Junk Car Clash on the Rural–Urban Fringe: A Case Study in Local Government Decision Making

This decision case is intended to provide an example of the complexity of local government decision making on the rural–urban fringe. In this case, a county is faced with making a decision about outlawing the existence of junk cars on personal property. Instructors can use this case to introduce topics such as zoning, takings, property rights, local government policy making, and the impact of the community on government decisions. Other issues could be explored, such as the role of culture and stereotypes in policy making, and how growth can impact local culture and lifestyle.     

Intraday Empirical Analysis and Modeling of Diversified World Stock Indices

This paper proposes an approach to the intraday analysis of diversified world stock accumulation indices. The growth optimal portfolio (GOP) is used as reference unit or benchmark in a continuous financial market model. Diversified portfolios, covering the world stock market, are constructed and shown to approximate the GOP, providing the basis for a range of financial applications. The normalized GOP is modeled as a time transformed square root process of dimension four. Its dynamics are empirically verified for several world stock indices. Furthermore, the evolution of the transformed time is modeled as the integral over a rapidly evolving mean-reverting market activity process with deterministic volatility. The empirical findings suggest a rather simple and robust model for a world stock index that reflects the historical evolution, by using only a few readily observable parameters. Mathematics Subject Classification: (1991) primary 90A12, secondary 60G30,62P20 JEL Classification: G10, G13     

Can Nature Drive Economic Growth?

The conditions that lead to successful economic development are diverse and place sensitive. Recent research supports the notion that there is a correlation between the presence of natural amenities and rural economic development. This case explores the situation of a rural county that is faced with constrained development options as a result of a significant federal footprint on the county's land area. The actions of the federal agencies managing the resources impact the economic vitality of the region. Two issues currently under review challenge the county to think critically about its potential for using nature as an economic development tool.     

The compliance model of employment standards enforcement: an evidence‐based assessment of its efficacy in instances of wage theft

This article critically assesses the compliance model of employment standards enforcement through a study of monetary employment standards violations in Ontario, Canada. The findings suggest that, in contexts where changes to the organisation of work deepen insecurity for employees, models of enforcement that emphasise compliance over deterrence are unlikely to effectively prevent or remedy employment standards violations.     

Sources of capital and income for communal area farmers in Kavango: Implications for agriculture and rural development

A survey based on a structured questionnaire was conducted at the beginning of 1995 to identify sources of capital and income for rural households in Kavango. The survey, which covered 80 households, revealed that there was a high dependence on external income sources. Pensions were the major source of income for the highest proportion of all households (33 per cent), followed by wages (23 per cent) and brewing (10 per cent). Other sources of income of similar importance to brewing were crop sales, non‐formal work and cash remittances.

Livestock were a minor source of income but a major source of capital and food security. Households with smaller cattle herds depended more on cattle for income and food security than those with larger herds. Cattle were a highly valued production resource that was only consumed during times of crisis and only in the absence of less valuable assets that could be easily liquidated. Grain storage was more popular among groups with the lowest income. By various criteria, female‐headed households always tended to be in the group of households categorised as the poorest of the poor. However, given sufficient income, over one third of them would purchase cattle to diversify their investment portfolio.

This article presents a number of potential strategies for improving the incomes of rural households in Kavango. These include the promotion of equitable livestock ownership and better use of the grazing resource through community management, intensification of cropping and the implementation of labour‐intensive programmes to develop rural infrastructure.     

The Solar Panel Manufacturing Industry’s Boom,Bust, and Future

Solar panel manufacturing, while comprising a small role in the energy sector, illustrates the government’s ability to foster growth in nascent industries as well as its limits in protecting these industries from international competition. Environmental concerns over climate change have forced governments worldwide to establish targets and provide incentives for generating electricity from renewable energy sources. While leading to the rapid development of a global market for solar panels, these policies induced volatility by promoting a surge in production and international competition. Consequently, the domestic solar panel manufacturing industry has experienced a tremendous boom and bust over the past decade.     

Communicating total rewards to the generations

This is the first time in American history that four distinct generations have been in the workforce at the same time. Because employers have finite resources with which to compete for talent, they must understand the generations, what matters most to them and what they can do to motivate different generations of workers. Perhaps surprisingly, the author argues that the generations share in most valuing "soft cost" rewards over "hard dollar cost" items. This article advises employers on how to make their company a great place to work for all generations.     

The information society in California: Social factors influencing its emergence

The authors identify three elements which will influence California's future. First, demographic shifts in the state's population have altered California's ethnic and cultural foundations. Second, the state educational system does not seem prepared to train larger numbers for information work, especially members of its growing ethnic population. Third, almost half the state's workforce is now employed in information-oriented work, whether in the industrial, service, or agricultural sectors. The authors demonstrate that the interaction of these elements has profound implications for California's development.     

Estimates of the direct and indirect cost savings associated with heart disease that could be avoided through dietary change in the United States

Aims: Diets high in saturated fat are associated with elevated risk of heart disease. This study estimates the savings in direct (medical care) costs and indirect (job absenteeism) costs in the US from reductions in heart disease associated with substituting monounsaturated fats (MUFA) for saturated fats.

Materials and methods: A four-part model of the medical care cost savings from avoided heart disease was estimated using data on 247,700 adults from the 2000–2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The savings from reduced job absenteeism due to avoided heart disease was estimated using a zero-inflated negative binomial model of the number of annual work loss days applied to data on 164,577 adults from the MEPS.

Results: Estimated annual savings in medical care expenditures resulting from a switch from a diet high in saturated fat to a high-MUFA diet totaled ～ $25.7 billion (95% CI = $6.0–$45.4 billion) in 2010, with private insurance plans saving $7.9 billion (95% CI?=?$1.8–$14.0 billion), Medicare saving $9.4 billion (95% CI?=?$2.1–$16.7 billion), Medicaid saving $1.4 billion (95% CI?=?Aims: Diets high in saturated fat are associated with elevated risk of heart disease. This study estimates the savings in direct (medical care) costs and indirect (job absenteeism) costs in the US from reductions in heart disease associated with substituting monounsaturated fats (MUFA) for saturated fats.

Materials and methods: A four-part model of the medical care cost savings from avoided heart disease was estimated using data on 247,700 adults from the 2000–2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The savings from reduced job absenteeism due to avoided heart disease was estimated using a zero-inflated negative binomial model of the number of annual work loss days applied to data on 164,577 adults from the MEPS.

Results: Estimated annual savings in medical care expenditures resulting from a switch from a diet high in saturated fat to a high-MUFA diet totaled ～ $25.7 billion (95% CI = $6.0–$45.4 billion) in 2010, with private insurance plans saving $7.9 billion (95% CI?=?$1.8–$14.0 billion), Medicare saving $9.4 billion (95% CI?=?$2.1–$16.7 billion), Medicaid saving $1.4 billion (95% CI?=?$0.2–$2.5 billion), and patients saving $2.2 billion (95% CI?=?$0.5–$3.8 billion). The annual savings in terms of reduced job absenteeism ranges from a lower bound of $600 million (95% CI?=?$100 million to $1.0 billion) to an upper bound of $1.2 billion (95% CI?=?$0.2–$2.1 billion) for 2010.

Limitations: The data cover only the non-institutionalized population. Decreased costs due to any decreases in the severity of heart disease are not included. Cost savings do not include any reduction in informal care at home.

Conclusions: Diets high in saturated fat impose substantial medical care costs and job absenteeism costs, and substantial savings could be achieved by substituting MUFA for saturated fat.     

Transactions, volume, and volatility

We show that the positive volatility-volume relation documentedby numerous researchers actually reflects the positive relationbetween volatility and the number of transactions. Thus, itis the occurrence of transactions per se, and not their size,that generates volatility; trade size has no information beyondthat contained in the frequency of transactions. Our resultssuggest that theoretical research needs to entertain scenariosin which (i) both the frequency and size of trades are endogenouslydetermined, yet (ii) the size of trades has no information contentbeyond that contained in the number of transactions.