Symptoms of corruption and union denial

Labor Racketeering is often the result of collusion between employers and employee representatives in which in exchange for something of value the employee representative ignores his obligation to union members. Given the limited investigative resources of unions, proving the receipt of a bribe is most often beyond their ability. However, the artifacts of racketeering such as inexplicable substandard contracts or lax contract enforcement remain evident. The harm to the members remains the same. As a consequence, in disciplining union employees, unions should sanction them for involvement in the creation of these artifacts as if bribes were proven. Charles A. Carberry is the Chief Investigator for the Independent Review Board (IRB), the body that pursuant to the Civil RICO settlement between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the government investigates corruption and supervisors resulting disciplinary actions against union members. The views expressed herein are Mr. Carberry’s and not necessarily those of the IRB.     

The legality of employee attitude surveys in union environments

Employee attitude surveys are becoming an increasingly popular tool for employers. A host of legal implications, such as the circumstances under which they can be used, what they can ask, and whether or not they are a subject of mandatory bargaining, arise when surveys are conducted by companies that have an incumbent union or by companies that are involved in union-organizing campaigns. The following article describes the survey process, outlines some of the inherent advantages and pitfalls, and examines the legal questions raised when surveys are used by nonunion employers, by employers with incumbent unions, and by employers who are involved in union-organizing-campaigns. It concludes with recommendations for employers that undertake attitude surveys.     

Treating drug-dependent patients in hospitals

Are hospital staff legally permitted to test drug-dependent patients for drugs or infectious disease without the patient's consent in order to treat the patient or to protect themselves or other patients? What should staff do with "suspicious" items in the patient's possession (drugs, credit cards in different names, firearms)? Can drug-dependent patients lawfully use illicit drugs in hospital? Who should supply and administer them?     

Congenital determinants of violence

Specialization--the predisposition to violent behavior persisting over an extended period of time--is considered in relation to congenital factors, to determine whether such factors are contributory to this predisposition. Congenital factors include inherited characteristics and perinatal experiences. Evidence for inherited characteristics in criminal behavior is approached through family studies, the study of twins, and adoption studies. Of those three, adoption studies provide the most fertile ground for study. Predisposition toward criminal behavior is noted to be limited to property crime. The second congenital factor is the perinatal experience. Minor physical anomalies appear to be strongly related to hyperactivity and later criminal involvement, but only if the offender was reared in an unstable, nonintact family. Indices of perinatal problems relate to later violent crime, rather than to property crime, and may have as their basis some form of trauma occurring very early in life.     

Affective determinants of treatment engagement in violent offenders

Affective factors are likely to play a major role in determining the extent to which offenders are able to engage with, and benefit from, treatment. In this article, it is argued that the relationship between affect and treatment engagement may be understood in three ways: the access the client has to emotional states, the ability to express such states, and the willingness of the client to do this in the therapeutic session. It is suggested that affective determinants of treatment readiness can be understood with reference to models of emotional regulation and that attention to these affective factors in the early stages of treatment is likely to promote engagement, reduce attrition, and consequently improve treatment outcomes for violent offenders.     

Medicaid reimbursement of teaching hospitals

This paper examines current Medicaid policies on the reimbursement of hospitals' medical education expenses. These policies are of interest because of the pressure on Medicaid programs to reduce expenditures. Data for the paper come mainly from two sources: a survey of Medicaid programs and a survey of teaching hospitals. Teaching hospitals receive a disproportionate share, nearly 70 percent in 1978, of Medicaid short-term hospital payments. Nevertheless, most Medicaid programs either have no explicit policies in this area or have not acted aggressively to limit reimbursement of hospitals' teaching expenses. Revenues from Medicaid are most important to public teaching hospitals. Thus, across-the-board reductions in Medicaid's reimbursement of teaching expenses would most severely affect public institutions, many of which already face cuts in their local government appropriations. Savings to Medicaid would also be short-lived, since teaching hospitals would have the incentive to reduce teaching program size and substitute reimbursable personnel (nurses and staff physicians) for residents.     

Comparison of ages of epiphyseal union in North American and Bosnian skeletal material

The accurate determination of age at death is a critical component in the analysis of human skeletal remains. Population specific techniques are often used without due consideration of the provenance of the material being studied. This communication considers the ages at which epiphyseal union occur in young Bosnian males and compares those findings to data published by McKern and Stewart on young North American soldiers killed during the Korean War. Of the ten epiphyses considered in this study, all elements were observed to be at least two years in advance in the Bosnian sample compared to the American sample. This article demonstrates that whilst standards based on an American sample produce broadly applicable age ranges for use on forensic work in the Balkans, the age ranges generated produce an upper age limit that is often two or more years older than the chronological age. Therefore, it is desirable, that wherever possible, appropriate standards should be devised for more accurate aging reflecting population specific profiles.     

The profits of not-for-profit hospitals

This paper explores the profits of not-for-profit (NFP) hospitals and identifies the factors that determine whether such profits are adequate. A model which relates hospital charges to surpluses is used to derive NFP surplus from gross patient charges and operating costs. This is done to identify the items contributing to surpluses and to explore the dispersion of NFP surpluses. We first discuss why the literature is relatively silent on NFP profitability. We then present the model and use Tennessee hospital data to identify how its components vary by hospital type and through time. The dispersion of surpluses among NFPs is then examined. We next propose three rate of return measures of profitability and use these to relate NFP profits to select characteristics of hospitals and their environments. Several alternative profit levels of NFP are discussed, and the factors that are relevant to the issue of determining the adequate level of profit are identified. The paper ends with a plea for better data on NFP profits.     

Epiphyseal union sequencing: aiding in the recognition and sorting of commingled remains

The presence of accessory osseous material within a seemingly single individual assemblage has the potential to result in misidentification of the remains. Detection of nonrelated material relies on the anthropologist being able to recognize incongruities among the elements. Inconsistencies in developmental status provide evidence to suggest that commingling may have occurred. Analyzing the sequence in which the various epiphyses unite can help to identify outlying elements that do not match the predicted developmental pattern of the remaining skeleton, thus indicating that the element may not belong to that individual. This paper considers the sequence in which 21 various epiphyses of the body unite to serve as a reference for identifying incongruent fusing patterns within a commingled assemblage. Two hundred and fifty-eight male individuals of Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) descent between the ages of 14 and 30 years were included for analysis. Sequence order was determined for both "beginning" and "complete" union by comparing the fusing status of each epiphysis with each of the other 21 epiphyses. Considering both sequence patterns provides a wider spectrum of evidence from which to recognize incongruities than either sequence pattern could provide in isolation. Variations to the majority sequence pattern were also included to ensure that skeletons displaying less popular but acceptable sequence patterns would not be mistakenly considered as two individuals when using this research as a reference. Although substantial variation in the order in which epiphyses initiate and complete union was discovered within the sample, most epiphyseal relationships did not display any variable patterns. These "unvaried" relationships will be most useful in recognizing the presence of incongruent material if the pattern within an assemblage does not conform to the pattern documented in this study. Figures demonstrating the two sequence patterns are provided for easy application in the field.     

Organizational corruption by public hospitals in China

This article studies the rise of organizational corruption by public hospitals in China since the 1990s and its impacts. Organizational corruption refers to the exploitation of public authority by a government agency for its monetary or material gains. This article argues that a combination of three major factors contributed to the rise of organizational corruption by public hospitals. First, the Chinese government substantially reduced its financial commitment to the health sector since the mid-1980s. To compensate for the retrenchment of government health outlays, public hospitals are authorized to earn revenue, keep and use all budgetary surpluses. This policy provided numerous opportunities and incentives for hospitals to engage in corruption. The second factor concerns the excessive and chaotic development of the pharmaceutical sector. Intense competition has prompted many drug firms to offer bribes to public hospitals so that their products would be purchased. Finally, the state regulatory infrastructure has failed to check the spread of corrupt practices. The study raised two broader implications. First, it highlights the pitfall of retrenchment of government outlays and the subsequent policy of allowing state agencies to generate, retain and use the revenue, in the absence of an effective regulatory infrastructure. Second, the prevalence of organizational corruption indicates that the nature of public hospitals in China has been transformed. Instead of providing efficient, safe and affordable treatment for patients, many public hospitals have engaged in predatory behavior that is harmful to patients’ health.     

Routine activities as determinants of gender differences in delinquency

This study examined the extent to which gender differences in delinquency can be explained by gender differences in participation in, or response to, various routine activity patterns (RAPs) using data from the second and third waves of the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988. While differential participation in routine activities by gender failed to explain males’ high levels of deviance relative to females, two early RAPs moderated the effect of gender on subsequent deviant behavior. Participation in religious and community activities during the sophomore year in high school decreased, while unstructured and unsupervised peer interaction increased, levels of delinquency two years later substantially more for males than for females, suggesting there are gender differences in reactivity to contextual opportunities for deviance during early high school with effects that persist over time.     

Market and institutional determinants in the regulation of conveyancers

Demand for law professionals in the conveyancing of property is decreasing because of market and institutional changes. On the market side, many transactions feature large, well-known parties and standardized transactions, which make professionals less effective or necessary for protecting the parties to private contracts. On the institutional side, public titling makes it possible to dispense with a broadening set of their former functions. Recording of deeds made professionals redundant as depositories of deeds and reduced demand for them to design title guarantees. Effective registration of rights increasingly substitutes professionals for detecting title conflicts with third parties and gathering their consent. Market changes undermine the information asymmetry rationale for regulating conveyancing, while institutional changes facilitate liberalizing not only conduct but also license regulations. These arguments are supported here by disentangling the logic of titling systems and presenting empirical evidence from the European and USA markets. The author thanks John D. Cooke, Fernando Gómez Pomar, Pamela O'Connor, Joyce D. Palomar, Ruth Paserman, Mark C. Schechter, Frank Stephen, Christine C. Wilson and participants at the Ninth EU Competition Law and Policy Workshop, the Eigth ISNIE conference and Université de Paris X for their comments and Ana Estrada for her research assistance. Usual disclaimers apply.     

Macroeconomic determinants of remittances to India

Economic Change and Restructuring - Migration and remittances have always been an exciting arena of research for economists around the globe. Remittance flows have evolved as a significant economic...     

Labor union involvement in occupational safety and health, 1957-1987

Right-to-know policies and related market-oriented occupational health policies require an institutionalized means through which workers can interpret and act on information about quality differences among jobs. In principle, labor unions could play this role. However, union coverage has been declining since the 1950s, and the decline has accelerated in recent years. This paper documents the growth in occupational health and safety activities in unionized workplaces from 1957 to 1987 and the decline in union representation in hazardous workplaces from 1971 to 1986. It also analyzes the relationship between right-to-know and right-to-refuse-hazardous-work guarantees under industrial relations and occupational health law.