Economic Status of the Property and Casualty Insurance Industry with Special Reference to Virginia

Conditions in the property and casualty insurance industry in the past several years have caused great concern to both the insureds and the insurers. Premium rates for some lines, particularly certain liability coverages, have increased significantly (some observers would say catastrophically). For some businesses and governmental units insurance coverages have either been cancelled or are not available. The situation in the industry has often been referred to as a crisis. And reactions to this crisis have included calls for investigations of the industry and an increased degree of government regulation. Private citizens and business firms have blamed insurance companies; insurance companies have blamed the legal system; representatives of the legal system tend to blame the insurance companies and so on. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of this problem; its dimensions; its probably future direction and possible remedies; and the manner in which it is being dealt with in Virginia

Virginia S&L Survey Results - Summer, 1981

The current difficulties of the nation\u27s thrift industry are mirrored in the results of a recent survey of the member organi­zation of the Virginia League. The survey indicated that Savings & Loan Associations in Virginia are undergoing a financial squeeze of unprecedented intensity, a squeeze that is exceeding earlier expectations. The Survey also showed that coming to terms with this crisis is proving to be difficult

How You Question is What You Get: Collective Inquiry Dialogues in Online Forums

In today’s networked environment, online forums emerge as a popular form of social structures that provides greater opportunities for learning from external resources without pre-established knowledge network. However, our inquiries in online forums do not always generate knowledge desideratum satisfactorily. A few recent studies noticed that communication practices become a means to characterize online forums and influences on effectiveness of collaborative learning. Our preliminary case study in an enduring online forum showed that how dialogue unfolds, i.e., asking questions and suggesting hypothetical solutions, shapes different dynamisms of collaborative learning; some dialogues are highly generative, drawing broad attention, surfacing multiple voices, and producing new knowledge through active reflection, refinement, and exploration; but some fail to be generative and display narrow, inadequate inquiry. Given the importance of dialogue and structures of interaction for learning, we propose to study how different dialogue practices in online forums are related to different levels of generative inquiry

An automatic data system for vibration modal tuning and evaluation

A digitally based automatic modal tuning and analysis system developed to provide an operational capability beginning at 0.1 hertz is described. The elements of the system, which provides unique control features, maximum operator visibility, and rapid data reduction and documentation, are briefly described; and the operational flow is discussed to illustrate the full range of capabilities and the flexibility of application. The successful application of the system to a modal survey of the Skylab payload is described. Information about the Skylab test article, coincident-quadrature analysis of modal response data, orthogonality, and damping calculations is included in the appendixes. Recommendations for future application of the system are also made

The Economics of Higher Education in Virginia

This study is based primarily on financial data from colleges and universities in Virginia for the two academic years 1986-1987 and 1987-1988. The database stems from detailed data submitted by virtually all colleges and universities to the federal and state governments and reported in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data survey (IPEDS). The data were accessed by Professor Jones from the State Council of Higher Education using the Bitnet computer program. The aim of the study is to gain an understanding of the matrix of financial, economic and academic factors which determine the nature of a college or university; and to interpret these factors as they relate to decisions facing faculty, administrators, government officials, students and families and other interested parties. Attention to these matters in the media today would suggest that this subject is hardly an irrelevant one

Rationalism, Capitalism, and Democracy: The Views of Schumpeter and Knight

The concept of rationality is both the origination point and the Achilles’ heel of the study of economic theory. Two of America’s more important economists, J. A. Schumpeter and Frank H. Knight, held highly developed views of the rationalistic civilization and rational thought. Although considerable concordance is present in their visions of rationality, conceptual differences exist. Rational behavior is, in many respects, like beauty in that its meaning is defined by the extent to which there is a mapping with the values of the observer. Any discussion of rationality must begin with this difficult problem of relativity in values. This paper begins, therefore, by identifying the definitions and origins of rationality according to Schumpeter and Knight. The paper then moves to an explication of the views Knight and Schumpeter held on rationality and the implications they perceived for capitalism and democracy

The Consequences of FAS 93: Depreciation in Higher Education

The absence of depreciation accounting in the financial statements of colleges and universities is an issue of relevance to managerial accountants, both professionally and personally. It is of professional relevance not only because of the impact on the financial statements but also because of the impact this has had on management and accounting practices in higher education. It is of personal relevance because of the impact that the adoption of depreciation accounting will have on the cost of higher education to managerial accountants and their families. The convergence of the results of our study of colleges and universities in Virginia, generalized to the United States, and a recent study of deferred maintenance in higher education enforces the conclusion that funded depreciation reserves could have prevented the deferred maintenance problem

The Neglected Institutionalism of Schumpeter\u27s and Knight\u27s Views of Rationality

The concept of rationality is both the origination point and the Achilles\u27 heel of the study of human behavior in economics. The rationalist view of human nature is arguably the most pressing issue facing contemporary economics. Fields of knowledge other than economics have developed alternative theories of human activity to the neoclassical\u27s pure economic man. They include Abraham Maslow\u27s hierarchy of needs, Kenneth Boulding\u27s grants economy, and John Rawls\u27 original position doctrine. Within economics, the Institutionalists have been the leading critics of the assumption that behavior in the economic sphere is rationally directed. A consensus view of rationality does not exist among Institutionalists. However, a synthesized Institutionalist conception of rationality would include the effects of culture, habit, social structure, and psychological makeup on individual and collective decisions. Additionally, an essential component of such a conceptualization would be the evolutionary aspect of rationalism, or how it develops throughout the life-process. These precepts are widely associated with the work of Thorstein Veblen and J. M. Clark

Cost, Price, Equity and Quality in Higher Education

As tuition and other college expenses have continued to out pace the rate of inflation in the U.S. economy, increased attention has focused on the economics of higher education. Questions have been raised, explicitly or implicitly, as to whether the higher cost of a college education is justified and whether there are policy measures—private or public—which might be put in place to contain these costs and/or alter the nature of the product

The bathystrophic storm tide

The tides on a regular open coast change rapidly as a stonn approaches, and the time history of this change is important in computing dangerously rugh tides in bays; in addition, this change influences the maximum wave height offshore. Simple physfcal assumptions are used (and justified) to define a bathystrophic flow, and it is shown mathematically that this flow is of great importance in the computation of storm tides. Using only the traditionally accepted formulae and constants for wind stress and bottom friction, examples of the time change of the tide have been calculated. These results agree with observations as well as can be expected. Deviations from observations may be due to an edge wave