Modeling the diffusion of public policy innovations among the U.S. States

This paper describes and validates a general model of state diffusion of public policy innovations. The model can be used to identify whether new policies are likely to become fully adopted into the system of states and the time horizon over which this is likely to occur. Limitations and extensions of the model are also concluded.     

Determinants of motor carrier safety technology adoption

In this paper, we investigate the organizational determinants of safety technology adoption. To shed light on this important question, we develop and test nine hypotheses. Results are based on a national survey of motor carriers sponsored by the United States Department of Transportation. Using a Poisson regression model, we find statistical support for seven hypotheses. A key finding is that prior safety performance influences a firm’s adoption of safety technologies. Additionally, a firm’s optimism about the potential for safety technologies, its technological innovativeness, and its level of comfort with new technologies contribute to its safety technology adoption decisions.     

Mentoring: A Path to Prosocial Behavior

Public accounting firms can build integrity within their organizations through early detection of fraud. One way to reduce and detect fraud is to encourage whistleblowing as a prosocial behavior. We explore the impact of mentoring on intention to report fraud. A survey with 120 responses from the US public accountants suggests that quality mentoring relationships, a common feature in the profession, and caring ethical climate positively relate to internal reporting of fraud. Two intermediate variables, trust and affective commitment, mediate these effects. Mentor-relationship quality also increases perceptions of caring ethical climate. The study contributes to two bodies of research by (1) finding extended benefits from mentoring, beyond those typically discussed in academic literature; and (2) identifying a previously unexplored firm intervention capable of positively influencing prosocial behavior and combating fraud.     

Identification of Economies of Scope in a Stochastic Production Environment

This paper extends the definition of economies of scope to multioutput firms that face an uncertain production environment. Identification of economies of scope in this environment, however, requires separability assumptions on the technology. These identification restrictions are demonstrated in the paper. For each identification restriction, the definition of economies of scope is generalized to the case of uncertain production and risk aversion.
L'article que voici élargit la définition des économies de gamme aux entreprises à produits multiples aux prises avec une situation incertaine au niveau de la production. Pour cerner les économies de gamme dans une telle situation, il faut poser l'hypothèse de la séparation des technologies. Les auteurs illustrent ces restrictions et généralisent la définition des économies de diversification pour chacune d'elles dans le cas d'une production incertaine et de l'aversion du risque.     

THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL PROBLEMS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONSOLIDATION

This paper examines from both a theoretical and empirical standpoint the probable effects of county consolidation on county government costs in sparsely populated rural areas. Cost reduction induced by county consolidation depends primarily upon three major variables. These are: (1) the economies of scale with respect to population, (2) population density and distribution in the given area of proposed consolidation and, (3) increased private and public transportation costs induced by consolidation. The major conclusions of the study were as follows: (1) economies of population were found to be small by this study and several others reviewed. Furthermore, apparent population economies appear substantially exhausted at population levels of 10,000 to 15,000, (2) increased private and public transit costs exhausted a large part of the population economy impact of consolidation and, (3) distribution of costs and benefits of consolidation was not equal over the entire population. LE REMEMBREMENT DES MUNICIPALITéAS - Cet article considère les effets du remembrement des communes en régions peu peuplées d'un point de vue à la fois théorique et empirique. La diminution des coûts sous l'effet du remembrement dépend principalement de trois variables: (1) les économies d'échelle par rapport à la population, (2) la densité et la distribution de la population dans les regions considérées pour le remembrement et, (3) l'accroissement des coûts de transport public et privé provoqués par le remembrement. Les principals conclusions de cette étude sont les suivantes: (1) les économies de population se sont, révélées petites comme d'ailleurs d'autres études citées, de plus les économies apparentes de population semblent se réduire à zéro aux niveaux de 10,000 à 15,000, (2) l'augmentation des coûts de transport public et privé diminue de beaucoup l'effet d'économie de population dans le remembrement et, (3) dans l'ensemble de la population, les coûts et les bénéfices du remembrement ne sont pas distribués également.     

Credit access for high-risk borrowers in financially concentrated markets: Do SBA loan guarantees help?

The Small Business Administration's (SBA) loan guarantee program was established to correct financial capital market inefficiencies and improve small business access to financial capital. However, the SBA loan guarantee program has been criticized for its failure to improve the performance of financial capital markets available to small businesses. This study considers the financial capital market failure created by lenders' monopoly power (specifically, financial market concentration) in financial capital markets. Based on this potential market failure, a model is derived to evaluate the behavior of lenders and borrowers in financial capital markets. Using the national Survey of Small Business Finance, this study compares the financial characteristics of small business borrowers with and without SBA loan guarantees, and provides a qualitative assessment of the SBA's ability to correct financial capital market inefficiencies. When considering only the interaction between borrower quality and the degree of financial market concentration, high-risk borrowers in high concentration financial markets have a higher probability of receiving an SBA loan guarantee than low-risk borrowers in low concentration financial markets. However, when other factors influencing the demand for financial capital are included in the model, only the borrower attributes (credit risk and age) are significant. While the SBA loan guarantee program appears to partially mitigate the effects of the market failure caused by financial market concentration for high-risk borrowers, the program appears to be better designed to address borrower risk, rather than credit market failure.     

Hit and Run or Sit and Wait? Contestability Revisited in a Price-Comparison Site-Mediated Market

The price-comparison site, with its (near-)zero sunk costs of entry, would appear to approximate the “almost perfectly contestable market” envisaged by the contestability theorists where “hit-and-run” entry was conjectured to constrain sellers to zero-profit outcomes. We investigate hit and run using a unique unbalanced panel of 295 digital-camera markets mediated by NexTag.com. We find, however, in line with Farrell (1986a)’s prediction, a bifurcation of strategies with low reputation/smaller participants favouring a hit-and-run strategy involving lower entry prices and shorter forays into the market than their high reputation/larger rivals. Furthermore, the former entrants induce a much larger price response from low-reputation incumbents, reflecting the more intense rivalry for the price-sensitive consumers willing to eschew retailer reputations.