Credible and optimal monetary policies are considered in environments in which the government observes a signal that is correlated with the state of the economy. When the signal is public information it is optimal for monetary policy to be conditioned upon it. The extent to which such conditioning should occur when the signal is the private information of the government depends upon the governm...

We introduce a model in which agents face random and unobservable needs to transact over time. We characterize the optimal setup for incentive compatible transactions, the optimal payment system. The existence of an equilibrium in which agents transact through a payment system might require certain caps on short-term borrowing. Networks that have knowledge of agents’ histories support efficient...

In this paper we study the optimal file-sharing mechanism in a peer-to-peer network with a mechanism design perspective. This mechanism improves upon existing incentive schemes. In particular, we show that peer-approved scheme is never optimal and service-quality scheme is optimal only under certain circumstances. Moreover, we find that the optimal mechanism can be implemented by a mixture of p...

OBJECTIVES This article outlines the budgetary setting within the UK health-care system. METHODS It is argued that while prospective budgets can give rise to efficient resource allocation outcomes, this relies on the budget being set at an appropriate level and the accompanying incentive structures being efficient. The organizational structures and the interrelationships are critical. The rec...

Recent advances in IT and big data enable firms to adopt an increasing variety of monitoring technologies at a reduced and yet significant cost. We examine the effect of such cost and flexibility on employee productivity and the internal organization of firms. In an otherwise standard principal-agent model with moral hazard, we allow the principal to adopt any monitoring technology that constit...

We searched the MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases for articles published between January 1995 and April 2011. The update of this clinical practice guideline is the result of reviewing a total of 54 clinical trials and systematic reviews on incentive spirometry. The following recommendations are made following the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (...

BACKGROUND Fentanyl-induced cough (FIC) has a reported incidence of 13-65% on induction of anesthesia. Incentive spirometry (IS) creates forceful inspiration, while stretching pulmonary receptors. We postulated that spirometry just before the fentanyl (F) bolus would decrease the incidence and severity of FIC. METHODS This study enrolled 200 patients aged 18-60 years and with American Society...

I this research, we show that the interaction between territory allocation and sales force compensation—two key drivers of sales productivity—strongly affects the firm’s profitability. We analyze an agency-theoretic model that jointly considers the degree of negative or positive correlation across territory outcomes, differences in territories’ sales potentials, the agency problem with risk-ave...

In a pioneering approach towards the explanation of the phenomenon of “yes man” behavior in organizations, Prendergast (1993) argued that incentive contracts in employment relationships generally make a worker distort his privately acquired information. This would imply that there is a trade-off between inducing a worker to exert costly effort and inducing him to tell the truth. In contrast, we...

this paper proposes an optimal power flow (opf) algorithm by direct load control (dlc) programs to optimize the operational cost of smart grids considering various scenarios based on different constraints. the cost function includes active power production cost of available power sources and a novel flexible load curtailment cost associated with dlc programs. the load curtailment cost is based ...