, provide a robust practice for realizing goals that have physical outcomes. It argues that this practice is temporally different from, and at times in conflict with, building a comprehensive dataset within the digital medium. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for organizations that use digital infrastructures in seeking to accomplish goals in digital and physical media.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of Increasing Deductibles on Moral Hazard

Using information on timing and number of claims in a unique data set pertaining to comprehensive automobile insurance with the increasing deductible provision in Taiwan, the authors provide new evidence for moral hazard. Time-varying correlations between the choice of the insurance coverage and claim occurrence are significantly positive and exhibit a smirk pattern across policy months. This empirical finding supports the existence of asymmetric information. A subsample estimation depicts insured drivers' significant responses to increasing deductibles, which implies the existence of moral hazard. According to the probit regression results, the increasing deductible makes policyholders who have ever filed claims less likely to file additional claims later in the policy year. The empirical findings strongly support the notion that the increasing deductible provision helps control moral hazard.     

The influence of jurors' perceptions of auditor tenure on blame

This study investigates whether jurors' judgments of auditor blameworthiness are influenced by the length of an auditor's tenure with a client. We use an experiment to determine whether tenure affects juror perceptions of an auditor's competence and independence. We then examine whether these perceptions influence the attribution of blame. Results, consistent with both sides of the mandatory auditor rotation debate, indicate that tenure has a positive impact on perceptions of competence and a negative impact on perceptions of independence. Further, as juror perceptions of the auditor's competence and independence decrease, attributions of blame increase. These results have implications for auditor tenure research as well as for auditors involved in litigation. By utilizing structural equation analysis, we find that the effects of auditor tenure on perceptions of audit quality are complex. Perceptions of both competence and independence are significantly related to extended tenure; however, these perceptions independently affect the assignment of blame. While longer tenure improves perceptions of competence and lessens blame, it decreases perceptions of independence resulting in greater blame. From a litigation perspective, the auditor's tenure with a client is a double-edged sword that must be addressed strategically in court.     

Foods and natural health products: Gaps and ambiguities in the Canadian regulatory regime

Canadian regulations have different rules for foods and natural health products (NHPs) regarding allowable health claims, requirements for use in clinical trials and good manufacturing standards and labeling requirements. How these rules apply to products at the food–NHP interface is often unclear. This paper describes the regulatory environment and explores two product examples – probiotic yogurt and green tea – to illustrate the issue. In addition, results from a qualitative study of NHP/food researchers highlights the confusion and frustration of those working in the field. Interim agreements between the NHP and Foods Directorate of Health Canada regarding products reviews provide a temporary response but regulatory amendments, accompanied by clear guidance to stakeholders, are needed.     

江苏:纽约的中国姐妹

<正>二十年来,作为纽约州姐妹省份的,竟是位于中国东部沿海地区的经济发达省份—江苏。在美国人心目中,印象最深的中国省份一般都会涉及到饮食(湖南和四川)、移民(福建和广东)等问题。然而,二十年来,作为纽约州姐妹省份的,则是位于中国东部沿海地区的经济发达省份—江苏。当纽约州长帕特森(David A.Paterson)办公室公布了纽约州和江苏省的新协议时,人     

The market for shareholder voting rights around mergers and acquisitions: Evidence from institutional daily trading and voting

This paper explores the market for voting rights and shareholder voting around 350 mergers and acquisitions between 1999 and 2005 by examining institutional-investor trading and voting outcomes. Our results show institutions in aggregate buy shares and hence voting rights before merger record dates. This trading is not related to proxies for merger arbitrage or trading around merger announcements, and thus is not simply a continuation of the latter. Trading and buying before record dates are positively related to voting turnout and negatively related to shareholder support of merger proposals. We explore several possible interpretations of these results.     

Globally scanning for “Megatrends of the Mind”: Potential futures of futures thinking

This paper focuses on emergent signs of evolutionary change in human thinking that run parallel with many of the exponential changes manifesting in the external world. Weak signals are identified from the early 20th century indicating the emergence of new knowledge patterns. These signals have strengthened in the last 40 years. The paper first identifies new ways of thinking within several disciplines such as science, philosophy, religion and education. New knowledge patterns are then identified in discourses that traverse disciplinary boundaries through transdisciplinary approaches such as futures studies and planetary/global studies. The paper then discusses evolution of consciousness, identifying research that theorises new ways of thinking as being related to individual psychological development and/or socio-cultural evolution. Finally, evolutionary concepts are discussed that attempt to meta-cohere the new knowledge patterns via the terms postformal, integral and planetary. Notably, academic research on “futures of thinking,” “evolution of consciousness” and/or “global mindset change” has been, until now, largely ignored by mainstream academic discourse on evolution, consciousness and futures studies.     

Same Work,Different Pay? Evidence from a US Public University

Abstract

This study examines detailed data for faculty at a typical public research university in the United States between 1995 and 2004 to explore whether gender wage differentials can be explained by productivity differences. The level of detail – including the number of courses taught, enrollment, grant dollars, and number and impact of publications – largely eliminates the problem of unmeasured productivity, and the restriction to one firm eliminates unmeasured work conditions that confound investigations of wider labor markets. The authors find that direct productivity measures reduce the gender wage penalty to about 3 percent, only 1 percentage point lower than estimates from national studies of many institutions and with fewer productivity controls. The wage structure for women faculty differs markedly from the wage structure for men. Interpreted against the institutional features of wage setting for this population, the paper concludes that penalties for women arise at the department level.