Perry and Wise (1990) argued that people with high public service motivation (PSM) are more likely than others to choose government jobs, to perform better on the job, and to respond more to nonutilitarian incentives once in government. Using multiple regression and logit analyses on responses by 35,000 federal, white-collar employees to the 1991 Survey of Federal Employees and the 1996 Merit Principles Survey, this article tests the link between PSM and job performance in the federal service. There is mixed evidence on whether PSM positively affected grades and performance ratings, clearer evidence that employees who expected to receive a material reward for exceptional performance attained higher grades and performance ratings, and no evidence that the link between material rewards and performance mattered any less to those with high PSM.

This paper analyses the influence of financial leverage decisions, dividend payout policies and the ownership structure on the firm market value when companies either face, or do not face, profitable growth opportunities. A sample of 101 large non-financial publicly-traded Spanish companies is used. The results confirm the relevance of debt and dividends in terms of firm value creation by showing a negative relationship between firm value and both leverage and dividend payments in the presence of growth opportunities. On the contrary, this relationship turns out to be positive when firms have no profitable investment projects. The results also demonstrate the relevance of ownership structure in the allocation of firm resources.

We test hypotheses about the structure of corporate debt ownership and the use of bank debt by firms in a civil-law country, Spain. We focus on bank debt effects in the presence of information asymmetries and agency costs, and on efficient versus inefficient firm liquidation. We find that the relation between growth opportunities and bank financing is not as strong as the one found in common-law countries, that there is a positive relation between firm size and

Nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) can be triggered by metabolic disturbances and drugs in adults without previous epilepsy. We present the case of a 51-year-old woman without previous history of epilepsy and recently diagnosed with infiltrating lobular breast carcinoma. Following the administration of paclitaxel–cremophor, she presented a striking disinhibited behavior with episodic spatial disorientation, emotional indifference, and irritability. Urgent EEG was consistent with NCSE. Clinical improvement and resolution of EEG abnormalities were observed following the administration of intravenous levetiracetam and lacosamide. Other causes of NCSE were ruled out, and antiepileptic drugs were slowly tapered off without new episodes of abnormal behavior after three months of follow-up. We have reported the first case of NCSE secondary to paclitaxel–cremophor. Neurologists and oncologists should consider NCSE as an unusual complication of treatment with paclitaxel–cremophor in patients without a history of epilepsy.