A child health production function estimated from longitudinal data. Cebu Study Team

Collaborating researchers used a multi equation model to analyze 3080 mother-infant pairs living on the island of Cebu in the central Philippines and to estimate a child health production function. The econometric methods used eliminated obstacles such as heterogeneity and endogeneity of significant explanatory factors. They also maximized the longitudinal quality of the data. The results showed that morbidity in 1 period reduced infant weight in following periods. For example, diarrhea and febrile respiratory infection reduced growth in the time period following the illnesses. Further effects of some contributing factors were great near birth not diminished with age. For example, breast feeding promoted growth and protected against infection, especially diarrhea and febrile respiratory infection, more substantially near birth than it did later. Further, in urban areas, preventive health care positively affected growth independently of its indirect influence on reducing respiratory infection. Yet it had little effect on diarrhea. Diarrhea had a strong adverse effect on growth. Exposure of the infant to enteric pathogens had the greatest influence on production of diarrhea. In urban areas, exposure included water supply contamination, exposure to feces, a more pathogenic diet, and community crowding. In rural areas, however, exposure included community crowding and increased rainfall which presumably washed feces into the water supply. Household crowding in both urban and rural areas and irritation from smoke in urban areas only tended to bring about febrile respiratory infection.     

Between debt and the devil: beyond the normalization delusion

Since 2008, we have found it incredibly difficult to achieve adequate nominal demand growth. I think a fundamental reason we found it so difficult focuses on debt overhangs, if we first allow private leverage to grow too high, we end up in a situation where the debt doesn’t go away, it just moves around the global economy. Total global debt to global GDP is now higher than it ever was before. When interest rates are already low, further reductions of interest rates have very little influence on investment and consumption. Ultra-loose monetary policy does produce increases in asset prices. But if that’s driving an increase in inequality on top of slow growth of real wages. There has been inadequate focus in economics on the different functions that credit creation plays within the economy. We have to think about control of the credit cycle as an end, per se. Our orthodoxy before the crisis was that private credit and money creation is just fine. We have to understand that both governments can fail and be dangerous, and that markets can fail and be dangerous.     

The Dilemma of Accountability for Professionals: A Challenge for Mainstream Management Theories

Professional institutions are increasingly confronted by fiscal constraints and political pressures to improve and increase their accountability in a competitive consumer-driven market. Accordingly, the need to ensure efficiency and accountability is of strategic importance. This article reports on a qualitative study of medical professionals that assessed the utility of financial incentives and external control methods derived from agency theory to ensure accountability of professionals. The authors argue that approaches derived from stewardship and institutional theories can extend the principal–agent perspective to sustain greater social and ethical accountability.     

External funding of major capital projects in the UK Higher Education sector: issues of demand,supply and market timing?

The aim of this paper is to consider the sources of finance used to support major capital expenditure in the UK Higher Education sector and to reflect on any differences between traditional corporate finance theory and practice in the UK university sector. Utilising both HESA data returns and published annual accounts, an in-depth analysis using a logit structure is carried out on data from the top 63 UK universities over the period 2014–2017, to establish the range of funding sources adopted for major capital projects, all set within the context of the UK macro environment and a period of low interest rates. The research also carries out a survey of funders to understand the decision criteria used by lenders active in the Higher Education sector and a survey of university finance directors to determine the use of the funds, the reasons behind past lending decisions and to ascertain likely future demand for finance to fund major capital projects.     

Parental Compensatory Behaviors and Early Child Health Outcomes in Cebu, Philippines()

A dynamic optimization model of parents choosing investments in their children's health motivates an empirical model of parents' choices of health inputs for their children and the impacts of these decisions on their children's subsequent health. Estimates of the child health input demand functions and the child health production functions from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey accord with the prediction that optimizing behavior results in higher levels of aggregate child health. Observable parental behaviors respond to the physical developmental status of their children. These parental responses appear to yield large and statistically significant improvements in children's early physiological outcomes. However, because some health inputs choices are not observable, it is impossible to ascertain whether these measured effects are due solely to variations in the observed input choices.     

Topical coverage in internal auditing: academic versus practitioner perceptions

This study reports the results of research that investigates whether a gap may exist between academic content and practitioner needs in the area of internal auditing within the USA. Questionnaires were sent to internal auditing faculty and practitioners to identify and quantify the perceived importance of 25 different internal auditing topics, as well as the use of case studies and practitioner classroom visits as pedagogical techniques. Groups were in substantial agreement on the relative importance of the topics. However, some specific topic differences were noted, with educators placing more importance on items including engagement planning, preliminary surveys, audit programmes, risk management and fraud. Practitioners placed more importance on the qualities desired in staff internal auditors, Certificate in International Auditing (CIA) examination preparation, and computer auditing. In addition, there was considerable agreement between the two groups on the use of case studies in the classroom, as well as classroom visits from practicing internal auditors.     

Cultural Perspective Taking in Cross-Cultural Negotiation

This study introduces the construct cultural perspective taking in negotiation, the active consideration of the other party’s culturally-normative negotiation behaviors prior to negotiation, and compares the effect of cultural perspective taking (CPT) versus alternative-focused perspective taking (PT) in cross-cultural negotiations. 160 undergraduate students of North American and East Asian ethnicity in the United States and Canada participated in a simulated cross-cultural buyer-seller negotiation in a laboratory study. Participants were randomly assigned to CPT or PT condition. Results show that negotiators who engaged in CPT claimed more value than those who engaged in PT. And when both East Asian and North American negotiators engaged in CPT, East Asian negotiators claimed more value. CPT had no effect on value creation. This study highlights that learning about the other culture before a cross-cultural encounter benefits value claiming, but not necessarily value creation.     

Hidden influences in international negotiations: The interactive role of insecure cultural attachment,risk perception,and risk regulation for sellers versus buyers

This research examines the previously unstudied role of cultural attachment in international negotiations. Specifically focusing on the fearful attachment style, this article reveals the intricate interaction of cultural attachment, risk perception, and risk regulation on negotiators' ability to claim value in international negotiation. Supporting our theorizing based on cultural attachment and prospect theory, findings show that risk‐averse sellers with fearful attachment to their national culture perceive greater risk and in turn are more motivated to regulate risk through relationship‐building with their counterpart (Study 1). Moreover, these individuals achieve lower economic gains when they regulate relational risk by making fewer threats to walk away (Study 2). We discuss the implications and the importance of understanding one's attachment to own national culture as its interplay with role and risk mechanisms impacts effectiveness in international negotiations.     

List price and sales prices of residential properties during booms and busts

This paper investigates the relationship between the list and sale price of residential properties over the housing cycle. In down or normal markets the list price generally exceeds the sales price; however, when the housing market is strong, homes sell for more than their list price. This observation is not consistent with the assumptions made in the standard model of home sellers’ search behavior. We consider alternative models. In one, sellers set list prices based on their expectations of future changes in sales prices and the arrival rate of buyers; however, demand shocks occur. This model partially explains our data from the Belfast, U.K. housing market, but it fails to predict the list to sales price ratio during a sustained housing boom. We next describe a model where sellers’ endogenously select their search mechanism depending on the strength of the housing market. We find support for the conjecture that sellers switch to an auction-like model during housing booms. There also is evidence that during a downturn in the market, sellers’ list prices are sticky.     

Central Banking After the Crisis: No Return to Past Certainties

Before the 2008 crisis, macroeconomic theory and central bank practice regarded low and stable inflation to be a policy objective that was sufficient to ensure macroeconomic and financial stability. There was little concern with the details of the financial system or balance sheet aggregates. This article makes the case that these details are important and that monetary and macroprudential policy must control both the quantity and allocation of credit. This entails a revision of conventional monetary theory as well as policy, particularly to explain the paradox of the precrisis situation of so much credit and so little inflation. The particular role of real estate investment is described as a source of financial instability that can only be addressed by nuanced monetary and macroprudential policy.