Takeovers and cooperatives: governance and stability in non-corporate firms

Author's draft dated 11 January 2010. Final version published in Journal of economics available online at http://www.springerlink.com/If consumers wholly or partially control a firm with market power they will charge less than the profit maximizing price. Starting at the usual monopoly price, a small price reduction will have a second order effect on profits but a first order effect on consumer surplus. Despite this desirable static result, it has been argued that cooperatives are vulnerable to take-over by outsiders who will run them as for-profit businesses. This paper studies takeovers of cooperatives. We argue that there will not be excessive takeovers of cooperatives due to the Grossman-Hart problem of free riding during takeovers.Research in part supported by ESRC grant RES-000-22-0650

Anthropometric Characteristics of Elite Adolescent Competitive Swimmers

Densiometric determination of body composition and anthropometric assessment of somatotype and skeletal diameters were obtained on 39 male and 67 female Junior Olympic swimmers to determine the extent to which specific traits characterized these elite adolescent performers when compared to adult competitors or other adolescent athletes and non-athletes. Comparisons of the male and female Junior Olympic swimmers with respective samples of adult competitors revealed the younger groups having lower levels of lean body weight, in spite of similar skeletal dimensions. Similar comparisons of somatotype revealed equivalent or slightly less mesomorphic characteristics in the Junior Olympians. When compared to elite adolescent runners, the Junior Olympic swimmers of either sex displayed larger biacromial diameters, body weight, fat weight, and relative fat levels. Differences between Junior Olympic swimmers and adolescent non-athletes were also noted with the former group tending to be taller, broader in biacromial diameter, heavier in body weight and lean body weight, but with only the female swimmers displaying lower levels of fatness. These results indicate that particular anthropometric traits distinguish elite adolescent swimmers from older competitors, adolescent athletes in other sports, and non-athletic peers