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This article explores the work of the Peruvian painter Carlos Baca-Flor, who was the best-paid portraitist of his time and who painted over a hundred of New York's most powerful people in the first few decades of the twentieth century. His most famous work is undoubtedly his portrait of James Pierpont Morgan, a painting whose careful, illusionistic precision was praised for the clarity with which it captured an essential truth about Morgan's character. This portrait assumes greater complexity, however, when viewed alongside earlier works created by the artist in Paris. There, he navigated the pressures of his Latin American identity and adopted a Post-Impressionist approach to the face which seemed to detach the face from the personhood it represents. With this incongruity in mind, this article considers Baca-Flor's Morgan portrait as part of a larger exploration of faces and what they can communicate about the racial and national identities of their subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents commentary from the executive secretary of the American Finance Association (AFA). AFA depends upon the efforts of volunteers, and opportunities are available to those who might like to serve as a reviewer or co-editor, be a discussant at the annual meeting, or serve on the Board of Directors. Owing to space limitations, the 1999 AFA Annual Meeting to be held in New York CIty will involve ten percent fewer sessions than in previous years' meetings, and this number is expected to stay stable for the next three years.

In this paper we analyze the portfolio selection problem from a novel perspective based on the analysis and prediction of the time series corresponding to the portfolio's value. Namely, we define the value of a particular portfolio at the time of its acquisition. Using the time series of historical prices of the different financial assets, we calculate backward the value that said portfolio would have had in past time periods. A damped trend model is then used to analyze this time series and to predict the future values of the portfolio, providing estimates of the mean and variance for different forecasting horizons. These measures are used to formulate the portfolio selection problem, which is solved using a multi-objective genetic algorithm. To show the performance of this procedure, we use a data set of asset prices from the New York Stock Market. • The portfolio's value time series implicitly includes correlations among the assets. • Expected return and risk of a portfolio are derived by predicting its future value. • Efficient portfolios are provided by a multi-objective genetic algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents comments of the author on the article "Equity and the Finance of Higher Education," by Lee Hansen. Hansen has dome a through job of laying out a smorgasbord of schemes for finding college education and highlighting some of the main equity considerations. He observes that efficiency arguments based upon external benefits lack empirical footing and than proceeds to the analytically less ambiguous but equally unsustained equity issues. Here the very range of his discussion serves to emphasize the diversity of objectives and the lack of factual knowledge. Frankly, the author finds it hard to criticize the paper for sins of commission to given the state of data, for sins of omission. Alternatives are reported generally without taking sides and the author cannot fault the report. Instead of serving as critic in the traditional sense, let the author summarize a few points and then add to the speculation. Further, the distribution of attendance viewed as attendance probabilities by parental-income class is more equal than it would be in a system of full charge without accompanying loan programs.

The usual idea that European aristocracy lived from land revenue needs to be complemented. Often the aristocracy was not so alien to business as the literature sometimes has claimed. Contrary to the popular image of non-entrepreneurial aristocracy, the to Portuguese nobility financial business was not considered an unsavoury way of life, and aristocrats were actually quite active in business. Trade, brokerage, and profits could provide a very elegant gentlemanly condition, which coupled with military activities in Portugal or overseas, a really noble way of life. For the management of the overseas empire, cross-border investment, financial business, and marriage strategies were means and instruments for social mobility, in a society based on clear social cleavages resulting from the differentiation between common labourers and the highest social strata, which comprised respectable merchants and bourgeois traders. Marriage illustrates financial, and gender strategies, for social mobility, and status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors (farm, operator and household characteristics, along with farm type and regional location of the farm) affecting financial performance of new and beginning farmers and ranchers. Design/methodology/approach - Returns on assets (ROA), a measure of financial performance widely used in the farm management literature, is the ratio of net farm income plus interest payment to total assets. This measure has been used by Gloy and LaDue and Gloy et al. to measure financial performance of farmers in New York. ROA is hypothesized to be a function of operator/farm characteristics and management strategies used to manage the farm. The independent variables hypothesized to affect the farm's financial performance encompass the following three areas: farm operator characteristics, farm characteristics such as production and marketing efficiency measures, and management strategies. All standard errors were adjusted for heteroscedasticity using the Huber-White sandwich robust variance estimator based on algorithms contained in STATA. Findings - Results from this study show that although there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between age of the operator and financial performance, management strategies such as increasing the number of decision makers, engaging in value-added farming, and having a written business plan can lead to higher financial performance. Originality/value - More than 50 percent of current farmers are likely to retire in the next five years. US farmers over age 55 control more than half the farmland, while the number of new farmers replacing them has fallen since the Farm Crisis period, 1982-1987. Paralleling this shift in production, agriculture is in a decline in overall farm numbers. Concern in many states arises because the loss adversely affects the future of family farms, the farm economy and healthy rural communities. Additionally, the rapid decline in the entry of new and young farmers is an indication of rising barriers to entry, resulting in calls from within the farming community for public policy measures designed to aid new and beginning farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While in medicine, comparison of the data supplied by a clinical syndrome with the data supplied by the biological system is used to arrive at the most accurate diagnosis, the same cannot be said of financial economics: the accumulation of statistical results that contradict the Brownian hypothesis used in risk modelling, combined with serious empirical problems in the practical implementation of the Black-Scholes-Merton model, the benchmark theory of mathematical finance founded on the Brownian hypothesis, has failed to change the Brownian representation, which has endured for more than fifty years despite the extent of its invalidation by experience. Without any statistical foundations, one mathematical representation (Brownian motion) has become the established approach, acting in the minds of practitioners as a "prenotion" in the sense the word is used by Durkheim (The rules of sociological method: and selected texts on sociology and its method, Free Press, New York, 1894), i.e. a "schematic, summary representation" which has produced a kind of spontaneous epistemology. The question arises of the persistence of this mathematical (Brownian) representation, which has been the basis for every financial risk modelling approach: how can its long life be explained? How was this spontaneous epistemology formed, and why did it prove to be so persistent? To address this question and offer an answer, I will test the various dynamics of scientific knowledge used with reference to financial modelling. All these dynamics are specific ways of describing the relationship between knowledge of a phenomenon (here, the representation of a stock market dynamic) and the phenomenon itself (here, stock price fluctuations). Observing that it is impossible for the positivist approach to solve the financial puzzle, I turn to the three principal postpositivist dynamics, developed by Kuhn, Lakatos and Quine. I shall try to make to speak these representations of science for financial research, in order to reflect on the dominance of the Brownian representation in finance. We shall see that none of the epistemologies examined can explain why the Brownian representation continues to be used in mathematical finance research. I shall then propose an alternative hypothesis, concerning a significant pervading mental model that has irrigated both academics and practitioners in the financial sector: the "principle of continuity" introduced into economics by Marshall in (Principles of economics, Macmillan, London, 1890). I consider that this principle of continuity has become a "persistent idea" in the form of a viral approach to representations, and I give this persistent idea the metaphorical name of the "Brownian virus". Then, to explain the spread of this Brownian virus through the financial sector, the contamination of financial practices by this mental representation founded on the principle of continuity, I introduce the concept of the "financial Logos", a discourse that structures practices and organisations, calculations, prudential regulations and accounting standards, leading to a general financialisation of society from the 1980s onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospitals under financial pressure may struggle to maintain quality and patient safety and have worse patient outcomes relative to well-resourced hospitals. Poor predictive validity may explain why previous studies on the association between finances and quality/safety have been equivocal. This manuscript employs principal component analysis to produce robust measures of both financial status and quality/safety of care, to assess our a priori hypothesis: hospital financial performance is associated with the provision of quality care, as measured by quality and safety processes, patient outcomes, and patient centered care. Methods: This 2014 cross-sectional study investigated hospital financial condition and hospital quality and safety at acute care hospitals. The hospital financial data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) cost report were used to develop a composite financial performance score using principal component analysis. Hospital quality and patient safety were measured with a composite quality/safety performance score derived from principal component analysis, utilizing a range of established quality and safety indicators including: risk-standardized inpatient mortality, 30-day mortality, 30-day readmissions for select conditions, patient safety indicators from inpatient admissions, process of care chart reviews, CMS value-based purchasing total performance score and patient experience of care surveys. The correlation between the composite financial performance score and the composite quality/safety performance score was calculated using linear regression adjusting for hospital characteristics. Results: Among the 108 New York State acute care facilities for which data were available, there is a clear relationship between hospital financial performance and hospital quality/safety performance score (standardized correlation coefficient 0.34, p<0.001). The composite financial performance score is also positively associated with the CMS Value Based Purchasing Total Performance Score (standardized correlation coefficient 0.277, p = 0.002); while it is negatively associated with 30 day readmission for all outcomes (standardized correlation coefficient -0.236, p = 0.013), 30-day readmission for congestive heart failure (standardized correlation coefficient -0.23, p = 0.018), 30 day readmission for pneumonia (standardized correlation coefficient -0.209, p = 0.033), and a decrease in 30-day mortality for acute myocardial infarction (standardized correlation coefficient -0.211, p = 0.027). Used alone, operating margin and total margin are poor predictors of quality and safety outcomes. Conclusions: Strong financial performance is associated with improved patient reported experience of care, the strongest component distinguishing quality and safety. These findings suggest that financially stable hospitals are better able to maintain highly reliable systems and provide ongoing resources for quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current debate about taxing financial transactions is often presented as a brand new one. It is not. At the turn of the 19th century, a similar tax was debated in France and the US Financial actors fought the tax mightily. Those actors were very powerful. Yet, they lost. A tax on stock transfers (STT) was established. Why? Through a comparative analysis of France and the State of New York, this article argues that the tax was adopted because politicians interested in capitalizing on public discontent endeavored to publicize and frame the STT in simple and antagonizing terms. Strong but heterogeneous public hostility against finance got focused on the explicitly politicized issue of the tax. Political salience disrupted the logics of 'quiet politics' and momentarily undermined the privileged position of finance. Despite intense lobbying and threats to relocate from financiers, elected officials chose to vote for the STT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses on the response of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education of New York State on the teacher's supply and demand. It gives a list of conditions in dealing with the supply and demand issue. It includes the management of a regular relationship study between supply and demand, development of entrance and placement data-gathering techniques, distinguished degree and certification, assistance of state-financed incentives and suggestions on regional priorities and regional emphasis.

This article explores whether or not the presence and funding of neighborhood organizations are associated with local crime rates and how this impact differs by level of crime. The small body of literature on social organizations suggests there are no associations between social organizations and crime. Furthermore, the link between community organizations and neighborhood crime rates has not been analyzed longitudinally. Based on an analysis of two time periods, this article reveals causal mechanisms that influence neighborhood crime rates. The article uses geocoded incident-level crime and discretionary funding data from New York City for both 2010 and 2015. The analysis shows that neighborhood organizations supported by discretionary funding drive down crime rates, although this effect varies by initial level of crime in 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a report of the representative to the American Council of the Learned Societies (ACLS) to the Executive Committee of the American Sociological Society. The report was presented at the council's thirty-first meeting at Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, on January 29-30, 1948. A leading paper presented in the meeting was entitled "Where do the Humanities go from Here? A Program for the ACLS." The program was in brief, that once a number of areas of council concern have been determined, panels for continuous consideration of each one be formed, in the first instance by members of the council, with the right to co-opt others as needed and that these panels be in each case activated by a member of the executive staff. The spirit of the thing presented in the report is perennially revitalizing to those who are striving to reconcile scholarship and action in a dynamic and perplexing world. Still more specific were reports on the work of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the participation of scholars from the U.S. in international intellectual cooperation, a highly informative account of prospective procedures for utilization of funds made available under the Fulbright Act and a description of the program for translation and publication of important works obtained from Eastern Europe.

Publicly funded social services are an increasingly important component of social provision spending, accounting for approximately one-fifth of today's welfare state expenditures. These funds are often allocated through purchase of service contracts between state and municipal agencies and third-party providers, usually nonprofit organizations. This study uses a unique dataset of government contracts with nonprofit organizations in New York City between 1997 and 2001 to study the relationship between the allocation of social services funding across neighborhoods and neighborhood need. We distinguish between local organizations serving their immediate neighborhoods and distributive organizations serving multiple neighborhoods. Overall, contract dollars allocated to both organizational types are positively associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, although distributive organizations are less likely to be physically located in needy neighborhoods. However, contract dollars for services targeted to specific populations are sometimes negatively associated with the prevalence of these targeted populations, especially when those contracts go to distributive organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the budget crisis related with state and local government employee health care costs and describes the health care liability for localities in New York State. It explains the major concerns raised by local government interest groups and bond rating firms regarding health care liability and offers some remedies to mitigate the budgeting problem related with financing health care costs.

The article focuses on the allocation of the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) spending components to New Jersey and New York. It says that the local allocation of ARRA funds shows the $35 billion of stimulus spending in New York were concentrated in expanded funding for Medicaid. It mentions that New Jersey has been allocated with $12 billion which went to extend unemployment insurance benefits.

The article examines the historic development of the New York State Historical Association (NYSHA) and its mission to connect citizens to state history, called the "Cooperstown Idea." The author documents many professional and public historians' involvement with the Association throughout its history. The organization's finances are explored, as is the development of its art and artifacts collections. The various historical museums run by the NYSHA are discussed as well. It is noted that the Association is largely interdisciplinary in its approach to public history education and supports the American studies discipline.

The impact of news from the Moscow and New York stock exchanges on the daily returns and volatilities of Baltic stock market indices is studied. A nonlinear time series model that accounts for asymmetries in conditional mean and variance functions is used for the empirical work. News from New York has stronger effects on returns in Tallinn than news from Moscow. High-risk shocks in New York have a stronger impact on volatility in Tallinn, whereas volatility in Vilnius is more influenced by high-risk shocks from Moscow. Riga seems not to be affected by news arriving from abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on cost savings estimates of alternative punishments to imprisonment for offenders in the U.S. It explores various evidenced-based substitutes to detention and projected savings in some states that have high numbers of prisoners including California, Texas, and New York. It notes that calculation of imprisonment costs is derived by multiplying its annual costs with time served of offense type. It mentions that electronic monitoring (EM) is one of intermediate sanction primarily for white collar offenders, and is effective in rehabilitation of prisoners in a community. It also discloses the promising results of a drug court as an alternative method based on a review by the Government Accountability Office.

Surprisingly little is know about the financial management practices of charter schools. The literature offer policymakers only anecdotal answers to the following important questions: Who manages charter school finances and what educational and previous employment experiences do they bring to their positions? What do audited financial statements reveal about the fiscal management practices of charter schools? What fiscal management training opportunities do the charter business officials and trustees receive and want? This article reports on a study that provides answers to these questions. Using multiple methods to analyze data from New York charter schools, this study shows, for example, that charter officials are variously prepared and desire more professional development in certain financial practices. The implications for policy and practice of these and other are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on issues raised in a paper presented by the Smith Conservation Fellows at the Society for Conservation Biology's meeting in New York City in Summer 2004. Findings of the Smith Fellows about the correlation between conservation priorities and spending; Reaction of conservation biologists to the study; Background on the conflict between the conservative groups and the researchers.

The article examines the proposed memorial at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York. It states that the proposed memorial site plan would cost $1 billion to complete. "The New York Daily News," criticize the one billion dollar budget as unaffordable and impractical. Another publication, "The New York Times," who obtained a confidential memo revealing the proposed estimate called it breathtaking. According to the author, the former site of the twin towers will surely attract much more scrutiny in years to come.

In September 2003, several prominent mutual fund companies came under investigation for illegal trading practices. Allegations suggested these funds allowed certain investors to profit from short-term trading schemes at the expense of other investors. Surprisingly, regulatory authorities have known for more than two decades of the potential for such abuses, yet have taken limited steps to correct the problem. We explore investor reaction to the scandal by measuring assets under management, stock returns, and performance. Mutual funds managed by investigated firms show a substantial decline in post-announcement assets under management. These firms also experienced significantly negative announcement-period returns. Finally, we discuss several policy suggestions to prevent future trading abuses and provide direction for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notes that philanthropist George Soros announced a $3 million donation to the New York Institute of Public Health for a joint project with three Russian scientific organizations. Goal of the project.