Maintaining robust cooperation in interfirm strategic alliances poses special problems. Such relationships have received growing attention in recent research grounded in game theory, which has ...suggested that some alliance structures are inherently more likely than others to be associated with high opportunity to cheat, high behavioral uncertainty, and poor stability, longevity, and performance. The present study merged these theoretical insights with the logic of transaction cost economics in a general model of alliance structuring and tested it with data from 111 interfirm alliances. Findings generally supported the model and hypotheses, suggesting the need for a greater focus on game theoretic structural dimensions and institutional responses to perceived opportunism in the study of voluntary interfirm cooperation.
This study examines the impact of malpractice reforms on physician behavior using a new measure of liability risk and a nationally representative, individual‐level data set on physician behavior. We ...match our liability measure to data on physician behavior from the Physician Practice Costs and Income Survey (PPCIS). Data from the PPCIS bracket a period of substantial state‐level legal reform between 1983 and 1988, which provides identifying variation in our liability measure. We estimate the impact of liability reform on hours worked. We find an estimated elasticity of hours worked to liability exposure of −.285 for the full sample of physicians. The effect for physicians ages 55 or older is much larger: we find an elasticity of −1.224 for this category. We find that an increase in $1 of expected liability is associated with a $.70–$1.05 increase in malpractice premiums.
Exploring one of the most dynamic and contested regions of the world, this series includes works on political, economic, cultural, and social changes in modern and contemporary Asia and the Pacific.
In West Germany during the 1980s, law changes cut the level of unemployment compensation for the unemployed without children and extended the duration of unemployment insurance for unemployed aged ...over 41. Analysis of these changes using the German Socioeconomic Panel shows that transitions from unemployment for those under 49 were particularly responsive to extensions of unemployment insurance. The implied elasticity for escapes of men to employment is similar to estimates for men in the United States, suggesting that differences in the potential duration of unemployment insurance only partially explain the difference in spell lengths between Germany and the United States.
I analyze the investment and funding strategies of two thrifts, one stock owned and one mutually owned, from 1983 to 1988. Despite their similarities prior to 1983, the stock thrift implemented a ...riskier financial strategy and did so only after converting to stock ownership. Although this strategy ultimately led to its failure, the stock thrift still made significant payouts to its controlling shareholders. This case study illustrates in stark terms the relation between organizational form and risk shifting in the thrift industry.
The industrial organization (I-O) paradigm that competition lowers prices is widely accepted. However, the applicability of this paradigm for hospital markets has been questioned. The relationship ...between prices and local market concentration for California hospitals over the period fiscal year 1983-1988 is examined. Four conclusions are reached: 1. The shift to payer-driven competition has the effect of falling margins and increasing conformity with the standard I-O paradigm. 2. Results are critically sensitive to the type of price data used. 3. Hospitals offering distinctive services obtain higher profit margins. 4. The typical hospital market basket has shifted away from low-margin services such as medical-surgical acute-care bed days and toward high-margin services such as clinical laboratories. This shift has mitigated the effects of competition on hospital profit margins. The results suggest that in the evolving debate about national health inurance, it is critical to consider the implications of payment mechanisms for competition in health-care markets.
Since 1978, the People's Republic of China has embarked on a great economic and social transformation - the transition to a market-oriented economy. Social scientists have been studying the ...consequences this economic change is having on different aspects of Chinese society, including inequality, wage determination, and demographic behaviors such as migration. This discussion is extended by examining how certain aspects of economic reform and government policies affected population distribution in the late 1980s. In particular, ways in which economic conditions, foreign capital investment, and the presence of rural enterprises influence interprovincial migration in the reform era are studied. The findings concerning individual-level characteristics are consistent with previous research in China and in other developing countries. Unique in the findings for China is the effect of province-level characteristics. Individuals are more likely to move out of provinces with a large population and a lower level of economic development.
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