Ideas versus ideology: The origins of modern labor economics

Starting with its early twentieth century origins, the development of Labor Economics is traced to the present. We describe an intellectual revolution in which an earlier tra-dition that focused primarily on the institution of the labor union has been replaced by a perspective that emphasizes the various roles played by labor markets in an eco-nomic system. That earlier tradition contained very significant ideological elements, whereas its successor deals much more with the world of ideas. In the course of the debate, which still continues, ideas triumphed over ideology and created modern Labor Economics.     

Flipping and ex post aggregation

We show that Bayesian ex post aggregation is unstable with respect to refinements. Suppose a group of Bayesians use ex post aggregation. Since it is a joint problem, each agent's problem is captured by the same model, but probabilities and utilities may vary. If they analyze the same situation in more detail, their refined analysis should preserve their preferences among acts. However, ex post aggregation could bring about a preference reversal on the group level. Ex post aggregation thus depends on how much information is used and may keep oscillating (“flipping”) as one keeps adding more information. Received: 16 April 2002/Accepted: 27 May 2002     

On strategy-proofness and essentially single-valued cores: A converse result

In a general model of indivisible good allocation, S?nmez (1999) established that, whenever the core is nonempty for each preference profile, if an allocation rule is strategy-proof, individually rational and Pareto optimal, then the rule is a selection from the core correspondence, and the core correspondence must be essentially single-valued. This paper studies the converse claim of this result. I demonstrate that whenever the preference domain satisfies a certain condition of `richness', if the core correspondence is essentially single-valued, then any selection from the core correspondence is strategy-proof (even weakly coalition strategy-proof, in fact). In particular, on the domain of preferences in which each individual has strict preferences over his own assignments and there is no consumption externality, such an allocation rule is coalition strategy-proof. And on this domain, coalition strategy-proofness is equivalent to Maskin monotonicity, an important property in implementation theory. Received: 22 February 2000/Accepted: 22 January 2002 I am grateful to Ryo-ichi Nagahisa, Shinji Ohseto, Hiroshi Ono, Tomoichi Shinotsuka and Shigehiro Serizawa for valuable comments. And I am indebted to two anonymous referees for useful suggestions. Especially, I owe the present proof of Lemma 2 to one referee. I also thank Yukihiko Funaki, Atsushi Kajii, Mamoru Kaneko, Eiichi Miyagawa, Tatsuyoshi Saijo, Manimay Sengupta, Yves Sprumont, Yoshikatsu Tatamitani, Manabu Toda, Takashi Ui, Takehiko Yamato, Naoki Yoshihara and the participants of the seminars in Hokkaido University, Kansai University, ISER (Osaka University), Otaru University of Commerce and Tsukuba University. All errors are my own responsiblity.     

Vulnerability and Agenda: Context and Process in Project Management

This paper explores how the project management role is conditioned by the context in which change is progressed. The argument draws on Pettigrew's (1985, 1987) contextual and processual view of change, a view which does not clarify the management implications of contextual variation. Using data from a two-stage research design combining diary and survey methods, four context dimensions are identified, concerning ‘interlocking’, ‘shifting sands’, ‘ownership’ and ‘senior management view’. For analytical purposes, two extreme contexts are characterized as exposing the project manager to high and low levels of ‘vulnerability’ respectively. Project management literature typically offers a rational-linear account of change, and concentrates on ‘content’ and ‘control’ agendas, concerning technical expertise on the one hand, and planning, budgeting and monitoring techniques on the other. Sociological analyses reveal the limitations of the rational-linear account, and focus on the political and cultural dimensions of the ‘process’ agenda. The data suggest how contextual variation affects the relative priority of these agendas. The management implications of these findings are explored, for project management selection, career progression, and the development of diagnostic skills and ‘agenda management’ strategies.     

Student perceptions of the danger of drug use: a factor analysis.

Australian secondary school students from three Year levels were asked to rate the danger involved in various uses of alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, marijuana and other illicit drugs. These ratings were then factor analyzed for each Year level. The results showed a more refined discrimination among the older students, with type of drug and frequency of use being important considerations. Familiarity was a major consideration for the younger students. The cognitive factors derived from the data are consistent with expectations based on the gateway theory of drug use.     

Dutch tax simplification: Unique in an international setting?

The Dutch reformed individual income tax was implemented on January 1, 1990. The rationale of the tax reform is described, and the major changes are discussed and compared to developments abroad. As far as rate reduction and base-broadening are concerned, the Netherlands has followed the trend in international tax reforms. The Dutch tax reform process, however, focussed more on simplification than in other Western countries.     

Benefits of preventive dentistry in children: Cost factors and public policy

Dental caries in children is now recognized as a preventable disease. The use of fluoride and sealants has produced a major reduction in caries prevalence among school aged children in the United States and other countries. A portion of the child population who are educationally and socioeconomically disadvantaged are not fully receiving these benefits. Public policy, insurance and medicaid groups must be made aware of these preventative measures and strategies developed to implement them.     

ACCOUNTING PRACTICES AND ORGANIZATIONAL DECISION MAKING

In this paper we argue for the importance of a sociologically informed study of organizational accounting practices. By making the nexus between accounting and decision making problematic, instead of given, we move issues of interpretation and hierarchical control to the center stage of understanding the social construction of accounting practices. We suggest that inductive case studies of the organizational setting is a promising methodological strategy for identifying how accounting operates as an organizational control system. We focus on debates and proceedings of the board of directors as an overlooked source of data on decision making and organizational practices. We show how accounting practices are part of the strategic control system that functions to interpret the environment and direct the adaptation of the organization in a manner particular to the substantive rationality of corporate decision makers. We illustrate these contentions with a case study of accounting practice changes over a six year period.