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Local public officials rely on tax and non-tax incentive packages to develop their economies. No conclusive evidence supports the economic improvement incentives afford. We investigate, with an experimental approach, the political reasons public officials use tax incentives. The experiment uses simulation gaming to model local economic development as an auction, in that way permitting us to compare the impact that motives, goals, and contexts have on outcomes. Our findings suggest that the majority of economic development competitors fall victim to the “winner’s curse”-overestimating and overbidding the potential payoff for business development.

The purpose of this paper is to study the popular educational broadcasting of Julius Sumner Miller and its intersections with contemporary science policy and education.

The paper draws on archival research including resources so far unused by historians of science or of broadcasting and audio-visual resources of Sumner Miller’s broadcasts on Australian, Canadian and American television. It begins by contextualising Sumner Miller as both an academic and broadcaster. The second section interprets the core points of his educational philosophy which he articulated in his written and broadcast works. The final section uses his private papers contextualised by works on the history and philosophy of science to interpret and delineate the disparity between Sumner Miller’s influence as a populariser of science and the prevailing trends in scientific policy and teaching.

This paper proposes that reconstructing the themes and recurring points he asserted in his broadcasts reveals disjunction between Sumner Miller’s high-profile successes and the contemporary trends in both science policy and science education. This paper interprets the circumstance of an internationally known and influential science populariser who was coterminous with but against the grain of the notion of “big science”. He therefore sought to popularise science precisely as it was developing in ways he disparaged.

This paper breaks new ground by interpreting the different sources, audio-visual and written, created by and about an influential television broadcaster.

Although he was widely and internationally known, and the range of his influence on science communication is generally noted, Sumner Miller’s broadcasting and the themes and educational philosophy espoused in it is little researched and contextualised. This paper sharpens understanding of his influence but also his points of intersection and disjunction with scientific culture. Hitherto unused archival resources contribute to this understanding.

Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.

Compilation of numeric data has been of interest to mankind since ancient times. Collections of astronomic observations permitted the production of systematic calendars for great nations like the Mayans, Egyptians, Babylonians and Jews. Extensive sets of data were available to early navigators and pioneer physicists of medieval times. A well known example of data compilation was the celebrated Alfonsine Tables. The tables were completed in 1252 under the direction of Isaac ben Said and Yehuda ben Moshe Cohen during the rule of Alfonso X. of Castile. For three hundred years this was considered to be the best planetary data collection. Another famous astronomical data compilation was Caroline Herschel's Catalogue of Stars published in 1798. In the last decade there has been an increased need for precise information by government agencies, private industries, the business world and academic institutions. The continuing acknowledgement of the need for quantitative data contributed to the quick development and marketing of many databases that contain numerical and other factual information.

Successful execution of public–private partnership (PPP) projects is the most desirable outcome to all stakeholders. Previous studies show that one of the topmost obstacles to fulfil this desire on the project is financial risks. Nonetheless, inadequate holistic studies exist on linking the management of this challenge to the financial returns of the project. This study aims to develop a theoretical framework interrelating financial risks, financial controls and financial performance of PPP projects.

The theoretical framework is informed and supported by existing theories and previous empirical studies from construction management, finance and economics. The underlying theories captured in the framework were chosen for their relevance and applicability to PPP projects. The propositions developed from the analysis of the theories and the empirical literature are summarised in three main hypotheses and 26 operationalised sub-hypotheses.

The major elements of the framework include the financial risks and 12 sub-themes which are commonly experienced on PPP projects. Financial policies and procedures on controlling financial losses of the projects are also included in the framework. Lastly, this study creates financial criteria on the projects which are intrinsically embedded in the framework to serve as benchmark to support the measurement of financial success.

This study is a theoretical review of classical theories and empirical studies, and therefore, not all researches and managerial controls have not been included in this framework due to restricted time and limited studies on the topic.

This paper would serve as a multidimensional guide to project managers to mitigate financial risks and hopefully enhance the financial success of PPPs. Theoretically, this paper outlines the dimensions of managing financial risks of PPPs that require valid and reliable measurement to test the interrelationships of the constructs by further studies in the construction research community.

This theoretical framework makes ambitious efforts to embrace multifaceted theories from different disciplines to shed light on holistic mechanisms to mitigate financial risks to improve financial returns of PPP projects.

The Corporation of the City of London are about to appoint a Public Analyst, and by advertisement have invited applications for the post. It is obviously desirable that the person appointed to this office should not only possess the usual professional qualifications, but that he should be a scientific man of high standing and of good repute, whose name would afford a guarantee of thoroughness and reliability in regard to the work entrusted to him, and whose opinion would carry weight and command respect. Far from being of a nature to attract a man of this stamp, the terms and conditions attaching to the office as set forth in the advertisement above referred to are such that no self‐respecting member of the analytical profession, and most certainly no leading member of it, could possibly accept them. It is simply pitiable that the Corporation of the City of London should offer terms, and make conditions in connection with them, which no scientific analyst could agree to without disgracing himself and degrading his profession. The offer of such terms, in fact, amounts to a gross insult to the whole body of members of that profession, and is excusable only—if excusable at all—on the score of utter ignorance as to the character of the work required to be done, and as to the nature of the qualifications and attainments of the scientific experts who are called upon to do it. In the analytical profession, as in every other profession, there are men who, under the pressure of necessity, are compelled to accept almost any remuneration that they can get, and several of these poorer, and therefore weaker, brethren will, of course, become candidates for the City appointment.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how entrepreneurial bricolage empowers smallholder commercial farming, from a family business perspective.

The study employed a multiple case study design to analyse entrepreneurial bricolage in smallholder commercial farming in Uganda. It used multiple data collection methods and applied content analytical tchniques to establish cross-case correlations, patterns and relationships to aid in theory development and testing.

The study shows that entrepreneurial bricolage empowers smallholder commercialization through resource reallocation, improvization and prioritization as interconnected, self-reinforcing bricolage processes in smallholder farming. It provides evidence of how smallholder farms may not enact institutional limits, and overcome constraints imposed by their resource environments. It further reveals that smallholder commercial farms can be construed as family businesses given the interconnected relationship between farming business, family and smallholder farm(er).

The study was conducted in smallholder farms hence results may be used cautiously in other sectors and economies where resource environments are not structurally defined. However, it provides lessons for family businesses in developed countries particularly the micro- and small businesses. It also renders smallholder farming as a lucrative area for family business research.

This study deepens our understanding of bricolage in smallholder farming and provides a springboard for scholarship in enhancing smallholder commercialization. It proposes a model for entrepreneurial bricolage in smallholder commercial farming.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether consumers in pre-owned durable goods markets (such as pre-owned automobiles) purchase products with higher premium/luxury positioning in a vertical line-up compared to consumers in new durable goods markets. The moderating role of brand loyalty on choice is also investigated.

The hypotheses are tested using a data set that includes the sales of new and pre-owned vehicles from an independently owned automotive dealer in the Northwestern USA during the first nine months of 2017 (N = 200). An ordered logit regression is used to estimate the relationship between consumers’ purchase of pre-owned vs new vehicles and the premium-level of the model that they choose, while controlling for the vehicle price. Two experimental robustness tests are conducted to provide empirical evidence of the proposed theoretical process.

Consumers who purchased pre-owned vehicles chose models with higher premium/luxury positioning compared to consumers who purchased new vehicles, even when controlling for price. This effect was moderated by brand loyalty, such that consumers’ premium-level of purchase was magnified if they previously owned a vehicle of the same brand. The results of an experimental robustness test indicated that consumers’ preference for pre-owned vehicles with higher premium/luxury positioning was because of greater perceptions of the quality along the dimensions of versatility, performance and prestige.

Sellers of complex durable goods (e.g. automobiles) should consider segmenting their upselling strategies for pre-owned vs new products. They should specifically focus more effort on the upselling of pre-owned durables as buyers appear more likely to pursue premium/luxury alternatives compared to new durables. Further, they should focus upselling efforts for pre-owned durables on brand loyal consumers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first to examine consumers’ desire for pre-owned durable goods with premium/luxury positioning in a vertical product line-up. Further, it is also the first to explore the role of brand loyalty in shaping consumer preferences for premium/luxury pre-owned durable goods. As such, it makes an important contribution to an emerging literature exploring the appeal of premium and luxury pre-owned goods. Much work in this area has focused on the motivations that consumers have for buying pre-owned premium and luxury nondurable goods, such as vintage clothing or accessories. By contrast, the present research investigates the appeal of premium/luxury positioning for complex, pre-owned durable goods (vehicles), which are more difficult for consumers to evaluate at the point-of-purchase.

The analysis of periodicals can provide important insights into the changing nature and dynamics of academic disciplines and fields of study. The Journal of Educational Administration (JEA) has for the past 25 years grown up alongside the field which it seeks both to represent and develop, and it is thus of considerable interest to look at the contents of the JEA in light of this role. A study was made of all the articles published in the JEA during the period 1963‐87 with a view to establishing authorship patterns; the types of papers which have been published; the common themes and the range of topics addressed; the nature of empirical research; and changes in both substantive and methodological orientations over the past 25 years. The analysis and discussion looked at the JEA as offering a window into the “world” of educational administration, but noted that a journal can only ever mirror that which is held up to it and ultimately to its readership.