bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ACCELERATED DEPRECIATION AND THE FIRM'S INPUT OF CAPITAL AND LABOR
Authors: GALATIN MALCOLM
Published: January 2008

Recently there has been increased interest in accelerated depreciation as a policy tool that could induce firms to invest more and so lead to faster growth rates of productivity and output. These issues have been discussed at various times in the past with some ambiguous conclusions, but with the consensus being that the goal of increased investment (at least) would likely follow its introduction. In this paper, it is shown that in the context of a neo‐classical production model of the firm, accelerated depreciation schemes will not necessarily lead to increased investment, which is the general result of the analysis. The technique used shows how sufficient conditions may be obtained for accelerated depreciation to result in increased investment. The models that are used are relatively uncomplicated. In the first part of the paper it is assumed that the time horizon of the firm is only one period, although final capital stock is explicitly included, and in the second part of the paper the model is extended to a two period horizon. To extend the planning period of the firm further, perhaps to infinity or some general period, “T”, would simply require an increased use of symbols and an increase in the complexity of the process. It would not change the basic result of this paper, which shows that increased investment does not necessarily follow from accelerated depreciation, ceteris paribus.
OCCUPATIONAL FOLLOWING DURING THE GUILD ERA: AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE
Authors: LABAND DAVID N. , LENTZ BERNARD F. , SOPHOCLEUS JOHN P.
Published: January 2008

Family traditions in business operations are common throughout recorded history. From an economic perspective, occupational following may occur voluntarily because valuable, job‐specific human capital, which is transferred at low cost from one generation to the next, raises the son's expected return of following in his father's footsteps. Moreover, to the extent family name is utilized as a screening device for entry into restricted occupations, sons may have a double inducement to follow.
COMPARISON OF INCOME INEQUALITY MEASURES
Authors: PARK KANG H.
Published: January 2008

The size distribution of income, or income inequality, has long been a concern to scholars in many disciplines tor different reasons. Statisticians have approached the distribution of income among individuals as a stochastic process. Economists have sought to explain income distribution by means, of economic and institutional factors. More recently, economists have been interested in the effects of economic growth and government policies on income distribution. Sociologists and political scientists have thought of income inequality as a major source of social revolt or political violence.
AUSTRIANS vs. MONETARISTS ON MONEY & CREDIT
Authors: WELLS DONALD R. , GOOTZEIT MICHAEL J.
Published: January 2008

This paper focuses on the differences between the Austrian School's (Au) and the Monetarist's (Mt) position on Monetary theory. It will be shown that Au have a complete micro outlook that is not in the quantity theory tradition. Au reject central banking and coordinated monetary policy in favor of a system of free banking in which there is no government money. To Au, central banking, with its monopoly of government issued currency, not only allows commercial banks to expand credit beyond prudent limits, but also is responsible for the artificial lowering of market interest rates, followed by abnormally high investment demand, causing more volatile business cycles. In contrast, Mt do have a macro outlook that is in the quantity theory tradition. They believe in central banking, but want to limit discretionary monetary policy by using a growth rule. They focus on the aggregate price level and believe in the long run neutrality of money.
THE GOLD STANDARD AND ECONOMIC STABILITY: A COUNTERFACTUAL EXPERIMENT
Authors: DAVID BORDO MICHAEL
Published: January 2008

Growing dissatisfaction with the record of discretionary monetary policy in the United States in the past decade has led to interest in alternative monetary arrangements to restore price level and real output stability, and to allow the economy to grow to its potential, unfettered by macro instability. Several arrangements have come to the fore. These include: (1) a return to the classical gold standard—fixing the dollar price of gold and allowing the money supply to be governed by movements in the nation's monetary gold stock; (2) the Friedman (1960) rule—constraining the monetary authorities to establish and maintain a steady and known growth rate of the fiduciary money supply; (3) Irving Fisher's (1920) compensated dollar scheme—altering the official price of gold and hence the value of the monetary gold stock to stabilize some measure of the price level.
HUMAN ECONOMY: ECONOMICS AS IF PEOPLE MATTERED
Authors: ALONZO SMITH GERALD , HICKERSON STEVEN
Published: January 2008

When E. F. Schumacher first wrote Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, the initial reaction was mixed. For the first year or so, the book sold slowly. Then in 1974, the sales exploded. In a very short time, E. F. Schumacher became widely acclaimed as his book sold more than a million copies. On both sides of the Atlantic, the common person, as well as the scholar, realized that this was a new voice, a fresh and wholesome breath of wind that was blowing in the stodgy halls of economics.
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND FIRM SIZE: AN AGENCY PERSPECTIVE
Authors: GORMAN RAYMOND F.
Published: January 2008

The relationship between the amount of executive compensation and the size of the firm has long been a disputed area of economics. Baumol (1959) was among the first to observe that firm size and executive compensation appear to be positively correlated. This view was further supported by the works of McGuire, Chin and Elbing (1962), Ciscel (1974), and Walkling & Long (1984). Other studies (see e.g., Lewellen and Huntsman (1970) have contended that profit maximization is the principal determinant of variations in executive compensation. More recently, a debate has raged in the popular press as to whether executives of the auto industry deserve the largest salaries recently awarded them (see e.g., Fortune 1984).
THE THEORY OF MIXED ESTIMATION IN ECONOMETRIC MODELING
Authors: CONWAY ROGER N. , MITTELHAMMER RON C.
Published: January 2008

In the last two decades there has been considerable progress made in the development of alternative estimation techniques to ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The search for alternative estimators has no doubt been motivated by the observance of erratic OLS estimator behavior in cases where there are too few observations, multicollinearity problems, or simply “information‐poor” data sets. Imprecise and unreliable OLS coefficient estimates have been the result.
INTEREST RATES, EXPECTATIONS, AND MARGINAL TAX RATES: THE DARBY—FELDSTEIN EFFECT CONFIRMED
Authors: BOND MICHAEL T. , SMOLEN GERALD E.
Published: January 2008

According to independently developed hypotheses by Michael Darby (1975) and Martin Feldstein (1976) nominal interest rates will increase during an inflationary period by an amount which is greater than the expected rate of inflation. This occurs in order to compensate lenders for the expected loss of principal and for the taxation of the interest earned. While many authors comment on the plausibility of the Darby‐Feldstein effect, it has been difficult to support this hypotheses empirically.
QUICK AND DIRTY FORECASTS OF THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX — HOW DIRTY?
Authors: Cui Wei , Huxley Stephen J.
Published: January 2008

Many economists find it necessary to forecast inflation locally or nationally based on the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) value before the figures are released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There is no regular “official release date,” although the BLS usually targets the 20th of each month to publish the CPI for the previous month. The official annual CPI value (the mean of the twelve months) is therefore not available until January 20 of the next year. This initial figure is often revised later as additional information becomes available.
TESTS OF CARTTER'S WAGE‐PREFERENCE PATH
Authors: Bellinger William K.
Published: January 2008

Over the past decade, Allan Cartter's model of the utility maximizing union and the institutional principles upon which it is based have provided the basis for much of the neoclassical study of union behavior. The most fundamental component of Cartter's model is the union's utility function, which is defined over the wage level and the level of employment. As drawn by Cartter, this utility function expresses two specific hypotheses: (1) The elasticity of substitution between the two arguments will be small; (2) The utility function defines a wage‐preference path that is kinked at the current wage level (Cartter, 1959, p. 90–91).
“HAS THE DARBY‐FELDSTEIN EFFECT BEEN CONFIRMED?:” A COMMENT
Authors: Gissy William
Published: January 2008

In an earlier paper published in this journal, Michael Bond and Gerald Smolen (1986) set out to test for the presence of the Darby‐Feldstein effect. They regressed the nominal rate of taxable long‐term securities on the nominal yield of long‐term tax exempt municipal securities. They conclude that the parameter for the explanatory variable, which is significantly greater than one, serves as proof of the Darby‐Feldstein effect. In addition, the authors maintain that this approach yields the prospects of an inverted Fisher condition irrelevant.
HAS THE DARBY‐FELDSTEIN EFFECT BEEN CONFIRMED?: REPLY
Authors: Bond Michael T. , Smolen Gerald E.
Published: January 2008

William Gissy (1987) is absolutely correct when he asserts that the existence of a complete inverted Fisher Effect renders our test for the Darby Effect a simple measure of tax arbitrage. His mathematical development of this is well done and completely valid. Our statement on page 59 of our article (1986) that “it is irrelevant whether movements in expected inflation are reflected primarily in nominal rates or real rates” should have pointed out that, in the case of an inverted Fisher Effect, the statistical analysis does not measure the Darby‐Feldstein Effect. We do, however, have a few differences with the above point of view.
THE FREE BANKING MODEL APPLIED TO PRE‐1914 CANADIAN BANKING
Authors: WELLS DONALD R.
Published: January 2008

Some economists who normally prefer to rely on free market solutions to economic problems often consider money a special good that requires government control to prevent overissue. But free banking advocates take the position that the market can control the supply of money without any government imposed rule. The type of banking system envisioned by the latter school would be one in which banks would be subjected to no restrictions regarding balance sheet choices and would be allowed to charge what they want on loans and pay what the market dictated on any source of funds. Each bank would be free to issue distinctive banknotes as well as deposits redeemable into some reserve asset that banks would hold in accordance with their goal of profit maximization subject to the necessary liquidity cost. There would be no required reserve holding, no minimum amount of capital, nor any restrictions on the type of loans a bank could make, nor where they could establish branch offices. Government's only role would be to enforce contracts and to punish fraud.
SOME MACROECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE VALUE‐ADDED TAX: RESULTS FROM AN ECONOMETRIC MODEL
Authors: RICHARDS GORDON
Published: January 2008

This article examines the macroeconomic impact of a consumption‐based value‐added tax (VAT) using simulations of a large‐scale model. The VAT is imposed as a structural reform of the tax code rather than as a revenue‐raising device, i.e., the revenues from the VAT are offset by compensatory reductions elsewhere. Three basic scenarios are examined, in which 1) the VAT is offset by individual rate reductions, 2) abolition of the corporate profits tax in conjunction with a small individual rate cut, and 3) an investment tax credit with the balance of the revenues offset by a personal rate cut. Additionally, this paper examines the effects of the microeconomic incidence of the VAT, i.e., whether it is fully passed through to output prices or shifted back onto profits. The finding is that the VAT in general raises the long‐term level of output, but at the cost of initial output losses, which are in evidence even when the associated rise in the price level is accommodated by a corresponding shift in monetary policy. In addition to changes in the intertemporal distribution of growth, there are significant changes in the composition of GNP, which shifts away from consumption, toward business fixed investment and net exports. These changes are particularly pronounced when the VAT is fully passed through. When the tax is partially shifted back, the gains in investment and trade are less marked, while business profits are reduced, and the long‐term increase in output is smaller.
TRADE‐OFF IN STABILITY AND GROWTH: CASE STUDY OF INDIRECT TAXES IN TURKEY
Authors: GRADY PERDUE D.
Published: January 2008

Recent research in the public finance literature has developed a new model for the analysis of tax structures. Unlike the traditional income elasticity methodology, this model examines a structure in terms of its growth rate and volatility of receipts. Once a structure is analyzed, the model demonstrates how revenue volatility may be reduced without sacrificing the rate of growth of receipts. This study applies this special methodology to the indirect tax structure of Turkey, in order to demonstrate how revenue instability can be minimized in a developing country. Results of the empirical analysis show how the indirect tax structure could be modified to obtain an acceptable rate of growth and volatility in receipts, to support essential government services.
PRICE DISCRIMINATION AND MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION
Authors: Shmanske Stephen
Published: January 2008

An examination of imperfect price discrimination, modelled as a linear combination of perfect price discrimination and uniform pricing, is used to analyze the impact of imperfect discrimination on firm size and product diversity. Additionally, claims that perfect price discrimination leads to the welfare optimum are shown to be generally false.
AN ANALYSIS OF STABILITY IN A KEYNESIAN ECONOMY WITH RICARDIAN CONSUMERS
Authors: Russo Benjamin
Published: January 2008

Ricardian behavior may increase the variance of consumption: A change in national income will change future tax liabilities endogenously; if consumers are Ricardian, consumption will change for this reason. This paper studies the effects of these changes on the stability of an economy with sticky prices. The analysis indicates that Ricardian tax discounting would tend to reduce macroeconomic stability.
A TEST OF PROSPECT THEORY: THE CORRELATION BETWEEN UNEXPLAINED VARIANCE OF RETURN AND TARGET RETURN IN THE COMMERCIAL BANKING INDUSTRY
Authors: Johnson Hazel J.
Published: January 2008

This study analyzes the variability of rates of return for 11,772 U.S. commercial banks from 1979 through 1985. The objective is to determine whether variability that is not explained by exogenous variables can be explained by prospect theory. Below target, strong correlations are shown, consistent with prospect theory. When regression analysis is applied, the results are confirmed.
DETERRENCE OF OPPONENTS THROUGH REVELATION OF INFORMATION
Authors: Scott John L.
Published: January 2008

Should the enforcers of rules inform potential violators about how likely violations will be detected? In practice, there is some mixture of revelation and secrecy‐police inform potential speeders about new detection technologies, but not about other dimensions of detection. We explain the mix of revelation and secrecy using games of asymmetric information in which the detection level is modeled exogenously. Our analysis applies to various legal and social conflict areas such as terrorism, speeding, and parenting.
TOWARD AN AUSTRIAN VIEW OF COPYRIGHT
Authors: Bethune John J.
Published: January 2008

The concept of intellectual property poses potentially difficult questions for those sympathetic to the Austrian economic viewpoint. Austrians are staunch proponents of the free market and this leads them to strongly defend private property rights. It also leads to a strong condemnation of government granted monopolies. If both of these positions are taken, then how should an Austrian view intellectual property? This paper attempts to develop a market oriented public policy position concerning copyright protection. It concludes that markets are much more efficient, and desirable, for protecting intellectual property than is the government.
A NOTE ON THE INDETERMINACY OF MARKET EQUILIBRIA FOLLOWING SIMULTANEOUS CHANGES IN DEMAND AND SUPPLY
Authors: Hayden Jon R.
Published: January 2008

Simultaneous changes in demand and supply produce indeterminate results on equilibrium price or quantity. This paper provides a rigorous analysis of the factors responsible for indeterminacy and applies these findings to problems of tax and subsidy incidence and situations involving simultaneous shifts in money and goods markets in the IS‐LM model.
IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL EQUITY MARKET COMOVEMENTS: AN APPLICATION OF THE ENGLE‐GRANGER TWO‐STEP PROCEDURE
Authors: Leachman Lori L. , Francis Bill , Marcott Ivan
Published: January 2008

This paper tests for longrun relationships among the national equity markets of the G'7 countries using the Engle‐Granger two‐step procedure. Results indicate that cointegration is the norm among these seven equity markets in the post‐Bretton Woods period. Further, market adjustments to system equilibria are accelerating as one moves toward the present implying that markets are becoming more integrated.
FOREIGN OWNERSHIP AND COST EFFICIENCY IN U.S. MULTINATIONAL BANKING
Authors: Chang C. Edward , Elayan Fayez A. , Yu Chwo‐Ming Joseph
Published: January 2008

This study provides a comparison of cost efficiency between foreign‐owned multinational banks operating in the U.S. and U.S.‐owned multinational banks in their production of banking services from 1984 to 1989. The results indicate that foreign‐owned multinational banks operating in the U.S. did not have comparative cost advantage over U.S.‐owned multinational banks.
STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL MONEY MARKET INTEGRATION: A SELECTED REVIEW
Authors: Swanson Peggy E.
Published: January 2008

This study surveys the money market integration literature over the past three decades. Generalizations include (1) global money market integration is increasing over time although evidence of remaining market segmentation is prevalent and (2) emerging Asian capital markets are rapidly becoming an integral part of world markets.
THE BENEFITS TO BANKS IN SELLING AND UNDERWRITING INSURANCE: AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DELAWARE LAW
Authors: Brown Craig R. , Winters Drew B.
Published: January 2008

The State of Delaware recently passed a new banking law that allows banks and bank affiliates chartered in Delaware to sell and underwrite insurance nationwide. The new laws provide two potential benefits to banks; (1) increased profits from selling insurance and (2) reduced interest rate risk exposure from underwriting insurance. We find support for increased profit potential to banks from the law, but we fail to find a reduction in the interest rate risk exposure of the banks.
DO RATE AND VOLUME MATTER? TRANSACTION COST LIMITS TO ECONOMIES OF SCALE
Authors: Lindsay Cotton M. , Maloney Michael T.
Published: January 2008

We revisit economies of scale starting with Adam Smith and continuing through Armen Alchian. In spite of detail and depth of analysis, the application of economies of scale is still confused. As Robinson points out, large scale processes can be jobbed out. The Coasian limits of the problem are explored.
THE RATE OF RETURN ON SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSETS
Authors: Cebula Richard J.
Published: January 2008

Using Cointegration Tests, Granger‐Causality Tests, and OLS, this study empirically investigates the determinants of the rate of return on savings and loan assets over the 1965–1991 period. It is found that it is determined by the mortgage rate, the capital/asset ratio, the price of imported crude oil, the cost of deposits, and the ceiling on federal deposit insurance.
DEBT, DEFICITS, AND LONG‐TERM RATES
Authors: Zimmerman Jeffrey A.
Published: January 2008

This paper investigates the relationship between government borrowing and long‐term interest rates utilizing a loanable funds framework to describe the interest rate determination process. Three measures of government borrowing are examined. The results indicate that there is not a significant relationship between government borrowing and long‐term interest rates.
STOCK DISTRIBUTION ANNOUNCEMENTS AND BID‐ASK SPREADS
Authors: Forjan James M. , McCorry Michael S.
Published: January 2008

In this paper, the link between stock distribution announcements and capital markets is examined. The results show that stock split announcements result in higher share prices and narrower percentage bid‐ask spreads, while stock dividend announcements have little effect on either prices or percentage spreads.
ASYMMETRIC DEMAND INFORMATION IN REGULATION
Authors: Berry S. Keith
Published: January 2008

This paper considers a regulatory model where regulators have less demand information than the firm. Although the firm can over‐earn because of that asymmetry, regulators will ultimately notice. From the company's perspective it may be preferable to eliminate the regulators' uncertainty, rather than have the allowed return reduced.
CAPITAL INVESTMENT AND THE PROFITABILITY OF FORTUNE 500 INDUSTRIALS: 1971–1990
Authors: Echevarria David P.
Published: January 2008

US Companies were widely reported to be investing millions of dollars over the last two decades to upgrade manufacturing and operating facilities to increase competitiveness in the global marketplace. These investments should have resulted in increased profitability. The observed performance of Fortune 500 Industrial companies fell short of these goals.
HISTORICAL PRE AND POST SPECIAL CLOSING EFFECTS
Authors: Seiler Michael J.
Published: January 2008

This study examines the historical return behavior surrounding foreseeable or expected special closings of the New York Stock Exchange. Pre and Post special closing return behavior supports no existing hypothesis, but instead clearly demonstrates a new pre and post special closing effect similar to the pre and post holiday effect found by Ariel (1990, 1987).
FORTUNE'S MOST ADMIRED FIRMS: AN INVESTOR'S PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Filbeck Greg , Gorman Raymond , Preece Dianna
Published: January 2008

Each year since 1983, Fortune magazine has published a survey featuring “America's most admired” corporations. Although the most admired corporations are certainly worthy of some praise and the least admired deserving of criticism, whether these admired companies are worthy of investors' money is less clear. We examine the ex ante and ex post returns of a sample of the most and least admired corporations in the Fortune survey.
TESTS OF THE MAIZELS' HYPOTHESIS FOR LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES
Authors: Sinha Dipendra
Published: January 2008

Maizels hypothesizes that export provides more boosts for saving than the non‐export part of GDP. We use recent time series techniques of unit root and cointegration to test the Maizels' hypothesis for nine Latin American countries. Cointegrated vectors and OLS estimates in first differences of the variables provide support for the Maizels' hypothesis.
MONOPOLY POWER VS. PRODUCTIVITY EFFECTS OF UNION MEMBERSHIP
Authors: Cromwell Nancy O. , Hunt‐McCool Janet C.
Published: January 2008

We test two alternative hypotheses concerning the impact of union membership on the reemployment earnings of displaced workers and find support for the hypothesis that unions exert monopoly power in setting wages rather than providing any direct productivity enhancements. This effect holds in both the short run and over time.
The Effect of the Asian Financial Crisis on Stock Returns, Volatility and Market Integration in the Region
Authors: Girard Eric C. , Rahman Hamid
Published: January 2008

This paper investigates the change in informational spillover between nine Asian capital markets and the United States as a result of the 1997–98 financial meltdown in Asia. Our study period extends from about three years prior to the start of the crises on July 2, 1997 to one year after this date. We conduct spillover studies on daily stock market index prices and returns to determine the changes in market interdependence. Our results indicate a considerable increase in cross‐border cointegration during the crisis. Dramatic shifts in predictability and volatility spillovers are observed in most Asian countries as a result of the Asian financial crisis, providing evidence of an increase of interdependence between Asian countries, and thus suggesting contagion. We observe a strong interdependence with the US markets before the crisis, which persists during the crisis. We also show that Hong Kong and Korea have emerged as the most dominant influences in the region during the Asian financial crisis.
THE ‘TAYLOR RULE’ AND THREE MONETARY REGIMES
Authors: SPENCER ROGER W. , HUSTON JOHN H.
Published: January 2008

John Taylor devised a simple monetary policy rule that links the Federal Reserve's policy interest rate with inflation and output targets. This paper compares actual policy rates with the rates that would have been recommended by the basic Taylor Rule for three long periods in U.S. economic history: 1875–1913 (“Pre Fed”), 1914–1951 (“Early Fed”), and 1952–1998 (“Modern Fed”). In addition, the authors develop a more complex version of the Rule to facilitate a comparison of the way in which each monetary authority would have reacted to the economic challenges presented outside its own time period. The empirical evidence suggests that Modern Fed would have reacted more promptly and appropriately to inflation and output problems outside its time period than either Early Fed or Pre Fed, and that the movement of interest rates in the Pre Fed period came closer to the corrective policies of Modern Fed than did those of Early Fed.
OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE, UNDERPRICING, AND MARKET LIQUIDITY OF NEW EQUITY ISSUES
Authors: HEGDE SHANTARAM P. , VARSHNEY SANJAY B.
Published: January 2008

We argue that uninformed subscribers to an initial public offering (IPO) of common stocks are exposed to greater ex ante risk of trading against informed traders in the secondary market because the advent of public trading conveys hitherto private information and thereby mitigates adverse selection. The going‐public firm underprices the new issue to compensate uninformed subscribers for this added secondary market adverse selection risk. We test this market liquidity‐based explanation by investigating the ex‐post consequences of ownership structure choice on the initial pricing and the secondary market liquidity of a sample of initial public offerings on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Consistent with our argument, we find that initial underpricing varies directly with the ex post trading costs in the secondary market. Further, initial underpricing is related positively to the concentration of institutional shareholdings and negatively to the proportional equity ownership retained by the founding shareholders. Finally, the secondary market illiquidity of new issues is positively related to institutional ownership concentration and negatively to ownership retention and underwriter reputation. Thus, the evidence based on our NYSE sample supports the view that the entrepreneurs' choice of ownership structure affects both the initial pricing and the subsequent market liquidity of new issues.
THE CAUSALITY BETWEEN STOCK MARKET DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: EVIDENCE FROM THE UNITED STATES
Authors: IMAM ALAM M. , HASAN TANWEER
Published: January 2008

The present study investigates the direction of causality between stock market development and economic growth in the case of the United States. We use the Johansen‐Juselius cointegration procedure followed by vector error‐correction modelling. We examine both the long‐run cointegrating relationships and associated causal orderings, and short‐run interactions among the variables. The results indicate that there are stable long‐run equilibrium relationships among the variables and that the stock market contains information about future changes in real income.
THE INFORMATION CONTENT OF DIVIDEND RESUMPTIONS
Authors: GORMAN L.R. , WEIGAND R.A. , ZWIRLEIN T.J.
Published: January 2008

We investigate the empirical characteristics of firms resuming cash dividends to determine if dividend resumption is most like dividend initiation, a large dividend increase, or a completely unique event. Firms that resume dividends earn considerably larger returns than firms initiating or increasing dividends, both before and after the announcement. Dividend‐resuming firms exhibit changes in profits similar to firms increasing dividends, but the risk change following dividend resumption is more like that reported by studies of dividend initiation. These findings are unaffected by the length of time it takes firms to resume paying cash dividends, or whether the firm also declares a stock split and/or stock dividend during the period surrounding the resumption announcement. We conclude that dividend resumption is sufficiently unlike other dividend events to be regarded and studied as its own unique event.
Measuring Human Resource Value: An Analysis Based on the Hotel Industry
Authors: MAHER ANGELA
Published: January 2008

The importance and value of employees in service industries has been recognised by senior executives for many decades and they are aware that the service provided by human resources is the key to competitive advantage in the market place. This is particularly true of the hotel industry where employees form an integral part of the “hospitality product”. In labour intensive industries human resources are also costly to develop and maintain and increasing global competition in the 1980s followed by a world‐wide recession in the early 1990s has focused attention more acutely on the effectiveness of investments made in human resources. This had led to the rediscovery of human resource costing and accounting as a means by which organisations can monitor the impact of their employment practices on business performance. This article discusses the findings from research on the human resource accounting practices of hotel companies operating in the UK. The research indicates that very few hotel companies studied undertook any systematic analysis of their human resource investments and the economic contribution of employees remains unknown. This raises questions regarding the extent to which human resources are truly “valued” by hotel organisations and how much time and effort is devoted to ensuring that human resource investments and employment practices add value to the business.
Football Players as Human Assets. Measurement as the Critical Factor in Asset Recognition: A Case Study Investigation
Authors: MORROW STEPHEN
Published: January 2008

This paper considers whether the prospective services provided by a football player on behalf of the club holding his registration can be recognised as an accounting asset. The first section of the paper considers the appropriateness of treating these prospective services as intangible assets within the terms of the UK Accounting Standards Board criteria for definition and recognition of assets. In the second section, four valuation methodologies are evaluated using case study data made available by a major Scottish club. Each of the methods evaluated is either currently used in accounting practice by some clubs, or is used in some form in the existing market place for players. The historical cost model involves capitalising players acquired by the club via the transfer market on the balance sheet at their cost of registration. The earnings multiplier model applies a multiplier to a player's earnings to produce a current valuation of that player. The third model involves capitalising players at directors' valuation, while the independent multiple player evaluation model involves obtaining valuations for players from various informed sources, knowledgeable on those particular players. The paper concludes that there are convincing arguments for the conceptualisation of the services provided by football players as accounting assets, and recommends an system of valuation in which players are valued at their realisable value by independent experts.
The Role of Utility Analysis in the Strategic Management of Organizations
Authors: CASCIO WAYNE F.
Published: January 2008

To many observers, the area of utility analysis appears disjointed, unfocused, and they wonder where it is going. Despite the fact that there is almost 20 years of experience with utility analysis since researchers brought it into the modern era, this approach to cost/benefit analysis has not caught on widely and it is not a standard procedure in the assessment of HR interventions. I argue that utility analysis remains an appropriate area of inquiry, but currently it suffers from three broad sets of problems: (1)from an applied research perspective there is often a failure to focus on critical, value‐adding activities that managers regard as relevant and important to their own success; (2) inability to communicate the results of utility analyses in a persuasive, credible manner to operating executives; and (3) technical problems, both theoretical and operational. In my view, none of these is insurmountable, but we must address each one in a systematic manner if the potential of utility analysis to help guide organizational decision making is to be realized in practice.
Personnel Investments and Abnormal Return: Knowledge‐based Firms and Human Resource Accounting
Authors: HANSSON BO
Published: January 2008

This study examines the pricing of knowledge‐based firms compared with firms that are less dependent on human resources. The results show that an increasing dependence on human resources is followed by a rise in abnormal return. The results indicate that investors are not able to distinguish personnel investments from expenses, leading to an underestimation of earnings and return. The findings suggest that investors may need accounting information on human resources to help improve investment decisions. There is no evidence in the present material to suggest that investors perceive knowledge‐based firms as more risky compared with firms with more accountable (tangible) assets.
Learning Investment Equal to Capital Investment? Increasing the Investment in Human Resources by Treating Investment in Learning and Capital Investment on an Equal Basis: (Im)possibilities and Challenges
Authors: BRANDSMA JITTIE
Published: January 2008

Given the rapid changes in economies, labour organisations and production processes and technologies, investment in training and in developing human resources becomes more important than ever. One of the core issues in the present debates, however, concerns the issue of the funding. The increasing pressure on public funds clearly delineates that expanding investments should not be expected from this side. Governments are already seeking alternative funding mechanisms for education to decrease costs and increase individual responsibility for one's own human resources. An increased investment should therefore come from enterprises and individuals. Disparities in investment between different categories of enterprises and in participation between different groups of (un)employed indicate, however, that there are still market imperfections. This raises the issue of the adequacy of existing instruments for stimulating investment in human resources and actually raising the level of investment.
Social Tests in a Model for Controlling the Enhancement of Competence
Authors: BJURKLO MARGARETA , KARDEMARK GUNNEL
Published: January 2008

Qualification is the competence that is required for tasks related to wage work. Competence is all the forms of knowledge possessed by the staff as well as their personal abilities. When qualification is related to competence, possible competence deficiencies become apparent. This can be done in our model for controlling the improvement of competence. The first step in the process of describing competence deficiency is to operationalize the concept of qualification. This is achieved by means of social tests, which can be considered as relevant data. Empirical data are used to develop social tests relating to qualification for two staff categories, Front staff and Departmental managers. Finally, we take a further step and suggest how the empirical content of the concept can be used in a model for controlling the improvement of competence.
Current Issues, Recent Advancements, and Future Directions in Human Resource Accounting
Authors: FLAMHOLTZ ERIC G. , MAIN ERICA D.
Published: January 2008

We have witnessed a significant transformation in the world economy and the organisations that comprise it. The economy of old was manufacturing‐based and relied heavily on tangible assets as determinants of value. In contrast, the present‐day economy is based on knowledge and information, intangible assets that are embodied in people. This shift has triggered the development of tools with which to measure these intangible assets. One accounting tool that is directly relevant to the measurement and, in turn, the management of human capital is human resource accounting. The purpose of this article is to discuss some current issues, recent advancements, and possible future directions for further development.
Good Times in America? Work Schedule Flexibility among U.S. Workers
Authors: GOLDEN LONNIE
Published: January 2008

This paper aims to discuss the importance of flexible working time arrangements in the United States (U.S.). Section I creates a framework to analyse the various dimensions of working time and their impacts. It examines the availability of flexitime and its potential costs and benefits to workers and employers. Section II describes the current distribution and differential access to flexitime by workers' demographic characteristics and by industry and occupational sector. Section III analyses these data to estimate the probability that workers with a given demographic or work characteristic have access to flexitime daily schedules. The fourth and final section discusses the implications of the findings. The empirical findings reveal that many workers are gaining flexibility in the timing of their daily work schedules, but access to flexible schedules remains uneven by characteristics of workers such as gender or race and by their jobs such as skill‐level, job status and hours status. Having flexible scheduling comes at the expense of working long average hours per week, or re‐locating to part‐time or self‐employment status or “unsocial” evening shifts. One implication of this is that a public policy aimed at flexible work hours for workers benefit must seek first to spread such flexibility to those who are currently not sharing it because of their occupation, industry or other personal or labour market characteristics.
Strategies for Change in Financial Reports
Authors: HEDLIN PONTUS , ADOLPHSON JOHAN
Published: January 2008

The paper investigates pressures for change in accounting that have been suggested by researchers and practitioners as a consequence of the emergence of the information age. Specifically, issues concerning the need for change in the traditional form and content of financial reporting to investors are addressed. One aim of the paper is to explore the nature of current problems and to speculate on future development of financial reporting. Several shortcomings in the content of financial reporting stem from a discrepancy between the value‐creating processes of modern corporations and the foundations underpinning the traditional accounting model. Today, different forms of intellectual capital are the prime resources that companies invest in to thrive in the future. However, the present accounting model has yet to accommodate Intellectual Capital. A second aim of this paper is to present strategies for expanding the traditional accounting reports with additional information on the investments in, and measures of, Intellectual Capital in a way that is both coherent and meets criteria concerning, e.g., completeness, verifiability and relevance. Three different strategies are discussed: inclusion, extension and supplementing.
Negative Feedback and Responses from Subordinates
Authors: WU PEIGUAN , LEUNG KWOK
Published: January 2008

Research in performance feedback has suggested that supervisors are reluctant to deliver negative feedback to avoid difficult future interaction and other unfavourable reactions from subordinates. This study examines the counter effects of mediating factors of negative feedback. A total of 248 employees from two joint ventures in China took part in a questionnaire survey. Results of the study indicate that subordinates who perceive that a criticism is delivered for their benefit respond positively. Theoretical importance and managerial implications of the present findings are discussed.
Does Telecommuting Reduce Travel? A Swedish Investigation of the Expected Substitution Effect
Authors: HARALD BOE SKÅMEDAL JO
Published: January 2008

For a long time, telecommuting has been expected to affect the aggregated travel pattern. A number of cause‐effect relationships between telecommuting and travel have been identified in literature concerning different types of trip with both decreased and increased travel as the outcome. To explore how telecommuting affects travel and travel patterns in Sweden an empirical study was conducted. The most important cause‐effect relationship concerns three categories: work‐trips, non‐work‐related trips and combination trips. The travel pattern, which is based on the telecommuter's regularity of trips, the point in time for different types of trip and the travel mode used, is also studied. The present results are compared with international findings, with the aim to create better understanding of how telecommuting affects the telecommuter's travel pattern and approximately estimate the magnitude of the travel impact. Finally, there is a contextual discussion concerning the probable total travel effects of telecommuting.
Training Utility and Levy‐Grant Incentives
Authors: JOHN LEE GREGORY
Published: January 2008

Decision theoretic utility analysis has long been proposed as a method for analyzing the monetary impact of training. Increasing complexity in the training environment requires, however, that additions be made to the basic algebraic assessment formulas. One such addition may include the effect of levy‐grant systems that stem from legislation and are designed to incentivize employer provided training EPT). The impact of such incentive systems on the bottom‐line of a company is a vital consideration in what training to apply and whether to participate in the grant incentive activities. Interest in the range of evaluation techniques is increasing. This article accordingly adjusts the basic decision theoretic utility analysis techniques for the special case of a levy‐grant incentive, using South Africa as a case study. It is hoped that the principles used here can thus be extrapolated to other skills development systems, allowing both organizations and policy makers to make optimal decisions.
Breaking the Boundaries of Careers. A Study of the Mobility Effects of a Program for Career Counselling
Authors: OLSSON BIRGITTA
Published: January 2008

In this paper a study of a career planning project launched by the Swedish National Tax Board is reported. The project, named Propeller, was initiated in 1998 as a joint endeavour among three agencies: the Swedish National Tax Board, the Regional Stockholm Tax Office and the Enforcement Authority. The intention was to create a common micro labour market in order to encourage employees to become more aware of their own development, as well as to create a competence exchange in and between the agencies, i.e. create greater mobility among the agencies. In this paper the focus is on the follow‐up study of the project. The program for career counselling contained at most eight hours of consultation over a period of six weeks to three months when the employee or Propellers “customer” met with an external consultant. The consultation should terminate with an action and time schedule that includes concrete steps to be taken to reach the specific goals set by the employee. The study is based on both a written questionnaire administered to 72 respondents and interviews with 46 persons who had finished the career‐counselling program during the first half‐year of the Propeller project. The results indicated that the model for career planning used by the Swedish National Tax Board was exceedingly effective and that all the goals of the project were successfully completed. In summary, the model was found to increase the mobility among the three agencies included in the Propeller project. The results showed that, by the end of the study, 43% (20 of 46) of those persons who used the program during the first year had already moved internally between departments within an agency or had changed affiliation from one agency to another. Additionally, 11 persons planned to change or move from their position to another sometime in the next few years. This rate of changing position or location implies that the mobility effect could be expected to become as high as 67%. The managers evaluated the project and felt that this sort of initiative for active career planning would increase the attraction of the agency on the labour market. Moreover, it implies a higher employability among those persons that took part in the evaluation. According to the managers, the relatively small sum of money used for the career planning project was seen as a good investment in personnel.
Paradigm Shift in Working Time Policy through Working Time Accounts — from Standard Working Hours to Controlled Flexibility
Authors: SEIFERT HARTMUT
Published: January 2008

Flexible working time patterns have gained enormously in importance in recent years. Tins process has been accompanied by major changes in the area of industrial relations. The decision‐making power regarding working time issues is moving from the collective bargaining parties to the players at company level, namely management and works councils. How should we view these trends? How do they affect the options and freedom of action of companies and employees in the area of working hours? The article focuses on the options created by the introduction of working time accounts for the flexible oiganisation of work routines and the effects on the cost situation in modern companies as well as on the time‐based planning leeway it generates for employees. The available empirical findings support the hypothesis that the replacement of standard working time by time accounts can be described as a process of “controlled flexibility”. The introduction of time accounts is mainly observed within a regulatory framework that defines both bandwidths as well as rules for the variable organisation of working times. This practice enables companies to increase their internal flexibility and gives at least the majority of employees increased leeway to coordinate working and non‐working time.