Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interest Rates and Investment in East Asia: An Empirical Evaluation of Various Financial Liberalisation Hypotheses

The article attempts to shed light on the appropriate interest rate policy in the process of economic development. To this end, we examine whether higher interest rates lead to higher investment (and growth) in four East Asian countries. We find that the investment rate went up with real interest rates up to 9 per cent in all four countries but started declining at still higher interest rates in two of the countries. Further, a banking crisis occurred in each of the three countries for which the real interest rates exceeded 9 per cent. This evidence rejects the ‘neo-structuralist’ argument. Nor does it support unbridled financial liberalisation. Yet, it provides only limited support to Stiglitz's case for ‘mild financial repression (real interest rates near zero)’ since reducing real interest rates from say, 6 to 3 or 0 per cent would have reduced investment. The optimum policy seems to be closest to McKinnon's ‘restrained financial liberalisation’ policy, that is, liberalisation with a moderate upper limit (about 6 or 7 per cent) on the real interest rates.
Multiterminal detection with zero-rate data compression

The asymptotic performance of a multiterminal detection system comprising a central detector and two remote sensors that have access to discrete, spatially dependent, and temporally memoryless observations is discussed. It is assumed that prior to transmitting information to the central detector, each sensor compresses its observations at a rate which approaches zero as the sample size tends to infinity, and that, on the basis of the compressed data from both sensors, the central detector seeks to determine whether the true distribution of the observations belongs to a null class II or an alternative class Xi . Under the criterion that stipulates minimization of the type-II error rate subject to an upper bound epsilon on the type-I error rate, it is shown that, in the case of simple distribution classes ( mod Pi mod = mod Xi mod =1), the error exponent achievable by such a system has a simple characterization, is independent of the value of epsilon , and is insensitive to changes in compression rate as long as the asymptotic rate on one of the sensors is zero. >
Common Stock Appraisal in Relation to Their Price-Earning Ratios Using Risk-Adjusted Measures: An Emerging Market Perspective

In this paper, an attempt was made to determine empirically the relationship between investment performance of equity securities and their P/E ratios using risk-adjusted measures. While the efficient market hypothesis denies the possibility of earning excess returns, the price-earnings hypothesis highlighted that P/E ratios, due to exaggerated investor expectations, may be indicated of future investment performance. The study used 83 of Jordanian Companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE), one of the emerging markets, and observed the monthly returns of these firms over the period April 1996- March 2004. This issue has not yet been subjected to direct empirical investigation at the emerging markets such as ASE, which provides the importance of this study. After adopting the Augmented Dickey-Fuller Unit Root for testing the satisfying stationarity assumption, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression results suggest that gaining abnormal return is a function of changes in Portfolio’s P/E over the period considered. The study, therefore, supports the hypothesis that the P/E has important implications for portfolio’s performance, a result supporting the rejection of the semi-strong level of efficiency for ASE.
An optimal recursive method for various inventory replenishment models with increasing demand and shortages

We establish various inventory replenishment policies to solve the problem of determining the timing and number of replenishments. We then analytically compare various models, and identify the best alternative among them based on minimizing total relevant costs. Furthermore, we propose a simple and computationally efficient optimal method in a recursive fashion, and provide two examples for illustration. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 44: 791–806, 1997
SOME FORMAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ECONOMIC VALUES AND YIELDS AND ACCOUNTING NUMBERS

This paper reports a number of results concerning the relationship between accounting numbers and economic values and yields. Some of the results have appeared previously in the literature and some are new. They have been collected together in a common analytical framework in order to demonstrate their formal, mathematical character. It is shown that present value can be obtained by discounting almost any profit numbers; that accounting rates of return define a discount function directly analagous to the term structure and the internal rate of return; and that the internal rate of return can be expressed as a linear weighted sum of accounting rates of return.
Finite-Time Semistability and Consensus for Nonlinear Dynamical Networks

This paper focuses on semistability and finite-time stability analysis and synthesis of systems having a continuum of equilibria. Semistability is the property whereby the solutions of a dynamical system converge to Lyapunov stable equilibrium points determined by the system initial conditions. In this paper, we merge the theories of semistability and finite-time stability to develop a rigorous framework for finite-time semistability. In particular, finite-time semistability for a continuum of equilibria of continuous autonomous systems is established. Continuity of the settling-time function as well as Lyapunov and converse Lyapunov theorems for semistability are also developed. In addition, necessary and sufficient conditions for finite-time semistability of homogeneous systems are addressed by exploiting the fact that a homogeneous system is finite-time semistable if and only if it is semistable and has a negative degree of homogeneity. Unlike previous work on homogeneous systems, our results involve homogeneity with respect to semistable dynamics, and require us to adopt a geometric description of homogeneity. Finally, we use these results to develop a general framework for designing semistable protocols in dynamical networks for achieving coordination tasks in finite time.
Commodity Liquidity Measurement and Transaction Costs

We examine the performance of liquidity proxies in commodities. The Amihud measure has the largest correlation with liquidity benchmarks. Amivest and Effective Tick measures also perform well. These proxies are useful for studies of commodity liquidity over a long time period and those that lack access to high-frequency data. We use various aspects of transaction costs, such as spread, depth, immediacy, and resiliency, to give insight into the costs of different execution approaches. Transaction costs increase with volatility and exhibit mean reversion. Splitting trades over one hour can reduce trading costs by two-thirds compared to an immediate execution. The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. , Oxford University Press.
Security Markets versus Bank Finance: Legal Enforcement and Investors' Protection

When minority investors’ rights are poorly protected, the ability of firms to raise equity capital is impaired, leading to less finance for new ventures. Fewer firms will be financed with outside equity, resulting in a low market capitalization relative to GNP. External funding requires easily enforceable claims such as debt or requires long‐term relationships with institutions. Provision of funding shifts from risk capital to debt, and to a predominance of intermediated over market finance. We report supporting evidence for a few countries. To measure investor protection, we use a price measure, the premium on voting stock, related to the control premium. In countries where the voting premium is large, corporate financing is dominated by bank lending and equity markets are much smaller.
Differential Gene Expression Response to Gonadal Hormones by Preoptic Regulatory Factors-1 and -2 in the Female Rat Brain

Steroids and neuropeptides interact in the central nervous system (CNS) to regulate reproductive function and behavior. The preoptic regulatory factors, PORF-1 and PORF-2, are unique neuropeptides for which roles in gender-related brain development and function have been proposed. PORF-1 and PORF-2 expression in rat brain are age, region and gender dependent, and castration or hypophysectomy alter the metabolism of the PORF-1 and PORF-2 mRNAs in male rat brain and testes. If these two peptides have a role in gender-dependent brain function, then gonadal steroids might well affect their expression. The present study was designed to investigate the response of the PORF-1 and PORF-2 mRNAs to sex steroids in the female rat brain and to compare this response to that of two peptides whose roles in the neuroendocrinology of reproduction are well established, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and neuropeptide Y (NPY). Rats were ovariectomized and treated with placebo, estradiol (E2), progesterone (P4) or a combination of the two (E2/P4) and NPY, PORF-2, GnRH and PORF-1 mRNAs were quantified by nuclease protection assays. PORF-1, PORF-2 and GnRH mRNAs were also measured in intact rats during estrus and proestrus. Responses were compared in the preoptic anterior hypothalamus (POA), medial basal hypothalamus (MBH), cerebral cortex (CC) and hippocampus (HIPP). Expression of PORF-1 and PORF-2 was also confirmed in the female rat hypothalamus by in situ hybridization analysis. PORF-1 and PORF-2 mRNAs were detected in the adult female rat brain by both in situ hybridization and ribonuclease protection analyses. In situ hybridization analysis demonstrated that PORF-1 and PORF-2 mRNAs are expressed in hypothalamic neurons. RNase protection analysis showed that PORF-1, PORF-2 and NPY mRNAs were present in all four brain regions examined while GnRH expression was detected only in the MBH and POA. Estradiol alone upregulated expression of the PORF-1 and PORF-2 mRNAs in the ovariectomized rat in the POA and HIPP, and of NPY mRNA in the MBH and HIPP. Progesterone alone had a stimulatory effect on NPY mRNA in the MBH and HIPP. Treatment with a combination of E2/P4 downregulated PORF-2 mRNA in the POA as well as PORF-1, PORF-2 and NPY mRNAs in the CC. In contrast, E2/P4 upregulated the PORF-2 and NPY mRNAs in the HIPP and NPY mRNA in the MBH. In the cycling rat, PORF-1 mRNA levels were higher during proestrus than estrus in both the MBH and POA, while PORF-2 mRNA levels did not change. In contrast GnRH mRNA was lower in the POA and higher in the MBH during proestrus compared with estrus. Thus, intrinsic factors, most likely both ovarian and neuroendocrine, regulate PORF-1 and GnRH expression in the intact cycling rat CNS in a region-dependent manner. In the ovariectomized rat, PORF-1, PORF-2, NPY and GnRH mRNAs all respond in a region-specific manner to sex steroid treatment. These data support the role of PORF-1 and PORF-2 in gender-dependent brain function in the adult female rat.
Diversity among Norwegian Boards of Directors: Does a Quota for Women Improve Firm Performance?

Exploiting the Norwegian boards of directors’ quota reform of 2003, this study evaluates the impact of increased diversity on firm performance. Applying difference-in-difference approaches to accounting data covering the period 2003–07, the paper compares the return on assets for non-finance public limited companies (PLCs) and ordinary limited companies (LTDs), whereof only the former were affected by the reform. The impact of the reform on firm performance is negligible. Neither changed return on total assets (ROA) nor changed operating revenues and cost can be attributed to the reform. However, following the reform PLCs have to a larger extent accumulated capital, financed by debt or by a combination of debt and own capital.
Blood glutathione synthesis rates in healthy adults receiving a sulfur amino acid-free diet.

The availability of cysteine is thought to be the rate limiting factor for synthesis of the tripeptide glutathione (GSH), based on studies in rodents. GSH status is compromised in various disease states and by certain medications leading to increased morbidity and poor survival. To determine the possible importance of dietary cyst(e)ine availability for whole blood glutathione synthesis in humans, we developed a convenient mass spectrometric method for measurement of the isotopic enrichment of intact GSH and then applied it in a controlled metabolic study. Seven healthy male subjects received during two separate 10-day periods an L-amino acid based diet supplying an adequate amino acid intake or a sulfur amino acid (SAA) (methionine and cysteine) free mixture (SAA-free). On day 10, L-[1-(13)C]cysteine was given as a primed, constant i.v. infusion (3 micromol x kg(-1) x h(-1)) for 6 h, and incorporation of label into whole blood GSH determined by GC/MS selected ion monitoring. The fractional synthesis rate (mean +/- SD; day(-1)) of whole blood GSH was 0.65 +/- 0.13 for the adequate diet and 0.49 +/- 0.13 for the SAA-free diet (P < 0.01). Whole blood GSH was 1,142 +/- 243 and 1,216 +/- 162 microM for the adequate and SAA-free periods (P > 0.05), and the absolute rate of GSH synthesis was 747 +/- 216 and 579 +/- 135 micromol x liter(-1) x day(-1), respectively (P < 0.05). Thus, a restricted dietary supply of SAA slows the rate of whole blood GSH synthesis and diminishes turnover, with maintenance of the GSH concentration in healthy subjects.
Important Role of Adrenergic Mechanisms in Acute Glucose Counterregulation Following Insulin-induced Hypoglycemia in Type I Diabetes: Evidence for an Effect Mediated by Beta-Adrenoreceptors

During hypoglycemia induced by an i.v. insulin infusion for 60 min, rates of plasma glucose (PG) decrease and recovery, PG nadir, and plasma counter-regulatory hormone and free fatty acid responses were studied in eight type I uncomplicated diabetic subjects and eight nondiabetic subjects. Each subject was tested three times at two different rates of insulin infusion (25 and 32 mU/m2/min): (1) during infusion of saline, (2) during infusion of phentolamine + propranolol (combined alpha, beta-blockade), and (3) during infusion of propranolol alone (isolated beta-blockade) for 150 min. At the time of the studies, the diabetic subjects had been made euglycemic by an overnight i.v. insulin infusion. During infusion of insulin (25 mU/m2/min) and saline, the rates of PG decrease and recovery were slower (P < 0.01) and PG nadir was delayed in the diabetic subjects. Moreover, their plasma glucagon response was blunted while plasma epinephrine, norepinephrine, growth hormone, and cortisol responses were similar in both groups. Infusion of insulin at 32 mU/m2/min caused larger decreases in PG than had been observed when insulin was infused at 25 mU/m2/min. Plasma glucagon responses increased in the nondiabetic subjects (P < 0.05) but not in the diabetic subjects. However, in the diabetic subjects, plasma epinephrine increased more than in the nondiabetic subjects (P < 0.05). There was an inverse correlation between the individual plasma epinephrine responses and the plasma glucagon responses in the diabetic subjects (r = −0.72) but not in the nondiabetic subjects. Alpha, beta-adrenergic blockade decreased the plasma glucose nadir and impaired the rate at which normoglycemia was restored in the diabetic subjects (P < 0.005 vs. saline) but not in the nondiabetic subjects. Plasma catecholamine and growth hormone responses were increased and plasma FFA recovery was suppressed in both groups (P < 0.05 vs. saline), while the cortisol responses were unaltered. During isolated beta-adrenergic blockade, changes in plasma glucose, counterregulatory hormones and FFA were essentially identical to those observed during combined alpha, beta-adrenergic blockade in both groups except that the augmented plasma norepinephrine responses were no longer apparent. Conclusions although epinephrine is not essential for prompt restoration of normoglycemia in normal man following insulin-induced hypoglycemia, it plays a major role in glucose counterregulation in diabetics who have an impaired glucagon secretion in response to hypoglycemia. These counterregulatory effects of epinephrine are mediated by beta-adrenoreceptors.
Creativity work environment: do UK advertising agencies have one?

Purpose – The aim of the present study is to identify whether the work environment of advertising agencies display the key elements (both positive and negative) of the conceptual categories which Amabile et al. hypothesise influence organisational creativity.Design/methodology/approach – Amabile et al.'s model proposes five conceptual categories which the KEYS instrument, developed from their conceptual framework, measures using ten scales reflecting different dimensions of the work environment. The KEYS instrument is employed in this research to survey staff from two London‐based advertising agencies. The aim was to gain information from individuals across functions and at all levels within these organisations.Findings – This research found that the UK advertising agencies are organised in a manner that allows them to strongly reinforce three key dimensions, work group supports, lack of organisational impediments and organisational encouragement, which Amabile et al. suggest are critical in facilitating .
FDI and intra-industry trade: theory and empirical evidence from the Visegrad Countries

This paper analyses impact of the foreign direct investment (FDI) on the intra-industry trade (IIT) patterns in the Visegrad Countries (VCs) (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in the period 1995â€“2008. The FDI has been a driving force of these countriesâ€™ foreign trade, especially for the IIT. From the theory and previous empirical studies, it results that the FDI has a positive impact on vertical intra-industry trade (VIIT), while the influence of this variable on horizontal intra-industry trade (HIIT) is ambiguous. Using a panel data approach, the determinants of HIIT and VIIT were identified. The obtained results confirmed that the FDI in the VCs stimulated not only VIIT, but also HIIT.
Accounting for war risk costs: management accounting change at Guinness during the First World War

This paper explores management accounting change at the St. James's Gate Brewery of Arthur Guinness & Sons Ltd brought about by the effects of the First World War (WWI). In particular, how additional war risk costs were accounted for internally is revealed. Using organisational routines as a theoretical backdrop, new management accounting practices are interpreted. These new practices allocated war risk costs incurred by head office (in Dublin) to other parts of the company. The key role of existing management accounting routines in the formation of new routines is also revealed. Although WWI was an exogenous driver of change, endogenous change also featured as existing practices guided the creation/adaptation of routines. In essence, accountants within the Guinness Company drew upon their existing knowledge to deal with a new and complex scenario (i.e. the war). Thus, change and stability went hand in hand. Although change did occur, it was moderate and more adaptive, which signifies that existing accounting routines were strong and adaptable to major drivers of change such as WWI.
Option Pricing Using Realized Volatility

In the present paper we suggest to model Realized Volatility, an estimate of daily volatility based on high frequency data, as an Inverse Gaussian distributed variable with time varying mean, and we examine the joint properties of Realized Volatility and asset returns. We derive the appropriate dynamics to be used for option pricing purposes in this framework, and we show that our model explains some of the mispricings found when using traditional option pricing models based on interdaily data. We then show explicitly that a Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic model with Normal Inverse Gaussian distributed innovations is the corresponding benchmark model when only daily data is used. Finally, we perform an empirical analysis using stock options for three large American companies, and we show that in all cases our model performs significantly better than the corresponding benchmark model estimated on return data alone. Hence the paper provides evidence on the value of using high frequency data for option pricing purposes.
Constraints to Sustainable Forest Management of Africa's Humid Forests: The ATIBT Experience

SUMMARY The African resource, and in particular the Congo Basin contains the world's second largest forest area, after the Amazon, and there is a global concern for it to be sustainably managed. Practical solutions are essential if sustainable forest management is to be achieved, considering the costs and technical capacity involved. However, a certain number of difficulties must be overcome such as ill-adapted forestry laws, lack of necessary technical capacity amongst the managers and the actual cost of management. Solutions for sustainable forest management therefore include training and negotiations to better adapt legislation as well as practical issues such as reduced impact logging and the promotion of secondary species which will not only have a positive effect on the regeneration and management of the forest, but which are also more efficient in terms of costs. Certification is also a means of achieving a premium to offset the increased costs of sustainable forest management.
Playing with Fire: Endogenous Risk in Resource Management

Prescribed fire as a wildfire risk mitigation tool is receiving increasing attention in the United States after a century of emphasis on suppression. A dynamic economic model of prescribed fire use, precaution, and timing is developed and applied to three important policy issues: vegetation management on the wildland-urban interface; the effect of liability on vegetation management decisions; and the problem of heavy initial fuel loads after years of suppression and fuel accumulation. Numerical simulation results are presented as illustrations of the analytical model.
Small Firms and Local Economic Development in South London

A growing body of literature has identified a number of potential constraints on small firm growth. Arguably, the severity of these constraints is closely related to the differing fortunes of industries and firms and the extent of localised external economies or diseconomies. This paper looks at the constraints facing manufacturing and business service firms in a large urban area. The paper draws on findings from a survey of small firms in Croydon. Data from the survey reveal some differences between small manufacturing and service firms in their experience of the urban environment. Physical constraints on expansion and labour shortages appear to be hindering small manufacturing firms in Croydon. Deficiencies in specific niches of the local business service sector may be preventing small business service firms from complementing and enhancing their internal capabilities. The problems facing small firms in Croydon and the sorts of local policy initiatives being developed are likely to be applicable to other large urban areas.