Funding criteria for research, development, and exploration projects

The sequential nature of activities like research, development, or exploration requires optimal funding criteria to take account of the fact that subsequent funding decisions will be made throughout the future. Thus, there is a continual possibility of reviewing a project's status, based on the latest information. After setting up a model to capture this feature, optimal funding criteria are investigated. In an important special case, an explicit formula is derived. As well as throwing light upon the nature of development activities, the analysis is also relevant to the general theory of information gathering processes

Altered expression of the DNA repair protein, N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase (MPG), in breast cancer

AbstractWe examined expression of N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase (MPG), a DNA repair enzyme that removes N-alkylpurine damage, in normal, malignant, and immortalized breast epithelial cells, and breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MCF7, T47D). Northern analysis showed increased expression in cancer versus normal breast epithelial cells (2–24-fold). Southern blots revealed no gene amplification or polymorphisms. Immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot analysis demonstrated increased MPG protein expression in the tumor cells that correlated with elevated glycosylase activity. Since MPG overexpression has been shown to be paradoxically associated with increased susceptibility to DNA damage, up-regulation of this gene may suggest a functional role in breast carcinogenesis

Linking functional with personal income distribution: a stock-flow consistent approach

© 2015 Taylor & Francis. This paper develops a benchmark stock-flow consistent model that links functional with personal income distribution. The model consists of various household groups that receive income from different sources or from the same sources in different proportions. The dynamic linkage between functional and personal income distribution is formulated as part of a complete macroeconomic system. Inequality decomposition techniques are employed to associate income sources with personal income distribution. Simulation exercises are conducted to reveal the various ways through which functional and personal income distribution interact. In the simulations, a rise in the exogenous component of low-skilled workers’ wage share reduces inequality in the short run; in the medium to long run inequality starts increasing due to certain macroeconomic developments, but remains lower than its initial level in almost all cases. A change in functional income distribution due to a rise in the dividend payout ratio of firms increases inequality both in the short run and the long run

The fundamental problem of command : plan and compliance in a partially centralised economy

When a principal gives an order to an agent and advances resources for its implementation, the temptations for the agent to shirk or steal from the principal rather than comply constitute the fundamental problem of command. Historically, partially centralised command economies enforced compliance in various ways, assisted by nesting the fundamental problem of exchange within that of command. The Soviet economy provides some relevant data. The Soviet command system combined several enforcement mechanisms in an equilibrium that shifted as agents learned and each mechanism's comparative costs and benefits changed. When the conditions for an equilibrium disappeared, the system collapsed.Comparative Economic Studies (2005) 47, 296–314. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.810011

Employee Stock Ownership and Financial Performance in European Countries: The Moderating Effects of Uncertainty Avoidance and Social Trust

This study investigates how the effect of employee stock ownership on financial performance may hinge on the diverse cultural and societal contexts of European countries. Based on agency and national culture theories, we hypothesize that the positive relationship between employee stock ownership and return on assets (ROA) is stronger in those nations with lower uncertainty avoidance and higher social trust. Using a multisource, time‐lagged, large‐scale dataset of 1,741 firms from 21 countries in Europe, our multilevel, random coefficient modeling analysis found evidence for these hypotheses, suggesting that uncertainty avoidance and social trust serve as important contextual cues in predicting the linkage between employee stock ownership and financial performance. Our supplemental analysis with distinction between the managerial and nonmanagerial employee stock ownership further indicates managerial employee stock ownership has a direct positive effect on ROA. Although nonmanagerial employee stock ownership had a nonsignificant association with ROA, the relationship was positive and significant when uncertainty avoidance was low and social trust was high. This research contributes to the existing literature by illuminating some of the contextual influences altering the effectiveness of employee stock ownership. Our findings also offer practical suggestions for effectively using employee stock ownership

Is diversity good?

Prominent ethical and policy issues such as affirmative action and female enrollment in science and engineering revolve around the idea that diversity is good. However, even though diversity is an ambiguous concept, a precise definition is seldom provided. We show that diversity may be construed as a factual description, a craving for symmetry, an intrinsic good, an instrumental good, a symptom, or a side effect. These acceptions differ vastly in their nature and properties. The first one cannot lead to any action and the second one is mistaken. Diversity as intrinsic good is a mere opinion, which cannot be concretely applied; moreover, the most commonly invoked forms of diversity (sexual and racial) are not intrinsically good. On the other hand, diversity as instrumental good can be evaluated empirically and can give rise to policies, but these may be very weak. Finally, symptoms and side effects are not actually about diversity. We consider the example of female enrollment in science and engineering, interpreting the various arguments found in the literature in light of this polysemy. Keywords: ethics, policy, higher education, female students, minority students, affirmative actionComment: 7 page