[Note from the editor]

The MCV Quarterly ceases publication with this issue. No journal of this type can be self-supporting and we bow to the inevitable reality of inflation. The idea of the Quarterly came from Sami Said. Almost single handed he cajoled and coerced the Dean of the School of Medicine into finding the money for publication. Throughout its existence MCV/Q has remained true to its stated purpose of disseminating “scientific information from all sources”, resisting several attempts to convert it into a “house journal” or popular newssheet. In essence, it has been the printed pivot of continuing education in the medical school

Adam Smith’s Unnaturally Natural (nonetheless Naturally Unnatural) use of the Word Natural

Natural and nature are complex words, fraught with ambiguity and contradiction. This paper does not attempt to give a complete account of Smith\u27s use of these words. However, it does demonstrate that Smith did not necessarily approve of what he called natural or nature . Economists and others who assume otherwise are in error. A study, analysis, and/or interpretation of Smith\u27s work which depends upon this (at times unstated) assumption - that Smith necessarily approved of nature or the natural - needs to be read with great care; perhaps even incredulity.

The 1981 Summer Research Fellowship Program

The NASA-Hampton Institute Summer Research Fellowship Program, offering capable scientists and engineers at traditionally black institutions an opportunity to participate in research activities in an environment at the Langley Research Center where basic research is of primary importance is considered. The Summer Research Fellowship Program, specifically designed to assist these faculty members in identifying areas of research which correlate positively with their individual interest and capabilities is discussed. It is also designed to help them to initiate viable research which increases their technical knowledge about how research efforts at their institutions might be increased

International Outsourcing and Incomplete Contracts

International outsourcing to lower cost countries such as China and India can best be understood through the enrichment of trade models to include concepts from industrial organization and contract theory that explain the vertical organization of production. The combination of trade with the choice of organizational form represents an important new area for both theoretical and empirical research. This survey paper provides a perspective on this new literature so as to gain insights into the forces driving international outsourcing. The paper focuses on relationship-specific investment, incomplete contracts, and also search and matching, as fundamental concepts that explain outsourcing decisions.