RESERVATION PRICE ANNOUNCEMENT IN SEALED BID AUCTIONS: COMMENT

This comment corrects some errors of analysis contained in a 1993 paper by Carey in the Journal of Industrial Economics.auction, reservation price

Captive Supplies and Cash Market Prices for Fed Cattle: A Dynamic Rational Expectations Model of Delivery Timing

Several empirical analyses of data from fed cattle markets have found a negative correlation between a region's weekly delivery volume of captive supply cattle and contemporaneous price in the local cash market. This negative correlation has been cited as evidence of a causal relationship between the two variables; a relationship in which buyers (beef packing plants) use captive supply procurement as an instrument to depress prices paid to cash market sellers (feeders). This paper investigates circumstances under which this empirical regularity might emerge as a benign artifact of buyer and seller behavior in a fed cattle market in which both sides are price takers. One feature of these markets is that sellers of both marketing agreement (the predominant captive supply procurement method) cattle and spot market cattle have some flexibility in scheduling delivery in order to take advantage of expected price changes. The effect that this type of inter-temporal arbitrage has on the dynamics of price and captive supply is investigated using simulation methods applied to a rational expectations model of delivery timing incentives.cattle markets; captive supplies; extended path algorithm

AGRICULTURAL PRICE SPREADS AND MARKET PERFORMANCE

Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing,

Captive Supplies and Cash Market Prices for Fed Cattle: The Role of Delivery Timing Incentives

The use of non-cash methods of procuring fed cattle for slaughter has led to concern about the effect of these so-called “captive” supplies on cash market prices. Some empirical evidence suggests that there is a negative short-run relationship between the two: Cash market prices tend to be low in weeks in which captive supply shipments are high. We advance a different perspective on the relationship between captive deliveries and cash prices, arguing that the incentives that influence cattle delivery-scheduling decisions could lead to a negative relationship, not between the contemporaneous levels of captive shipments and price, but between the volume of captive deliveries, on the one hand, and an ex ante expectation of a week-to-week price change, on the other. Econometric testing provides some evidence of this empirical regularity in the cattle procurement activities of four large packing plants in Texas in the mid-1990s

Sea Urchin Recruitment: Effect of Substrate Selection on Juvenile Distribution

Intertidal field observations have shown that juvenile purple sea urchins Strongylocentwtus purpuratus are found in higher densities near adults . The same is true for subtidal populations of juvenile red sea urchins 5. franciscanus. These distribution patterns could be influenced by any of three elements: substrate selection, early juvenile mortality or juvenile migration. Using laboratory-reared larvae, we conducted experiments designed to gauge the effect of substrate selection on juvenile distributions of these two sea urchin species. In both laboratory and field experiments, larval sea urchins showed no enhanced settlement in the presence of adults or adult-associated substrates. These results imply that early juvenile mortality or migration provide the greater influence on juvenile distributions

A Re-Examination of Multistage Economies in Hog Farming

Current trends in the structure of hog production in the U.S. are toward facilities that are not only larger, but also more likely to be specialized, carrying out only some of the vertically linked phases of production in the same facility. This paper investigates the cost efficiency incentives for these changes by estimating a multistage cost function for hog production. Data are from the Hog Production Practices and Costs portion of the USDA’s 2004 Agricultural Resource Management Survey

Korporales Kapital und korporale Performanzen im Alter: der alternde Körper im Fokus von "consumer culture" und Biopolitik

"Es erscheint als nahezu paradox, dass gerade die (deutschsprachige) Soziale Gerontologie eine ausgesprochene 'Körperscheu' zeigt. Dass die gegenüber der Geriatrie um Eigenständigkeit bemühte Gerontologie dem Diskurs um die 'biologischen Grundbefindlichkeiten' (Schelsky) eher auszuweichen scheint, mag auf die Sorge zurückzuführen sein, dass eine Thematisierung des alternden und an Kräften nachlassenden Körpers nur all zu leicht die in der Gerontologie überwunden geglaubten Vorstellungen eines defizitären Alters neu beleben könnte. Denn aus dieser Perspektive könnte die Thematisierung des Körpers leicht als ein Schritt in die falsche Richtung - zurück auf das Feld biologischer Determinismen - missverstanden werden. Mit diesem Beitrag soll gezeigt werden, dass mithilfe eines veränderten und modernisierten Selbstverständnisses der Humanwissenschaften auch in der Lebensphase Alter eine 'Maximalisierung des Lebens' und eine 'Verantwortung für das Leben' (Foucault) angestrebt wird. In den modernen Kontroll- und Regulationsgesellschaften geht es nicht mehr (vordergründig) um die Unterdrückung und Einschließung störender und widerspenstiger Subjekte, sondern um die Produktion des zuverlässigen Menschen. In diesem Kontext fügen sich die durch die Klammer der Selbstakzentuierung und Förderung der Eigenständigkeit vereinten Leitbilder der Gesundheitswissenschaften, Sozialen Arbeit, Sozialen Gerontologie und Pflegewissenschaft in die regulierenden Strategien der Biopolitik ein. Die durch die 'Philosophie der Fitness' (Bauman) ideologisch unterfütterte Biopolitik erklärt mit ihren Programmen der Menschenstärkung, Gesundheitserziehung und -förderung zwar den 'flexiblen Menschen' (Sennett) zum 'Manager in eigener Sache', jedoch stößt die modernisierte Formel des 'survival of the fittest' im so genannten vierten oder fünften Alter an ihre Grenzen. Hier entwickeln sich im naturwissenschaftlichen Schatten der Medizin Pflege- und Körperdiskurse, die sich zu einem allgemeinen 'Dispositiv der Pflege' verdichten und sich gleichwohl in das auf Regulierung und Norm(alis)ierung der Gesamtbevölkerung zielende Dispositiv der Biopolitik integrieren lassen." (Autorenreferat

Moral Distress in Critical Care Nursing: The State of the Science

Background: Moral distress is a complex phenomenon frequently experienced by critical care nurses. Ethical conflicts in this practice area are related to technological advancement, high intensity work environments, and end-of-life decisions. Objectives: An exploration of contemporary moral distress literature was undertaken to determine measurement, contributing factors, impact, and interventions. Review Methods: This state of the science review focused on moral distress research in critical care nursing from 2009 to 2015, and included 12 qualitative, 24 quantitative, and 6 mixed methods studies. Results: Synthesis of the scientific literature revealed inconsistencies in measurement, conflicting findings of moral distress and nurse demographics, problems with the professional practice environment, difficulties with communication during end-of-life decisions, compromised nursing care as a consequence of moral distress, and few effective interventions. Conclusion: Providing compassionate care is a professional nursing value and an inability to meet this goal due to moral distress may have devastating effects on care quality. Further study of patient and family outcomes related to nurse moral distress is recommended