Showing papers on "Commission published in 1977"

The Federal Trade Commission's Use of Evidence to Determine Deception:

Abstract: UPON what evidence does the Federal Trade Commission decide that an advertisement or other sales representation has the capacity or tendency to deceive? This article reports a study that answers that question in the only conclusive way-by conducting an analysis of the 3,337 cases in which such decisions have been made from the FTC's beginnings to the present (through 1973using the latest data possible). The study' reveals that the conventional wisdom about the Commission's utilization of evidence, while accurate as a generalization across the entire 58-year period, is lacking in precision. And it is sparse in detail about the actually wide variety of categories of evidence employed. Furthermore, the conventional wisdom is essentially misleading with respect to the FTC's use of evidence in the 1970's; it has shown a considerable qualitative change. Marketing people who rely on past assumptions thus are likely to err on the low side in assessing the degree of research sophistication evident in FTC cases today. Correction of this perception will not only give the Commission its due but could also aid the marketer in achieving a higher batting average in court.

Labour market problems of native people in Ontario

Abstract: 124, 3 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references. ; Cover title. This study was funded by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The Commission does not necessarily agree with the views expressed in this study.

Cost Effectiveness in Insurance Distribution

Abstract: This article explores the extent to which the independent and the exclusive agency systems of distribution of property and liability insurance differ in terms of cost effectiveness. Results of a survey of both types of insurance distributors were used to compare the two systems along several cost effectiveness dimensions. The conclusion of the study is that the exclusive agency system indicates greater effectiveness. It exhibits better performance as regards orchestration of activities of insurers and agents, and has achieved greater productivity at the agency level. The post-war growth of the direct writers and the exclusive agency systems' in the property and liability insurance industry has caused many to fear that the independent insurance agent may eventually disappear or occupy only a marginal role in the distribution of property and liability insurance. The alarm felt by many has been expressed by Kenney as follows: Unless major corrective measures are undertaken by those in position to do so, the presently waning agency system of insurance distribution faces complete disintegration in many areas of our business, and a perpetual state of agency impotence in those areas wherein we continue to operate.2 A major concern has been the ability of the stock and the mutual insurance companies and of the independent agents to compete effectively on the basis of costs with the direct writers and the exclusive agency companies. For example, Mehr suggested that: By means of central billing, lower commission scales, lower operating costs, these companies [the direct writers and the exclusive agency insurers] soon had made great inroads in the automobile insurance field. Their means of attack were classic: they offered a lower cost, comparable quality product. Michael Etgar, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Operations Analysis in the School of Management of State University of New York at Buffalo. He has contributed to the Journal of Industrial Economics, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Administration, and Industrial Organization Reviewv. 'The careful (as distinguished from common) designation for operations like those of State Farm is "exclusive agency" while CEICO and Factor Mutuals are "direct writers." In this article the focus of analysis is on the former. 2 Roger Kenney, "Critique of American Agency System," In Wayne Snyder (ed.), Readings in Property and Casualty Insurance (Homewood, Ill.: Irwin, 1959), p. 266.

Financial Distress in Private Colleges

Abstract: Financing private higher education and the possible means of relieving the chronic financial distress that has characterized private colleges over the past ten years or so have been the subjects of study by the Carnegie Commission, the National Commission on the Financing of Postsecondary Education, and the Association of American Colleges. In discussing and describing financial distress, these groups have in general compiled a catalog of specific events, which, taken together, are assumed to signal distress. Their work has not been directed toward providing analytical and empirical descriptions of financial distress; rather, it has been largely policy oriented, addressing such issues as the proper role of the federal government in financing private higher education and the question of whether distress in the private sector of higher -education ought to be alleviated by external agents. ' The purpose of this study is to address the problem of providing an analytical description of financial distress in private colleges that will serve as a basis for an empirical description by presenting a model of the financial condition of a private college and by using this model to find and test presently produced accounting measures that will describe financial distress empirically. More specifically, the study will undertake to answer the following questions: What model will analytically describe the financial operations of a private college in a way that allows for the separation of distressed condition behavior from

State review of local land‐use decisions: The California coastal commissions

Abstract: The California Coastal Zone Conservation Commissions have been required to review virtually all development projects approved by local government within approximately 1000 yards of the coast. Whereas 97% of all permits were approved in some fashion by the regional commissions, this article examines the 4% of regional commission decisions that were significant or controversial enough to be appealed to the State Commission in the first 2Vi years of permit review. The regional commissions were found either to have imposed conditions on or to have denied more than 50% of the projects originally approved by local government and subsequently appealed to the State Commission, whereas the State Commission held even more restrictive views of permissible development. It examines a number of reasons for these findings, including differences in policy mandates, the presence of state‐appointed commissioners, and the willingness of environmental groups to become actively involved in the appellate process.

Use of Multiple Discriminant Analysis to Improve the Salesman Selection Process

Abstract: A recurring marketing decision is that of selecting new sales personnel. New salesmen, armed with vicarious experience obtained in costly training programs, are entrusted with one of the company's most valued assets-an income-producing territory. Their selection is approached with varying degrees of sophistication, often in ways that make the decision little more than a gamble. Five major tools aid in the selection process: interviews, application blanks, physical exams, references, and personnel tests. Clearly, the appropriateness of each of these tools is situational, but none is more consistently misused, maligned, and misinterpreted than personnel tests.' The purpose of this article is to offer managers an operational procedure for classifying sales applicants according to personnel test scores. The technique of multiple discriminant analysis is utilized to derive explicit probabilities of successful sales performance for each sales applicant. Personnel test scores from specialized sales divisions of two companies listed in Fortune's top 100 industrial firms are used to illustrate the efficacy of the technique. While both firms employed personnel tests in their salesman selection decisions, neither possessed much evidence (or even confidence) that the tests were valid indicators of sales performance. In such situations multiple discriminant analysis offers two benefits. First, it presents an illuminating mathematical relationship between test scores and sales performance. Second, it permits individual variation in the patterns of test scores which predict sales success, rather than requiring conformity to a single average. Such an average may not represent any single real person or may impose an unnecessary cultural or other stereotype. The worth of any selection tool lies primarily in its predictive validity -the degree to which its results can be used to gauge future performance. In using tests, the sales manager may be tempted to choose those which have been successfully used in similar sales environments. This course of action is both appealing and hazardous. Predictive validity is not transferable between firms or jobs, and even if the sales manager is willing to assume it is, the federal government is not. Personnel tests are acceptable to the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as part of

Commission on transnational corporations

Abstract: This chapter describes various aspects related to commission on translational corporations. The most significant economic development is that of the transnational corporation. The United Nations Economic and Social Council set up a 48-member Commission and a Centre on Transnational Corporations. At the first meeting of the commission in March 1975, a program of work was established for the center, a unit directly attached to the office of the United Nations Secretary-general. The commission's most important decision was on the issue of a code of conduct, to which it clearly assigned the highest priority. At the second meeting of the commission in March 1976 in Lima, Peru, the commission laid the foundations upon that the future work of the United Nations would be built. While stressing that the formulation of a code of conduct received the highest priority, the commission recognized the importance of moving ahead concurrently in a number of other areas.

The new zealand accident compensation scheme

Abstract: Reference is made to legislation concerned with the introduction of the New Zealand Accident Compensation Scheme in 1974. The author's experience of the Scheme is based on an exchange visit in 1975. The basic principles are community responsibility and universal entitlement to compensation. Earnings-related benefits are paid to the injured person, and flat-rate payments to non-earners. The Scheme is administered by a three-man Commission with wide responsibilities for accident prevention, rehabilitation services, administration of funds, records, public relations, and an independent Appeals Authority. There have been far reaching consequences on medical practice. The Commission construe the phrase 'Personal Injury by Accident' as damage to the human system which is not designed by the person injured: the implications of such a definition are briefly discussed. The administrative costs of any similar Scheme in the United Kingdom would be enormous and it is doubtful whether the benefits would justify the cost.

The Trilateral Commission: Economics and Politics in the 1970s; Comment by the Editors

Abstract: Since the election of Jimmy Carter, much has been written about a mysterious cabal of international financiers, businessmen, politicians, and theoreticians called the Trilateral Commission. Noting that the most influential members of the present administration—including Messrs. Carter and Mondale—are former members of the Commission, muckraking journalists think they have uncovered yet another conspiracy to take over the world. That most of the capitalist world's most powerful individuals are Trilateralists is certain; yet a thorough analysis shows that the Commission represents something much more concrete than a conspiratorial cartel. To understand the Trilateral Commission, however, we must first review the circumstances leading to its formation in 1973. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

The Commission for National Education of Poland and Lithuania, 1773--1794: A historical study of some aspects of its educational reforms

Abstract: 458 The last chapter considers influences and implications of the reforms. The chapter presents these under two frameworks: the intracommonwealth implications and the extra-commonwealth influences. The implications of the reforms on the gentry, Lithuanian nationalism, and folk-centered pedagogy are discussed under the intra-commonwealth framework. Influences of the reforms on the educational systesm of Chile, the United States, Russia , and Prussia are discueed under the extra-commonwealth

The "Reform of the Enterprise" in France

Abstract: In France, the "reform of the enterprise," a more common term than "industrial democracy," became an acute question in 1974-1975 with encouragement from Presi dent Giscard d'Estaing. He appointed a commission chaired by Pierre Sudreau to investigate the matter and make appropriate recommendations. The commission's report was published early in 1975. This essay is divided into four sections. First, it provides a brief outline of the most relevant institutions in the labor field to set the frame work for examining the problem of the reform of the enterprise. The second section outlines germane develop ments prior to the appointment of the Sudreau Commission and notes that, before 1974, reform of the enterprise con sisted mainly of a steady enlargement of the functions of plant committees (comites d'entreprise). The third section summarizes the chief proposals of the Sudreau Report. The final section reviews the still very modest follow-up to the report.

What A National Commission on Neighborhoods Could Do

Abstract: This paper addresses the problems to be faced by a national commission on neighborhoods. Legislation to create such a study group was introduced during the past year, in conjunction with renewed interest in neighborhood conservation and revitalization. However, there have been many earlier study groups that have already made most of the recommendations which might be expected from a new effort. The work of a new commission should therefore focus on the ways in which the study group conducts its activities. For instance, a new commission should explicitly assess existing programs (with a view toward reducing some of the less efficient or contradictory ones), should broaden its attempts to solicit the views of residents, should conduct advocate inquiries in addition to research analyses, should focus on the organizational problems of implementing any new recommendations, and should help neighborhoods to develop simple techniques for monitoring neighborhood change. This paper also points out some of the critical issues that any new study group must face, including the problem that the prime candidates for neighborhood preservation are not likely to be poverty neighborhoods. Therefore, neighborhood revitalization policies cannot easily serve both middle- and low-income constituents.

Standards for Criminal Justice Structure and Organization: The Impact of the National Advisory Commission:

Abstract: The structure and organization of criminal justice services is an important building block in the quest for improved institutional performance. Virtually every national study commission and standardetting group has offered recommendations on structure, usually as part of larger bodies of reform doctrine. Yet, structural proposals have rarely been sorted out, compared and analyzed across the criminal justice comonents.In 1973, the National Advisory Commission on Criinal Justice Standards and Goals issued a comprehensive set of improvement standrds. Its structural proposals evolved from prior concepts, models and trends. However, they exhibited interesting variations and emphases. With respect to court and correctional systems, the Commission took a stronger stand on statewide unification and administration than vir ually any prior group. In prosecution and defense, the Commission re isted pressures toward centralization (other than central financing) and largely endorsed the current local autonomy of servi...

Aspects of Fiji Indian History, 1879-1939-A Society in Transition

Abstract: the Planning Commission. If it is true, it means that the initiative regarding what method of planning the Planning Commission should follow rested outside the Planning Commission and was forced on it. This is indeed a poor reflection on. the Harming Commission. It also means that the political leadership might be looking for the possible and convenient flexibilities to evade their political commitment to the planning process which would further erode the credibility of the Planning Commission, Given the pronouncements of certain dominant sections of the Janata party, this does not seem to be inconceivable. The second possibility interprets the changeover in the method of planning as a counter-move on the part of the Planning Commission to the reported transfer of the annual planning and project appraisal functions to the Finance Ministry. It may be noted that during the process of erosion of planning, these were the two functions which provided regulatory albeit advisory powers to the Planning Commission. If these were taken away from the Planning Commission, it would be reduced to an innocuous institution. Faced with this possible danger the Planning Commission might have reacted to save itself by changeover in the method of planning which would enable it to retain and possibly expand the regulatory powers perhaps in an implicit and indirect manner. If this is true, it is again a sad commentary on the political leadership. They seem to be going through the ritual of reconstituting the institutions without vesting them with political confidence.

Special Interests: The FINE Situation

Abstract: The FINE Study is not unique in failing (so far) to culminate in enacted reforms. Neither the Commission on Money and Credit nor the Commission on Financial Structure and Regulation (the Hunt commission) succeeded in convincing the Con gress of the wisdom of their proposals. The present paper is not concerned with the particular merits of the recommendations of any of these studies. Instead, its premise is that powerful groups and lobbies today areocapable of blocking any serious attempt at reform; if reforms are to be achieved, the concerns of these special interest groups must be addressed directly. Further, with the growing Balkanization of financial intermediation that is everywhere evident, the strengths and diversity of special interest groups are growing and this will reduce the probability of successful reform in the future. The modest objective of this paper is to examine a small number of issues that appeared to attract the attention of selected special interest groups and to identify what seems to concern them. As will become clear, some groups occasionally appear to be arguing for positions that are not especially beneficial to the interests they represent. Academicians and others may be able to improve the chances for reform if the game and the players' positions are more widely appreciated. The first section of the paper sets out an interpretation of how political games are played, drawing from recent attempts at reforming the financial system. The second section identifies topics that concerned different interest groups during the FINE study hearings and briefly attempts to explain positions. This paper ignores the special interests of government agencies for reasons of space.