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sector." Bad corporate loans could send new shockwaves through financial markets already shaken by recession, the authors argue. Their working paper, "Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection in the Originate-to-Distribute Model of Bank Credit," is available on the Social Science Research Network. UPCOMING & ONGOING n IMPROVING DISASTER MANAGEMENT Sanjay Jain, assistant professor of decision sciences at the George Washington School of Business in Washington, D.C., has received a $256,937 grant from the National Institute of Standards and Tech- nology. Jain will use the grant to study how modeling and simulation (M&S) applications can improve disaster management practices. He hopes to create advanced model- ing simulations to improve disaster evaluation, rescue coordination, and local government response. In addition, because M&S applications currently available are largely cus- tomized, Jain plans to develop stan- dard, integrated applications so that diverse agencies can better work together in a disaster situation. What Inspires Good Performance? When it comes to motivating employees to work longer and more produc- tively, employers often turn to big- ger paychecks. But that may not be the right approach, according to a study conducted by Dan Ariely, professor of behavioral economics at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in Durham, North Carolina; Uri Gneezy, professor of economics and strategy at the University of Cali- fornia San Diego's Rady School of Management; George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychol- n CENTER FOR LAW AND ECONOMICS In October, France's ESSEC Busi- ness School in Paris inaugurated the European Center for Law and Economics (CEDE), devoted to research on intersections between legal systems and business perfor- mance. The new center is directed ogy in the department of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania; and Nina Mazar, a marketing professor at the University of Toron- to's Rotman School of Management in Canada. In an experiment, the research- ers gave participants various games to play, anagrams to solve, sums to add, and keys to press. They offered incentives for good performance, ranging from low to high. They found that financial incen- by Viviane de Beaufort, professor of European law; Jean Monet, chair and academic director of the ESSEC law department; and Fré- déric Jenny, professor of econom- ics. CEDE's research will appear in a special collection, Recherches et Travaux en Droit et Economie, to be published by Economica. n THE TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABILITY Professors at the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Manage- ment in Canada have launched a new project, "Making it happen: the transition to a sustainable society." Funded by the Gordon Foundation and the federal gov- ernment, the project will map out different barriers to innovation and sustainability and identify ambi- tious goals for society to achieve in the next 50 to 100 years. Then, it will set up panels and focus groups to identify the institutional barriers to achieving those goals. Expected to take two years to complete, the project will be managed under the direction of André Potworowski with the help of an advisory board chaired by Tom Brzutstowski. tives did indeed improve the perfor- mance of participants in both groups on tasks requiring creative thinking, problem solving, or memory skills. However, once those incentives passed a certain threshold, partici- pants' performance suffered. The takeaway: Once payments go too high, people often "choke" under the increased pressure. The study, "Large Stakes and Big Mistakes," is available at www. rotman.utoronto.ca/newthinking/ largestakes.pdf. n z BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2009 55