This paper examines the combined effect of asymmetric information and private entrepreneurial risk aversion on investment decisions. The standard optimal debt contract becomes modified by the introduction of insurance and a risk premium that entrepreneurs demand due to the uncertainty of their investment returns: the private equity premium. In general equilibrium, the private equity premium may...

The offshore information services market is estimated to be valued at $30 billion to $40 billion, with a large portion of that being in the software development area. Much of the justification for going offshore for software development services is purported to be a demand for skills that exceeds the current supply. While there is evidence of this, the current literature cites the primary motiv...

Cost-benefit analysis in decision making takes place in everyday life for animals and humans alike. In this issue, a neural circuit specific for modulating these behaviors is identified in rats and reveals elusive functional distinctions between long-mysterious anatomical features of the brain.

There is a cascade of risks associated with a hazard evolving into a disaster that consists of the risk that: (1) a hazard will produce an event; (2) an event will cause structural damage; (3) structural damage will create functional damages and needs; (4) needs will create an emergency (require use of the local response capacity); and (5) the needs will overwhelm the local response capacity an...

OBJECTIVE We reviewed epidemiological studies on breastfeeding and breast cancer among Japanese women. This report is part of a series of articles written by our research group, whose aim was to evaluate the existing evidence concerning the association between health-related lifestyles and cancer. METHODS Original data were obtained from MEDLINE searches using PubMed or from searches of the I...

The Risk Management Index, RMI, brings together a group of indicators that measure risk management performance and effectiveness. These indicators reflect the organizational, development, capacity and institutional actions taken to reduce vulnerability and losses, to prepare for crisis and to recover efficiently from disasters. This index was designed to assess risk management “performance”. It...

Using a contingent valuation survey, people’s willingness to pay for a given risk reduction is found to be much larger when traveling by air compared to by taxi. Follow-up questions revealed that an important reason for this discrepancy is that many experience a higher mental suffering from flying, and that they are willing to pay to reduce this suffering. It was also consistently found that pe...

Employee participation programs (¿EPP¿s) can be an invaluable means of utilizing employee input, particularly in the healthcare industry. However, the National Labor Relation Board's (¿NLRB¿) recent decision in Electromation, Inc. affects the structure and use of EPPs. There are still ways in which EPPs can be structured to meet the NLRB's requirements.

introduction accurate estimation of the skin-absorbed dose in external radiation therapy is essential to estimating the probability of secondary carcinogenesis induction materials and methods electron contamination in prostate radiotherapy was investigated using the monte carlo (mc) code calculation. in addition, field size dependence of the skin dose was assessed. excess cancer risk induced by...