Growth in teleconferencing: Looking beyond the rhetoric of readiness

The authors, addressing the question of why teleconferencing has not yet been implemented on the scale envisaged in the early 1970s, outline readiness factors and enabling forces relevant to teleconferencing growth. They argue that the optimistic demand forecasts were based on the assumption that the readiness factors would rapidly evolved into enabling forces. However, enabling forces are only beginning to emerge and the authors describe how these new forces could prompt the use of teleconferencing on a large scale.     

QIS4 – Konzeption des europäischen Standardansatzes und Kapitalausstattung für Schaden-Unfallversicherer – Analyse und Beurteilung

The paper examines the updated requirements for risk based capital evaluation within the framework of the European Solvency??II project. The early results for the quantitative impact study QIS4 will be shown and feasible effects on the insurance industry will be derived. In contrast to the previous system, Solvency??II is based on a market value approach which gives incentives to insurance companies to improve their internal risk management and assessment procedures through the enforcement of riskadequate illustration of the overall risk position. Here probability distributions are calculated for each risk categories in the standard approach. For this reason a quantitative term is derived to assess the overall risk position of an insurer which arises from the aggregation of each single risk considering the diversification effect. The extent of uncertainty is predetermined by the legislator. For the acceptance of future arrangements it will be important to answer the question whether these approaches are manageable and adequate.     

Collective voluntary agreements to eliminate polluting products

Recently some industries have collectively agreed not to produce models of a product that do not meet an environmental standard. We present a model to examine a voluntary agreement of this type. The conditions under which an agreement is profitable include the stringency of the agreement, the relative performance of the greener product, industry size and the number of participants. While an agreement can be profitable for all firms (both participants and non-participants), i.e., all firms can be better off with the agreement than without it, nonetheless, a free-rider incentive exists. Thus, despite the potential for a profitable agreement, absent an effective enforcement mechanism, the agreement is not part of a Nash equilibrium. We suggest that this provides a possible explanation for the initial success of the European washing machines agreement, as well as a recent move by the industry to abandon the voluntary approaches and call for mandatory standards.     

Better to shop than to vote?

This paper begins by reflecting on the current generalised political apathy signalled by low voter turnout and falling party membership. It would appear that people are exercising political choices not at the ballot box but by means of consumer activism. Corporations respond to consumer pressure in a way that governments do not, and are gradually assuming the role of global political actors. But this is a dangerous state of affairs for several reasons. In the first place, social welfare can never be the core activity of corporations. Corporate social motives are commercial, and there is a danger that their social policy decisions will be driven by the logic of the market place rather than social need. Recession, for instance, will curtail their social responsiveness, as will decisions to relocate. It is also the case that partnerships between governments and corporates run the risk of removing checks on the growth and abuse of corporate power. And finally, what price does society have to pay for the growth of corporate benevolence?     

Welfare effects of exchange controls: An application to the Haitian economy

This paper estimates monthly welfare losses and the shadow exchange rate that followed a policy of restrictions of access to foreign exchange, in force in the Haitian economy from 1985 to 1991. These losses are substantial. The determinants of the parallel market, another phenomenon consistent with such a policy of restrictions, are also estimated. The author thanks Steven A. Y. Lin, an anonymous referee, and seminar participants at the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association 1997 meetings and the International Atlantic Economic Conference, Boston, MA, October 8–11, 1998, for helpful comments on earlier drafts. All remaining errors are the author's responsibility.     

Exercised Voice as Management Failure: Implications of Willing Compliance Theories of Management and Individualism for De Facto Employee Voice

The advantages of employee voice for organizations and individuals are well known, but in practice those who exercise voice sometimes face serious sanctions. Tensions surrounding voice are rooted in tacit presumptions of willing compliance embedded in influential theories of management, particularly the works of Chester Barnard and Herbert Simon and those who follow their traditions. Employees who exercise voice demonstrate that management has failed to secure willing compliance, action which managers may take as personal affront. The individualism prevalent in the U.S. may exacerbate managerial tendencies to respond negatively and emotionally to those who exercise voice. Reprisals lead to self-censorship, limit de facto voice and restrict crucial organizational feedback. In addition to being valued as a right and a source of important organizational feedback, employee voice needs to be considered as an ongoing struggle within organizations.     

A Comparative Analysis of U.S. Property and Casualty Reinsurers and Insurers

In empirical research related to the property-casualty insurance industry, studies commonly focus on either insurers or reinsurers. However, in many cases, the definition used to make the distinction between the two groups is often not clearly defined and/or the definition varies across studies. This variation could result in a substantially different group of firms being included or excluded from the study, thereby affecting the empirical results obtained. This study builds upon Chen and Hamwi , who compare the performance of U.S. insurers and reinsurers. The objective of the study is fourfold: (1) to compare the definitions of insurer and reinsurer commonly used in prior research to identify differences, (2) to expand upon the traditional methods of classifying insurers and reinsurers, (3) to compare the individual firm-level characteristics of insurers and reinsurers to detect potential variation across categories and across definitions, and (4) to analyze the impact of different definitions on the results of multivariate analyses exploring common research questions. The univariate results indicate that there are some variations in the characteristics of the firms based on the categorization of insurers and reinsurers arising from different definitions. In addition, we find that there are significant differences in the regression results when comparing models based on various definitions of reinsurers utilized in prior research and when professional reinsurers and incidental reinsurers are grouped together. As such, it is possible that the definition used to include or exclude reinsurers from the sample can impact the results.     

A meta-validation model for assessing the score-validity of student teaching evaluations

Virtually every institution of higher education in the US uses some type of student teaching evaluation (STE) instrument as a means of assessing instructors’ instructional performance in courses. Unfortunately, many administrators and faculty misinterpret STE ratings. Therefore, the present article provides a comprehensive critique of STE instruments. In particular, we build on Messick’s (Educational Measurement, MacMillan, pp. 13–103, and Messick (Am. Psychol., 50, 741–749, 1995, 1989) conceptualization of validity to yield what we refer to as a meta-validity model that subdivides content-, criterion-, and construct-related validity into several areas of evidence. We use our meta-validity model to conduct a meta-validity analysis of STEs. Specifically, we assessed the score-validity of STEs based on findings from the extant literature. We conclude that strong evidence has been provided with respect to areas of criterion-related validity; however, for the most part, weak or inadequate evidence has been provided with regard to areas of both content-related and construct-related validity. This seriously calls into question both the score-validity and utility of STEs.