Controlling human capital costs in the new millennium

Low productivity and high turnover can be more costly to employers than insurance premiums and medical claims. This article discusses the need for coordinated management of all behavioral health benefits. It provides two case studies that illustrate how such coordination can avert possible long-term costs and loss of a valued employee.     

The Effect of Payment Methods on Risk Aversion

Risk aversion experiments such as those by Holt and Laury (2002, 2005) measure risk aversion by examining subjects’ responses to a series of probability-ordered choices. Subjects are paid real money rewards, using the random round payment method in which the amount is determined by one randomly selected decision. The findings reported here were obtained from 119 subjects who confronted the same choice set and payment amounts, but 60 of these subjects were paid using the random-round method while the remaining 59 were paid based on an average of all their choices, the accumulated value method. The accumulated value payment method simulates portfolio returns, as opposed to returns from stand alone investments. Results indicate that accumulated value subjects took more risk and made more inconsistent decisions.     

Consumer Affairs in Rural New Zealand

Recent changes in many areas of Government policy as well as changes in the private sector have had major impacts on the provision of services in rural areas of New Zealand. This report describes the results of a New Zealand survey of 795 rural consumers. The results emphasise how the problems perceived as most important to people in rural areas are essentially linked to fundamental services such as housing, water, communications, and transport. Though this element of basic needs is covered in the consumer policy literature it is not a feature that tends to be emphasised. The survey also gauges some aspects of rural consumers' knowledge of their entitlements under New Zealand consumer law and their familiarity with, and use of, consumer advisory and support services.     

Towards a better understanding of the financial donor: an examination of donor behaviour in terms of value structure and demographics

While marketing academics have long advocated the application of marketing principles by not-for-profit organisations, a review of the literature suggests that attempts to segment financial donors have primarily concentrated on demographic variables. Recently, there have been moves to gain a better understanding of more psychographic influences on individuals' propensity to contribute to charities. It is proposed that the concept of values offers potential for enhancing this understanding. Findings confirm some earlier studies in that demographics such as age, education and household income significantly discriminate between heavy and light donors. Additionally, ten of the initial 56 values tested contribute to the overall discriminant model obtained. The profiles obtained suggest that distinct promotional strategies, with emphasis on different reasons for donating, may appeal to the two groups. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications     

The nature of heterodox economics

Heterodoxy serves as an umbrella term to cover the coming togetherof separate projects or traditions. In answering the question,‘what distinguishes heterodoxy from the orthodoxy?’,the author argues that matters of ontology are central. In answeringthe question, ‘how are the various traditions that makeup the modern heterodoxy to be distinguished from each other?’,the author defends criteria other than varying commitments tospecific substantive theories, policy measures or techniques(or basic units) of analysis.