In this paper, the authors develop and test a model of the effect of alternative compensation arrangements on productive efficiency in medical group practices. The technique employed is maximum likelihood production frontier estimation. The authors provide a simple behavioral model of the determination of productive efficiency and a new interpretation of the economic measure of technical efficiency. They derive a "behavioral production function" that relates production to individual responses to incentives, and they indicate that the impossibility of recovering the parameters of the production technology from observed behavior. Overall, the empirical results indicate that incentives do affect productivity.

This paper develops a theory of choice among alternative procedures for distributing cash from corporations to shareholders. Despite the preferential tax treatment of capital gains for individual investors, it is shown that a majority of a firm's shareholders may support a dividend payment for small distributions. For larger distributions an open market stock repurchase is likely to be preferred by a majority of shareholders, and for the largest distributions tender offer repurchases dominate.

This paper develops a theory of choice among alternative procedures for distributing cash from corporations to shareholders. Despite the preferential tax treatment of capital gains for individual investors, it is shown that a majority of a firm's shareholders may support a dividend payment for small distributions. For larger distributions an open market stock repurchase is likely to be preferred by a majority of shareholders, and for the largest distributions tender offer repurchases dominate.