Educational mismatches versus skill mismatches: effects on wages, job satisfaction, and on-the-job search

Education-job mismatches are reported to have serious effectson wages and other labour market outcomes. Such results areoften cited in support of assignment theory, but can also beexplained by institutional and human capital models. To testthe assignment explanation, we examine the relation betweeneducational mismatches and skill mismatches. In line with earlierresearch, educational mismatches affect wages strongly. Contraryto the assumptions of assignment theory, this effect is notexplained by skill mismatches. Conversely, skill mismatchesare much better predictors of job satisfaction and on-the-jobsearch than are educational mismatches.     

Retirements at risk: employees lack a comprehensive, realistic view of resources and needs

Employees who are following conventional retirement-planning advice will be in for a rude awakening as they approach retirement and discover that they can't afford to retire just yet or are likely to outlive their retirement funds. The article discusses how we have arrived at this point, what the implications are, and what both employers and employees can do to remedy the situation.     

International Comparisons of Banking Efficiency

The banking industry around the globe has been transformed in recent years by unprecedented consolidation and cross‐border activities. However, international consolidation has been considerably less than might have been expected in developed nations—such as long‐term members of the EU—where barriers to entry have been significantly lowered. In contrast, foreign‐owned banks have generally achieved much higher penetration in developing nations. We investigate the extent to which these differences may be related to bank efficiency concerns by reviewing and critiquing over 100 studies that compare bank efficiencies across nations. The studies are in three distinct categories: (1) comparisons of bank efficiencies in different nations based on the use of a common efficient frontier, (2) comparisons of bank efficiencies in different nations using nation‐specific frontiers, and (3) comparisons of efficiencies of foreign‐owned versus domestically owned banks within the same nation using the same nation‐specific frontier. The research—particularly the findings in the third category—is generally consistent with the hypothesis that efficiency differences help to explain the consolidation patterns. The efficiency disadvantages of foreign‐owned banks relative to domestically owned banks tend to outweigh the efficiency advantages in developed nations on average, and this situation is generally reversed in developing nations, with notable exceptions to both findings. We also stress the need for further research in this area.     

The Information Content of Bank Examinations

We identify three types of information from bank examinations—auditing information from verifying the honesty and accuracy of the bank's books, regulatory discipline information about the treatment of the bank by regulators, and private information about bank condition. We estimate these information effects by comparing the cumulative abnormal market returns associated with examinations in which the CAMEL rating remained unchanged, improved, and worsened. All three information effects are found to be greater for banks entering the examination process with unsatisfactory ratings from prior examinations. The only consistently strong effect found is that examination downgrades appear to reveal unfavorable private information about bank condition. The evidence also suggests that the information may reach the market in part through loan quality data released in quarterly financial statements.     

The rise and decline of the Soviet economy

The reasons for the rapid growth of the Soviet Union before roughly 1970 and for its subsequent growth slowdown are analysed. The concentration of investment on heavy industry and soft budget constraints explain most of the growth in the 1930s. The growth slowdown was due to disastrous investment decisions following the elimination of surplus labour and the diversion of research and development resources to the military rather than the failure of firms to carry out plans or diminishing returns to capital.     

A Test of the Persistence in the Performance of UK Managed Funds

We employ a United Kingdom data set of weekly returns from a sample of investment trust companies available on the Datastream database. We analyse the relative performance of the funds and determine whether a 'good' (above-median), past-performance is indicative of future performance. Our study focuses on within sample relative performance. We examine persistence in performance in the short and long run based on a number of tests. Overall we find that both raw and risk-adjusted returns exhibit evidence of persistence in performance in the long run but not in the very short run.     

Corporate Equity Ownership, Strategic Alliances, and Product Market Relationships

This paper examines long-term block ownership by corporations and performance changes in firms with corporate block owners. We also examine potential reasons for corporate ownership including benefits in product market relationships, alleviation of financing constraints, and board monitoring by corporate owners. We find the largest significant increases in targets' stock prices, investment, and operating profitability when ownership is combined with alliances, joint ventures, and other product market relationships between purchasing and target firms, especially in industries with high research and development. Our findings are consistent with the conclusion that block ownership by corporations has significant benefits in product market relationships.