Using a Systems Framework for Organizing Family Financial Planning

This paper organizes the family financial-planning process into a systems framework. Systems concepts are applied to family financial-planning using a functional interpretation of systems analysis. The framework provided in this paper can be helpful to professionals researching family financial behavior and its outcomes, planning programs and curricula, and offering financial planning services. It can also be used by families in their own financial planning.     

US domestic airline alliances: does the national welfare impact turn on strategic international gains?

The six largest U.S. airlines announced in the beginning of 1998 the formation of three domestic alliances, but the size and scope of these alliances spurred significant public interest concerns. GAO analysis suggests a rough equivalence between the domestic costs and benefits of alliances, yet the international competitive effects have not been considered. I argue that the national welfare merits of domestic airline alliances turn on positive international competitive effects. Empirical tests - run on comprehensive panel data covering the international airline markets among 21 nations over the 1983–1992 period - support domestic market concentration resulting in strategic international gains; hence, domestic airline alliances likely improve national welfare.