Do Transaction Costs and Risk Preferences Influence Marketing Arrangements in the Illinois Hog Industry?

Risk reduction and transaction costs are often used to explain contracting in the U.S. hog industry with little empirical support. Using a unified conceptual framework that draws from risk behavior and transaction cost theories, in combination with unique survey and accounting data, we demonstrate that risk preferences and asset specificity impact Illinois producers’ use of contracts and spot markets. In particular, producers’ investments in specific hog genetics and human capital are related to selection of long-term marketing contracts over spot markets. Producers who perceive greater levels of price risk and/or are more averse are more (less) likely to use contracts (spot markets). Key words: asset specificity, contracts, hogs, risk attitude, risk behavior, risk perception, transaction costs economic

The Dutch Parliamentary Elections of 2002: Fortuyn versus the Establishment

won 26 seats at the cost of the established parties, most notably the PvdA and the VVD which both hoped to win the elections. After the election, they had fallen to a shared third position. Why could one outsider without a well-developed party organisation arrive at such a smashing electoral victory? We argue that personality, media attention, party campaigns and candidate behaviour are not the main answers. Who wants to understand Fortuynʼs victory must study his victims. We show that the programmatic convergence of the established parties has made them look indistinguishable in the eyes of many voters. This perceived lack of a democratic choice has strengthened the feeling of many voters that the established parties have become part of the state and have lost their capacity to sense the problems of ordinary citizens, let alone to solve them. Fortuyn effectively used this discontent by means of right-wing populism. Although Fortuyn was pictured as a right-wing extremist, we show that this is not the case when his manifestos are compared with other European parties. This paper was first presented at the Flemish-Dutch Politicologenetmaal, May 2002. We wish to thank all participants, in particular Kris Deschouwer, Paul Lucardie and André Krouwel, for their useful comments. 1

ESHRE task force on ethics and law 15: Cross-border reproductive care

This paper analyses the ethical aspects of cross-border reproductive care. Ethical questions are raised by some of the main reasons of cross-border travelling, i.e. law evasion and unequal access to treatment. The phenomenon also generates possible conflicts linked to the responsibility of the professionals. Three points are discussed: the moral obligation of the physician to refer the patient, his/her duty to provide information and counselling and the acceptability of fee-splitting. The recommendations focus on measures to reduce or limit the number of patients that have to travel abroad and on steps to guarantee the safety and quality of the treatment wherever it is provided

Value-based radiology cannot thrive without reforms and research

KEY POINTS: • A value-based system aims to achieve improved patient-relevant outcomes without increasing costs.• Value-based radiology cannot thrive as long as volume dominates as the most important metric to reward clinical performance.• Reforms and research are needed to enable radiologists to practice value-based healthcare