Police Performance Measurement and Human Rights

The management of police performance through cash-limited budgets, performance indicators and crime statistics is the result of a control systems paradigm. This article uses examples of police practice to raise the possibility that this performance culture may be in tension with human rights legislation. The article suggests a shift to a values-based learning paradigm and the need for greater balance between the rationality of a control paradigm and the subjectivity of values.     

Merger propensity and merger outcomes among British unions, 1986-1995

This article focuses on the relationship between merger propensity and merger success in British trade unions. Using survey data it reveals that more unions seek merger than achieve it; most mergers in the period are accounted for by few unions. However, some merger discussions are protracted and the determinants of propensity are distinct from those of success.     

A Recursive Thick Frontier Approach to Estimating Production Efficiency*

We introduce a new panel data estimation technique for production and cost functions, the recursive thick frontier approach (RTFA). RTFA has two advantages over existing econometric frontier methods. First, technical inefficiency is allowed to be dependent on the explanatory variables of the frontier model. Secondly, RTFA does not hinge on distributional assumptions on the inefficiency component of the error term. We show by means of simulation experiments that RTFA outperforms the popular stochastic frontier approach and the ‘within’ ordinary least squares estimator for realistic parameterizations of a productivity model. Although RTFAs formal statistical properties are unknown, we argue, based on these simulation experiments, that RTFA is a useful complement to existing methods.     

The future of management: does business history have anything to tell us?

Although many of the environmental factors described by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr are altering under the impact of technological change, this will not necessarily lead to wholesale changes in the roles played by managers. Many of the functions of managers will remain intact, even if new technologies alter how they are executed. Moreover, the managerial and organizational capabilities developed to control 'Chandlerian' firms are adaptable and will continue to be exercised despite transformations in the contexts that initially inspired them.     

Der Ausbau der Hochschulen muss zügig kommen

Die Bedeutung des Humankapitals für das künftige Wirtschaftswachstum ist allgemein anerkannt. Gleichzeitig sto?en steigende Studienanf?ngerzahlen auf knappe Bildungsbudgets in den Bundesl?ndern. Wie wird sich die Zahl der Studienanf?nger bis 2020 entwickeln? Wird es eine entsprechende Nachfrage nach Hochschulabsolventen geben? Welcher Kapazit?tsaufbau ist an den Hochschulen erforderlich und was wird er kosten?     

The value of reputation on eBay: A controlled experiment

We conducted the first randomized controlled field experiment of an Internet reputation mechanism. A high-reputation, established eBay dealer sold matched pairs of lots—batches of vintage postcards—under his regular identity and under new seller identities (also operated by him). As predicted, the established identity fared better. The difference in buyers’ willingness-to-pay was 8.1% of the selling price. A subsidiary experiment followed the same format, but compared sales by relatively new sellers with and without negative feedback. Surprisingly, one or two negative feedbacks for our new sellers did not affect buyers’ willingness-to-pay. JEL Classification D82 · L14 · Z13     

Changing American earnings distributions: One-half century of experience

Empirical Economics - Recent increases in earnings inequality have been described as “enormous.” Is it that we are experiencing a unique shift toward greater inequality or are we...     

The decline of economic complementarity? Australia and Britain 1945—1952

At the end of the Second World War, Australia implemented a development program designed to improve the nation's defence capabilities through a rapid increase in population and the growth of manufacturing industry. These plans were contrary to the vision of `complementarity' promoted by the United Kingdom, in which the British economy would export manufactured goods to other members of the Commonwealth in return for primary products. Despite British objections, the Chifley government persevered in its development policy although Australia did control the level and origin of its imports to fit the availability of dollars within the Sterling Area. In the early 1950s, however, the Menzies government attacked the autarchic policies of the Sterling Area, first by arranging to borrow dollars directly from the World Bank, and later by calling for an abandonment of the inward focus of the Sterling Area.     

Better Decision-Making: a Field Study

Based on a large research project in north America, this article suggests that only about half of managers' decisions are successful, and that managers themselves are often unaware that the way that they go about making decisions is the main cause of failure. The implication is that inadequate decision-making techniques cost billions of dollars each year in wasted time and money. The author analyses the way managers behave at different stages of the decision-making process and identifies guidelines for best practice from the experience of the managers involved.