There are many sources of error in counting votes on election day: the apparent winner might not be the rightful winner. Hand tallies of the votes in a random sample of precincts can be used to test the hypothesis that the wrong candidate was named the winner. This pa-per develops a conservative sequential test based on the vote-counting errors found in a hand tally of a simple or stratified random sam-ple of precincts. The procedure includes a natural escalation: If the hypothesis that the apparent outcome is incorrect is not rejected at stage s, more precincts are audited. Eventually, either the hypothe-1 sis is rejected—and the election is certified—or there has been a full recount. The test uses a priori bounds on the errors in each precinct, which can be derived from upper bounds on the number of votes cast in each precinct. It allows errors in different precincts to be treated differently to reflect voting technology or precinct sizes. The proce-dure involves the margin in the race, the number of precincts in the race and the vote counts in each precinct. It is not optimal, but it is conservative: the chance of erroneously certifying the outcome of a race if that outcome is wrong is no larger than the nominal signif-icance level. The approach also gives a conservative P-value for the hypothesis that the wrong candidate(s) was named the winner, given the discrepancies found in a fixed size sample. This is illustrated with two races from November, 2006: the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota and a school board race for the Sausalito Marin City School District in California, a small contest in which voters could vote for up to three candidates. Acknowledgments. I am grateful to Vittorio Addono, Kim Alexander,

This study, using the Cox proportional hazards model, finds that the risk of takeover rises with cost inefficiency. It also finds that a firm faces a significantly higher risk of takeover if its cost performance lags behind its industry benchmark. Moreover, these findings appear to be remarkably stable over the nearly two decades spanned by the sample. The effect of the variables used to measure the risk-size relationship, however, indicates temporal changes. Lastly, the study presents evidence from fixed-effects models of ex post cost efficiency improvements that support the hypothesis that takeover targets are selected based on the potential for improvement. Corporate takeovers have been a permanent feature of the American business landscape since the mid-1800s (Pound (1992)). Mergers and acquisitions continue to play an important role in allocating resources in the U.S. economy. The same number of mergers and acquisitions were completed in the first five years of the 1990s – about 23,000 – as in the entire previous decade (Mergers and Acquisitions, September-October, 1995). Furthermore, in the peak years of each decade, the value of takeovers equaled about one-fourth of GNP (Fortune, March 2, 1998.) The prominent role of takeovers in reallocating control over capital in the U.S. economy

theoretical perspective, the present study investigated the relationships between children's reading ability, children's sex, mothers ' educational level, and mothers ' helping behaviors during children's at-home oral reading practice. Seventy-six mother-child pairs from a suburban

, the technical wizardry enabling remote collaborations is founded on broadcasting everything as sequences of zeros and ones that one's own dog wouldn't recognize. What is to distinguish a digital dollar when it is as easily reproducible as the spoken word? How do we converse privately when every

of the subgame perfect equilibrium/sequential equilibrium correspondence. Our robustness result helps understand the limits of subgame pefect implementation, which is widely used in applications. We discuss the implications of our result for the literature on incomplete contracts.

barry c. smith EVERY speaker of a language knows a bewildering variety of linguistic facts and will come to know many more. It is knowledge that connects sound and meaning. Ques-tions about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from fundamental questions about the nature of language. The conception of language we should adopt depends on the part it plays in explaining our knowledge of language. This chapter explores options in accounting for language and our knowledge of language and defends the view that individuals ’ languages are constituted by the standing know-ledge they carry from one speech situation to another. The title of this chapter alludes, of course, to Michael Dummett’s seminal paper, ‘What Do I Know When I Know a Language? ’ in which he raises many fundamental questions for the philosopher of language. More than twenty-five years later, I hope we are at last beginning to see how to address some

Social Theory of International Politics (Social Theory) has two parts, one substantive and one philosophical. The former develops a theory of the international system as an emergent phenomenon. The elements of the system are assumed to be states, which are treated as intentional actors or “people ” (also see Wendt, 2004). The system itself is seen as an anarchy, the structure of which is defined in cultural rather than material terms. The culture of the international system can take at least three different forms – Hobbesian, Lockean, and Kantian – depending on whether states constitute each other as enemies, rivals, or friends. Progress from a Hobbesian to Kantian culture is not inevitable, but can result from historically contingent processes of collective identity formation among states. Anarchy is what states make of it. Various parts of this argument have since been taken up by others. The claim that states are people too led to a lively symposium in Review of International Studies (2004); the three cultures of anarchy figure centrally in Barry Buzan’s (2004) majesterial reworking of the English School, Dustin Howes ’ (2003) discussion of state survival, and Scott Bennett and Allan Stam’s (2004) behavioral test of various international theories;

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Organ donations from deceased donors (cadavers) provide the majority of transplanted organs in the United States, and one deceased donor can save numerous lives by providing multiple organs. Nevertheless, most Americans are not registered organ donors despite the relative ease of becoming one. We study in the laboratory an experimental game modeled on the decision to register as an organ donor, and investigate how changes in the management of the organ waiting list might impact the donation rate. We find that an organ allocation policy giving priority on waiting lists to those who previously registered as donors has a significant positive impact on registration.

for Retirement In Lake Wobegone we believe in salting money away, not only as an investment but also to remove it as a temptation. Garrison Keillor' Some experts have called for easing penalties on early withdrawals from savings plans, believing people will invest more if they know they can get their money if they need it. But most Americans appear wary of such changes, fearful of the temptation to raid their own nest eggs. Sixty percent of Americans say it is better to keep, rather than loosen, legal restrictions on retirement plans so that people don't use the money for other things. Only 36 percent prefer to make it easier for people to tap such savings before their retirement.