PACIOLI 17; Innovation in the management and use of Micro Economic Databases in Agriculture

The PACIOLI network explores the need for and feasibility of innovation in farm accounting and its consequences for data gathering for policy analysis in Farm Accountancy Data Networks (FADNs). PACIOLI 17 took place in Ettenhausen, Switzerland, in June 2009. The theme of the workshop was 'Innovation in the management and use of Micro Economic Databases in Agriculture'

Procurement with Specialized Firms

This paper analyzes optimal procurement mechanisms in a setting where the procurement agency has incomplete information concerning the firms’ cost functions and cares about quality as well as price. Low type firms are cheaper than high type firms in providing low quality but more expensive when providing high quality. Hence, each type is specialized in a certain quality level. We show that this specialization leads to a bunching of types on profits, i.e. a range of firms with different cost functions receives zero profits and therefore no informational rents. If first best welfare is monotone in the efficiency parameter, the optimal mechanism can be implemented by a simple auction. If first best welfare is U-shaped in type, the optimal mechanism is not efficient in the sense that types providing a lower second best welfare win against types providing a higher second best welfare.procurement;specialization;deregulation

Health Insurance without Single Crossing: Why Healthy People have High Coverage

Standard insurance models predict that people with high (health) risks have high insurance coverage. It is empirically documented that people with high income have lower health risks and are better insured. We show that income differences between risk types lead to a violation of single crossing in the standard insurance model. If insurers have some market power, this can explain the empirically observed outcome. This observation has also policy implications: While risk adjustment is traditionally viewed as an intervention which increases efficiency and raises the utility of low health agents, we show that with a violation of single crossing a trade off between efficiency and solidarity emerges.Health insurance;single crossing;risk adjustment

The confusing state of the art in top management composition studies: A theoretical and empirical review

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical and empirical review of the literature on top management composition. This research is theoretically inspired by the old tradition of group dynamics research and later insights into the effects managers have in shaping the course and fates of organisations. Throughout this paper we will develop a conceptual model linking team composition, behaviour and results. The paper also provides a critical discussion of the empirical findings in relation to the model and identifies some theoretical and empirical shortcomings in the research carried out so far.management and organization theory ;

Pacioli 16 : changing agricultural markets: consequences for FADN

The PACIOLI network explores the need for and feasibility of innovation in farm accounting and its consequences for data gathering for policy analysis in Farm Accountancy Data Networks (FADNs). PACIOLI 16 took place in Zagreb, Croatia in June 2008. The theme of the workshop was 'Changing agricultural markets: Consequences for FADN'

Why Is There a Spike in the Job Finding Rate at Benefit Exhaustion?

Putting a limit on the duration of unemployment benefits tends to introduce a "spike" in the job finding rate shortly before benefits are exhausted. Current theories explain this spike from workers’ behavior. We present a theoretical model in which also the nature of the job matters. End-of-benefit spikes in job finding rates are related to optimizing behavior of unemployed workers who rationally assume that employers will accept delays in the starting date of a new job, especially if these jobs are permanent. We use a dataset on Slovenian unemployment spells to test this prediction and find supporting evidence. We conclude that the spike in the job finding rate suggests that workers exploit unemployment insurance benefits for subsidized leisure.unemployment benefits, spikes

Modeling Financial Incentives to Get Unemployed Back to Work

We model how unemployment benefit sanctions - benefit reductions that are imposed if unemployed do not comply with job search guidelines - affect unemployment. In our analysis we find that not only micro effects concerning the behavior of individual unemployed workers are relevant, but also macro-spillover effects from the additional creation of vacancies, which originates from the increased effectiveness of labor supply. We advocate that for a given loss in welfare for the unemployed benefit sanctions are more effective in reducing unemployment than an across the board reduction in the replacement rate.

Why is there a Spike in the Job Finding Rate at Benefit Exhaustion?

Putting a limit on the duration of unemployment benefits tends to introduce a “spike” in the job finding rate shortly before benefits are exhausted. Current theories explain this spike from workers’ behavior. We present a theoretical model in which also the nature of the job matters. End-of-benefit spikes in job finding rates are related to optimizing behavior of unemployed workers who rationally assume that employers will accept delays in the starting date of a new job, especially if these jobs are permanent. We use a dataset on Slovenian unemployment spells to test this prediction and find supporting evidence. We conclude that the spike in the job finding rate suggests that workers exploit unemployment insurance benefits for subsidized leisure.unemployment benefits, spikes

High pressure cosmochemistry applied to major planetary interiors: Experimental studies

The overall goal of this project is to determine properties of the H-He-C-N-O system, as represented by small molecules composed of these elements, that are needed to constrain theoretical models of the interiors of the major planets. Much of our work now concerns the H2O-NH3 system. This project is the first major effort to measure phase equilibria in binary fluid-solid systems in diamond anvil cells. Vibrational spectroscopy, direct visual observations, and X-ray crystallography of materials confined in externally heated cells are our primary experimental probes. We also are collaborating with the shockwave physics group at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in studies of the equation of state of a synthetic Uranus fluid and molecular composition of this and other H-C-N-O materials under planetary conditions