Whistle-Blowing for Profit: An Ethical Analysis of the Federal False Claims Act

This paper focuses on the 1986 Amendments to the False Claims Act of 1863, which offers whistle-blowers financial rewards for disclosing fraud committed against the U.S. government. This law provides an opportunity to examine underlying assumptions about the morality of whistle-blowing and to consider the merits of increased reliance on whistle-blowing to protect the public interest. The law seems open to a number of moral objections, most notably that it exerts a morally corrupting influence on whistle-blowers. We answer these objections and argue that the law is not objectionable on these grounds. Since there are no compelling moral objections to the law, it is appropriate and acceptable to judge the law in terms of its economic costs and benefits. We assess the most salient of these and conclude that the benefits outweigh the costs. We suggest that a mechanism similar to the Act should be considered for protecting stockholders’ interests in the private sector. We conclude by making several proposals for improving the existing legislation. The authors' names are listed in alphabetical order. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Society for Business Ethics August 2004.     

To tell or not to tell? The roles of perceived norms and self‐consciousness in understanding consumers' willingness to recommend online secondhand apparel shopping

Secondhand apparel shopping resides in a domain characterized by used goods traditionally associated with financially marginalized consumers. Acknowledging the elusive psychological barriers associated with preowned apparel, this study explores mechanisms that facilitate consumers' willingness to recommend online secondhand apparel shopping. Results from three experimental studies and a cross‐sectional survey of online secondhand shoppers in the United States reveal that hedonic and ethical benefits influence recommendation behavior via perceived norms, whereas economic benefit directly influences consumers' willingness to recommend. Moderated mediation analyses further demonstrate that self‐consciousness alters the strength of the indirect effects, such that consumers with lower self‐consciousness displayed greater willingness to recommend compared to highly self‐conscious consumers. Findings contribute to a greater theoretical understanding of the roles perceived norms and self‐consciousness play in facilitating or inhibiting recommendation behavior in a context that implicitly involves self‐disclosure of one's secondhand purchase behavior. Managerial implications offer insights on salient benefits that can be leveraged to influence word‐of‐mouth recommendation.     

To Justify or Not to Justify: The Role of Anticipated Regret on Consumers’ Decisions to Upgrade Technological Innovations

Prior research suggests that adoption decisions are primarily based on product features and experiential opportunities, like trial and observation. Our research follows inquiries that identify anticipated regret (AR) as an emotion integral to consumer decision making. Prior research and current retailing practice assume that AR can be alleviated by compelling product attribute-based rationales for immediate purchase. These rationales often take the form of direct attribute comparisons between the current best and the future technologies. Counter-intuitively, we find that giving consumers attribute-based justifications for immediate purchase produces a uniform level of AR and purchase delay regardless of the perceived rate of innovation (PRI). However, under conditions of low PRI and no justification, AR decreases significantly. A clear implication of our findings is that firms marketing current technology should not rush to provide consumers with justifications for immediate upgrade since such communications will remind consumers of what they might miss if they adopt now, resulting in increased AR and purchase delays. Instead, we suggest that retailers focus promotional efforts on highlighting the hedonic benefits consumers experience by adopting today.     

国有银行改革的成本和收益

四家国有商业银行改革的成本和收益需从多角度来考察,从财务角度来看,四家银行通过剥离不良贷款,注资、股改上市带来巨大收益;从社会成本来看,高利差以及高不良贷款率意味着社会为国有商业银行支付较高的隐性成本;从历史角度来看,国有商业银行垄断国家金融业数十年,从理论上说,应当为出资人和国家贡献利润和超额利润,但是,高成本消耗了这种利润的大部分。总体来说,四家国有商业银行的改革是成功的,但并非四家国有商业银行的成功。     

云南热区种植草果的生态经济效益分析

本文介绍了云南热区种植草果的概况及经营技术，并对所产生的生态经济效益进行了分析。     

Severance Pay and Corporate Finance: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of Austrian and Italian Firms

This paper examines the empirical link between severance pay and corporate finance. Severance pay is an economic debt of the employer and hence should be taken into account by the market in its assessments of risk. Using a hand-collected dataset of accounting data from Italy and Austria we find there is only a limited relationship between severance pay and market risk indicators. This suggests that arguments that severance pay systems destroy corporate value may need to be reassessed.     

东亚货币一体化博弈分析

东亚发展中国家与地区如何选择汇率制度一直是个颇有争议的话题。在“欧元”单一货币区成功实施的背景下,寻求货币一体化便成为东亚各国与地区关注的焦点。实际上,东亚货币一体化就是各参与方根据其参与的成本和收益,权衡利弊得失的决策博弈过程,该过程具有两阶段博弈的特征。