The effect of horizontal pay dispersion on the effectiveness of performance-based incentives

In response to general calls for increased transparency in society, pay transparency policies are growing in importance. Given that pay transparency unavoidably gives employees the opportunity to make comparisons between themselves and others, in this study we address the question of how these comparisons impact the incentive effects of performance contingent pay, and consequently their performance outcomes. Specifically, we empirically examine whether horizontal pay dispersion alters the effectiveness of performance-based pay contracts, which firms typically use to incentivize effort. Exploiting our unique access to a large healthcare provider, we document the moderating role of horizontal pay dispersion on the effectiveness of individual monetary incentives at generating increased individual performance. To provide a more nuanced understanding of the moderating effect of pay dispersion, we further examine the boundary conditions of the proposed interaction. In particular, we examine the differential effect of overall pay dispersion on employees that rank high versus low in the pay distribution and disaggregate overall pay dispersion into performance-related versus performance-unrelated pay dispersion. Our findings consistently show a positive moderating effect of pay dispersion when employees are more likely to consider the observed pay dispersion as legitimate, and a negative moderation effect when this is less likely the case. Our study strengthens the understanding of how individual level incentives function in the context of a multi-person firm setting. Our results document that individual incentives are effective, but also suggest that pay dispersion can have a significant influence on the incentive-performance relation. These findings provide some evidence that individuals are concerned not only with their own payout, but also with that of others, and that this concern has a significant impact on individual’s effort provision, and consequently performance.Series: Department of Strategy and Innovation Working Paper Serie

Moving Along the Learning Curve: From Values to Public Judgment: Citizen Dialogues on K-12 Education Reform

Based on dialogues with California's public, policy makers, and other stakeholders, assesses the public's priorities for K-12 reform and support for giving districts more authority and resources to meet state standards. Includes implications for leaders

Health Coverage for All Californians: Catching Up With the Public: A Report on Dialogues With the Public and With Business and Civic Leaders

Presents findings on healthcare reforms both employers and the public would support. Assesses the public's support for government-sponsored comprehensive coverage, its concerns about a public health system, and implications for future reform proposals

The Divine Viscera: Medicine and Religion in the Islamic Golden Age

Islamic medicine is largely ignored in Western tradition, but in an era when Western European medical practice relied more on mysticism than science and had lost the advances made by Classical Greece, the Islamic Empire entered a golden age of scientific thought. The impetus for the Golden Age medicine that developed can be partially attributed to the Islamic religion itself. This paper explores the role of Islam as both a unifying force and a set of broad cultural values in creating that atmosphere that allowed for the study of medicine, within the context of the scientific-religious duality that characterized discovery in the Islamic Empire

Marine Algae of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands

Reexamination of some previous collections of marine algae from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), also known as the Leeward Hawaiian Islands, and the addition of more recent collections have resulted in recognition of 48 taxa of Chlorophyta (green algae), with eight new records for the NWHI; 33 taxa of Phaeophyta (brown algae), with seven new records; and 124 species of Rhodophyta (red algae), of which 26 are new records for the NWHI. Among the 41 new records, 14 taxa are newly reported for the entire Hawaiian archipelago. Among the new records are Nemacystus decipiens, Halimeda copiosa, and H. velasquezii and among the microscopic algae Crouania mageshimensis. Total macroscopic marine flora consists of 205 taxa, a number close to the 222 species known from Eniwetak in the northern Marshall Islands. Proportions of greens and reds in the two places are markedly different, however, with more green and fewer red species in Eniwetak

Symposium on Marine Diversity and Biogeography in the Tropics. Pacific Science Congress, May-June 1991, Honolulu

Seven persons were asked to discuss the diversity and biogeography of various groups of marine organisms from as wide a geographic span as possible in the warm Pacific. The organisms covered were marine algae, marine mollusks, and fishes; unfortunately, J. E. N. Veron of Australia, who was expected to speak on corals, was unable to attend. We present here three abstracts and three full-length papers. No symposium on marine diversity has ever been presented to the Congress, although each member country in the Congress is impacted by one or more oceans or seas. Of the major groups of marine organisms, probably the least studied (and least understood) are the marine algae. The three papers are on algae and show different perspectives although the subject matter is systematics and ecology. In "Geographic patterns of diversity in benthic marine algae," Paul Silva defines diversity and shows that although land plant diversity is greater in the tropics, marine algae show more diversity in the warm-temperate boundaries. In "Marine phytogeography of the Juan Fernandez Archipelago: A new assessment," Bernabe Santelices shows that the relatively high diversity with 32% endemism found in the Juan Fernandez Islands is largely due to the physical barrier of the cold northward-flowing Peru or Humboldt Current. Celia Smith in "Diversity in intertidal habitats: An assessment of the marine algae of select high islands in the Hawaiian Archipelago" revealed many data that furnished the bases for far-reaching comparisons: age-related basalt substrates and limestone benches on an island about 35,000 yr old yielded a flora with greater diversity than similar transects on a younger basalt island, contributing to the conclusion that similar diversity patterns appear to depend on substrate similarity as well as current patterns around islands. The three abstracts cover algae from French Polynesia, fishes, and marine mollusks. The papers that stem from these abstracts have been or are being published elsewhere

An Analysis of Demand-Pull Inflation in the United States Post-Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a global shutdown of the economy resulting from both demand and supply shocks. Also, the significant decline in output and employment in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic led to a fast reaction from the government in the form of large fiscal rescue packages. At the end of 2021, the acceleration of inflation, which had been dormant for more than four decades, became the main topic of macroeconomic debates. The debate has revolved around the influence of cost-push versus demand-pull causes of inflation. The dominant view in the United States has been that inflation resulted from excess demand and an overreaction of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury in stimulating the economy. Accordingly, the Federal Reserve has continued to fight inflation by employing tight monetary policy and raising interest rates to reduce demand. However, inflation has persisted, and it seems that monetary tightening might not be an adequate solution, as it appears we are not at full employment nor full capacity utilization. Therefore, inflation is not the result of excess demand. The persistence of inflation seems to be resulting from the continuing supply-side problems and shutdowns that disrupted global trade

Paleoepidemiological Analysis of Trauma in a Roman Period Population from Kellis, Egypt, Circa 50-450 AD

This thesis analyzes human skeletal trauma in a large well-preserved sample (n =268) from the Roman period Kellis site in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. Prevalence was determined for both infracranial and cranial skeletal trauma. The null hypothesis tested was that there are no differences in trauma when stratified by sex and by age cohorts (i.e., 18-35, 36-50 and 51+). Despite the overall trauma prevalence being similar between the sexes when not differentiated by age, the null hypothesis was rejected. Key differences that occurred between the sexes were that males suffered greater malintent and occupational traumas, whereas osteoporosis was the major contributor to trauma in older females. This is reflected in the age trends as males had a more linear pattern, while the female pattern peaks in the oldest age cohort. The research supports the conclusions that all studies of trauma should stratify samples by age and sex and investigate trauma using the individual as the unit of measure rather than separate skeletal elements