The Reform of Medical Malpractice Law:

The major stimulus for the extensive, state level, reform of medical malpractice during the past two decades was the widespread belief in a malpractice crisis. The perception of a crisis arose in the 1960s largely because of what was viewed as sudden and dramatic increases in the malpractice liability of physicians. However, historical data demonstrate that the common perception that physician liability increased suddenly and dramatically beginning in the 1960s Is incorrect. Since malpractice reform has been based upon the false premise that the medical malpractice liability system, previously working smoothly, was in disarray, the soundness of much of the malpractice reform which has occurred in the past two decades is questioned.     

Investor activism,managerial responsiveness,and corporate social performance

We study relationships between shareholder proposal activism, managerial response, and corporate social performance (CSP). We find that shareholder proposal activism reduces CSP. We infer that rather than pressuring firms to improve CSP, activism may engender diversion of resources away from CSP into political activities used by managers to resist external pressures and retain discretion. We also find that managers are more likely to settle proposals filed by ‘salient’ shareholders (i.e., those with power, legitimacy, and urgency). Settlement with salient shareholders, however, also reduces CSP, suggesting that managers' responses are symbolic; i.e., they settle with salient shareholders to demonstrate conformance but continue to resist making the substantive changes to core policies that may compromise their discretion. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marketing journal hierarchies: Faculty perceptions, 1986-87

This article reviews the latest perceptions among AACSB school professionals in the field of marketing regarding journal hierarchies. With the proliferation of marketing journals during the past few years comes the need to address the relative position of all marketing journals. This study lists journal rankings using prestige and importance indices. The paper concludes with a discussion on the relative importance of journal rankings in the consideration of promotion and tenure among faculty members.     

Bimodality in diversification: An efficiency and effectiveness rationale

Various researchers have observed that the frequency distribution of firm diversification is bimodal. The two modes are created by a majority of firms employing either very little or substantial amounts of diversification. Only a minority of firms opt for medium amounts of diversification. From theoretical discussion of the forces of efficiency and effectiveness in diversification, this work provides a rationale for the bimodality phenomenon. In turn, research implications arise regarding optimum degrees of diversification, what the impact of optimization is upon firm performance, and why the measurement of both type and degree of diversification is important.     

The Analysis of Poverty Data with Endogenous Transitions*

It is common to analyse poverty data broken down by household or economic status. Implicitly, it is assumed that people change state (for example, single, married, children, no children) for exogenous reasons. If we bring economic behaviour into the problem, then such transitions become endogenous. The data are then insufficient to identify the claims made from them. The distribution of the characteristics of the individuals in the states will be endogenous, and the state average poverty rate will depend on the composition of the individuals in the state as well as on the economic impact of being in that state per se. In this paper, we set out a simple model with endogenous transitions to make our point, and apply this to Family Expenditure Survey data for Britain. We show that our argument has empirical content for Britain.     

Decentralized international exchange

Abstract.  We utilize a random‐matching model to examine the relationships between market frictions and international trade. In our setting, an individual may choose to search abroad where she may have a cost advantage, but is less likely to meet potential trading partners, owing to higher market frictions. Interestingly, we find that international trade may be associated with lower welfare than autarky. We show how this is due to price distortions resulting from bargaining when there are opportunities for exchange across countries. JEL classification F10, C78, D83     

Strategic Interaction and Trade Policymaking: Formal Analysis and Simulation

This paper introduces a simple game‐theoretic model and a Monte Carlo simulation of trade negotiations with the aim of identifying the nature of the selection bias that may threaten valid inference from empirical tests relying on data from trade disputes. Insights from the formal model are used to critically engage recent empirical analyses. This model is applied more specifically to the American use of Section 301 as an instrument to prise open foreign markets. The results of the game‐theoretical model and the Monte Carlo simulation demonstrate that, despite significant statistical results, models of trade negotiations might potentially suffer from misspecification due to non‐random selection effects.     

Charles F. McGovern. Sold American: Consumption and Citizenship, 1890 1945

Charles McGovern's Sold American: Consumption and Citizenship,1890–1945, explains how Americans came to see consumerismas central to their national identity. More specifically, itexamines how two key interest groups—advertisers and consumeractivists—battled over and ultimately helped define thepolitical meaning of consumerism. According to McGovern, in the early twentieth-century, advertisersassumed consumers were "childlike, irrational, ungovernable,and unpredictable" (p.60), and hoped to sway this malleablemass by convincing them of the deeper value of consumerism.To     

Can Short Restrictions Actually Increase Informed Short Selling?

We use the 2008 short selling regulations to test whether short sale restrictions can increase informed short selling. For the preborrow requirement, we find more negative price reactions to short interest announcements though no reliable increase in the price impact of short sales volume. For the stocks with banned short sales, we find an increase in the price impact of short sale volume though no reliable change in the price reaction to short interest announcements. Both restrictions, however, are associated with increased informed trading. Our results suggest that short restrictions will not reduce informed short selling and may actually result in an increase by increasing the proportion of informed short sellers..