Impact of domestic content requirement on the US tobacco and cigarette industries

Using a log-linear equilibrium displacement model we quantify the impact of the recent domestic tobacco content requirement on US cigarette manufacturing. We investigate effects on US growers and manufacturers, and competing tobacco imports. The policy increased domestic use of US-grown tobacco, but induced a small negative output effect. Tobacco imports decreased substantially. The paper also discusses the political–economic incentives for US manufacturers to comply with such policies. The political cooperation between US growers and manufacturers decreases the opposition of the latter to protectionist policies championed by the former.     

Spanning,valuation and options

Summary We model the space of marketed assets as a Riesz space of commoditics. In this setting two altenative characterizations are given of the space of continuous options on a bounded asset,s, with limited liability. The first characterization represents every continuous option ons as the uniform limit of portfolios of calls ons. The second characterization represents an option as a continuous sum (or integral) of Arrow-Debreu securities, with respect tos. The pricing implications of these representations are explored. In particular, the Breeden-Littzenberger pricing formula is shown to be a direct consequence of the integral representation theorem.Research supported in part by NSF Grant SES83-19611     

What research tells us about planned giving

The transformation of fundraising from an ‘emerging profession’ to a ‘true profession’ is contingent on the development of ‘a formal body of knowledge based on theory and research’. To advance that goal, this paper reviews several research studies and makes recommendations for practice by fundraising professionals. The paper identifies indicators of philanthropic tendencies in very wealthy individuals and a research basis for donor cultivation activities. It also looks at giving by bequest, charitable remainder trust and charitable gift annuities and recommends the marketing segments and channels best suited to each as defined by research. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Change mechanisms in the diffusion of residential energy conservation practices: an empirical study

Four types of variables that affect the diffusion of home energy conservation measures are assessed. These variables are the information possessed by households, household attitudes, the economic and demographic characteristics of households, and the attributes of conservation measures. A causal model of behavior change is presented based on Fishbein's theory of reasoned action. The model is tested using panel data on 225 homeowners from Decatur, Illinois and two conservation practices: employing winter night-time thermostat setbacks and adding attic insulation. The results illustrate the importance of all four change mechanisms. Many nonadopters have erroneous information about the financial and other benefits of the two practices. The elderly and the poor are particularly ill-informed. Negative attitudes are closely related to discomfort (for night-time setback) and expense (for attic insulation). As expected, barriers and incentives differ across population subgroups and innovations.     

Tracking Strategy in the Airlines: PWA 1945-84

This paper examines the formulation and change of strategy. To do so the strategies of Pacific Western Airlines, Canada's third largest airline, are tracked from its founding in 1945 until 1984. The paper concludes that the company has maintained a strong loyalty to the basic strategic direction established by its founder, Russell Baker. A comparison is also made between the findings presented here and those from research, in general following the same basic paradigm for making inferences about strategy information. Résumé Le but de cette étude est d'examiner l'élaboration et les changements de stratégie. Pour ce faire, on y étudie les stratégies de Pacific Western Airlines, la troisième compagnie aérienne au Canada, depuis sa fondation en 1945 jusqu'en 1984. L'étude conclue que la compagnie est demeurée très loyale à la stratégie établie à l'origine par son fondateur Russell Baker. Les résultats de la présente etude sont comparés aux résultats d'études menées selon le měme paradigme afin de tirer des conclusions quant aux principes généraux d'élaboration de stratégie. Les auteurs voudraient remercier deux réviseurs anonymes pour leur aide et leur encouragement.     

Causal reasoning in performance assessment: Effects of cause and effect temporal order and covariation

The role of information in the process of diagnostic inference required for the evaluation of operational performance was investigated. Assuming the role of a manufacturing division manager, subjects were asked to estimate the likelihoods of four potential causes of a department's weekly labor efficiency variance. Given requested items of evidence, subjects were asked to re-estimate the causal likelihoods. The results generally confirmed a set of hypotheses predicting the effects of cause/effect temporal orders and cause/effect covariations, supporting the notions that temporal order and covariation are cues-to-causality used by individuals when inferring causality and that temporal order is a noncompensatory cue. Additional evidence is presented that supports the notion that although individuals prefer evidence concerned with confirming the cause/effect relation to evidence concerned with disconfirming the relation, preference for evidence concerned with disconfirming the relation increases as additional items of evidence are sought.     

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND PARADIGMS OF PRACTICE

This paper is concerned with the appropriateness of qualitative methodologies for the retrospective evaluation of programmes of organizational change. Certain reviews of our re-evaluation of a new philosophy of management, which was introduced within a major oil refining company in the mid 1960's, indicate that qualitative research is seen as inappropriate by many social scientists. However other reviewers argue that good qualitative evaluation necessarily entails close and continuing involvement with the process of change. Having outlined our methodology we consider the potential of these perspectives as a blueprint for activity in applied social science. We conclude by suggesting that advocates of such differing paradigms of practice should recognize that, unlike some natural science paradigms, competing paradigms should not be thought of as mutually exclusive.     

DIVIDEND POLICY AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE UNDER THE IMPUTATION TAX SYSTEM: SOME CLARIFYING COMMENTS

This paper analyses the effects of the imputation and capital gains taxes on the dividend and financing decisions of Australian companies. We develop a framework, consistent with Miller's [1977] approach, in which interactions between dividend and financing decisions can be explored. The significance of these interactions depends on both corporate dividend policy and on the relationship between personal and corporate income tax rates. We conclude that under imputation, dividend decisions are more important relative to capital structure decisions, than under the classical tax system.