Visions of Best Value: Modernizing or Just Muddling Through?

This article presents an empirical analysis of current local authority capacity and future plans to implement the Best Value framework. It analyses the perceptions of two groups of practitioners who are among the closest to what is currently taking place in individual authorities and will play a key role in implementing the new regime. The article highlights important differences between the views of local authority 'Best Value officers' and external auditors. It concludes that the prospects for fundamental improvements in local services depend on a more strategic approach to the capacity problems facing authorities which are willing to change but lack some of the tools and technologies required.     

MEASUREMENT AND DETERMINANTS OF EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE FURTHER EDUCATION SECTOR IN ENGLAND

This study uses data for nearly 200 further education providers in England to investigate the level of efficiency and change in productivity over the period 1999–2003. Using data envelopment analysis we find that the mean provider efficiency varies between 83 and 90 percent over the period. Productivity change over the period was around 12 percent, and this comprised 8 percent technology change and 4 percent technical efficiency change. A multivariate analysis is therefore performed, which shows that, in general, student-related variables such as gender, ethnic and age mix are more important than staff-related variables in determining efficiency levels. The local unemployment rate also has an effect on provider efficiency. The policy implications of the results are that further education providers should implement strategies to improve the completion and achievement rates of white males, and should also offer increased administrative support to teachers.     

An empirical examination of the pricing of exchange‐traded barrier options

Actively traded barrier options were introduced on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1998. This market provides a unique laboratory in which to empirically examine their pricing. This is particularly so given that, for a number of these options, otherwise identical standard European options were simultaneously traded. As a result, the pricing of barrier options may be compared both with their theoretical valuations and with the pricing of otherwise identical European options. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 24:1049–1064, 2004     

A GUIDE TO VALUING EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS WITH A RELOAD FEATURE

At first glance, executive stock options with reload provisions appear to be more complicated than conventional options, and thus the valuation of such options would appear to be more difficult. But, as the authors demonstrate in this article, such reload options provide the employee with a dominant exercise strategy—namely, to exercise the option whenever it is "in-the-money." And the fact that reload options will always be exercised simplifies their valuation by eliminating a major problem—that associated with employee's risk references and uncertain early exercise—in valuing conventional options.     

The consumer-driven approach: defining and measuring success

Employers' reluctance to implement consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) is at least in part due to their not understanding how to define and measure the success of CDHPs. To assist employers, the authors define potential points of success for CDHPs in the areas of consumer engagement, consumer financial considerations and employee health and productivity. They then offer ways of measuring success in those areas, as well as in the area of employer cost control. By taking a carefully considered approach to the decision of whether to offer a CDHP, employers can grasp potential opportunities to control health care costs.