bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
DURABLE GOODS' CHARACTERISTICS AND MARKETING PRACTICES RECONSIDERED
Authors: BLAINE ROBERTS R. , HANSEN ROBERT S.
Published: January 2008

A number of advances in the analysis of durability have appeared recently. There remain, however, some areas of misperception and inaccuracy with regard to the implications of durability. The purpose of this paper is to clarify two related issues. The first is the issue of which is most profitable under alternative market structures: selling a durable, renting the durable, or selling the services of the durable. Selling the services of the durable differs from renting the durable only in the case where intensity of use is variable. The role of intensity of use has been recently addressed by Epple and Zelenitz and it is their conclusions we wish to amplify. In particular, Epple and Zelenitz's conclusions (i.e., “Rental is not a viable policy under either [monopoly or competition] market structure,” (p. 286) and “However, sale of services would eliminate the costs of short term ownership in the same way as rental,”) are not as likely to be as true as they suggest.
THE IMPACT OF OWNERSHIP OF HOUSEHOLD CAPITAL ON TIME ALLOCATION: AN ESTIMATION
Authors: RAPPL MAGDALENA I.
Published: January 2008

How does ownership of units of home capital affect time use? What are the determinants of ownership of home capital? The objective of this paper is to inquire into the nature of these relationships.
DEMAND FOR MONEY AND CURRENCY SUBSTITUTION: THE CASE OF PORTUGAL
Authors: SANTOS FERNANDO
Published: January 2008

The existence of a stable relation between the demand for real cash balances and some few variables relating it to real economic activity is one of the cornerstones of the monetarist approach. Such a relation permits us not only to analyze the impact of monetary change on economic activity but, since it is stable, it also has important predictive content. A better insight is then possible on the analysis of the effects of monetary policy. On this basis, it has been shown that money really matters and that the money supply is, with regard to economic stability, a powerful but also a dangerous weapon when heedlessly used by governments.
CONSTRAINED INDIRECT UTILITY FUNCTIONS
Authors: ROBERTS BLAINE
Published: January 2008

Recent years have been marked by an extensive empirical testing of profit, cost, expenditure, and demand equations based on duality theory and the development of specific functional forms as approximations compatible with any neoclassical production or utility function. In estimating systems of demand equations, the approach taken is almost always to assume consumers maximize utility of current period consumption subject to a budget constraint (or combined time‐budget constraint). There are many times that consumers face other constraints on their purchases. Many of these cases are associated with price discrimination and other market imperfections that result in several products being sold in packages (or, equivalently, several characteristics being contained in one product). This constraint on the proportions in which commodities must be purchased presents some significant problems for using an indirect utility function, particularly if one is interested in testing if the proportions are equal to or differ from what consumers would desire. One example of this problem is whether merged charities allocate funds in accordance with donor's preferences. Franklin Fisher showed, using a Stone‐Geary utility function, that there were reasonable cases where a merged charity could increase contributions by allocating funds differently than donors prefer.
FIRM SIZE, LEADING FIRMS AND MOBILITY
Authors: AMATO LOUIS
Published: January 2008

Industrial organization economists have generally treated the firms operating within industries as fairly homogeneous. The firms are assumed to be similar in terms of the main decision variables so that there are few differences in the price: output, and product strategies preferred by each firm. Furthermore, the firms are believed to enjoy similar market power so that market power is essentially a shared asset. Some of the recent literature rejects the shared asset view of market power. Among the more significant contributions to this literature is the concept of strategic groups. This paper focuses on the relevance of the strategic group concept for entry theory.
PRICE FLEXIBILITY AND THE “LAW OF ONE PRICE” SOME EVIDENCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CANADIAN AND U.S. INDUSTRIAL PRICES, 1956–1975
Authors: DAVID BORDO MICHAEL , CHOUDHRI EHSAN U.
Published: January 2008

How well does the “Law of One Price” operate across countries? Interest in this question has been stimulated by the Monetary Aproach to the Balance of Payments (Frenkel and Johnson (1975)) which uses the law to determine the price of traded goods in open economies.
CONCENTRATION OF EXPORTS AND EXPORT EARNINGS INSTABILITY: THE CASE OF JORDAN
Authors: TAHIR JAMIL M.
Published: January 2008

Instability in the export proceeds of developing countries has been discussed and lamented for many years in the general literature on economic development. It is relatively recently, however, that detailed empirical research has been undertaken to illuminate the causes and effects of export earnings instability in both developing and developed countries.
ON A MORE GENERAL RATIONALE FOR CIRCULAR INDIFFERENCE CURVES
Authors: FON VINCY , BOULIER BRYAN L. , GOLDFARB ROBERT S.
Published: January 2008

Many texts display circular indifference curves. The rationale for such curves typically requires that goods become bads — that is, their marginal utilities become negative — over some range (e.g., Baumol [1], p. 199). In this note we develop what seems to be a far more general and intuitively appealing rationale for “approximately circular” indifference curves. This rationale suggests that the phenomenon may be far more widespread than previous analysis implies.
AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM
Authors: KENNEDY JAN , STONE ROBERT W.
Published: January 2008

There are currently two identical bills pending in Congress (House Resolution 4730 and Senate Bill 2148) which this research will examine. Title I of these bills would establish a reforestation and conservation program entitled the Conservation Reserve Program. The Secretary of Agriculture would be able to designate land regularly used in the production of certain crops as eligible for program participation. If a landowner of farmer places the‐designated land in the program it must be planted in a “shelter belt,” which is an area of vegetative cover. Shelter belts can be divided for simplicity into two types, grassland and tree.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND MONETARY POLICY
Authors: SANTOS FERNANDO T.
Published: January 2008

In the conventional positive neoclassical economics, the underlying behavioral assumptions concerning government activity clearly contrast with those usually admitted for other economic agents. While the latter are assumed to seek their own private interest, although accomplishing in that way a social function, governments are assumed to have as their main objective the maximization of social welfare. Hence, the assumption that economic policies are intended to stabilize economic activity follows as a consequence. The inconsistency of this asymmetry between the treatment of government and other agents was clearly stressed by Downs (1957):
THE TRANSFORMATION FUNCTION REVISITED
Authors: Anderson Richard K. , Enomoto Carl E.
Published: January 2008

Introduction The transformation function for two‐sector production models has been used extensively in the international trade and general equilibrium literature. It has been derived both graphically and mathematically from individual sector production functions that are assumed to be linearly homogeneous. The result has been a convex set possessing first derivatives that have frequently been used. However, there seems to be a lack of research on further properties attributable to the transformation function. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these additional properties. We begin by proving that the transformation function is linearly homogeneous in all of its arguments. We then derive the standard first derivatives of the transformation function providing their usual economic interpretation. Finally, we conclude by deriving and interpreting the second‐order derivatives of the transformation function.
THE EXPECTED EXCHANGE RATE AND THE EFFECTS OF INTERVENTION, SENSITIVITY OF SPECULATION, AND CAPITAL MOBILITY
Authors: Akiba Hiroya
Published: January 2008

It is widely recognized that expectations of future events have significant impact on exchange rates movements. The role of expectations in exchange rate movements can be considered as a source of exchange rate estimation error. In a sense it is a pity that the majority of empirical evidence on the exchange rate fluctuation clearly negates the validity of such models that are more sophisticated and comprehensive.
ANTICIPATED AND UNANTICIPATED INCOME WITHIN THE CONSUMPTION FUNCTION: A RATIONAL EXPECTATIONS APPROACH
Authors: Payne James E.
Published: January 2008

The rational expectations‐permanent income hypothesis (REPIH) is nothing new. The initial REPIH of Hall (1978) suggested that no other variable observed in earlier periods, given the inclusion of consumption lagged one period, should have any explanatory power for current consumption (Hall, p.972). The Hall version does not eliminate inclusion of current income in the explanation of consumption. Later work by Flavin (1981) finds that current income contains information about future income by providing signals to changes in permanent income. The means to reveal the innovation of current income signaling changes in permanent income has been to decompose current income into its anticipated and unanticipated components. Flavin suggests that unanticipated changes in current income may affect consumption by signaling changes in current income while anticipated changes in current income are included in the formation of permanent income thus having no affect on consumption.
THE INCIDENCE OF A SPECIFIC, PER‐UNIT TAX: AN EMPHASIS ON THE LONG RUN
Authors: BREMMER DALE S. , KESSELRING RANDALL G.
Published: January 2008

The treatment of tax incidence in most principles textbooks is incomplete and misleading. This anomaly results from treating tax incidence as a short‐run phenomenon. This paper briefly reviews the theory regarding tax incidence and surveys the leading textbooks in regard to their treatment of this issue. A strong recommendation is made that tax incidence—if covered in a principles text—be treated only in a long‐run context.
LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND A FAMILY'S LOCATION DECISION
Authors: SANDY JONATHAN
Published: January 2008

This paper examines the location choice of families when education is available through local public schools and private schools. According to the theoretical model, families who use public schools sort into communities that offer their desired education quality. Families who choose private schools, on the other hand, locate in communities with low quality public schools because of the low cost of occupying a standardized unit of housing in such areas. This difference in sorting causes the income and rent differentials across communities to be lower when private education is available. A multinomial logit model is estimated to test whether the factors that influence community choice vary between families that use public and private schools. The results indicate little difference with respect to public school quality but a difference with respect to distance from the central business district (CBD). In this sample, it appears that families who use public schools are more likely to locate further from the CDB as income rises compared to families that choose private schools.
NATIONAL AND RETAIL ADVERTISING: THEIR EFFECTS ON COMPETITION
Authors: TOKLE ROBERT J.
Published: January 2008

There are two basic theoretical views of how advertising affects competition. One school of thought suggests that advertising decreases competition. Kaldor (1950) argued that through economies of scale in advertising, advertising increases market concentration. Also, Bain (1956) suggested that advertising causes strong product differentiation and brand loyalty, which are barriers to entry and will lead to higher concentration.
FUNCTIONAL FORMS AND EARNINGS DISTRIBUTIONS ACROSS OCCUPATIONS
Authors: SLOTTJE D.J. , NIESWIADOMY MICHAEL
Published: January 2008

The lack of a satisfactory theory of personal income distribution is a problem that economists have pondered for most of the twentieth century. In 1912 Irving Fisher wrote:
A DIAGRAMMATIC APPROACH FOR TEACHING SOME ASPECTS OF PRODUCTION‐COST DUALITY
Authors: SANDLER TODD
Published: January 2008

Production‐cost duality was first introduced by Ronald Shephard (1953) in his seminal study, Cost and Production Functions. The application of duality to production and cost was extended by Uzawa (1962, 1964). However, not until the 1970s did the Shephard‐Uzawa duality analysis achieve its influential role in modern microeconomic thought. In simple words, the Shephard‐Uzawa duality theorem indicates that a firm's cost function summarizes all of the relevant features of the production technology, whereas the firm's production function contains all of the relevant features of the cost function for each set of input and output prices. If certain standard technical conditions (i.e., relating to convexity and continuity) are satisfied, then the theorem implies that there is a one‐to‐one relationship between points on the cost surface and points on the production surfaces.
PLANNING HORIZONS AND THE MONOPOLIST: A NOTE ON A GENERALIZED SAMUELSON‐LE CHATELIER PRINCIPLE
Authors: ANDERSON RICHARD K. , ENOMOTO CARL E.
Published: January 2008

Time is an important determinant of factor demand and supply elasticities in producer theory. The typical textbook distinction between the short‐run and the long‐run focuses upon the ability of the decision‐maker to adjust fixed factors. Indeed, the length of the firm's planning horizon may be identified with the degrees of freedom available to the firm; i.e. the number of factors that can optimally be adjusted to a changing economic environment. The purpose of this note is to illustrate use of the envelope theorem to recover a generalized Samuelson‐Le Chatelier principle in a simple and elegant manner. In particular, we will show how a monopolist's derived factor demand elasticities may be ordered by the length of the planning horizon. Thus the economically appealing and intuitive notion that the monopolist's factor demand decisions will be more responsive to price changes, the greater the flexibility in utilizing fixed factors will be given an analytically rigorous, though quite simple, demonstration utilizing duality theory and the well‐known envelope theorem.
ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN THE NORTH AMERICAN IRON ORE MINING INDUSTRY
Authors: Raab Raymond L. , Steinnes Donald N.
Published: January 2008

Past observers of the iron ore industry have asserted that significant economies of scale exist in the mining of iron ore which is enriched into taconite pellets. Quasi, long‐run average costs (LAC) of production are measured and used to estimate optimum scale of plant. Indeed the LAC appears u‐shaped and the minimum efficient scale of plant produces approximately 13 percent of 1987 North American output. However, because of the existing joint vertical integration and the conflicting ownership claims of the mines by the steel users, rationalization of capacity is not likely to occur.
THE IMPACT OF THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS ON INTERNATIONAL CLOSED‐END (COUNTRY) MUTUAL FUND PERFORMANCE
Authors: Atkinson Stanley M.
Published: January 2008

An increasing number of investors are becoming more and more aware of the benefits of diversification in terms of expected returns and risks. These investors are looking to international investing as a method of reducing risk. Because of the perceived benefits, Closed‐end (Country) Funds are becoming more popular with investors (Logue, 1982; Bonser‐Neal, 1990; Gould, 1990; Fadiman, 1990; Eun, 1991).
TESTING FOR PARAMETER STABILITY IN EXECUTIVE REMUNERATION FUNCTIONS
Authors: Braunstein Andrew W.
Published: January 2008

Executive compensation equations are estimated separately for three groups of firms, under the contention that the determinants of executive remuneration may depend upon the form of and degree of regulation in an industry. Empirical evidence obtained for three separate years lends support to that notion.
GOVERNMENT BORROWING, INTEREST RATES, AND THE CROWDING OUT EFFECT IN AN OPEN ECONOMY
Authors: Adrangi Bahram , Easton Todd
Published: January 2008

This research applies the loanable funds theory in an international framework to investigate government borrowing's effect on U.S. interest rates. The equations estimated offer little support for the hypothesis that government borrowing raises interest rates and no evidence that inflows of foreign capital offset the effect of government borrowing.
THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION DUE TO LUCK: AN EXTENSION
Authors: Kantarelis Demetrius
Published: January 2008

Gibrat's Law of Proportionate Effect is reconsidered by assuming a process of stochastic growth and decline of firms in an industry. With the assistance of computer simulations it is shown that such a process leads to an even more skewed size distribution of firms than a random process of growth only.
RATIONALE FOR CONFLICTS IN FINANCIAL THEORY AND PRACTICE: THE CASE OF CONVERTIBLE BONDS
Authors: Payne Bruce C. , Payne Janet D. , Rumore Nancy C.
Published: January 2008

Contrary to theory, financial managers constantly attempt to exploit timing to offer securities that are the least costly to existing shareholders. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the difference between theory and practice and to offer some rationale for this difference.
HAVE PRESIDENTS INFLUENCED MONETARY POLICY: NEW EVIDENCE FROM AN ARTIFICIAL NEUTRAL NETWORK
Authors: Smith Paula A. , MacLin Otto H.
Published: January 2008

This paper combines an experimental design and an artifical neural network to investigate the behavior of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The evidence suggests that FOMC decision making has been influenced by the presidential administration, with particularly strong evidence that influence from the Kennedy‐Johnson administrations led to easier policy.
AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF EXCHANGE RATE STABILITY: CASE STUDY: EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM
Authors: Dutt Swarna D. , Ghosh Dipak
Published: January 2008

We examine the stability of exchange rates among the members of the European Monetary System (EMS), using the Johansen‐Juselius multivariate cointegration (systems) analysis. The direct implication from cointegration theory is that exchange rate stability vis a vis EMS member countries has been achieved. This allows us to study the speed of convergence of different currencies towards the equilibrium path.
PURCHASING POWER PARITY DOCTRINE: AN UNRESTRICTED COINTEGRATION TEST
Authors: Dutt Swarna D. , Ghosh Dipak
Published: January 2008

The purchasing power parity hypothesis is investigated within a highly economically integrated set of nations, namely the European Monetary System. We use the Phillips‐Hansen Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares procedure, which for the first time allows for an unrestricted cointegration test of the PPP doctrine. We sequentially test for the weak and strong form of PPP.
THE DEMAND FOR LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION: A ROUTE‐SPECIFIC ANALYSIS OF SHORT‐HAUL SERVICE
Authors: Dismukes David E.
Published: January 2008

This paper presents a model of long distance telephone demand based on route‐specific short‐haul (intraLATA) calling minutes. The data used in the estimation comes from 2,813 intraLATA long‐distance routes in the state of Florida for 1990. Route‐specific information (mileage, minutes of use, access lines, prices, route‐specific optional calling plans) is matched to socio‐economic data (income, average household size, race, education) obtained in the 1990 census. The results reveal a number of important economic and demographic insights on route‐specific long distance calling. Estimated price and income elasticities of demand are −0.54 and 1.24, respectively.
A NEURAL NETWORK AND ECONOMETRIC COMPARISON OF THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF FISCAL AND MONETARY ACTIONS
Authors: Shaaf Mohamad
Published: January 2008

This study uses the neural network and econometric models to explore the importance of fiscal and monetary policy on GNP. The findings suggest that fiscal policy is more influential than monetary policy, and the neural network forecasts of GNP are more accurate and have less variation than those of the econometric approach.
FOMC ANTI‐INFLATION POLICY: A QUICKER TRIGGER OR NOTHING NEW
Authors: Spencer Roger W. , Huston John H.
Published: January 2008

This paper examines the thesis that the Federal Reserve adopted a tighter monetary policy in 1994 than economic conditions warranted. The empirical evidence suggests the FOMC did react differently to the basic economic indicators than under economic normalcy, but not differently than it would have under similar, prior tight money economic conditions. E52
INCOME‐CONSTRAINED PURCHASES OF INSURANCE AND ASSETS
Authors: Eisenhauer Joseph G.
Published: January 2008

Insurance and asset holdings are modeled as the jointly determined outcomes of a constrained optimization problem. Consequently, (1) full coverage may be optimal despite limited premium loading, (2) insurance is normal if insurable assets are normal, (3) insurance cannot be a Giffen good, and (4) insurance is a complement to price‐elastic assets.
AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF MUNICIPAL BOND RATINGS IN VIRGINIA
Authors: Badu Yaw A. , Daniels Kenneth N.
Published: January 2008

The paper investigates the determinants of municipal bond ratings in Virginia using an ordered‐probit analysis. We find that economic factors are the key determinants of municipal bond ratings in the State. Our ordered‐probit model correctly predicts approximately 70% of the actual sample which is not subject to sample selection bias.
THE ACCOUNTING VARIABLE AND STOCK PRICE DETERMINATION
Authors: Salvaiy Stanley C.W.
Published: January 2008

Several tests have been conducted to determine which valuation model best fits stock price data. Given very little success, those studies suggest the need for a clear understanding of the market process of stock price determination. This paper advances the concepts of product costing and product pricing, which pertain to financial accounting valuation and the stock market price determination, respectively. This research effort presents a workable hypothesis of stock price determination.
PERFORMANCE PAY AS A SCREENING DEVICE
Authors: Chopin Marc C. , Schulman Craig T.
Published: January 2008

Analysis of management compensation has focused on the principal — agent problem. We address the problem confronting owners who must choose a manager without knowing the productivity of individual managers. We find performance contingent contracts may result in a separating equilibrium in which high productivity managers accept contracts low productivity managers find unacceptable.
ATTITUDES ON RACE, CULTURE AND DISCRIMINATION IN MORTGAGE LENDING
Authors: Lindsey Debby A.
Published: January 2008

This study establishes a baseline for the mortgage industry's beliefs and attitudes about race, culture, and discrimination in mortgage banking and determines if these attitudes vary by race. Through survey research, the data reveals that race matters in the lending arena.
AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF THE LONG RUN MONETARY (EXCHANGE RATE) MODEL
Authors: Dutt Swarna D. , Ghosh Dipak
Published: January 2008

The monetary approach to long run exchange rate determination is reexamined for the Canadian — US dollar exchange rate. We first test for non‐stationarity, and then conduct a multivariate cointegration analysis to examine the validity of the monetary model in determination of exchange rates over the long run. Our results uphold the validity of the monetary approach.
The Relationship Between Financial Development and Economic Growth: Evidence From China
Authors: Liu Xiaohui , Shu Chang
Published: January 2008

This paper investigates the causal links between financial development and economic growth in China by employing the Granger causality test within a VARECM framework. Bi‐directional causality is found between financial development and growth, suggesting that economic growth and financial development are mutually reinforcing under the open‐door policy.
TICK SIZES, STOCK PRICES, AND SHARE TURNOVER: INTERNATIONAL EVIDENCE
Authors: DYL EDWARD A. , DOUGLAS WITTE H. , GORMAN LARRY R.
Published: January 2008

We examine tick sizes, stock prices, and share turnover in eighteen stock markets in developed countries and find that differences in mandatory tick sizes explain a significant proportion of the variation in stock prices among markets, and that lower percentage tick sizes are not associated with higher turnover. We consider the implications of these findings for the recent decimalization of stock trading in the United States, and conclude that decimal trading is likely to result in lower stock prices (due to stock splits) with no substantial change in dollar trading volume.
EXECUTIVE INCENTIVE COMPENSATION SCHEMES AND THEIR IMPACT ON CORPORATE PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM NEW ZEALAND SINCE COMPENSATION DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS BECAME EFFECTIVE
Authors: ELAYAN FAYEZ A. , LAU JAMMY S.C. , MEYER THOMAS O.
Published: January 2008

Incentive‐based executive compensation is regarded as a mechanism for alleviating agency problems between executives and shareholders. Seventy‐three New Zealand (NZ) listed companies are used to examine the relationship between executive incentive compensation schemes (ICS) and firm performance. The results suggest that neither compensation level nor adoption of an ICS are significantly related to returns to shareholders or ROA. However, there is a statistically significant relationship between Tobin's q and both CEO compensation and executive share ownership. Further, the evidence suggests the recent compensation disclosure requirements in NZ are not yet stringent enough to allow adequate analysis of the link between ICSs and corporate performance.
SEASONAL EFFECTS AND ARCH IN THE HONG KONG FUTURES MARKETS
Authors: RAJ MAHENDRA
Published: January 2008

This paper attempts to examine a number of issues regarding the returns on the Hang Seng Index Futures traded in Hong Kong. The daily returns are separated into close‐to‐close, close‐to‐open, and open‐to‐close periods and the three returns examined for autocorrelation, GARCH and seasonal effects. The study reveals that the CLCL returns are autocorrelated and that most of the returns exhibit GARCH effects. With regard to seasonal effects the results are mixed.
THEORIES OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE: EVIDENCE FROM AN EMERGING MARKET
Authors: PANDEY I.M. , CHOTIGEAT T.
Published: January 2008

Although extensive empirical studies have been conducted on capital structure in the context of developed countries, few have been carried out on emerging markets using large pools of data with comprehensive modeling techniques. This paper examines the financial characteristics of Malaysian companies and their debt policies using data of 106 firms from 1992 to 1999. The results of pooled GLS regressions show that all types of debt (short‐term, long‐term, and total) are influenced by the variables for profitability, size, and tangibility—but not by growth, risk, and investment opportunity (market‐to‐book‐value ratio). Thus, the latter results are contrary to evidence from developed markets. However, when the data are classified into two sub‐periods, only in the first (1992–95) does the risk variable reveal the hypothesized positive influence on all debt ratios, reflecting Malaysia's economic uncertainty in the throes of the Asian financial crisis and implementation during the second sub‐period (1996–99) of the domestic capital control policy. Profitability has a persistent and consistent negative relationship with all types of debt ratios in both periods; this confirms the capital structure prediction of the pecking order theory in an emerging capital market.
The Cost of Downsizing in an Enterprise with Job Security
Authors: MABON HUNTER
Published: January 2008

This paper comprises a theoretical study of factors influencing the utility of organisational downsizing. Companies downsize in order to adapt to lower demand or as a means to improving efficiency, i e to improve their performance/cost ratio. With perfect information and no legal or ethical restrictions, management would remove employees with the lowest utility. This information is normally lacking and downsizing is instead based on a headcount or on total salary cost reduction. The efficiency of such measures will then be a function of the correlation between salary and utility. Different downsizing outcomes are calculated on the basis of different assumptions; some of these outcomes increase efficiency while others would probably lead to continued decline. Many companies are subject to legal restrictions such as Last In First Out tenure requirements. This leads on to an analysis of relationships among utility, salary and period of employment. Break‐even analyses are computed showing on what terms it would be worthwhilefor management to offer longterm employees early retirement.
Using utility analysis in downsizing decisions
Authors: MABON HUNTER , WESTLING GUNNAR
Published: January 2008

This paper examines both theoretically and empirically the application of utility theory to downsizing decisions. It is shown that residual efficiency after downsizing can differ greatly, depending on whether a company uses a headcount, utility or payroll reduction and that the correlations among employee age/period of job tenure, individual utility and salary all contribute to these differences. Companies are often restricted by legal and ethical considerations when deciding who will leave during downsizing. Using the above conceptual framework it is shown that companies can determine a financial break‐even point where it would be worthwhile to offer some categories of employees a severance package in order to have freedom of action during downsizing. Data are used from an empirical study of a large financial services company to illustrate the practical application of the model. It is concluded that only limited amounts of information in addition to that normally available to HR managers is required in order to apply the models developed in this study and that utility theory can make a valuable contribution to decision‐making in the downsizing process.
Accounting for Football Players. Financial and Accounting Implications of ‘Royal Club Liégois and Others V Bosnian’ for Football in the United Kingdom
Authors: MORROW STEPHEN
Published: January 2008

The decision by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in the case involving the Belgian footballer Jean‐Marc Bosnian presents the most serious challenge yet to the influence football clubs hold over their players. The court decided that it is a breach of European law for clubs to demand a transfer fee in respect of a player at the end of his contract, as this is a restriction of the free movement of labour as set out in Article 48 of the Treaty of Rome. This paper considers the implications of this decision for professional football clubs in the UK, several of whom record the services provided by their players as assets on their balance sheet. The paper considers various possible accounting treatments and concludes that in the short term at least, given the uncertainties surrounding the industry post Bosman, recording the cost of players' registrations at their historical cost is the most appropriate policy for clubs to adopt. The paper also considers the implications of the case for clubs' fund‐raising capabilities, through interviews with clubs' bankers, finding that banks are more concerned about the quality of income stream rather than the existence of security in the form of transferring players' registrations. ‘If someone regards players as a merchandise with a monetary value, whose value may in some cases even be included in the balance sheet, he does so at his own risk.’
Human Resources Information Disclosure in Annual Reports: An International Comparison
Authors: SUBBARAO A.V. , ZEGHAL DANIEL
Published: January 2008

Human resources are considered the most important component of a corporation's competitive advantage in global markets. Society, workers and shareholders expect corporations to manage and utilise human resources not only for the competitive advantage of a corporation but of a nation. Corporations are expected to disclose information relating to the management of human resources in their annual reports. This study analysed the annual reports of a sample of publicly traded corporations in six countries (USA, Canada, Germany, UK, Japan, and S. Korea) for the purpose of an international comparison of human resource information disclosure. Results of the analysis revealed that corporations in different countries differed in the disclosure of human resources information. In particular, those in Europe disclosed more human resources information than those in Asia and North America. The corporations in the financial services sector, which employed over two thirds of the workforce in the developed countries were also different from those in the manufacturing sector in disclosure of human resources information. The details of the differences between the two sectors, and among the six nations of the three continents, in terms of the incidence (frequency) and the word count (content) of information disclosed on different hitman resources issues in the annual reports are presented in the paper.
Private vs. Public Sector Returns to Human Capital in Finland
Authors: ASPLUND RITA
Published: January 2008

A common assertion, strongly supported by country‐specific empirical evidence, is that individual returns to investment in human capital change slowly over time. The research results reported in this paper indicate that this is not necessarily the outcome if the economy, like the Finnish one at the turn of the decade (1980/90), undergoes rapid shifts in the activity level coupled with increasing turbulence in the labour market. Not surprisingly, the changes in wage conditions are stronger within the private sector. Less expected is perhaps the finding of highly differing effects among men and women employed in the same sector.
Staff Training and Further Development in Place of Redundancies: A Swedish Example
Authors: OLSSON BIRGITTA
Published: January 2008

The Swedish government decided in 1994, as part of the so‐called 50,000 Swedish crowns scheme, to set aside a portion of the labour market budget for the further training and retraining of local government and country council employees. The present article reports on the experiences of the training effort that took place in 1994–1995 and provides a theoretical framework for discussing staff training as an alternative to redundancies in the case of “economic overstuffing” and as part of a strategy for lifelong learning. Staff training and further development can be viewed as direct labour market measures instead of as redundancies. This article is based on a large empirical study in municipalities and county councils that have used these measures. In the study it was shown that these market measures can be defended both economically and humanly in the sense that both contribute to strengthening internal mobility and increasing the worker's adaptability to the external labour market. At the same time, this conform part of a strategy for a more flexible structuring of working time.
Strategic Human Resource Management Measures: Key Linkages and the PeopleVantage Model
Authors: BOUDREAU JOHN W.
Published: January 2008

The field of human resource management faces a significant dilemma. While emerging evidence, theory, and practical demands are increasing the visibility and credibility of human capital as a key to organisational success, the measures used to articulate the impact of human resource management decisions remain misunderstood, unwanted by key constituents, or even counter‐productive. This article proposes that the key to creating meaningful HR metrics is to embed them within a model that shows the links between HR investments and organisational success. The PeopleVantage model is proposed as a framework, the application of the model is illustrated, and the potential of the model for guiding research and practical advances in effective HR measures is discussed.
Utility Analysis Based on Tenure
Authors: MYORS BRETT
Published: January 2008

An alternative method of utility analysis based on tenure, rather than dollar value performance, is presented. The standard deviation of employees' tenure with an organisation becomes the individual differences parameter, rather than SDy, and mean dollar value performance (Y) provides the scaling onto dollars. Results suggest that the new model produces utility estimates that are not significantly different from the classic Brogden‐Cronbach‐Gleser model.
The Personnel Economics Institute After Ten Years: What Has Been Achieved and Where Are We Going?
Authors: JOHANSON ULF , MABON HUNTER
Published: January 2008

This paper provides a brief account of the work of the PEI since its inauguration. Furthermore, a number of current issues are discussed such as the way the scope of the subject has been extended to broader issues including intellectual capital and the balanced score card. A final conclusion is drawn that while much has been achieved by the PEI and others, there are still many central measurement issues to be resolved in the future.
Intellectual Capital of Nations — for Future Wealth Creation
Authors: EDVINSSON LEIF , STENFELT CAROLINE
Published: January 2008

This paper focuses on the concept of Intellectual Capital (IC) of Nations and the need for a change of perspectives from financial to intellectual values. Although the paper briefly describes the concept of IC within business, the principal focus is on IC of Nations. IC of a Nation includes the hidden values of individuals, enterprises, and institutions, communities and regions that are the current and potential sources for wealth creation. It is proposed that every nation should start a process in visualising and measuring IC as a complement to traditional state finances. The present paper also examines the ongoing prototyping within Sweden, Israel and Austria that was initiated in 1996. In addition, the paper describes one of the tools — the IC Navigator for Nations — that can be used to present a pedagogical and holistic view and bring balance between intellectual and financial capital. Examples of indicators of IC for Sweden and Israel are described.
Theoretical Expectancies: Replacing Classic Utility Tables with Flexible, Accurate Computing Procedures
Authors: MCLELLAN RICHARD A.
Published: January 2008

A great deal of work has been done by industrial and organisational psychologists to express the utility of validated employee selection systems. Much of this work has focused on methods for estimating economic utility, to show how many dollars can be gained or saved by implementing a new selection procedure. These methods can be quite useful, yet it is often difficult for the sponsors of selection systems to appreciate the credibility of the resulting dollar value estimates. Many users of selection systems still need to see utility analyses that demonstrate the selection system's value in more tangible behavioural terms that can be anchored in familiar performance metrics or standards of the organisation. This article presents all the information needed to compute theoretical expectancies for improvement of job performance under three well‐known models, eliminating the need to rely on incomplete expectancy tables. The methods described produce highly accurate results for all possible input values, and can be implemented easily using a variety of widely available software tools.
Fundamental Analysis and Human Capital: Empirical Evidence on the Relationship between the Quality of Human Resources and Fundamental Accounting Variables
Authors: GARCÍA‐AYUSO MANUEL , MORENO‐CAMPOS INES , SIERRA‐MOLINA GUILLERMO
Published: January 2008

Fundamental analysis is aimed at assessing the intrinsic value of companies based on publicly available accounting information. Thus, the main purpose of fundamental analysis research should be identifying the main determinants of value, establishing empirical relations between them and fundamental accounting variables, and finally, predicting the future behavior of such variables to estimate the value of the firm. Traditional fundamental analysis ignores the existence of some intangible assets, such as intellectual capital, that are currently considered as the main determinants of value. Human capital is an essential component of intellectual capital. This paper provides evidence on the extent to which the quality of human resources is related to the value of accounting variables that are used in fundamental analysis due to their perceived usefulness as proxies for investors' expectations on the firm's future profitability and growth in both, earnings and shareholders' equity.
Employee‐propelled Information Provision: How ABB Facilities Management uses Performance Measurements to Boost Employee Participation in the Organisational Information Provision
Authors: PETRI CARL‐JOHAN
Published: January 2008

The employees in an organisation are its eyes and ears, and their willingness to contribute with observations is essential to the internal information sharing. Literature suggests that an information system (IS) that is not used must be redesigned to suit the users. This article argues that malfunctioning IS might be understood from a management control perspective, i.e. that the employees rather choose to engage in other duties than documenting and retrieving information from an existing IS. They perceive such ditties as more valuable to them and to the organisation, which results in low utilisation of the systems. Managerial interventions can, however, stimulate data entry and asynchronous communication between individuals by manifesting that information sharing is an important organisational issue through agreement on objectives, performance monitoring and evaluation, feedback mechanisms and analysis and action plans.
Using Human Resource Accounting to bring Balance to the Balanced Scorecard
Authors: TURNER GEOFFREY
Published: January 2008

The discipline of management is, among other things, the skill of translating accounting information into behaviour. Where the knowledge and skills of employees are the principal asset of an organisation, current key performance indicators rarely provide appropriate or relevant information and indeed may be misleading to management. Because managing the knowledge and skills of employees is the current organisational challenge (Handy, 1996), it is time that serious consideration is given to the development of measures that meet this challenge. Management accounting provides an attractive concept, namely, the balanced scorecard, to assist management in the assessment of organisational performance. Its usefulness is often questioned because of a lack of relevant measures in the fourth quadrant. This paper considers, in relation to the human element of an organisation, how it may be possible to strengthen the innovation and learning perspective of the balanced scorecard. The aim is to provide information that allows managements to monitor the performance of their human resources and also enables others to assess managements' ability to nurture and to augment the talent and accumulated knowledge of their organisations' human resources. This model may well be considered the beginning of Puxty's (1993) long road in search of a planning, control and performance measurement system that accounts for the human element of an organisation's intellectual assets.
Intellectual Capital Disclosure in Canadian Corporations
Authors: BONTIS NICK
Published: January 2008

There has been increased attention and focus on the importance of intellectual capital disclosure. Several Scandinavian companies have ventured forward by publishing intellectual capital statements. However, despite the global appeal and changing beliefs surrounding the value of intellectual capital, it continues to be excluded from Canadian corporate annual reports. This paper outlines a study in which content analysis was conducted on the annual reports of 10,000 Canadian corporations. A list of intellectual capital related terms was searched within the annual reports yielding a significantly small number of instances in which intellectual capital disclosure took place. A major recommendation for corporations who are concerned with their relationship with the capital markets is to develop strategic and tactical initiatives that provide for voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital. These initiatives may initially be used for internal management purposes only, however, an external stakeholder‐focus report will more than likely should be the ultimate goal.
Measuring the ROI of Management Development: An Application of the Stochastic Rewards Valuation Model
Authors: FLAMHOLTZ ERIC G. , BULLEN MARIA L. , HUA WEI
Published: January 2008

There is growing recognition that the core economic resources of the current era are human and intellectual capital, rather than physical assets such as inventories, plant, and equipment. Given the increasing importance of human capital and intellectual property as determinants of economic success at both the macroeconomic and enterprise levels, it is clear that the nature of investments made by firms need to shift to reflect the new economic realities. Specifically, if human capital is a key determinant of organizational success, then investments in training and development of people also become critical. In turn, there is a need to develop concepts and tools for monitoring and evaluating management development programs in terms of their impact, results, and value or return on investment. The specific objective of this article is to draw upon the concepts and measurement approaches of the field that has come to be known as “human resource accounting” and show how they, specifically the stochastic rewards valuation model, can be used as tools for the measurement of the value of investments in training programs designed to increase the value of human capital.
Accounting for Intellectual Assets and Liabilities
Authors: ABEYSEKERA INDRA
Published: January 2008

This paper is an addition to the current debate on how to measure and recognise intellectual assets and liabilities. A conceptual approach has been proposed so that intellectual assets and liabilities can be recognised in the financial statements using market value as a reference point acknowledging that intellectual assets and liability items cannot be measured accurately to recognise them individually. It was constructed using the common ground between financial reporting and intellectual assets and liability management. It has used an intellectual assets definition, an intellectual assets indicator at an organizational level, the Australian conceptual framework in accounting and recently published and revised accounting standards in Australia as tools for its construction.
The Future of Accounting Education
Authors: ALLEN WARREN
Published: January 2008

As we enter a new millennium, the world we inhabit is experiencing great change, the likes of which, has seldom been witnessed during the period of mankind's dominate position on earth. We can either accept it and benefit, or be swamped by it and be left behind. The list of forces impacting our lives is extensive, but some of the key influences impacting business are: