Corporate Tax Evasion with Agency Costs

This paper examines corporate tax evasion in the context of the contractual relationship between the shareholders of a firm and a tax manager who possesses private information regarding the extent of legally permissible reductions in taxable income, and who may also undertake illegal tax evasion. Using a costly state falsification framework, we characterize formally the optimal incentive compensation contract for the tax manager and, in particular, how the form of that contract changes in response to alternative enforcement policies imposed by the taxing authority. The optimal contract may adjust to offset, at least partially, the effect of sanctions against illegal evasion, and we find a new and policy-relevant non-equivalence result: penalties imposed on the tax manager are more effective in reducing evasion than are those imposed on shareholders.

The Economics of Earnings Manipulation and Managerial Compensation

This paper examines managerial compensation in an environment where managers may take a hidden action that affects the actual earnings of the firm. When realized, these earnings constitute hidden information that is privately observed by the manager, who may expend resources to generate an inflated earnings report. We characterize the optimal managerial compensation contract in this setting, and demonstrate that contracts contingent on reported earnings cannot provide managers with the incentive both to maximize profits, and to report those profits honestly. As a result, some degree of earnings management must be tolerated as a necessary part of an efficient agreement.

The economic organization of nuclear plant projects : some cross-national comparisons

This paper examines the relationship between the economic organization of the nuclear power industry and its perfornmance in designing and building nuclear power plants. The institutional relationships that link French, West German and Japanese utilities with their nuclear plant suppliers are described and compared. The focus is on three interrelated aspects of these relationships: (1) the extent of utility involvement in the supply process; (2) the extent to which the various supply functions are "horizontally" integrated; and (3) the nature of the contracts linking the utilities and their suppliers. The transaction cost approach provides the framework for the analysis. The central idea underlying this approach is that important efficiency consequences flow from decisions concerning whether to organize transactions contractually between firms or administratively within them, and that for any given transaction an optimal governance structure exists which depends in a predictable way on certain attributes of the transaction. There are substantial differences in nuclear power plant project organization among the three countries. The transaction cost approach cannot explain why these differences have arisen, since they are much less the outcome of the formal economic optimization process assumed in the theory than of state-specific factors, including industrial traditions, legal restrictions, political initiatives and administrative planning. Nevertheless, the approach provides qualitative insights into the economic implications of these differences. It also provides insights into why an organizational approach that is effective in one structural and/or national cultural context may be more or less effective in another.Mellon Foundation and the M.I.T. Center for Energy Policy Researc

Contracting with Limited Commitment: Evidence from Employment-Based Health Insurance Contracts

When an individual\u27s health status is observable, but evolving over time, the key to maintaining a successful health insurance arrangement is to have the healthier members of the group cross-subsidize those who experience adverse health outcomes. We argue that impediments to worker mobility may serve to mitigate the attrition of healthy individuals from employer-sponsored insurance pools, thereby creating a de facto commitment mechanism that allows for more complete insurance of health risks than would be possible in the absence of such frictions. Using data on health insurance contracts obtained from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, we find that the quantity of insurance provided, as measured by lifetime limits on benefits and annual stop-loss amounts, is positively related to the degree of worker commitment. These results illustrate the importance of commitment in the design of long-term contracts, and provide an additional rationale for the practice of bundling health insurance with employment

773-4 Long Term Efficacy and Safety of Endovascular Low Dose Irradiation In a Swine Model of Restenosis After Angloplasty

Restenosis after balloon angioplasty is characterized by neointima formation. We have previously shown that ionizing radiation reduce neointima formation two weeks after angioplasty in a swine model of restenosis. To determine the durability of this effect and the long term safety after endovascular irradiation twenty one miniswine coronary arteries underwent overstretch balloon injury with a 3.5mm angioplasty balloon in the LAD, LCX and RCA. High energy 1921ridium source was introduced immediately by random assignment to deliver 700 or 1400 cGy in 14 injured coronary arteries (LAD and CX). Six months later an angiogram was performed, the animals were killed and the coronary arteries were perfusion fixed. Serial sections were stained with H&E, WG, MT then evaluated by histopathologic and morphometric techniques. Intimal area (IA) and area of intimal thickness corrected for the extent of injury (INFL) was measured in the irradiated and control arteries and compared with pigs that underwent the same treatment but were followed for 2 weeks only.ResultsAll treated arteries were patent with normal angiographic appearance. Lumen diameters at baseline and follow-up were similar. There was no difference in fibrosis at the adventitia, media, perivascular space or adjacent segments of myocardium of the irradiated arteries compared with control.Control700 cGy1400 cGyIN/FL 2Weeks0.59±0.230.42±0.15**0.17±0.16****IN/FL 6 Months0.50±0.20.35±0.18*0.31±0.16**IA 6 Months (mm)1.25±0.250.85±0.47***0.62±0.45**P values: control versus treatment group:*P=0.009**P<0.001***P=0.05.****P<0.0001ConclusionsEndovascular low dose irradiation in this model is safe andthe inhibitory effect of localized radiation on neointimal thickening (restenos is like) response to angioplasty is maintained at six months

Sheep Updates 2005 - Part 1

This session covers seven papers from different authors: Boosting lambing percentages of WA sheep flocks. R.W. Kelly CSIRO Livestock Industries, Floreat WA , R. Kingwell Department of Agriculture WA, Kiwis can fly - 30% higher lambing in 15 years, AR Bray, Meat and Wool New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand Rams are not a trivial expense, so what can you do to maximise on your investment? Chri Oldham, Department of Agriculture Western Australia, Graeme Martin, University of West Australia. Care for mun - fetal programming, lamb survival and lifetime performance. RW Kelly CSIRO Livestock Industries, Floreat WA Boost lamb survival - select calm ewes, D Blanch University of western Australia, D Ferguson CSIRO FD McMaster Lab, NSW Getting high marking percentages in WA, Keith Crocker, Department of Agriculture Western Australia. Healthy, Welfare and Wise! Di Evans, Department of Agriculture Western Australi

The effect of physical rehabilitation on activities of daily living in older residents of long-term care facilities: systematic review with meta-analysis.

Background: the worldwide population is ageing. One expected consequence of this is an increase in morbidity and an associated increased demand for long-term care. Physical rehabilitation is beneficial in older people, but relatively little is known about effects in residents of long-term care facilities

Valid and reliable instruments for arm-hand assessment at ICF activity level in persons with hemiplegia: a systematic review

Contains fulltext : 110141.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Loss of arm-hand performance due to a hemiparesis as a result of stroke or cerebral palsy (CP), leads to large problems in daily life of these patients. Assessment of arm-hand performance is important in both clinical practice and research. To gain more insight in e.g. effectiveness of common therapies for different patient populations with similar clinical characteristics, consensus regarding the choice and use of outcome measures is paramount. To guide this choice, an overview of available instruments is necessary. The aim of this systematic review is to identify, evaluate and categorize instruments, reported to be valid and reliable, assessing arm-hand performance at the ICF activity level in patients with stroke or cerebral palsy. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed to identify articles containing instruments assessing arm-hand skilled performance in patients with stroke or cerebral palsy. Instruments were identified and divided into the categories capacity, perceived performance and actual performance. A second search was performed to obtain information on their content and psychometrics. RESULTS: Regarding capacity, perceived performance and actual performance, 18, 9 and 3 instruments were included respectively. Only 3 of all included instruments were used and tested in both patient populations. The content of the instruments differed widely regarding the ICF levels measured, assessment of the amount of use versus the quality of use, the inclusion of unimanual and/or bimanual tasks and the inclusion of basic and/or extended tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Although many instruments assess capacity and perceived performance, a dearth exists of instruments assessing actual performance. In addition, instruments appropriate for more than one patient population are sparse. For actual performance, new instruments have to be developed, with specific focus on the usability in different patient populations and the assessment of quality of use as well as amount of use. Also, consensus about the choice and use of instruments within and across populations is needed

Regulation and administered contracts revisited: Lessons from transaction-cost economics for public utility regulation

This article reexamines the administered contracts approach to regulation in light of recent empirical research that establishes the importance of transaction-costs in the organizational choice and design decisions. After reviewing the fundamentals of transaction cost reasoning and the franchise bidding-versus-regulation debate, the study surveys the empirical literature on franchise bidding, contracting, and vertical integration. The implications of transaction-cost theories for current policies toward pubic utility regulation and deregulation are also addressed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47841/1/11149_2004_Article_BF00134817.pd