The model employment termination act: Provisions and discussion

Recently, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws completed a drafting of the Model Employment Termination Act (META). The goal of this suggested state legislation is to end the patchwork of state-defined protections offered to employees who are terminated in at-will work environments. If META provisions are adopted there will be a substantial change in both the protection offered employees and the litigation of wrongful discharge claims within the adopting state. This article presents the changes proposed by META and discusses these changes and their potential implications for employers and employees.     

A test of the underinvestment,myopia and commodity bias hypotheses for U.S. agricultural research

Analysts of agricultural research policy in the United States of America have claimed that the overall level of public investment in agricultural research is less than what would be socially optimal, that the present composition of public research investment is excessively myopic in that too little basic research is performed relative to the level of applied research, and that the allocation of research resources among commodities is inconsistent with economic efficiency. A non-linear optimal growth model of the U.S. economy was developed to analyse these propositions. Strong support was found for the claim that the overall level of investment has been inadequate. No support was found for the contention that basic research has been relatively underfunded compared to applied research. Weak support was found for the view that crop research has suffered from more acute underfunding than has livestock research.     

Cross-task validity comparisons of stated preference choice models

This paper uses a statistical test developed by Horowitz and Louviere (1993) to compare the parameters of several logit models estimated from different preference measures. This test shows that all models produce estimates of attribute effects that are equivalent up to a rescaling. Furthermore, models based on stated next purchase, the outcome of a purchase experiment, and a binary analysis of consideration set data produce equivalent estimates of all parameters.     

Profit and Price Effects of Multi‐species Individual Transferable Quotas

Regulators in many countries have adopted individual transferable quotas as a means of dealing with the open access problem inherent in fisheries. Using individual vessel data prior to and after the introduction of ITQs in Canada's multi‐species Scotia‐Fundy mobile gear fishery, the paper uses an index number profit decomposition to compare vessel performance over time and across individual vessels. The approach allows us to undertake both an ex post evaluation of short‐term impacts of ITQs and an ex ante evaluation of longer term impacts. With respect to short‐term impacts, the results suggest that larger vessels have benefited the most from the introduction of ITQs, but that all vessels have enjoyed increases in the prices received for those fish species that are included in the quota program. With respect to longer‐term impacts, the transferability provisions of the ITQ program have encouraged exit and more efficient operations to prevail.     

A structural look at consumer innovativeness and self‐congruence in new product purchases

Consumer innovativeness and new product purchasing literatures are replete with solid yet unrelated theories that have not been considered simultaneously as part of a larger psychological framework. This oversight limits the ability of practitioners to effectively target the valuable consumer innovators market segment. In this study, an approach/avoidance framework of new product purchase intentions is discussed and empirically tested via structural equation modeling. Consumer innovativeness, self‐congruence, and satisfaction play the role of approach mechanisms, while perceived risk acts as an avoidance mechanism. The authors combine a set of related yet disconnected theories, while suggesting a means of appealing to consumer innovators through a specific form of self‐congruence. A sample of 741 students is employed to examine these issues. Several notable findings are highlighted, including verification of indirect relationships between the independent variables and behavioral intent. Model fit is excellent and results are consistent across the handheld devices, home entertainment, and music industries. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Political conflict,urban structure,and the fiscal crisis1

Les gouvernements locaux ont pour rǒle d'encourager d'une part la croissance économique, d'autre part l'intégration politique. Cette double fonction devient potentiellement contradictoire dans des conditions qui sont soit celles de la croissance, ou de la récession économique. Les gouvernements locaux sont donc organisés, et pour empěcher l'émergence de conflits politiques urbains intenses, et pour assurer l'adaptation continue aux besoins changeants de la croissance économique. Plusieurs mesures structurelles des politiques étatiques vont en ce sens:

• 1 la décentralisation conditionelle de la fiscalité et des dépenses
• 2 la ségrégation structurelle de l'économique et du politique remplissant ces fonctions.

Mais ces měmes mesures ont produisent aussi, dans le měme temps, des contraintes fiscales, qui sont ainsi l'une des traductions des conflits politiques possibles. Dans cette perspective, la crise fiscale est analysée en tant que stratégie de gestion politique des fonctions contradictoires des gouvernements urbains.     

The Effects of Rhetorical Figures and Cognitive Load in Word‐of‐Mouth Communications

Advertising messages often are intended to ignite large‐scale word‐of‐mouth campaigns among consumers. Drawing primarily from memetic theory, cognitive fit theory, and perceptual fluency, this research examines how rhetoric and cognitive load interact to enhance or diminish desirable effects such as retention of the original intent of the message (copy‐fidelity) and engendering a desire to pass the message along (fecundity). Certain types of rhetoric are shown to aid this process by making some messages more attractive for retransmission and increasing retention of the original message, while cognitive load modifies which types are effective in accordance with cognitive fit and perceptual fluency. The results suggest that low‐deviation high‐complexity message forms (known as reversal) are the most effective for creating positive word‐of‐mouth outcomes and limiting potentially negative outcomes. Additionally, the results show that destabilization messages are more likely to yield mutated word‐of‐mouth messages that consumers still feel a strong desire to pass along to others. For practitioners, the results indicate what message forms should be used to effectively spark word‐of‐mouth campaigns.     

An Economic Analysis of Targeting Soil Conservation Measures with Respect to Off-site Water Quality

This paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of targeting soil conservation measures on the basis of off-site water quality goals. The Stratford Avon watershed in Perth County and the Big Creek watershed in Middlesex County, both located in southwestern Ontario, are used as case studies. Targeting criteria, used as proxies for measuring the contribution to off-farm damage from particular parcels of crop land, are based on the physical characteristics of the parcels. Alternative conservation tillage practices include fall chisel ploughing, ridge planting, no tillage and buffer strips. At each level of the targeting criteria, the reduction in off-farm damage is estimated using the Guelph Model for Evaluating the Effects of Agricultural Management Systems on Erosion and Sedimentation (GAMES). Economic targeting criteria are based on the value of improved water quality under a conservation practice minus the on-farm costs of adoption of that practice. Targeting conservation policies on the basis of reduction of off-farm damages can result in greater efficiency in public policy. The authors conclude that further efforts in targeting conservation policies have the potential to improve the cost effectiveness of soil conservation programs if technical and administrative problems can be overcome. L'article analyse le pour et le contre du ciblage des mesures de conservation des sols sous l'angle de la qualité de l'eau à l'aval. Le bassin versant Stratford Avon dans le comité de Perth et celui de Big Creek dans le comté de Middlesex, tous deux situés dans le sud-ouest de l'Ontario, sont utilisés comme études de cas. Les critères de ciblage utilisés comme valeurs d'approximation dans la détermination de la part des dégâts causés à l'aval qui est attribuable à des parcelles agricoles données, sont basés sur les caractères physiques des parcelles. Les diverses pratiques de travail de conservation comparées sont la labour au chisel, la culture sur billons, la culture sans labour et l'établissement de bandes riveraines. A chaque niveau des critères de ciblage, la réduction des dégâts infligés à l'aval des exploitations est estimée selon le Modèle d'évaluation des effets des systèmes d'exploitation agricole sur l'érosion et la sédimentation de l'Université de Guelph (GAMES). Les critères de ciblage économiques reposent sur la valeur attribuée à l'amélioration de la qualité de l'eau par une pratique de conservation donnée, moins les coûts réels d'adoption de l'exploitant à cette pratique. Le ciblage des politiques de conservation en fonction de la réduction des dégâts causés à l'aval de l'exploitation peut rendre plus efficientes les politiques du secteur public. Il ressort de ces études que les politiques de ciblage des mesures de conservation offrent la possibilité d'améliorer la rentabilité des programmes de conservation du sol, pour autant parvienne à surmonter les problèmes techniques et administratifs.     

Canadian dairy policy and the returns to federal dairy cattle research

The economic surplus approach is used to estimate the returns to federal investments in dairy cattle research in Canada. A national supply function is estimated using time series data. Lagged research expenditures are included as explanatory variables in the model, facilitating the calculation of ***marginal as well as average benefits from research. Simulation analysis is used to study the effects of product market distortions associated with Canadian dairy policy as well as of the marginal excess burden on the rates of return to research and on the distribution of research benefits. Returns were found to be high at the margin. Distortions in the product market had a small effect on the overall returns to dairy cattle research but had a large impact on the distribution of research benefits. Rate of return estimates were found to be indicative of underinvestment even when the marginal excess burden was taken into account.