Impacts of videoconferencing on business travel: the Norwegian experience

This paper assesses the impact of videoconferencing on business air travel. Results suggest that videoconferencing has only a limited effect on business air travel, with substitution rates of 2.5–3.5%. Thus, within the Norwegian market, videoconferencing is not considered a serious threat to the airline industry. The enterprises considered in this survey indicate low sensitivity to the threat of terror and the instability that has followed September 11 in the US. In Norway, air travel recovered after 4–5 months. Videoconferencing is expected to grow but remain supplementary to personal contact.     

Certificate-of-need regulation and the diffusion of innovations: A random coefficient model

In this paper, we examine empirically the effect that certificate-of-need regulation by state health planning organizations has had on the speed of diffusion of a relatively new medical technology—haemodialysis. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that a requirement that investments be subject to certificate-of-need review has significantly slowed the rate of adoption of this particular treatment modality. In subjecting this hypothesis to empirical verification, we estimate a random coefficient model. This approach allows us to make more efficient use of the available data than the traditional two-stage approach to modelling diffusion processes wherein separate logistic functions are first estimated over the time series observations followed by hypothesis tests conducted over the cross-sectional observations. We find evidence that certificate-of-need regulation slows the spread of haemodialysis technology.     

Determinants of business failure: The role of firm size

This study uses quarterly time series data for the period 1964:I–1991:III to determine the effects of several factors on the aggregate business failure rate in the United States. The theoretical basis used is a dynamic profit maximization model. The empirical specification is a double-log functional form. A new approach to the incorporation of firm size into the analysis of business failure is adopted. Viewing business failure as a consequence of negative profits, the estimates support the managerial utility maximization theory. Moreover the findings show that new business formation has a negative effect on the failure rate while the same variable lagged by twelve quarters captures the timing of failure with a positive coefficient.     

State mandated benefits and the small firm's decision to offer insurance

In the last decade, the number of Americans without health insurance has grown, partly due to an erosion in employer-based coverage among workers. This paper examines the extent to which state-mandated benefit requirements and other state insurance regulations discourage small firms in the private sector from providing health benefits. Using data on 1320 firms observed in 1985 and 492 firms observed in 1988, we estimate two models of small firms' decisions to offer health insurance (one for each data set), and then use them to assess the effects that mandates had on purchasing decisions in both years. We estimate that 19 percent of noncoverage among sample businesses in 1985 and 43 percent of noncoverage in the 1988 sample was attributable to state-mandated benefits. State continuation-of-coverage requirements were particularly burdensome for firms. With continued growth in the number of state mandated benefit requirements, we should expect a steady rise in the small firm's propensity to forgo insurance coverage.     

A Marxian model of enclosures

A model is constructed which provides a coherent and logically consistent framework for analyzing the enclosure movement. The relation between the implications of our model and the standard literature on the causes and consequences of enclosures is examined in some detail. We attempt to show that Marx's analysis of ‘so-called primitive accumulation’ can be given an interpretation that is more reasonable, logically consistent, and empirically sound than is commonly acknowledged.     

Testing the social involvement model in an energy conservation context

This study tests Webster’s Social Involvement Model in the realm of energy conservation. An energy conservation index (ECI) is developed and serves as the dependent variable, while sociopsychological, attitudinal and demographic measures comprise the independent variables. Rather than being upscale and socially responsible, those scoring high on the ECI are socioeconomically down-scale.