bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A clean bill of rights
Authors: Miller Mark
Published: January 2008

Social Accountability (SA) 8000 is a newly recognized international standard governing the ethical sourcing for production of goods and services. A response to growing pressure on organizations to demonstrate non‐exploitative behaviour, its methodology is based closely on the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 management system standards.
The SIX SIGMA focus on TOTAL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Authors: Erwin Jane
Published: January 2008

Developed by Motorola in the 1980s Six Sigma is a target‐based continuous improvement now and into the next century. Companies around the world are embracing concept that, by focusing on the causes of customer dissatisfaction, is an approach its disciplines to revitalize their culture and deliver a boost to the bottom line.
QUALITY COST AND COMPANY VALUATIONS
Authors: Janssen Alexander
Published: January 2008

Corporate financiers looking to increase the success rate of merger and acquisition transactions should consider conducting a quality cost analysis.
INSTRUMENTS TO SUPPORT SELF‐ASSESSMENT
Authors: Dale Barrie , Boaden Ruth , McQuater R , Marchington Mick , Spring Martin , Wilkinson Adrian , Wilcox Mark
Published: January 2008

Over the past decade, the establishment and growth of quality awards has stimulated organizational self‐assessment using the award models. Four new methods developed from fieldwork in the UK can be used not only to support the gathering of data required by the models, but also in stand‐alone mode to assist managers to identify and recognize the symptoms, root causes and issues that are adversely affecting their improvement process in the areas of sustainability, tools and techniques, human resources and product design and development.
a Practical SCORE FOR BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
Authors: Dahlgaard Jens
Published: January 2008

For businesses a major drawback of self‐assessments based on quality award models is the amount of precious time and effort they require. Based on work with a major European service company, a ‘quick’ approach has been developed by Aarhus School of Business. In the second of two articles, Jens Dahlgaard and Jakob Eskildsen explain its new method for scoring business excellence and compare it with established approaches.
THE SEVEN STAGES of FINDING OUT WHAT MATTERS MOST TO CUSTOMERS
Authors: Hill Nigel
Published: January 2008

Obtaining real value for an organization from surveys of customer satisfaction involves turning feedback into an accurate measure. Many companies fall down by overlooking or under‐emphasizing the key things you just have to get right.
The intangible value IN SOCIAL ACCOUNTING
Authors: Mackenzie Craig
Published: January 2008

With the lobby growing for social and ethical reporting, companies will need to quantify the relationship between ethics and business success to convince shareholders focused on the bottom line of the value of adopting an ethical approach to business. A convergence between the emerging practices of social auditing and brand valuation is a good place to start.
QUEBEC'S QUALImètre
Authors: Ballery Elisabeth
Published: January 2008

National and organizational assessment models are increasing in number throughout the world. Among the most recent is Quebec's QUALImètre. In a recent interview Jean‐M. Richard, managing director of the Mouvement Québécois de la Qualité (Quebec Movement for Quality), explained the philosophy, principles for implementation and innovations of this tool, which incorporates international developments in quality to improve regional competitiveness.
HOW TO TAKE THE OUT OF FMEAs
Authors: Harpster Richard A
Published: January 2008

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a well‐established and widely used process for improving efficiency and increasing customer satisfaction by highlighting which problems most critically need action. However, many users are themselves in ‘failure mode’ in its application.
the evaluation of ACCREDITATION in HEALTHCARE
Authors: Walsh Nicola , Walshe Kieran
Published: January 2008

Clinical governance is the linchpin of the UK government's quality improvement strategy for the country's National Health Service. Extending quality accreditation programmes from hospitals into the primary care sector — local general practice surgeries — presents a critical set of challenges. In this extract from Accreditation in Primary Care, Nicola Walsh and Kieran Walshe explore how to evaluate accreditation initiatives to assure the quality of primary care.
better managed processes CREATE better marketing metrics
Authors: Shaw Robert , White Carolyn
Published: January 2008

Market research should have a great deal of potential for assisting managers who want to set goals and evaluate performance of marketing and customer‐related activities. However, this potential is often overlooked or disregarded in practice. Improving the management of the market research process could support the creation of better marketing metrics.
at the cutting edgeof data gathering
Authors: Sörqvist Lars
Published: January 2008

Most companies rely on internal information to develop their customer‐focused strategies without adequate knowledge of cutting‐edge data gathering methods. This can lead to producer orientation and poor decision‐making, according to Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology's research into 40 organizations.
MISSING THE LINK
Authors: Lemaire Peter , Wanszink Dick
Published: January 2008

Like medieval alchemists, quality modellers continue to search for a formula that will combine various elements of quality management into one unified whole. Evidence from companies in The Netherlands suggests the dream of linking concepts is so far still unrealized.
The Significance of Core Values on the Theory and Practice of Organizational Development
Authors: Margulies Newton , Raia Anthony
Published: January 2008

Values are the outcome of choice, as well as the underlying forces which influence those choices. How important are they in terms of the theory and practice of OD? Their importance over the past 30 years is demonstrated, and it is concluded that the identity of OD is dependent on the existence and application of the core values it advocates.
Organisational Change — Threat or Challenge?
Authors: Taylor Helen , Cooper Cary L.
Published: January 2008

Organisational change, for some employees, can pose threat, for others challenge. It has been found that, given the same organisational stressors, certain individuals fall victim to stress and ill‐health, whereas others remain healthy. In order to seek a clearer understanding of this phenomenon, the personality/stress/health relationship is explored with reference to individual differences in Type A behaviour, locus of control, hardiness, extraversion, neuroticism, and tension discharge rate. It is suggested that organisational change management should be within the framework of communication, control and counselling. Future research should pursue a multidimensional, interactive course to gain a greater insight into this highly complex relationship.
Working with Culture
Authors: Lundberg Craig C.
Published: January 2008

Organizational culture determines much of what we can do as we attempt to manage change. Effective change strategies and interventional practices will both reflect culture and eventually modify it. Change occurs in and by culture. Change, therefore, must be culturally sensitive. Practitioners need to not only appreciate what organizational culture is and is not, but also to appreciate how alternative types of change are related to culture and the roles that can be performed. This is the thrust of this article.
Information Resource Management in an Age of Technological Change
Authors: Heiman Donald C.
Published: January 2008

The evolution of electronic information technologies in a Midwest state in the USA are discussed and this evolution is compared to national trends for processing information. Information management technologies are now in the third stage of evolution. Over the next five years, the technology for handling information will fully integrate voice, data, and video technologies. This integration has profound implications for how organizations manage its enactment and how organizations will adapt to their internal and external environments. In order to manage these enactments and adaptations, a new way of planning is required. Traditional “bottom up” and “top down” planning methodologies must be integrated into a planning method that defines the knit between information system architectures and resources with corporate policies and business plans. The article presents a model of this integrated planning approach for practitioners and policy makers who are responsible for designing organizational systems.
Automobile and Steel Strategies: Symbols of a New World of Work
Authors: Cassell Frank H.
Published: January 2008

Foreign competition has made the US steel and automobile industries effect decentralization operations to the middle south and west — to rural, low‐paid, non‐unionized labor, and thus maximising profits and increasing management control. All this has led to a reruralization of the US workforce and by selling off operations, profit levels can be enhanced.
Conscious corporate communication: A conceptual analysis
Authors: Varey Richard J.
Published: January 2008

The common view of communication is of something that is not really communication. To be effective, communication effort must be seen in its holistic social context, and be managed — planned, co‐ordinated, integrated — and understood. Modern organisational communication, ie interpersonal communication in an organisational setting, must be recognised as a social integrator rather than as a mechanistic management tool. This requires managers to hold a particular concept of interpersonal communication. Evidence of the prevailing concept is provided, a more appropriate view is discussed, and a research agenda is outlined.
Considering the source: What the public thinks of sponsors of public relations
Authors: Sallot Lynne M.
Published: January 2008

In order to test effects of motives, communication style and licensing on the reputations of sponsors of public relations, a 4 × 2 × 2 factorial design experiment was conducted by the author with 585 non‐student adults and undergraduate university students in the USA. Perceived motives to impression manage had a strong effect on results, with prosocial or mixed and selfish motives seen as a ‘hustle’ on the part of corporate sponsors. Mixed support was found for licensing as a means of enhancing the reputation of public relations. Communication style — ‘symmetric’ versus ‘persuasive’ — had no effect on results. Impression management theory suggests that perceived motives and self‐interests may explain the poor reputation sometimes attributed to public relations and its clients or sponsors.
Communicating for competitive advantage: A continuous improvement model
Authors: Oakley John
Published: January 2008

This paper describes a continuous improvement model, developed by Edwards Deming and applied by the author. The model shows how organisations can align their performance with customers' expectations. The author focuses on some of the key areas of concern for the communicator when implementing a continuous improvement programme including internal and external performance; team participation; and performance enhancement.
A common sense guide to treating the shareholder as a customer
Authors: Jameson Pamela A.
Published: January 2008

‘A common sense guide to treating the shareholder as a customer’ questions why companies generally do not treat shareholders as customers. The paper provides insight into questions that management can ask to learn about its shareholder base. It also presents various issues that should be covered in a message for investors that will communicate corporate growth strategies and factors affecting valuation. While the primary focus of management should be on company‐specific issues, industry questions also need to be addressed.
Using the Internet to communicate with key audiences
Authors: Flynn Greg
Published: January 2008

The excitement surrounding the Internet should be counterbalanced by the realisation that ‘The Net’ can be less than effective as a medium to reach key audiences. This paper initially studies the appeal of the Internet over today's dominant forms of media — such as television — before outlining a number of steps which will assist in ensuring that if an organisation does use the Internet, the results are positive.
Strategic, symmetrical public relations in government: From pluralism to societal corporatism
Authors: Grunig James E , Jaatinen Miia
Published: January 2008

Public relations professionals frequently maintain that public relations is different in governmental organisations than in corporations, associations and not‐for‐profit organisations. Textbooks commonly include separate chapters on government public relations; and some universities in the USA teach separate courses on government communication programmes. Most public relations theorists, however, have not constructed separate theories of public relations for government. In this paper, the authors theorise that the principles of public relations for government are the same as for other types of organisation, but that the specific conditions to which the principles must be applied are different. Research has shown, however, that governmental organisations are more likely than other organisations to practice a public information model of public relations and less likely to engage in two‐way communication. The authors suggest theoretically that governmental organisations, especially in the USA, are more likely to practice one‐way, information‐based communication programmes because of a pluralistic view of government. In countries where government is based more on a societal corporatist view, organisations are more likely to practice strategic, two‐way communication. This paper analyses the information policies of Canada and Norway as examples. It concludes with the proposition that strategic, symmetrical public relations requires an agency to view its relationship with publics from a societal corporatist perspective rather than from a pluralistic perspective.
The presentation of a merger case to the European Commission for approval: The case of Price Waterhouse/Coopers & Lybrand
Authors: Hatcher Mark
Published: January 2008

This paper examines the pubic affairs contribution to the successful outcome of an application for merger approval to the European Commission, as part of the worldwide merger of two professional services firms — the first and, to date, the only merger of its kind on this scale in this sector. After describing the context in which the parties' decision to merge was taken, the paper takes a step‐by‐step approach through European merger control procedure and, against that background, explains why the contribution made by public affairs became a key management issue for the parties in this case. The paper describes the public affairs actions taken by the parties to support their legal and economic arguments for approval in order to address some questions about the potential consequences of the merger, to counter some adverse media reaction and ultimately to obtain regulatory approval.
Lobbying the EU institutions: New rules, new game
Authors: Gray Mark
Published: January 2008

Most recent publications on lobbying at the European Union (EU) level question the position and the role of established Euro‐groups or interest groups which represent business interests. These publications are based on the situation at the time of the Maastricht Treaty. This paper underlines the changing environment since Maastricht. Focusing on the significant changes in the Treaty of Amsterdam, a case is presented for undertaking EU lobbying in a different manner.
Optimal Financial Reporting and Equity Returns: Evidence from Commercial Banks
Authors: Lefanowicz Craig E. , McLelland Malcolm J.
Published: January 2008

This study develops a hypothesis from asset pricing theory and optimization theory that in a diversified portfolio of equity securities there is no linear relationship between equilibrium equity returns and financial reporting variables subject to managerial discretion, only a nonlinear relationship. Alternatively stated, this study presents theory and evidence suggesting that linear conditional mean effects of discretionary financial reporting variables on equity returns for an industry portfolio of firms are zero, while the nonlinear conditional mean effects are nonzero.
Consensus Analysts' Forecasts and Current Price Level
Authors: Zhang Huai
Published: January 2008

This paper attempts to shed light on the issue whether investors' earnings expectations completely align with analysts' forecasts. I find that current price level is not significantly correlated with one‐year‐out realized earnings, but, it is significantly correlated with two‐year‐out, three‐year‐out, four‐year‐out and five‐year‐out realized earnings after I control for analysts' forecasts (and current earnings). Current price is found to be useful in improving the accuracy of long‐term analyst consensus forecasts. My findings are consistent with the notion that the market's near term expectation closely follows analyst forecasts while the market's long‐term expectation contains more information than analyst consensus forecasts.
What Managers Should Know About Earnings Management — Its Prevalence, Legality, Ethicality, and Does It Work?
Authors: Davis‐Friday Paquita Y. , Frecka Thomas J.
Published: January 2008

The purpose of this paper is to summarize important information for managers, including research evidence related to the prevalence, legality, ethicality and other aspects of earnings management, to explain potential negative consequences of earnings management, and to offer suggestions for improved financial statement disclosure to enhance the transparency of financial reporting. We especially focus on income smoothing.
Do Accounting Estimates Get More Accurate With Experience and Does The Market Care: The Case of SFAS 106
Authors: Asthana Sharad
Published: January 2008

This paper posits that the precision of accounting estimates should be an increasing function of experience due to learning effects. Using a sample of 747 observations for 305 firms for the period 1993–96 with complete data available on the COMPUSTAT, CRSP, and COMPACT DISCLOSURE databases, the paper conducts regression analyses to examine the precision of two estimates (discount rates and health care cost inflation rates) required under SFAS 106. Tests show that the estimation errors for the health care cost inflation estimates decrease with experience, but those for discounts rates do not. The results persist after controlling for the profile of participants of the health care plan, predisclosure uncertainty, and propensity to manipulate by managers. The results are consistent with “learning effect” for health care cost inflation rates that were being estimated for the first time, while no such effect is visible for discount rates that had been estimated in the past for pension plans. The paper also hypothesizes that the market rewards perceived precision of accounting estimates attributable to learning effect. Cross‐sectional tests confirm that the valuation coefficient of postretirement benefit obligations increases in absolute value as the estimation errors decline, suggesting that the market relies more on reported accounting estimates as their perceived precision improves. Thus, the extant research findings of weak or non‐existent value relevance of SEAS 106 liabilities may have been confined to the initial period after the adoption of SEAS 106 when the measurement errors were high. The documented evidence of improvement in precision provides support for FASB's claim that the reliability of accounting estimates, especially those required by complex standards such as SEAS 106, should improve with experience. The evidence of improvement in value‐relevance should also be reassuring for FASB, since one of the intended benefits of SEAS 106 was to provide value relevant information to the investors.
The Timeliness of Accounting Earnings as an Antecedent of Disclosure Informativeness of US Multinational Firms
Authors: Fekrat M. Ali
Published: January 2008

The objective of this paper is to investigate how disclosure informativeness of U.S. multinational corporations varies with the informativeness of numbers produced by their financial accounting systems. We predict that firms whose current accounting numbers do not capture well the effects of the firm's current activities and outcomes on shareholder value proxied by earnings timeliness will institute better disclosure systems and improve their disclosure informativeness to compensate for their less informative accounting numbers. Disclosure informativeness is measured by analyst ratings of corporate disclosures provided in the annual volumes of the Report of The Financial Analysts Federation Corporate Information Committee. The informativeness of accounting numbers is proxied by the timeliness of earnings. We investigate whether the analysts' ratings vary with the timeliness of earnings by examining the cross‐sectional relation between properties of earnings timeliness and subsequent analyst ratings of corporate disclosure of 100 firms included in FORBES' survey of the largest U.S. multinationals. The results support a significant negative relation between the timeliness metrics and subsequent values of disclosure informativeness after controlling for other firm characteristics.
The Impact of Geographic and Business Segment Diversification Upon Investor's Perceptions of Earnings of U.S.‐Based Multinational Enterprises
Authors: Senteney David L.
Published: January 2008

This study investigates how investors perceive the impact of U.S.‐based MNCs geographic and business segment diversification upon their earnings performance. Pooled cross‐sectional annual earnings response regressions for the years 1993 through 1997 are used for this investigation. Our results show that geographic segment diversification is valued by investors more than the business segment diversification especially in two cases: 1) when the business segmentation is low; and 2) when geographic segmentation is high. These results imply that business segment diversification is only valued when it takes place in international markets where it is relatively more difficult for individual investors to replicate industry diversified portfolio for themselves. Our research illuminates the contextual aspects of investors' perceptions of geographic and business segment diversification for multinational corporations by explicitly controlling for one dimension of corporate diversification while examining the earning‐returns impact of the other type of corporate diversification.
Do Culture and Cross‐Border Listings Influence Global Analysts Behavior and Disclosure Practices
Authors: Ndubizu Gordian A.
Published: January 2008

This paper examines the influence of culture, globalization and investor protection on the number of analysts following firms in each country. The extant literature shows that the number of analysts following firms is positively associated with information disclosure practices of firms. Consistent with the literature, the number of analysts following firms in each country is used as a proxy representing disclosure practices. The evidence shows that cultural distance from U.S. moves positively with the number of analysts in each country. This result suggests that culture influences global analyst behavior. Globalization of capital markets appears to increase the number of financial analysts across countries. Specifically, each country cross‐border listings on U.S. markets and the size of home capital market move positively with analyst services. These findings suggest that globalization also influences global analyst behavior.
The Influence of Accounting and Auditing on a Country's Economic Development
Authors: Abdolmohammadi Mohammad J. , Tucker Robert R.
Published: January 2008

Prior studies have identified several factors associated with economic growth including a country's: legal system, banking system, stock markets, and accounting standards. This research examines cross‐country differences in accounting and auditing to assess their role in a country's economic development. We investigate the effects of the per capita number of practicing accountants, auditors, and tax preparers on economic wealth per capita. In addition, we investigate whether economic wealth results from the source of accounting standard setting (i.e., government, private sector or both). Finally, we investigate whether the professionalism of a country's internal audit activity, as measured by its ability to achieve the status of a chapter in the Institute of Internal Auditors (HA) relates to economic growth. The dependent variable for all tests, per capita GNP, was regressed on these variables to determine the type and strength of association between them. The results indicate that on average, countries with larger per capita numbers of accountants and auditors, and number of chapters of the IIAhad greater wealth per capita than those with smaller per capita number of accountants and auditors and number of chapters of the IIA. Also, countries that had input from both the private and public sectors in setting standards had higher per capita wealth.
Information Ethics: An investigation of different subcultures in a society
Authors: Alshawaf Abdulridha , Adhikari Ajay , Zhang Hao
Published: January 2008

This article highlights the importance and complexity of creating cultural assets (e.g. corporate norms, shared perceptions) in a global economy. We examine the relationship of the business environment and the gender subcultures on social‐related information technology (IT) issues by comparing the attitudes towards information ethics among Kuwaiti business students and Kuwaiti business practitioners. We find that attitudes towards information ethics issues differ depending on type of respondent and gender. However, the effect of type of respondent depends on gender. Cultural idiosyncrasies of the Middle East are partly helpful in explaining our results. An implication of our results is that cultural assets such as corporate norms and shared perceptions are not easily shaped and require a sustained commitment and investment to overcome the competing influence of forces such as national culture and gender effects.
Are Analysts' Stock Recommendations Really Relative to the Market?
Authors: Softer Leonard C.
Published: January 2008

The skewness in security analysts' recommendations is well documented, and is generally attributed to analysts' need to maintain good relations with the companies they follow. I examine another possible explanation — that analysts do not really rate stocks relative to the market, but incorporate overall market performance. Unlike other explanations for the skewness, this one implies there will be shifts in the recommendation distribution over time as market conditions change. I find that the shifts in the distribution during 1984–1992 are related to lagged market returns. Analysts moved toward more positive recommendations following months with poor market returns, and turned more negative following strong returns, suggesting analysts were betting on returns reversals. This effect was not observed during 1992–1999. However, the recommendation distribution shifted steadily toward buys during this period of overwhelmingly positive market returns. The results suggest that lagged market returns affect analysts' recommendation distributions. I document, however, that the recommendation distribution is not a useful market timing tool.
Tradable Environmental Pollution Credits: A New Financial Asset
Authors: Kosobud Richard F. , Stokes Houston H. , Tallarico Carol D.
Published: January 2008

A new financial asset (Allotment Trading Unit or ATU) that allows a firm to pollute was issued to a number of Chicago firms in 2000 as part of a cap‐and‐trade model to reduce emissions in the Chicago area. A model of this market was developed to enable us to: 1.) Estimate equilibrium tradable credit prices and quantities and calculate compliance costs for comparison with traditional environmental regulation; 2.) Estimate the consequences for prices and quantities of introducing changing emitter costs; and 3.) Estimate the impacts on prices and quantities of changing market features such as auctioning tradable credits instead of a free allocation, introducing spatial constraints, and changing the emissions cap. The model's results on the price determination of this new financial asset are of interest to accountants and financial analysts. A dated bankable ATU credit has a one‐year life expectancy, but future tradable credits can be bought or sold for use at the appropriate future date. It is an intangible asset that should be disclosed, measured and valued. The valuation to place on this asset is an important research topic in finance and accounting and various valuation approaches are discussed to handle the short‐term and long‐term price paths.
The impact of firm‐specific attributes on the relevance in earnings and cash‐flows : a nonlinear relationship between stock returns and accounting numbers
Authors: Martinez Isabelle
Published: January 2008

The role of accounting information in setting security prices is one of the most fundamental issues in accounting and finance. The purpose of this study is to extend the research on the value relevance of accounting numbers in three important directions. Firstly, we consider the French context and analyze if earnings and/or cash flows are relevant to explain stock returns. Secondly, we test whether the explanatory power of accounting variables can be improved by using a nonlinear specification. Thirdly, we investigate how firm‐specific attributes such as size, debt level and firm life‐cycle influence the relative relevance of accounting measures (earnings and cash flows). Our results support a nonlinear relationship between stock returns and accounting variables. They indicate also that the relevance of earnings is conditional on size, debt level and life cycle of the firm. In contrast, the earnings change reveals more information when the firms are large, mature or characterized by a low degree of debt. These results are consistent with difference in earnings persistence between firms. With regards to cash flows, we find that they do not reveal additional information beyond that contained in earnings.
Economic Properties of the Risk Sensitive Criterion for Portfolio Management
Authors: Bielecki Tomasz R. , Pliska Stanley R.
Published: January 2008

The idea of using stochastic control methods for theoretical studies of portfolio management has long been standard, with maximum expected utility criteria commonly being used. But in recent years a new kind of criterion, the risk sensitive criterion, has emerged from the control theory literature and been applied to portfolio management. This paper studies various economic properties of this criterion for portfolio management, thereby providing justification for its theoretical and practical use. In particular, it is shown that the risk sensitive criterion amounts to maximizing a portfolio's risk adjusted growth rate. In other words, it is essentially the same as what is commonly done in practice: find the best trade‐off between a portfolio's average return and its average volatility.
What Do Analysts' Stock Recommendations Really Mean?
Authors: Finger Catherine A. , Landsman Wayne R.
Published: January 2008

This paper provides evidence that will help stock market participants interpret sell‐side analyst buy/sell recommendations. We examine whether recommendation levels (e.g. buy) correspond with traditional predictors of the underlying stock's performance, and whether recommendation revisions (e.g. an upgrade) are consistent with news analysts receive. Consistent with theory, we find that more optimistic recommendations are associated with higher mean forecast errors, forecast revisions, and forecasted earnings‐to‐price ratios. However, contrary to expectations, they also have higher market‐to‐book ratios, higher market values, and lower ratios of value to price (Lee et al. 1999). These results are probably driven by specific differences between buys and the less optimistic recommendations, as holds and sells are rarely distinguishable from each other. Our recommendation revision findings are consistent with our expectations. Upgrades have significantly larger earnings forecast errors, earnings forecast revisions, and unexpected earnings growth than do reiterations or downgrades.
The Effect of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 125 on Repurchase Contracts
Authors: Teruya Jenny , Pourjalali Hamid
Published: January 2008

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 125 (SFAS 125), Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities, introduced a control‐oriented “financial‐components” approach. SFAS 125 provided guidelines on when financial assets should be removed from the balance sheet (derecognized) and the resulting gain or loss recognized. Stated differently, when certain conditions were met, the transfer of financial assets was considered a sales (or derecognition) transaction and should have been treated accordingly. Even when financial assets were not considered sold (derecognized), SFAS 125 specified conditions, that when met, required specific measurement and disclosure of financial assets (different from normal borrowing transactions). Repurchase contract conditions in most cases were subject to different accounting treatments according to SFAS 125; they were not to be treated as sales transactions.
An Analysis of the Association Between Firm Risk, Executive Share Options and Accounting Performance: Some Australian Evidence
Authors: Hutchinson Marion
Published: January 2008

This paper examines whether the financial performance of the firm is associated with the risk‐taking propensity of executives, which is inferred from the structure of their share option portfolio. The objective of this paper is to determine if executives have greater risk bearing preferences when they have more share options than shares in their firm. In turn, executives' risk‐taking preferences suggest that these decision‐makers adopt value‐increasing strategies. The results of this study support this notion. The results of the study of 182 Australian firms demonstrate that the negative relationship between firm risk and firm performance is weaker when executives hold a higher proportion of share options than shares in their investment in the firm. These results hold implications for executives' compensation contracts. That is, executives who share in their firms' risk via share options are more likely to undertake risky activities with high‐expected performance outcome.
A Simplified Interactive Program for the Empirical Determination of Indifference Boundaries
Authors: Baker Robert , Helmuth John
Published: January 2008

Introduction The nature of this paper is expository, its purpose being to suggest a method for empirically determining indifference boundaries. The fundamental procedure that will be presented is the design and coding of Trade‐off Reject‐Acceptance (TRA), a computer program analyzing decisions involving trade‐offs.
The American Tradition in Economics
Authors: Johnson Harry G.
Published: January 2008

1976 was a double bicentennial year for American economists. On the one hand, it was the bicentennial year of the establishment of the United States of America as an independent, self‐governing country — an event that in recent years has become far more of a commonplace occurrence than it was in those revolutionary days two centuries ago. On the other hand it was the bicentennial of the publication of the first volume of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, the book that launched our discipline and gave it much of its pedagogic content and structure, at least until the Keynesian Revolution introduced the familiar textbook division between micro‐economics and macro‐economics. (1776, incidentally, was also the year of publication of Bentham's A Fragment on Government and Turgot's Six Edicts; not to speak of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a monumental scholarly work that probably should have received much more serious attention in the time of American bicentennary self‐congratulation and hoopla than it did.) The coincidence of the bicentennary of economics and of the United States naturally suggests combination of the two, in a discussion of what, if anything, are the distinctive and distinguishing characteristics of the American tradition in economics.
Memoriam to Harry G. Johnson: An Economist's Economist
Authors: Meadows Edward
Published: January 2008

Professor Harry G. Johnson, the economist, died on May 8 at the age of 53. His death rated a longish obituary in the New York Times, but went unremarked on the evening news shows. For Professor Johnson was not a public figure. He never deigned to wallow in the swamps of political economy. Rather, he was the quintessential economic scientist. Even his closest friends were hard put to discover his ideological bent, for Harry Johnson professed none. More than that, he escaped all the neat taxonomies: in manifold books and professional‐journal articles, he attacked Keynes where he felt the great Lord was wrong; he criticized the Neoclassicists for their myopia; and he remained distrustful of what he viewed as the overly simplistic analytics proffered by Milton Friedman, his senior colleague at the University of Chicago.
Zarembka's Estimate of Best Functional Form Applied to a Money Demand Equation
Authors: Bunch Snowden E.
Published: January 2008

Introduction Many recent articles on monetary economics devote considerable effort to empirically testing various current theories of money demand. Their authors search for new and better proxies to give empirical content to ‘demand‐for‐money’, ‘income’, and ‘interest‐rate’ magnitudes, standard components of money demand equations. They consider questions of which interest rate to choose from among the manifold, and whether to use Ml or perhaps some other money supply measure to represent ‘demand‐for‐money’. But these economists do not exert the same effort when giving specific form to general money demand functions. The usual research practice is to rather arbitrarily express estimating equations in either a linear or a log‐log functional form (1).
THEORETICAL MODELS OF RATE REGULATION: A SURVEY AND CRITIQUE
Authors: MCNICOL DAVID , PHILLIPS ALMARIN
Published: January 2008

INTRODUCTION During the past dozen years a relatively large theoretical literature has grown out of the models proposed by Averch‐Johnson (2) and, to a lesser extent, Wellisz (90). Averch‐Johnson (here‐after A‐J) pointed out the now famous overcapitalization effect‐that a monopoly subject to rate of return regulation has an incentive to use more than the cost minimizing value of capital. The A‐J model was at first regarded as simply a theoretical explanation of what was long thought to be a significant cost of regulation. After languishing in this state for several years, the model achieved some popularity as a vehicle for theoretical explorations of various aspects of rate regulation. To date, the A‐J model has given rise to nearly forty papers on what has come to be called “the theory of regulatory constraint.”
ECONOMIC ILLITERACY IN THE MEDIA
Authors: REYNOLDS ALAN
Published: January 2008

There are really only two schools of thought in economics—the right wing and the wrong. I mean that in the semi‐serious sense that meaningful statements about economic issues must be supported by logic and evidence, and not just by credentials and authority. The idea that economics is just a matter of opinion is fundamentally subversive, undermining the whole concept of rational choice.
HAVE ECONOMISTS FAILED?
Authors: BERGMANN BARBARA R.
Published: January 2008

By the criterion most beloved by the economics profession, economists have not failed; on the contrary, we are a glorious success. The criterion I am referring to is, of course, that of success in the marketplace. The marketplace continues to value our output highly. The profession is growing at a much faster rate than gross world product. The services it generates are well paid for and in high demand. Its current output and accumulated capital stock of “knowledge” grows at a vigorous rate.
MONOPOLY AND PUBLIC POLICY IN SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURY GREAT BRITAIN
Authors: CAPEN MARGARET
Published: January 2008

Previously, there have been few attempts to explore fully the concept of monopoly as it existed prior to the eighteenth century. The concept of monopoly as presently defined, namely that situation where there exists only one seller in the market, could not be applied evenly to monopolies existing in sixteenth and seventeenth century Great Britain. As Joseph Schumpeter pointed out, there existed the “tendency to extend the concept of monopoly beyond the case of a single seller.” In addition, monopoly as a tool of public policy proved to be ineffective. Not only was the Crown inconsistent in its treatment of monopoly, but public opinion was against any policy that appeared to impinge upon the rights of Englishmen as defined by Common Law.
MEASURABILITY, COMPARABILITY AND SOCIAL WELFARE
Authors: YUNKER KATHERINE K.
Published: January 2008

If everyone were indifferent between more and less and between this and that, the problems of allocating scarce resources would be trivialized. The necessity of choice, whether social or individual, would seem absurd. However, people persist in preferring certain “states of the world” to others. As a society is made up of individuals, it seems reasonable that a society's preferences should be “made up” of the preferences of its members. Therefore, any social welfare function, W, should be a function of the individual welfare functions, wi. That is,
STATE POLICY REGULATING AND CONTROLLING MILK MARKETS: THE CASE OF NORTH CAROLINA
Authors: FORMBY JOHN P. , AMATO LOUIS
Published: January 2008

North Carolina is one of fourteen states directly regulating and controlling milk markets. The regulations are administratively complex and vary from state to state, but the general pattern of regulation follows that set by the comprehensive Federal regulation which began in 1937 with the passage of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act. Milk markets in most of the country, including the major producing regions, are regulated and controlled by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). As a result of both state and federal controls, virtually no markets are unregulated. The consequences of Federal regulation of milk markets have been studied intensively, notably by Kessel and more recently by Kwoka. Less is known about the form and effects of state regulation. In this paper we analyze the case of milk market regulation in North Carolina. Specifically, we (1) review the ongoing regulation and assess the market structure and conduct of market participants including regulators; (2) review and analyze the economic implications and legal developments in reconstituting milk; and (3) investigate the policy alternatives with the purpose of determining whether there are options which, if adopted, will generate more social gains than associated social losses.
A NOTE ON GOOD RIDGE ESTIMATORS BASED ON PRIOR INFORMATION
Authors: WANG LEONARD F.S.
Published: January 2008

Theil (1963) suggested a mixed estimator when there is prior information used in regression analysis. It implies that the investigator not only estimates a parameter based on the sample data, but also combines the prior information by formulating it in terms of unbiased estimates and their covariance matrix. In particular, he assumes that the prior unbiased estimators r are q linear combinations of the parameters. The mixed regression model is
GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES
Authors: YOUSEF ABDULHADI
Published: January 2008

One of the main theories which explains government intervention in the regulation of economic activities in the society is “Public Interest Theory.” This theory holds that regulation is required by the public for the correction of inefficient or inequitable market policies.
TEENAGERS AND THE MINIMUM WAGE: POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF ELIMINATION OF COVERAGE OR CREATION OF A LOWER TIER BASED ON AGE
Authors: SPRINTZ HANK
Published: January 2008

The market equilibrium model predicts that the supply and demand schedules of labor to an industry will cross at a level at which labor receives the value of its marginal product as contributed to the output produced. The imposition of an effective minimum wage in that industry creates a price floor for labor which will reduce employment as it promotes incentives to substitute capital for labor and/or workers with higher marginal productivity for those with lower skill and lower marginal productivity. This means in effect that it will lead employers to eliminate less productive jobs. Teenagers (youths 16–19 years old) with little training or work‐experience may be priced out of the market because they are not “worth” (in terms of productivity) the minimum wage.
THE DOMESTIC AIRLINE INDUSTRY: A QUESTION OF REGULATION
Authors: CAMPBELL ANN
Published: January 2008

In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was established to regulate the fare and route structures of the domestic airline industry. At that time, policy‐makers were fearful that free market conditions in the airline industry would not foster the growth which was deemed to be optimal in the public interest. After forty years of industry development, however, the market structure of the airline industry does not provide justification for regulation. Furthermore, the regulation itself has created problems which are undesirable to both the industry and the public. On October 25, 1978, President Carter signed into law a bill that will gradually remove the regulatory restrictions under which interstate domestic airlines have operated since 1938. All regulatory control over the airlines will end by 1982, and the CAB will be abolished in 1985.
PERSONAL INCOME TAXATION: AN EVALUATION OF THE ARGUMENT FOR A PERSONAL EXPENDITURE TAX
Authors: RITSON FERGUSON T.
Published: January 2008

The fundamental problem of designing a wide scope general revenue tax can be reduced to the selection of the base used for administering the tax. Our current personal income tax is a hybrid version of a tax assessed on the basis of a tax unit's annual income receipts. An alternative to an income‐based tax that has received much theoretical treatment but little actual application is an expenditure‐based tax. An expenditure tax (also called a consumption tax or cash flow tax in the context of this paper) differs from an income tax in that it exempts net saving and investment from the tax base. Though the details of a consumption tax design are discussed more fully elsewhere in this paper, the tax base of an expenditure tax is roughly determined by subtracting net savings from gross receipts (including wages, tips, salaries, income from investments, interests, etc.). Withdrawals from savings constitute dissavings and are appropriately included in net savings. The cash flow tax, with wealth transfers deductible to the donor and included in the tax base of the recipient, would be a tax on an individual's standard of living. Similar to the present income tax standard deduction, some universal credit or exemption for a small level of consumption could be allowed.
THE DETERMINANTS OF THE EXCHANGE RATE: A SURVEY OF SOME RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LITERATURE
Authors: COSTA FERNANDES ABEL L.
Published: January 2008

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the determinants of the exchange‐rate by examining the flow theory approach, purchasing power parity theory, the monetary approach and the assets market approach.