The Timing of Purchases and Aggregate Fluctuations

We study the cyclical effects of the timing of durable goods purchases in a general equilibrium model in which both durable and non-durable goods are consumed and the durable good is lumpy. At the microeconomic level, the timing of durable goods purchases supplies some insulation for non-durable consumption over the cycle. At the macroeconomic level, the timing decisions tend to amplify and propagate wealth and income shocks. Our model also allows for endogenous price determination. When the price of the durable changes due to inflexibility of workers between sectors, the effect of adverse shocks is even stronger and longer.     

STOCHASTIC ANALYSIS OF INPUT–OUTPUT MULTIPLIERS ON THE BASIS OF USE AND MAKE TABLES

Although technical coefficients are estimated on the basis of flow data (use and make matrices), they are rarely treated as random variables. If this is done, an error term is added to the coefficients, rather than derived from the distribution of the data. Even so, the calculation of multipliers, by means of the Leontief inverse, is difficult. Due to the nonlinearity of this operation, the multiplier estimates are biased. By going back to the flow data, this paper provides unbiased and consistent employment and output multipliers estimates for the Andalusian economy. Rectangular use and make matrices are accommodated and problems associated with the construction and estimation of technical coefficients and the Leontief inverse are circumvented.     

Putting supplies at the bedside via the Friesen concept

Hospitals designed using the concepts of architect Gordon Friesen are especially conducive to reengineering for patient-focused care. The Nurserver, a closet-like space outside each patient's room, makes it very easy for hospitals to redesign their methods for delivering supplies so that caregivers seldom have to go more than a few feet to get what they need. In this article, staff of Monongalia General Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia, describe how they have used the Friesen design to modify supply distribution processes.     

Teaching accountants to learn and "building blocks" for accounting education

Conclusions Accounting professionals and academicians have expressed significant interest and are pursuing a variety of changes in accounting curricula. There is a broad range of opinions regarding the nature of the changes needed in accounting education, which range from dramatic redesign to little or no change. There is a need to develop a framework for accounting education that is consistent but flexible to accommodate the majority of the accounting educational needs. The "building blocks" of accounting education presented in this paper provide educators with a basic pedagogical framework for an appropriate learning process. The framework of accounting education specifically focuses on the accounting component of the educational process and identifies the nature of courses and appropriate teaching strategies based upon their goals and objectives. Most educators recognize that only "one" accounting curriculum is insufficient to meet the needs of a variety of constituents. Therefore, it is essential to adopt an appropriate general framework for coursework is adopted to address the development of many diverse accounting programs.     

Correlation of gender-related values of independence and relationship and leadership orientation

This study compares the relationship between the moral reasoning modes and leadership orientation of males versus females, and managers versus engineers/scientists. A questionnaire developed by Worthley (1987) was used to measure the degree of each participant's respective independence and justice, and relationships and caring moral reasoning modes. Leadership orientation values and attitudes were measured using the Fiedler and Chemers (1984) Least Preferred Coworker Scale.The results suggest that, although males differ from female in their dominant moral reasoning modes, managers are not distinguishable from the engineers/scientists they manage in terms of their moral reasoning mode or Least Preferred Coworker score.Clarence E. Butz is a Professor of Management in the School of Business and Management at Azusa Pacific University, California. Dr. Butz's teaching areas include general management, organizational behavior, and business ethics. Phillip V. Lewis is Dean of the School of Business and Management at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of Organizational Communication (Gorsuch Scarisbrich, 1996) and Bank Ethics: An Exploratory Study of Ethical Behaviors and Perceptions in Small, Local Banks (Journal of Business Ethics, 11: 197–205, 1992).     

Managed competition

People don't like change. That includes materiel managers, administrators, and clinical providers. Managed competition or managed care will work if, and only if, the American professions and the American public recognize the value of highly educated and qualified clinical and nonclinical providers and if the health care industry responds in kind.     

Frictions, Heterogeneity and Optimality in Mortgage Modeling

The purpose of this article is to provide a unified framework for incorporating frictions into a theoretical options-pricing model (OPM) for mortgages. This article presents formulation for a frictions-adjustable mortgage model that integrates borrower heterogeneity while simultaneously preserving prepayment and default financial decisions. Our model demonstrates the flexibility of the OPM by simulating separate and concurrent effects of three categories of frictions on the mortgage and mortgage components. Researchers can use our example formulation to determine the effects of specific borrower characteristics on mortgage values without destroying the options theoretic framework.