Utilization and productivity of the Duke physician's associate

The objectives of this study were as follows: (1) Formulate a theoretical model of the typical medical practice as a system for producing medical care, with particular attention to the role of middle-level health workers such as graduates of Duke University's Physician's Associate Program. (2) Develop a methodology for collecting data necessary to estimate the relevant parameters in the model, and to describe current patterns of utilization of Duke PA's. (3) Draw substantive conclusions, insofar as the model and data collection methodology permit, about the actual and potential productivity of Duke PA's.As of October 1971 Duke University had graduated 68 PA's from its Physician's Associate Program. Of these, 34 are employed as assistants in family practice or general medicine in a variety of private and institutional settings. Data were collected on eleven of these 34 PA's. No attempt was made to study the other 34 graduates engaged in clinical specialties, administration, or other functions. Neither was any attempt made to collect data on or draw inferences about the utilization and productivity of graduates of any other program such as the MEDEX Program.⁴     

Labor market equilibrium under nonsequential search

This study presents a full model of the labor market under imperfect information. Workers bear the burden of search and are assumed to use a stochastic variant of an optimal sample size search strategy. The existence and uniqueness of a nondegenerate equilibrium distribution of wage offers is established. Infficiencies which lead to underinvestment in search are uncovered and analyzed.     

Intraday volume and volatility relations with and without public news

This paper reexamines the dynamic relation between intraday trading volume and return volatility of large and small NYSE stocks in two partitioned samples, with and without identifiable public news. We argue that the sequential information arrival hypothesis (SIAH) can be tested only in periods containing public news. After partitioning the sample into periods with and without public news, we find bi-directional Granger-causality between volume and volatility in the presence of public information as hypothesized by the SIAH. Our analysis further suggests that return volatility is higher in the periods with public news, while trading volume is significantly higher in the no-news period; perhaps owing to the importance of private information for trading stocks. Using the sample without public news, we find evidence that volume Granger-causes volatility without feedback. These results are broadly consistent with behavioral models like the overconfidence and biased self-attribution model of [Daniel, K., Hirshleifer, D., Subrahmanyam, A., 1998. Investor psychology and security market under- and over-reactions. Journal of Finance 53, 1839–1885]. It appears that overconfident investors overrate the precision of their private news signals and therefore trade too aggressively in the absence of public news; when public news arrives, investors’ biased self-attribution triggers excessive return volatility.     

Don't stop with the one-stop shop: Foreign investment in a liberalizing third world

Developing countries around the world are liberalizing their trade and investment regimes. This paper, based on a multiyear, multicountry study, assesses the likely impact of these new trade and investment policies on foreign investment projects. It points to the divergence between rhetoric and reality that often characterizes the new investment policies and institutions. Indeed, the study suggests that, for many foreign investors, changes in trade policy are likely to be more significant than changes in investment policy. The paper provides recommendations to investors on how to take advantage of the new policies they are likely to encounter in developing countries. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Managing The Volatility Of Gaap Earnings

Abstract

The adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 97 (SFAS 97) eliminated the “lock-in” concept introduced in SFAS 60. Since many of the actuarial assumptions used in the calculation of the deferred acquisition cost (DAC) asset are difficult to predict over an extended period of time, “dynamic unlocking” was a sensible solution. Although this “dynamic unlocking” keeps the assumptions in line with recent experience, it comes at a cost—increased volatility of GAAP earnings. Some of the causes of this volatility are warranted since it accentuates the effects on earnings due to certain changes in the underlying experience. Other causes of this volatility may be unwarranted because of a misapplication of the principles underlying SFAS 97 and SFAS 120 or the manner in which changes in experience were reflected. In addition, most analysts expect the amortization of deferred acquisition costs to increase when earnings are better than expected. Conversely, analysts expect the amortization of deferred acquisition costs to decrease when earnings are worse than expected. Often the amortization of deferred acquisition costs behaves in a manner contrary to their expectations. This article analyzes what causes this volatility, explains why the amortization can behave contrary to expectations, and suggests several techniques for minimizing these unwarranted results.     

Internationalization capabilities of SMEs: A comparative study of the manufacturing and industrial service sectors

Nowadays, the global economy requires developed countries to undergo industrial restructuring. In this context, industrial small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to collaborate with the service sector to enhance their competitiveness and strategic capabilities. Indeed, industrial service SMEs have been the object of particular attention from governments since these enterprises have become a key element for manufacturing and innovation networks in developed countries. However, these firms, as well as the manufacturing SMEs they serve, now face the challenge to internationalize. This paper addresses the of the strategic capabilities required by SMEs in general, and manufacturing and industrial service SMEs in particular, to internationalize, as well as the effect of these capabilities on their export performance. These strategic capabilities are presented in a research model, which relates human resources (HR), product development capabilities and market development capabilities to export performance. In testing this model with a sample of 347 Canadian and French SMEs, similarities and differences between the two types of SMEs are highlighted.     

Transport infrastructure equities in mixed-asset portfolios: estimating risk with a Garch-Copula CVaR model

Transport infrastructure is an important subsector within infrastructure, but knowledge of its equities in terms of risk-return characteristics and contribution to portfolio performance is still limited. This study assesses the subsector individually and in a multi-asset, index-based portfolio. In doing so, we apply a t-Copula-based Conditional Value-at-Risk model to simulate risk and returns. Our findings reveal that the subsector has a relatively low dependency on other equities, performs like other alternative asset classes such as general real estate, and does not grant significant risk diversification benefits for mainstream institutional investors such as pension funds. Investors aiming for higher target returns may however assign substantial weights to transport infrastructure, supporting our conjecture that it does not share the same asset class characteristics as general infrastructure. By contrasting Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) scores for both the mean-variance framework and the t-Copula simulation, we further document the limitations of traditional VaR approaches. Hence, this study’s results support the use of risk assessment tools that incorporate non-normal distributions to represent multivariate dependence structures.