Gender and the Value of Bodily Goods: Commodification in Egg and Sperm Donation

Listing a child for sale in the local paper\u27s classified section is unthinkable, and it is illegal for donors to sell organs in the US. Yet fertility programs routinely recruit young women and men to donate eggs and sperm in return for financial compensation. Payments to women vary substantially, both within particular agencies and in different regions of the US, but the national average is around $4,200. Here, Almeling constructs a theoretical framework analyzing the social process of assigning value to the human body. He further describes the historical emergence of the market in eggs and sperm before turning to detailed analyses of organizational procedures at contemporary donation programs. Also, he finds out the significant variation in how women\u27s bodies and men\u27s bodies are valued. He conclude by emphasizing the importance of conducting empirical research on markets in human goods, because social processes of commodification do not always proceed as theorists might expects

The Problems of Pouring-Rights Contracts

This contribution describes a common family of estimation methods for system identification, viz, prediction-error methods. The basic ideas behind these methods are described. An overview of typical model structures to which they can be applied is also given, as well as the most fundamental asymptotic properties of the resulting estimates

The impact of company disclosure on the capital market : an empirical analysis of the capital market reactions on earnings announcements

Im Rahmen der Arbeit wird empirisch untersucht, welche Reaktionen die Veröffentlichung von Periodenergebnissen als Teil der Unternehmenspublizität am deutschen Kapitalmarkt auslöst, welches die Bestimmungsfaktoren für das Ausmaß der Kapitalmarktreaktionen sind und ob Unternehmen in der Lage sind, durch ihre Publizitätsentscheidungen die Kapitalmarktreaktionen auf die Veröffentlichung von Periodenergebnissen zu beeinflussen. Kapitalmarktreaktionen auf die Veröffentlichung von Periodenergebnissen werden im Rahmen dieser Arbeit anhand von Aktienkursen und Handelsvolumen (Informationsgehalt) sowie anhand von Geld-Brief-Spannen (Informationsasymmetrie) gemessen. Als Ergebnis kann ein erhöhtes Ausmaß an abnormalen Renditen und Handelsvolumen am Tag der Ergebnisankündigung festgestellt werden, was darauf hinweist, dass Ergebnisankündigungen Informationsgehalt besitzen. Weiterhin kann festgestellt werden, dass durch Ergebnisankündigungen anhand von Geld-Brief-Spannen gemessene Informationsasymmetrien sinken. Weiterhin zeigt sich, dass die Kapitalmarktreaktion umso stärker ist, je mehr zusätzliche Informationen zusammen mit dem Periodenergebnis veröffentlicht werden. In diesem Zusammenhang kann auch gezeigt werden, dass sowohl Aktienkurs- und Handelsvolumenreaktionen als auch Geld-Brief-Spannen bei Anwendung international anerkannter Rechnungslegungsgrundsätze größer sind als bei Anwendung handelsrechtlicher Grundsätze. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Aktienkursreaktionen und Geld-Brief-Spannen über den Untersuchungszeitraum, der als Gewöhnungsphase an international anerkannte Rechnungslegungsgrundsätze angesehen werden kann, sinken und das Handelsvolumen steigt. Darüber hinaus kann gezeigt werden, dass die Kapitalmarktreaktion umso geringer ausfällt, je mehr oder je qualitativ hochwertiger die Unternehmenspublizität vor der Ergebnisankündigung ausfällt.Within the dissertation the following is empirically analysed: the reactions of the German capital market on earnings announcements as part of the company disclosure, the influencing factors for the extent of the capital market reactions and whether companies are able to influence the capital market reactions on earnings announcements through their disclosure decisions. Capital market reactions on earnings announcements are measured within this dissertation by using stock prices and trading volume (information) as well as bid-ask spreads (information asymmetry). As a result an enlarged extent of abnormal returns and trading volume can be found at the earnings announcement date which indicates that earnings announcements have information content. Moreover, it can be found that information asymmetry is lowered through earnings announcements measured by bid-ask spreads. Moreover, the results indicate that capital market reactions are the higher the more additional information is disclosed together with the earnings. In this connection it can be shown that stock price and trading volume reactions as well as bid-ask spreads are higher when internationally accepted accounting principles are applied compared to using the rules of the German Commercial Code. It can be shown that stock price reactions and bid-ask spreads fall over the sample period, which can be viewed as a period of familiarisation with internationally accepted accounting principles, and that trading volume rises. Above that it can be shown that the capital market reaction is the lower the more or the qualitatively better the company disclosure before the earnings announcement is

Migrant extractability: Centring the voices of egg providers in cross-border reproduction

© 2018 This paper explores reproductive justice from the perspective of those at the beginning of the value chain of reproduction. This vantage point of egg providers can help lend important insights into the wider processes of family-making across borders today. It centres on ethnographic research conducted on contemporary cross-border egg provision performed by female migrant workers in Spain. Through this intersectional perspective, we stand to gain deeper insights into cross-border reproduction more widely. Egg provision can be a way for migrant women to gain temporary financial benefit. In a system that does not provide equal access for migrants to work and care, female migrants make themselves extractable commodities. As such, they are both a commodity and a worker at the same time. The example of female migrant workers providing eggs can be used to reflect more generally on egg provision, and on cross-border reproduction and reproductive justice models as used in queer cross-border family-building. Taken within the broader framework of reproductive justice, and with the struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender cross-border reproduction in mind, the paper begins by asking how three intersecting inequalities due to (1) migration/citizenship, (2) joblessness/contract working and (3) race facilitate the industry of cross-border reproduction? In what ways do female migrant workers mobilize their reproductive potential, including time, whiteness, other racial/phenotypic similarity to commissioning parents, and unstable work lives in cross-border egg donation? The paper ends with an argument for focusing analytical and political attention on the needs of those providing eggs; the most prized material resources for cross-border reproduction

The Choice between Formal and Informal Intellectual Property: A Review

We survey the economic literature, both theoretical and empirical, on the choice of intellectual property protection by firms. Our focus is on the trade-offs between using patents and disclosing versus the use of secrecy, although we also look briefly at the use of other means of formal intellectual property protection. (JEL D82, K11, O31, O34) </jats:p