Sustainability assurance and cost of capital: Does assurance impact on credibility of corporate social responsibility information?

This paper aims to examine the credibility value of sustainability assurance and the type of assurance provider on cost of capital. A large sample of international companies from the period 2007–2014 was used to develop our models of analysis. We find a greater decrease in cost of capital for companies that publish and assure their social and environmental reports. Thus, voluntary sustainability disclosures decrease the cost of capital. However, companies also have the opportunity to reinforce this decrease by providing an assurance statement, so increasing the credibility of corporate social responsibility information. In addition, the decrease in the cost of capital is significantly higher when such assurance is provided by a top‐tier accountancy firm instead of by engineering or consultancy firms; this result supports also the reputational capital of accountancy firms.     

Immigration,Conflict, and Redistribution

In this paper, we analyze how the possibility of conflict between natives and immigrants shapes income redistribution in developed democracies. This possibility can generate income redistribution towards immigrants even if they have no voting rights. We show that the threat of conflict between natives and immigrants lowers vertical income redistribution (from the rich to the poor) as the level of immigration increases. The opposite holds for horizontal income redistribution (from natives to immigrants), which increases with the level of immigration. Income inequality weakens the negative effect of immigration on vertical redistribution, but it also reduces horizontal redistribution. These theoretical predictions are consistent with the results of our empirical analysis on data from 29 European countries: larger immigrant populations are associated with more redistribution towards immigrants and lower vertical redistribution.     

Non-elective C-sections in public hospitals: capacity constraints and doctor incentives

Using administrative records of births from the Perinatal Surveillance System of the Peruvian Social Security System (ESSALUD), we test whether high admissions of pregnant women affected non-elective caesarean section (C-section) rates in the ESSALUD public hospitals during 2005–2006. We present a basic theoretical model that considers physician preferences for leisure and hospital capacity constraints, and test the model predictions. We find that physician demand for leisure increases the probability of C-sections in small and medium-size hospitals, while hospital capacity constraints set a limit on them. We discuss the policy implications as well as the policies implemented to avoid unnecessary C-sections.     

Competitive advantages of the mobile phone operators in the Asia Pacific region: analysis from the strategic groups approach

This paper studies the existence of strategic groups in the mobile phone industry. The analysis has been conducted in an international context characterised by major differences in regional wireless infrastructures, types of customers, government regulations and economic development, such as the Asia Pacific region. The purpose is to find the competitive advantages of the groups identified and the strategies that have led them to achieve them. The empirical research was carried out using data from a sample of the 28 largest firms of the industry in 2013. The results reveal the existence of three different strategic groups pursuing different strategies. The main determinant variables of the competitive advantages are price and size. The differences in environmental characteristics in this industry might explain the formation of strategic groups.     

A resource-based view of human resource management and organizational capabilities development

The aim of this research work was to analyse the role of human resource management in the development of organizational capabilities and its influence on the firm's performance from a resource-based view. Our results, from empirical research on a nation-wide sample of Spanish savings banks, suggest that human resource decisions, integrated in a human resource system, have an important influence on the development of organizational capabilities and on the firm's performance.     

Some considerations about “Forecasting aggregates and disaggregates with common features”

Espasa and Mayo provide consistent forecasts for an aggregate economic indicator and its basic components as well as for useful sub-aggregates. To do so, they develop a procedure based on single-equation models that includes the restrictions arisen from the fact that some components share common features. The classification by common features provides a disaggregation map useful in several applications. We discuss their classification procedure and suggest some issues that should be taken into account when designing an algorithm to identify subsets of series that share one common trend.     

Corporate Governance and Intellectual Capital Disclosure

The aim of this article is to analyse the internal mechanisms of corporate governance (board of directors and ownership structure), which influence voluntary disclosure of intangibles. The results appear to corroborate the view that an increase in institutional investor shareholding has a negative effect on voluntary disclosure, supporting the hypothesis of entrenchment, whereas an excessive ownership by institutional investors may have adverse effects on strategic disclosure decisions. The results also indicate that an increase in the number of members of the board to up to 15 has a beneficial effect on the disclosure of intangibles. However, as this number increases, the effect inverts and becomes adverse to improving the capacity for supervision and control in the decision-making process regarding the voluntary disclosure of intangibles. The findings endorse the recommendation of the most of the Corporate Governance Codes regarding an advisable maximum of 15 members on a board to ensure its effectiveness and internal cohesion.     

Climate Change and Financial Performance in Times of Crisis

Over the past years there has been a debate on the relationship between the environmental and financial performance of businesses, but researchers have not reached any agreement. This research attempts to explore this relationship, especially as in recent years there has been controversy about how this relationship has been affected by the global economic crisis. Taking into account that successfully limiting global climate change to safe levels in the long term is likely to require connecting climate change policies to sustainable development strategies, this paper focuses on the performance of environmental policies. We used a sample of 855 international companies in sectors of intensive greenhouse gas/CO₂ emissions. Specifically, we used data from the Forbes Global 2000 Index and Carbon Disclosure Project data from 2006 to 2009. The data analysis was performed using panel data methodology. The results obtained show that in times of economic crisis, the synergy between environmental and financial performance is higher, meaning that companies must continue to invest in sustainable projects in order to enhance relations with their stakeholders, leading to higher economic profits. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Supplier Financing and Earnings Quality

In this paper we investigate the effect of earnings quality on supplier credit in a sample of small and medium‐sized firms. After controlling for other determinants of trade credit, we show that firms whose earnings present lower variability, higher smoothing and predictability, and higher accruals quality have access to more trade credit from suppliers. This association suggests that earnings attributes associated to lower volatility and higher precision with respect to cash flows facilitate access to trade credit.     

Chi-Square Tests Under Models Close to the Normal Distribution

Many test statistics follow a χ² distribution because a normal model is assumed as underlying distribution. In this paper we obtain good analytic approximations for the p-value and the critical value of χ² tests when the underlying distribution is close but different from the normal model. With these approximations we study the robustness of validity of χ² tests