Agenda 2000 Reform of the CAP and its Impacts on Member Member States: A Note

We evaluate the Agenda 2000 reform of the CAP for each of the 15 member states of the EU, accounting for general equilibrium effects and bilateral trade links. Results reflect the impacts in 2008 projected from a 1997 database. In most member states, output of crops falls and there is a switch in the use of arable land from oilseeds to cereals. Output of cattle also falls, but that of milk, pigs and poultry increases. Total farm income falls in 11 member states, although livestock producers throughout the EU gain. Consumer price indices fall everywhere. In terms of GDP, Luxembourg, Finland, Ireland and Portugal gain the most; Germany, Greece and the UK gain the least; and Spain loses. The net budgetary cost to the EU of the reform package is estimated to be an additional €3,203 million. Thus, further cuts in support are of paramount importance if the EU is to be prepared for the accession of new members.     

Identifying Decision Useful Information with the Matrix Format Income Statement

We conduct an experiment to investigate the potential benefits of an alternative format for the income statement, the matrix format, initially developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and UK Accounting Standards Board in their joint project on performance reporting. Sophisticated financial statement users (financial analysts and professional accountants) and less sophisticated financial statement users (MBA students) were asked to extract information from a set of financial statements that included an income statement either in the IAS 1 format or in the matrix format. We find that the matrix format improves the accuracy with which users extract financial information. This result is driven by greater accuracy, for all user groups, on “below‐the‐line” items. Furthermore, despite lack of familiarity with the matrix format, its use did not appear to affect the time taken, the ease of extracting financial information, or users' task completion confidence; further experience with the matrix format could lead to benefits along these lines as well. Our findings may assist the FASB and IASB in their joint project on financial statement presentation.     

THE EFFECT OF TAX PREFERENCES ON HEALTH SPENDING

In this paper, we estimate the effect of the tax preference for health insurance on health care spending using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys from 1996-2005. We use the fact that Social Security taxes are only levied on earnings below a statutory threshold to identify the impact of the tax preference. Because employer-sponsored health insurance premiums are excluded from Social Security payroll taxes, workers who earn just below the Social Security tax threshold receive a larger tax preference for health insurance than workers who earn just above it. We find a significant effect of the tax preference, consistent with previous research.     

Reviews

TECs UNDER SCRUTINY.

Finn, D. 1994: A New Partnership? Training and Enterprise Councils and the Voluntary Sector. London: Unemployment Unit, no price given, paper.

Boddy, M. 1995: TECs and Racial Equality: Training, Work Experience and Ethnic Minorities. Bristol: SAUS Publications, £11.50 paper.

REINVENTING A REGION.

Haughton, G. and Whitney, D. (eds) 1994: Reinventing a Region: Restructuring in West Yorkshire. Aldershot: Avebury, £37.50 cased.     

哥伦比亚大学风投的新目标：环保型技术

一年一度的公报又来了，再次向人们展现了一些令人瞩目的高管薪酬计划。这些计划引起了股东、劳工组织和一些分析师们的热烈关注，因为他们认为首席执行官的薪酬和他们的业绩之间有冲突。埃克森石油公司（Exxon）的前首席执行官李·雷蒙德在消费者饱受汽油价格飞涨的关头享受着4亿美元的高薪退休了。然而，他应该这样吗？     

UK food shopping in the 1950s: the social context of customer loyalty

Food shopping – although often dismissed as dreary necessity – has always served a range of latent functions. In the 1950s, food storage limitations and tight budgets gave rise to weekly – often daily – shopping patterns that also allowed shoppers to meet certain social needs. Going to food shops, and the way that customer service was organized, produced significant interactional opportunities which were valued by participants. Exchanging news with other customers may have reinforced shopping patterns but shopkeepers, and knowledgeable assistants, were also useful intermediaries for product and usage information. Functional specialization in food commodities bestowed the aura of expertise, and direct accountability for the quality of what was sold provided a more personal style of retailing than is currently typical. Much depended on the perception of relationships. The 1950s were an important transitional period in the UK. Rationing gave way to wider choice and availability, while the market position of corner shops was increasingly eclipsed by town centre supermarkets. This article explores the social context of food shopping, and its relationship to the specific issue of customer loyalty.     

No easy solutions: lessons learned from an intervention to reduce clinic non‐attendance rates in a Scottish hospital

Hospital waiting lists and times have become the public measure of government success or failure. This research examined existing hospital outpatient capacity and considered the age‐old problem of patients who fail to attend their appointment. A reduction in did‐not‐attend (DNA) rates would maximize utilization of capacity, ensure early diagnosis and drive down waiting times. The research was designed to determine whether the introduction of outpatient letters, which included the need for positive confirmation of attendance, decreased the incidence of patient non‐attendance. Utilizing an experimental design, data gathered at two Plastic Surgery clinics were compared over two three‐month periods, pre‐ and post‐implementation. Total attendance and non‐attendance were examined in terms of new and review patients, gender and age profile. The research concludes that the intervention tested in this form can now be discounted thus allowing the exploration of subtler solutions.     

Ringing the changes? Union recognition and organisation in call centres in the UK finance sector

The massive rise in UK call centre employment in recent years has been closely related to developments in the finance sector. This paper analyses these developments in order to contextualise the organisational experiences of unions in the sector. Recruitment activity in both hostile and compliant employer environments, and findings from the first national survey of call centre employees’ attitudes towards trade unionism, are discussed, and the prospects for union recruitment and organisation are assessed.     

AN OPTIMAL-CONTROL APPROACH TO STABILISING AUSTRALIAN WOOL PRICES*

In this paper, some aspects of the application of optimal-control techniques to wool industry price stabilisation are considered. It is not intended to provide a blueprint for the immediate adoption of optimal-control techniques in the management of wool price stablisation. Rather, the contribution is to the developmental and evaluative process involved in considering these techniques. A new econometric model of wool price and supply is also presented, since none of the existing models satisfied the requirements of the study.     

Consumer brand confusion: A conceptual framework

A definition and theoretical framework for consumer brand confusion are developed. Brand confusion is distinguished from related terms, such as uncertainty, miscomprehension, infringement, and deception. The factors affecting the likelihood of brand confusion are extended beyond stimulus similarity to include individual and situational factors, and propositions regarding the effects of individual and situational factors are developed. The value of a better understanding of consumer brand confusion to managers and policy makers is discussed.