Motives

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting

Kinds of Motives

  • altruistic motive
  • bequest motive
  • different motive
  • implicit motive
  • management motive
  • precautionary motive
  • strategic motive

  • Terms modified by Motives

  • motive force

  • Selected Abstracts


    RIGHT ACT, VIRTUOUS MOTIVE

    METAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 1-2 2010
    THOMAS HURKA
    Abstract: The concepts of virtue and right action are closely connected, in that we expect people with virtuous motives to at least often act rightly. Two well-known views explain this connection by defining one of the concepts in terms of the other. Instrumentalists about virtue identify virtuous motives as those that lead to right acts; virtue-ethicists identify right acts as those that are or would be done from virtuous motives. This essay outlines a rival explanation, based on the "higher-level" account of virtue defended in the author's Virtue, Vice, and Value. On this account rightness and virtue go together because each is defined by a (different) relation to some other, more basic moral concept. Their frequent coincidence is therefore like a correlation between A and B based not on either's causing the other but on their being joint effects of a single common cause. [source]


    A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING OF ALCOHOL USE AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN THE U.S. MILITARY: COMPLEXITIES AMONG STRESS, DRINKING MOTIVES, IMPULSIVITIY, ALCOHOL USE AND JOB PERFORMANCE

    ALCOHOLISM, Issue 2008
    Sunju Sohn
    Aims:, Young male adults in the U. S. military drink at much higher rates than civilians and females of the same age. Drinking has been shown to be associated with stress and individuals' ability to effectively cope with stressors. Despite numerous studies conducted on young adults' drinking behaviors such as college drinking, current literature is limited in fully understanding alcohol use patterns of the young military population. The aim of the present study was to develop and test the hypothesized Structural Equation Model (SEM) of alcohol use to determine if stress coping styles moderate the relationship between stress, drinking motives, impulsivity, alcohol consumption and job performance. Methods:, Structural equation models for multiple group comparisons were estimated based on a sample of 1,715 young (aged 18 to 25) male military personnel using the 2005 Department of Defense Survey of Health Related Behaviors among Military Personnel. Coping style was used as the grouping factor in the multi-group analysis and this variable was developed through numerous steps to reflect positive and negative behaviors of coping. The equivalences of the structural relations between the study variables were then compared across two groups at a time, controlling for installation region, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, and pay grade, resulting in two model comparisons with four coping groups. If the structural weight showed differences across groups, each parameter was constrained and tested one at a time to see where the models are different. Results:, The results showed that the hypothesized model applies across all groups. The structural weights revealed that a moderation effect exists between a group whose tendency is to mostly use positive coping strategies and a group whose tendency is to mostly use negative coping strategies (,,2(39)= 65.116, p<.05). More specifically, the models were different (with and without Bonferroni Type I error correction) in the paths between "motive and alcohol use" and "alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences (job performance)." Conclusions:, It seems plausible that coping style significantly factors into moderating alcohol use among young male military personnel who reportedly drink more excessively than civilians of the same age. The results indicate that it may be particularly important for the military to assess different stress coping styles ofyoung male military personnel so as to limit excessive drinking as well as to promote individual wellness and improve job performance. [source]


    THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVES ON WORK OUTCOMES IN AUSTRALIA: A COMPARATIVE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS

    PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 4 2007
    JEANNETTE TAYLORArticle first published online: 12 OCT 200
    There is a general consensus that individuals who are driven to serve the public interest can possess a mix of public service motives for engaging in altruistic actions. This article proposes that when analysed simultaneously, some public service motives may play a more important role than others in influencing work outcomes. The pressing questions are which ones and how? Through a survey of a group of Australian public sector employees, this article explores the relationship between the various dimensions of public service motivation (PSM) and the common work outcomes: organizational commitment, job satisfaction and job motivation. The combinations of PSM dimensions that had a greater impact on these work outcomes are also found to vary with different outcomes. [source]


    WHY SOCIAL PREFERENCES MATTER , THE IMPACT OF NON-SELFISH MOTIVES ON COMPETITION, COOPERATION AND INCENTIVES

    THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 478 2002
    Ernst Fehr
    A substantial number of people exhibit social preferences, which means they are not solely motivated by material self-interest but also care positively or negatively for the material payoffs of relevant reference agents. We show empirically that economists fail to understand fundamental economic questions when they disregard social preferences, in particular, that without taking social preferences into account, it is not possible to understand adequately (i) effects of competition on market outcomes, (ii) laws governing cooperation and collective action, (iii) effects and the determinants of material incentives, (iv) which contracts and property rights arrangements are optimal, and (v) important forces shaping social norms and market failures. [source]


    A MODEL OF ENDOGENOUS PAYOFF MOTIVES AND ENDOGENOUS TIMING IN A MIXED DUOPOLY,

    AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 3 2009
    KANGSIK CHOI
    A model of endogenous payoff motives and endogenous order of moves is analysed in a mixed duopoly. We find that, when a non-negative price constraint is imposed on public and private firms' quantity choice, both firms always choose to be relative-payoff-maximisers, and both simultaneous move and sequential move can be sustained in equilibrium. In contrast, when non-negative absolute profit constraint is imposed, public and private firms always choose to be absolute-payoff-maximisers, and only sequential move can be sustained in equilibrium. [source]


    Religion without Ulterior Motive , Edited by E.A.J.G. Van der Borght

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
    Adam Hood
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Is Self-Determined Functioning a Universal Prerequisite for Motive,Goal Congruence?

    JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 2 2010
    Examining the Domain of Achievement in Three Cultures
    ABSTRACT Research has shown that capacity for accessing implicit motives promotes congruence between the implicit and the explicit motivational system: Individuals able to test a conscious goal for its fit with their implicit motivation commit themselves more fully to self-congruent goals. However, it has not yet been shown whether this is a universal phenomenon or limited to Euro-American cultures in which individual needs are less strictly constrained by the social environment than in other cultural contexts. Thus, the present study examined whether self-determination interacts with the implicit achievement motive to predict how much importance individuals from Cameroon, Germany, and Hong Kong ascribe to achievement goals. Moreover, the importance ascribed to goals should indirectly predict life satisfaction via success in goal realization. Results showed that the associations described above are valid in all three cultural groups and are discussed in terms of their implications for the universal processes characterizing motivation. [source]


    Complex Iridium(III) Salts: Luminescent Porous Crystalline Materials,

    ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE, Issue 7 2010
    Matteo Mauro
    Komplexe mit Ausstrahlung: Eine neue Klasse poröser Materialien beruht auf nichtkovalent verknüpften lumineszierenden Iridiumkomplexen. Komplexpaare mit unterschiedlichen Emissionsfarben und komplementären Ladungen bilden Komplexsalze. Die kristallinen Materialien enthalten 3D-poröse Motive, und ihre Emissionsfarbe lässt sich durch Lösungsmitteleinschluss oder selektives Löschen einer Komponente beeinflussen. [source]


    ChemInform Abstract: Design and Synthesis of Optically Active 2-Phenylimidazolecarboxamides Featuring Amino Acid Motive.

    CHEMINFORM, Issue 15 2009
    Roman Sivek
    Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a "Full Text" option. The original article is trackable via the "References" option. [source]


    Assisted Suicide: Do We Own Our Bodies?

    DIALOG, Issue 2 2004
    Jarmo Tarkki
    Abstract:, The ethics of physician-assisted suicide is explored here in light of classic philosophical discussions of the ownership of one's body plus biblical discussions of the relationship of body and soul. Motives for individual and group suicide are brought to bear on bioethical principles such as that of autonomy. Ethical analysis is here challenged by the case of a 91 year-old woman, Ragnhild, who lived after professional judgments that her life should be ended. [source]


    Motives for substance use among young people seeking mental health treatment

    EARLY INTERVENTION IN PSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2008
    Leanne Hides
    Abstract Aims: To explore substance use motives among young people seeking mental health treatment. Methods: Participants consisted of 103 young people seeking mental health treatment, who had used drugs or alcohol in the past year. The young people completed a 42-item substance use motives measure based on the Drinking Motives Measure for their most frequently used substance in the past year. Results: Exploratory factor analysis of the substance use motives scale indicated the young people reported using substances for positive and negative drug effects, to socialize with their peers, and to cope with a negative affect. They did not report using substances for enhancement or conformity motives. Coping motives predicted the presence of a current substance use disorder. Conclusions: The findings support the need for integrated treatment approaches within mental health settings, particularly targeted at young people with co-occurring mental health and substance use problems. [source]


    Gains and losses, outcomes of interregional migration in the five Nordic countries

    GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2006
    Emma Lundholm
    Abstract This paper examines the outcome of interregional migration in various aspects from the migrants' perspective. It is based on a survey, including 6 000 interregional migrants in the five Nordic countries. The results indicate that interregional migration leads to a positive outcome for most migrants and few people seem to be forced to make decisions including painful tradeoffs. Motives have an effect on what aspects of outcome migrants are satisfied with. The influence of individual migrants' characteristics on migration outcome revealed few significant effects. Migrants claimed to be most satisfied with living conditions and less satisfied with the livelihood after moving. To be satisfied with social conditions turned out to be crucially important for the general outcome of migration. [source]


    Parenting Was for Life, Not Just for Childhood: The Role of Parents in the Married Lives of their Children in Early Modern England

    HISTORY, Issue 283 2001
    Elizabeth Foyster
    Marriage is a false dividing line to impose on our understanding of childhood, adulthood and parenting in the past. In early modern England neither the dependency which has been associated with childhood, nor the supervision of parents in the lives of their children, ceased with wedding bells. An examination of the parent-child bond beyond marriage within the middle and upper ranks can provide new and important insights into the intergenerational relationships of the early modern past. While parents could contribute to the smooth running of their children's marriages, they could also have a role as instigators of, commentators upon, and arbitrators of the discord which could result in their children's marriages. Motives for parental involvement could be complex, but parents could share in both the sorrows and the joys of their children's marriages. The emotional and financial repercussions of marriage breakdown could have painful effects for parents as well as for the married couple. [source]


    Reasoned Action and Irrational Motives: A Prediction of Drivers' Intention to Violate Traffic Laws,

    JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2001
    Dana Yagil
    The aim of the study was to predict drivers' intention to commit traffic violations by means of the model of reasoned action. The respondents were 359 drivers. Four scenarios, each describing 1 of 4 traffic violations, were presented to the respondents. Two situational factors, time pressure and the presence of an authority figure, were manipulated through the description of the scenarios. Attitudes toward the commission of traffic violations affect the intention to commit the violations. Sensation seeking and external locus of control are positively related to behavioral attitudes. Both aggression and anxiety are directly related to intention to commit violations. The results are discussed in regard to the influence of cognitive and noncognitive variables on driving behavior. [source]


    Voluntary Appointment of Independent Directors in Taiwan: Motives and Consequences

    JOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 9-10 2008
    Chaur-Shiuh Young
    Abstract:, This study explores factors that motivate firms to increase board independence in the absence of legal requirements to do so. In addition, we examine the impact of voluntary enhancement of board independence on firm performance. Using a sample of listed companies in Taiwan, we show that voluntary appointment of independent directors is associated with both economic factors and managerial power. Specifically, we find that board independence increases with the weaknesses of alternative corporate governance mechanisms and the severity of agency problems. However, board independence decreases with managerial ownership and family control. In addition, by employing a simultaneous equations model with selectivity, we provide evidence supporting the positive performance impact of voluntary appointment of independent directors in Taiwan. [source]


    Empowerment and peer support: structure and process of self-help in a consumer-run center for individuals with mental illness,

    JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2009
    Russell K. Schutt
    Personal empowerment is a guiding philosophy of many mental health service programs, but there has been little empirical research on the empowerment process in these programs. The authors examine social processes and consumer orientations within a self-help drop-in center for individuals with psychiatric disabilities, using intensive interviews and focus groups. They investigate motives for consumer involvement, bases for program retention, and processes of participant change. Motives for involvement in the center were primarily instrumental, whereas the bases of retention were more often maintaining social support and developing self-esteem. Participants valued the center's nonstigmatizing environment and its supportive consumer staff. Some used the opportunity to become a staff member to move into a more normalized social role; all seemed to derive benefits from helping peers. There were indications of some staff members adopting a more authoritarian posture, but participants repeatedly lauded most staff for their supportive orientation. The authors conclude that the "helper/therapy" process was a key to successful empowerment. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


    Mood-Related Drinking Motives Mediate the Familial Association Between Major Depression and Alcohol Dependence

    ALCOHOLISM, Issue 8 2009
    Kelly C. Young-Wolff
    Background:, Major depression and alcohol dependence co-occur within individuals and families to a higher than expected degree. This study investigated whether mood-related drinking motives mediate the association between major depression and alcohol dependence, and what the genetic and environmental bases are for this relationship. Methods:, The sample included 5,181 individuals from the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders, aged 30 and older. Participants completed a clinical interview which assessed lifetime major depression, alcohol dependence, and mood-related drinking motives. Results:, Mood-related drinking motives significantly explained the depression-alcohol dependence relationship at both the phenotypic and familial levels. Results from twin analyses indicated that for both males and females, the familial factors underlying mood-related drinking motives accounted for virtually all of the familial variance that overlaps between depression and alcohol dependence. Conclusions:, The results are consistent with an indirect role for mood-related drinking motives in the etiology of depression and alcohol dependence, and suggest that mood-related drinking motives may be a useful index of vulnerability for these conditions. [source]


    Four Motives for Community Involvement

    JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 3 2002
    C. Daniel Batson
    A conceptual analysis is offered that differentiates four types of motivation for community involvement: egoism, altruism, collectivism, and principlism. Differentiation is based on identification of a unique ultimate goal for each motive. For egoism, the ultimate goal is to increase one's own welfare; for altruism, it is to increase the welfare of another individual or individuals; for collectivism, to increase the welfare of a group; and for principlism, to uphold one or more moral principles. As sources of community involvement, each of these four forms of motivation has its strengths; each also has its weaknesses. More effective efforts to stimulate community involvement may come from strategies that orchestrate motives so that the strengths of one motive can overcome weaknesses of another. Among the various possibilities, strategies that combine appeals to either altruism or collectivism with appeals to principle may be especially promising. [source]


    Motives for Intergenerational Transfers: New Test for Exchange

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
    Jingshu Wang
    The question of motives for private transfers is one with important policy implications. The evidence from empirical literature has been mixed. This study proposes new tests and evidence of the "exchange motive." It examines the key assumption on which the exchange motive model is built: that a donor's behavior is determined by his/her own expectation of receiving inter-vivos transfers or bequests in return. Results from national data show that adult children's time transfers to their aging parents were positively associated with their expectation of inter-vivos financial transfers, but not with their expectation of receiving bequests. [source]


    Motives to restructure industries: Finnish evidence of cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions

    PAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2006
    Eero Lehto
    Mergers and acquisitions; home bias; monitoring Abstract., We estimate a multilogit model for the probabilities that a firm will acquire or become a target in different M&A categories, which are defined according to the location of an acquiring firm with respect to a target. We find that certain firm characteristics of an acquiring firm regarded as indicative of having a high capability of monitoring a target , or internalising the potential synergies of M&A , increase the probability of distant M&As at the expense of close M&As. Factors which ease the monitoring of the target firm's value increase the probability that such a firm becomes a target located far from an acquiring firm. [source]


    Natural Law, Motives, and Freedom of the Will

    PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS, Issue 3 2001
    William H. Brenner
    In this paper I piece together a Wittegnsteinian view of the topics indicated in my title, contrasting it with the views of Bertrand Russell and Donald Davidson - two philosophers who, in words from the Blue Book, seem "constantly to see the method of science before their eyes." I conclude that Wittegnstein helps us understand something those philosphers tend to overlook: that "freedom of the will" gets its meaning not in a belief to be assessed by evidence but, on the contrary, in the expression of a way of living and assessing life that limits the role of "assessing beliefs by evidence." [source]


    Motives for giving information in non-work contexts and the expectations of reciprocity.

    PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2007
    The case of environmental activists
    Information sharing stands for a two-way activity in which information is given and received in the same context. The present study reviews information sharing from the viewpoint of information giving. The empirical analysis draws on interviews with twenty environmental activists in Finland, 2005. Three major motives for information giving in non-work contexts were identified: first, seredipitous altruism to provide help to other people, second, pursuit of the ends of seeking information by proxy, and third, duty-driven needs characteristic of persons elected to positions of trust. Since in most cases information giving was driven by altruistic motives, the lack of reciprocity did not in practice weaken the motives for information giving. However, in the case of sensitive information, information giving tends to be restricted by calculations of the risk of information leakage against benefits obtained from the personally rewarding experience of providing important information to others. [source]


    Market Sidedness: Insights into Motives for Trade Initiation

    THE JOURNAL OF FINANCE, Issue 1 2009
    ASANI SARKAR
    ABSTRACT We infer motives for trade initiation from market sidedness. We define trading as more two-sided (one-sided) if the correlation between the number of buyer- and seller-initiated trades increases (decreases), and assess changes in sidedness (relative to a control sample) around events that identify trade initiators. Consistent with asymmetric information, trading is more one-sided before merger news. Consistent with belief heterogeneity, trading is more two-sided before earnings and macro announcements with greater dispersion in analyst forecasts, and after news with larger announcement surprises. We examine the codeterminacy of sidedness, bid-ask spread, volatility, number of trades, and order imbalance. [source]


    Encouraging Psychological Outcomes After Altruistic Donation to a Stranger

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 6 2010
    E. K. Massey
    In a growing number of transplant centers worldwide, altruistic donors are accepted to anonymously donate a kidney to a stranger. An important hesitation to expand these transplantation programs is the fear of evoking psychological distress in the altruistic donor after donation. To what extent this fear is justified has not yet been systematically investigated. In this study, 24 altruistic donors were interviewed on average 2 years after donation. Lifetime mental health history, current psychological complaints, satisfaction with and impact of the donation on well-being, motives for donation, communication with recipient and donation experience were assessed. Altruistic donors report a considerable positive impact of donation on psychological well-being, whereas negative impact was limited. Satisfaction with donation was very high. Although a history of a psychiatric diagnosis was ascertained in almost half of the donors, psychological complaints before and after donation were comparable to national average norm scores. Motives for donation were genuine and the experience of donation generally conformed to their expectations. In conclusion, living kidney donation to a stranger does not appear to exacerbate psychological complaints. Moreover, altruistic donors report considerable satisfaction and personal benefit. The exceptional gift of altruistic donors can contribute toward solving the current organ shortage issue. [source]


    Contracting in the U.S. Pork and Beef Industries: Extent, Motives, and Issues

    CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2000
    Clement Ward
    Contracting has increased significantly in the US livestock-meat sector. Over half of finished hogs and about a third of fed cattle are marketed under some form of contract. Contracting motives vary by type of contract, whether buyer or seller, and by commodity. Several motives for buyers and sellers of finished hogs and fed cattle are identified and discussed. Issues related to contracting per se and the trend toward increased contracting have been raised by contracting opponents, politicians, and economists. Several of these issues are discussed under six headings. Lastly, agricultural economists are encouraged to become actively involved in addressing these issues, especially providing pragmatic education and assistance to those involved in contracting. [source]


    Financial Innovation and the Transactions Demand for Cash

    ECONOMETRICA, Issue 2 2009
    Fernando Alvarez
    We document cash management patterns for households that are at odds with the predictions of deterministic inventory models that abstract from precautionary motives. We extend the Baumol,Tobin cash inventory model to a dynamic environment that allows for the possibility of withdrawing cash at random times at a low cost. This modification introduces a precautionary motive for holding cash and naturally captures developments in withdrawal technology, such as the increasing diffusion of bank branches and ATM terminals. We characterize the solution of the model, which qualitatively reproduces several empirical patterns. We estimate the structural parameters using micro data and show that quantitatively the model captures important economic patterns. The estimates are used to quantify the expenditure and interest rate elasticity of money demand, the impact of financial innovation on money demand, the welfare cost of inflation, and the benefit of ATM ownership. [source]


    Determinants and effects of foreign direct investment: evidence from German firm-level data*

    ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 41 2005
    Claudia M. Buch
    SUMMARY FDI Firm-level evidence Foreign direct investment is an essential aspect of ,globalization' yet its empirical determinants are not well understood. What we do know is based either on poor data for a wide range of nations, or good data for the US and Swedish cases. In this paper, we provide evidence on the determinants of the activities of German multinational firms by using a newly available firm-level data set from the Deutsche Bundesbank. The specific goal of this paper is to demonstrate the relative role of country-level and firm-level determinants of foreign direct investment. We focus on three main questions: First, what are the main driving forces of German firms' multinational activities? Second, is there evidence that sector-level and firm-level factors shape internationalization patterns? Third, is there evidence of agglomeration effects in the foreign activities of German firms? We find that the market access motive for internationalization dominates. Firms move abroad mainly to gain better access to large foreign markets. Cost-saving motives, however, are important for some manufacturing sectors. Our results strongly suggest that firm-level heterogeneity has an important influence on internationalization patterns , as stressed by recent models of international trade. We also find positive agglomeration effects for the activities of German firms that stem from the number of other German firms that are active on a given foreign market. In terms of lessons for economic policy, our results show that lowering barriers to the integration of markets and encouraging the formation of human capital can promote the activities of multinational firms. However, our results related to the heterogeneity of firms and agglomeration tendencies show that it might be difficult to fine-tune policies directed at the exploitation of synergies and at the creation of clusters of foreign firms. , Claudia M. Buch, Jörn Kleinert, Alexander Lipponer and Farid Toubal [source]


    Some simple economics of GM food

    ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 33 2001
    Dietmar Harhoff
    Public opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops (GM food) has not been based solely on concern about biological risks. Economic risks have been widely cited too: the fear that the world's food supply will be concentrated in the hands of a few large firms, the fear that such firms will engage or are already engaging in anti,competitive practices, and the fear of the transfer of ownership rights over genetic resources to the private sector. Are these fears justified? We argue that the GM food industry may be on course for further consolidation, and this could be anti,competitive. In fact, policymakers face a dilemma: a stringent regulatory approval process enhances food safety, but at the cost of increasing market concentration. We argue also that the integration of seed and agri,chemical manufacturers may bias the introduction of GM traits in undesirable directions. Some business practices (such as tie,in contracts between seeds and complementary products such as herbicides) may have an exclusionary motive that warrants scrutiny on anti,competitive grounds, while some other practices (such as the use of terminator genes) appear more benign. Finally, we argue against granting patents on genes or even on gene ,functions'. Doing so may delay the development of socially beneficial applications. [source]


    Should we beware of the Precautionary Principle?

    ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 33 2001
    Christian Gollier
    How should society deal with risks when there is scientific uncertainty about the size of these risks? There has been much recent discussion of the Precautionary Principle, which states that lack of full scientific knowledge should not be used as a reason to postpone cost,effective preventive measures. We show in this paper that the Precautionary Principle contradicts one important intuition about the right way to act in the face of risk, namely the principle of ,looking before you leap'. When we expect to learn more about the future, the effectiveness of our preventive measures will be greater if we learn before we act. However, a number of other ways of taking uncertainty into account are consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the Precautionary Principle. First, postponing preventive measures may increase our vulnerability to damage, which induces a precautionary motive for risk,prevention, similar to the precautionary savings motive. Secondly, stronger preventive actions often yield more flexibility for the future, so that acting early has an option value. Thirdly, when better information comes from a process of learning,by,doing, the risk associated with early events is amplified by the information they yield about the future. This plays a role analogous to that of an increase in risk aversion, making us more cautious. Fourthly, because imperfect knowledge of the risk makes it difficult to insure, the social cost of risk should include a risk premium. Finally, uncertainty about the economic environment enjoyed by future generations should be taken into account. This raises the benefit of acting early to prevent long,term risks. If the Precautionary Principle sometimes gives good and sometimes gives bad advice, there is no escape from the need to undertake a careful cost,benefit analysis. We show that standard cost,benefit analysis can be refined to take account of scientific uncertainty, in ways that balance the Precautionary Principle against the benefits of waiting to learn before we act. Furthermore, it is important that they be used to do so, for instinct is an unreliable guide in such circumstances. Abandoning cost,benefit analysis in favour of simple maxims can result in some seriously misleading conclusions. [source]


    Venture Capitalists' Decision to Syndicate

    ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2006
    Sophie Manigart
    Financial theory, access to deal flow, selection, and monitoring skills are used to explain syndication in venture capital firms in six European countries. In contrast with U.S. findings, portfolio management motives are more important for syndication than individual deal management motives. Risk sharing, portfolio diversification, and access to larger deals are more important than selection and monitoring of deals. This holds for later stage and for early stage investors. Value adding is a stronger motive for syndication for early stage investors than for later stage investors, however. Nonlead investors join syndicates for the selection and value-adding skills of the syndicate partners. [source]