Terrorist training: Onsite or via the Internet?

This paper investigates an agency model of a terrorist organization in which the training and motivation of recruits can occur onsite, in physical training camps, or at arm’s length through the Internet. In so doing, we develop measures of the effectiveness and efficacy of these recruit training methods. A dividing line for choosing between the two is characterized in terms of the degree to which onsite training augments an operative’s probability of mission success. In comparing our results to data on terror-tactic lethality, one implication is that terrorist organizations are likely to consider Internet training as sufficient for any tactic that is less complex and less lethal than vehicular assaults, and will require onsite motivation and training for more complex missions such as multiple-operative mass shootings and suicide bombings.     

Farmers’ intrinsic motivations,barriers to the adoption of conservation practices and effectiveness of policy instruments: Empirical evidence from northern Australia

The rate and extent of adoption of conservation practices by farmers is influenced, in principle, by characteristics of the practices and those of the farmers. Governments use policy instruments to increase the rate of adoption of practices which generate public benefits if it is deemed that privately optimal adoption rates will not lead to publicly optimal conservation outcomes. Recent nation-wide conservation programs in Australia have attracted criticism for low levels of effectiveness and efficiency. Could it be that program design has ignored key adoption factors, in particular characteristics of the target audience? If adoption is subject to personal factors, such as the motivations for farming, then it is likely that so are farmers’ responses to policy approaches and instruments. In this case study, surveys were conducted of farmers in three regions within the tropical savannas of northern Australia, where land-use systems are characterized by large-scale broad-acre beef grazing enterprises. Inter alia, these surveys collected data on graziers’ motivations, impediments to adoption of conservation practices, and perceived effectiveness of policy instruments in overcoming impediments. The research found that graziers had a very high level of conservation and lifestyle motivation and were motivated to lesser extents by financial/economic and social considerations, pointing to a strong stewardship ethic of graziers, or altruistic motif. Motivational profiles were significantly correlated with farmers’ perceptions about what constrained them from implementing conservation based management systems. Motivational profiles also explained differences in farmers’ perceptions of and stated propensity to interact with policy instruments, particularly at a regional scale and in the context of historical government interventions. On the basis of the empirical evidence presented, governments would be well advised to harness the diverse set of aspirations and motivations of farmers when designing conservation programs rather than. In particular, conservation programs need to take advantage of farmers’ stewardship ethic for maximum effectiveness and efficiency, and minimize the risk of crowding out intrinsic motivation and altruistic behaviours.     

基于股票期权的核心知识员工多重激励组合模型

核心知识型员工与一般知识员工相比,其鲜明的个性和工作特征决定了他们的需求为混合交替式需求模式.通过引入股票期权变量构建核心知识员工的多重激励组合模型,旨在将给予核心知识员工的货币性薪酬和股票期权联系起来,以探讨基于股票期权的多重激励组合所诱发的公司委托人与核心知识员工的行为选择特征.     

Fund ownership,wealth, and risk-taking: Evidence on private equity managers

Private equity (PE) managers are required to invest their own money in the funds they manage. We examine the incentive effects of this ownership on the delegated acquisition decision. A simple model shows that PE managers select less risky firms and use more debt, the higher their ownership. We test these predictions for a sample of Norwegian PE funds, using managers’ wealth to capture their relative risk aversion. As predicted, the target company’s cash-flow risk decreases and leverage increases with the manager’s ownership scaled by wealth. Moreover, the overall portfolio risk decreases with ownership, mitigating widespread concerns about excessive risk-taking.     

Risk-taking and performance of government bond mutual funds

This paper investigates the risk exposures of government bond mutual funds and how risk-taking behavior affects fund performance. Government bond mutual funds often outperform their respective benchmark bond indexes before but not after adjusting for bond market risk factors. We show that the risk-taking behavior of fund managers helps to explain the different performances of government bond funds with and without controlling for the risk factors. Our results suggest that risk-taking leads to higher returns relative to benchmarks in normal risk periods but lower returns in high risk periods, suggesting that fund managers consistently take risky bets in fund management. We further show that the risk-taking of government bond funds is persistent and that investors typically have no ability to differentiate between the skill and risk components of fund performance. These findings suggest why fund managers have incentives to take consistently risky positions.     

Incentives and corruption in chinese economic reform

This paper argues that, given the legacy of Chinese communism and its political structure, corruption, together with the threat of punishment for corruption and the selective enforcement of this threat, serves as a method of compensation that both satisfies the political objectives of the Communist Party and provides an effective inducement to local officials to promote economic reform.     

Green supply chain collaboration and incentives: Current trends and future directions

This editorial piece discusses the current trends and future research directions in green supply chain collaboration and incentives. The discussion begins with evolution of green supply chain collaborations and few contributions made so far. The editorial piece introduces the special issue papers which address the green collaboration challenges and offers a general green collaboration research framework suggesting pathways for future research. The article ends with the open research questions in green supply chain collaborations and incentives.     

Exploring the Interrelationship between Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) and its Stakeholders,and CVB Performance from the Perspective of Stakeholders

This study examines the interrelationship between the convention and visitor bureau (CVB) and its stakeholders by identifying the respective relationships between relationship constructs (information asymmetry, goal conflict, and interdependence) and collaborative relationship. This study also develops CVB performance measurements using the balanced scorecard (BSC) and identifies the underlying dimensions of the measurements. The findings show that information asymmetry between CVBs and stakeholders does not necessarily influence stakeholders’ perceptions of CVBs’ performance via collaborative relationship. Meanwhile, goal conflict and interdependence are found to affect collaborative relationship which, in turn, impacts CVB performance. Implications are discussed.     

Joint production in teams

Consider Holmström's moral hazard in teams problem when there are n agents, each agent i has an a_i-dimensional strategy space and output is m-dimensional. We show that a compensation mechanism that satisfies budget balance, limited liability and implements an efficient allocation generically exists if and only if . Moreover, under a weak additional condition, the equilibrium implemented by this mechanism is unique in the class of pure strategy Coalition-Proof equilibria.