OUTSOURCING WHEN INVESTMENTS ARE SPECIFIC AND INTERRELATED

Using the universe of large Canadian manufacturing firms in 1988 and 1996, we investigate to what extent outsourcing patterns concord with the predictions of a simple property rights model. The unique availability of disaggregate information on outputs as well as inputs permits the construction of a detailed measure of vertical integration. We rely on five measures of technological intensity to proxy for investments that are likely to be specific to a buyer–seller relationship. A theoretical model that allows for varying degrees of investment specificity and interrelatedness—externalities between buyer and supplier investments—guides the analysis. Property rights predictions on the link between investment intensities and optimal ownership are strongly supported, but only for transactions with low interrelatedness. High specificity and low risk of appropriation strengthen the predictions in the model and in the data.     

A 14-h night-shift in the control room of a fire brigade

All 29 operators in the control room of a fire brigade performed test sessions during work and leisure time at 2-h intervals on a day with a 14-h night-shift, a day off and a day with a 10-h morning shift. The test sessions consisted of a visual search choice reaction time test and two Sternberg memory search tests (1 or 5 letters had to be memorized). Furthermore, the operators recorded their oral temperature and their subjective alertness before each test session. The subject also kept a diary of work and sleep times for 14 days. The circadian rhythm of body temperature was hardly changed by a single night-shift. Parallel to the body temperature, the subjective alertness fell significantly during the night-shift reaching a minimum value at 06:00 h. The mean reaction times increased non-significantly at the end of the night-shift and the results of the two Sternberg memory search tests showed no significant trends. The sleep of the operators after the night-shift was on average reduced to 5 hs 34 min. The results of subjective rating of alertness and reaction time test are interpreted as effects of the combined influences of circadian rhythmicity, sleep loss and time on professional task. Most results support the conclusion that a 14-h night-shift without extensive breaks is not acceptable.     

An upper bound on the total restrained domination number of a tree

Let G=(V,E) be a graph. A set of vertices S?V is a total restrained dominating set if every vertex is adjacent to a vertex in S and every vertex of $V-\nobreak S$ is adjacent to a vertex in V?S. The total restrained domination number of G, denoted by γ _tr (G), is the smallest cardinality of a total restrained dominating set of G. A support vertex of a graph is a vertex of degree at least two which is adjacent to a leaf. We show that $\gamma_{\mathit{tr}}(T)\leq\lfloor\frac{n+2s+\ell-1}{2}\rfloor$ where T is a tree of order n≥3, and s and ? are, respectively, the number of support vertices and leaves of T. We also constructively characterize the trees attaining the aforementioned bound.     

Median problems with positive and negative weights on cycles and cacti

This paper deals with facility location problems on graphs with positive and negative vertex weights. We consider two different objective functions: In the first one (MWD) vertices with positive weight are assigned to the closest facility, whereas vertices with negative weight are assigned to the farthest facility. In the second one (WMD) all the vertices are assigned to the nearest facility. For the MWD model it is shown that there exists a finite set of points in the graph which contains the locations of facilities in an optimal solution. Furthermore, algorithms for both models for the 2-median problem on a cycle are developed. The algorithm for the MWD model runs in linear time, whereas the algorithm for the WMD model has a time complexity of  O(n²)\mathcal{O}(n^{2}) .     

Preis-Promotion-Framing – Ein Überblick zum Stand der Forschung

This article reviews published literature and provides an overview on present empirical evidence about the framing of price promotions. Concerning explicit price reductions (discounts, coupons, rebates), the effects of advertised reference prices and different frames of price discounts (relative versus absolute price discount, objective versus tensile price claims) on consumers’ reactions are discussed. Furthermore, the article examines empirical results on implicit price reductions (volume packs, free extra products) as well as on sale signs and restrictions (e.g. purchase limits, time limits) as popular ways of framing a deal. The key findings point out that framing a price promotion in different ways can affect consumers’ perceptions and evaluations of the deal. Based on the reviewed literature, the concluding section provides managerial implications and an agenda for further research.     

Smoothing Time Series with Local Polynomial Regression on Time

Time series smoothers estimate the level of a time series at time t as its conditional expectation given present, past and future observations, with the smoothed value depending on the estimated time series model. Alternatively, local polynomial regressions on time can be used to estimate the level, with the implied smoothed value depending on the weight function and the bandwidth in the local linear least squares fit. In this article we compare the two smoothing approaches and describe their similarities. Through simulations, we assess the increase in the mean square error that results when approximating the estimated optimal time series smoother with the local regression estimate of the level.     

On the Detection of Contemporaneous Relationships Among Multiple Time Series

A study is carried out of a sampling from a half-normal and exponential distributions to develop a test of hypothesis on the mean. Although these distributions are similar, the corresponding uniformly most paerful test statistics are different. The exact distributions of these statistics my be written in terms of the incomplete gamma function. If the experimental data my be fitted by either distributions, it is advisable to carryout the test based on the half-normal distribution as it is generally more powerful than the one based on the exponential one.     

Measuring Institutions: Indicators of Political and Property Rights in Malawi

This paper constructs a new set of institutional indicators for Malawi. We develop indicators of political rights, of freehold, traditional (communitarian) and intellectual property rights, based on the Malawian legislative framework. In exploring the association between our rights measures and a range of indicators of socio-economic development, we obtain limited support for a modernization process for Malawi. On the one hand, the association between the rights variables can be interpreted as a modernization nexus, with a trade-off between legally anchored private property freehold rights and political rights on the one hand, and traditional forms of communal property rights on the other. By contrast, the association between rights and a range of socioeconomic development indicators gives a more nuanced picture. For social development measures property rights measures exercise a positive impact, regardless of whether they take the form of freehold or communitarian property rights. Economic development measures respond positively only to the freehold measure, and negatively to communitarian property rights. The socioeconomic development measures are negatively associated with political rights in Malawi over the last 40 years of the twentieth century.     

理想中的博物馆——历史与视野

本文以英国大英博物馆、维也纳MAK博物馆等为个案,研究规避欧洲文化中心化,与博物馆发展落后于社会文化发展的问题。同时,对现有的展品和博物馆的仓库进行建造;将中国艺术文化加入世界文化之圈,建设理想中的博物馆——具有世界文化历史的博物馆势在必行。