The effect of school resources on educational attainment: evidence from Denmark

We investigate the effect of school inputs in primary and lower secondary schools on the probability of eventually passing upper secondary or vocational education. Danish administrative register data for a large number of young people and their parents are used. Educational outcome and controls for family background are measured at the individual level, whereas school expenditure and controls for municipal socioeconomic characteristics are measured at the municipal level. As unobserved characteristics may be correlated for pupils within the same municipality, we estimate linear probability and logit models with random municipal‐specific effects in addition to standard OLS and logit models. With the full sample of pupils and the full set of controls, we find that expenditure per pupil has a statistically significant, but rather small, positive effect on educational attainment. Effects of teacher–pupil ratios are less significant. The expenditure effects are generally higher for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.     

PERIODICAL USEFULNESS: THE U.S. LOGISTICS EDUCATOR PERSPECTIVE

Traditional methodologies for evaluating periodicals focus on the quality of research‐oriented, peer refereed journals. This research broadens the evaluation process to include practitioner publications and an assessment of periodical usefulness across three educational activities. More than 100 U.S. logistics educators identified and evaluated periodicals germane to the logistics discipline. The Journal of Business Logistics, Harvard Business Review, and Supply Chain Management Review achieved the highest usefulness scores based on an analysis of the survey responses.     

THE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF EXECUTIVE AGENCY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

This paper reports the results of a survey of the published financial statements of executive agencies entering the Price Waterhouse Best Agency Report and Accounts Competition. The survey illustrates the application of GAAP designed for one environment in a different context and the difficulties that result under these circumstances from the absence of direct analogies for some classes of event. Some suggestions for improvements in reporting are made, includ- ing: the publication of standardised, sector-wide, guidance; standardisation of formats and terminology; the use of the 'expenditure less income' format for the operating statement in appropriate cases; and the clarification of insur- ance arrangements.     

Outsourcing HR: The Impact of Organizational Characteristics

This study investigates the relationship between a number of organizational characteristics and the decision to outsource HR. Determinants of the outsourcing of four categories of HR are examined: HR generalists activities (e.g., performance appraisal), transactional activities (e.g., payroll), human capital activities (e.g., training), and recruiting and selection. HR executives in 432 organizations provided data on outsourcing levels and organizational characteristics. Reliance on HR outsourcing was associated with idiosyncratic HR practices, strategic HR involvement, positive HR outcomes, promotional opportunities, demand uncertainty, and pay level. As predicted, however, the impact of organizational characteristics varied among the different types of HR activities outsourced. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Top Executive Remuneration: A View from Europe*

abstract We argue that the dominance of principal‐agent theory as an approach to investigating executive pay has led to an overly narrow focus which may be unhelpful when considering cross‐country differences and probably also hinders within‐country analysis. The paper discusses the interlinked nature of three available theoretical lenses, namely principal‐agent, executive power, and stewardship/stakeholder theories. It argues that institutional theory can provide a useful overarching framework within which appropriate variants of these approaches can be deployed to better comprehend developments in executive pay. We illustrate our approach with a discussion of executive pay in the UK and in Germany.     

Sexual Harassment in the Public Accounting Profession?

Federal discrimination laws have defined two distinct types of activity that constitute sexual harassment – "hostile environment" and "quid pro quo." The Civil Rights Act of 1991 and more recent Supreme Court rulings make it easier for workers to win lawsuits claiming they were sexually harassed in the work environment.While the public accounting profession continues to address gender-related problems, it remains vulnerable to claims of sexual harassment. In an attempt to better understand the underlying risk the public accounting profession faces, this study focuses on identifying (1) the extent of sexual harassment in the public accounting profession, (2) the type of harassing behavior that is most common, and (3) where the harassment occurs.The research questions are addressed through a survey of female public accounting professionals who are members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Their responses provide evidence that public accounting firms are exposed to significant internal risk. Sexual harassment and a sense of frustration in coping with this issue is evident in the data.Public accounting firms and their respective clients must pause and evaluate their working environment. The responsibility to design and establish a business atmosphere that will encourage and maintain professional relationships between colleagues lies with these firms.     

What can we learn from the historic road safety performance of high-income countries?

Abstract

Road traffic deaths in high-income countries (HICs) have been steadily declining for five decades, but are rising or stable in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We use time-series cross-sectional methods to assess how age- and sex- specific death rates evolved in 20 HICs during 1955–2015, controlling for income, population density and urbanization. Past work has attributed improvements in safety in HICs to income growth, suggesting that countries intervene when they become richer (Kuznets hypothesis). In contrast, we show that HICs had statistically significant declines in road traffic injuries starting in the late 1960s that persist after controlling for income effects, and inclusion of a lagged dependent variable. These findings are consistent for all age-sex groups but the effects are strongest for the elderly and young children. We argue that the reversal in the traffic injury trend did not occur because HICs reached an income threshold. Instead, the 1960s were a period of paradigmatic change in thinking about road safety. Subsequent, safety improvements occurred because countries at different income levels established regulatory institutions that had a legislative mandate and financial resources to conduct large-scale safety interventions.