Modeling conditional return autocorrelation

Empirical estimates of conditional return autocorrelation are generated over the period 1973 to 2000 for S&P500 index data, as well as for a small selection of individual U.S. stocks. We find that conditional autocorrelation is highly variable, and these dynamics are consistent with changes in point autocorrelation estimates generated in various subperiods. The conditional autocorrelation estimates for some stocks exhibited a pattern of mean reversion, while for others, evidence of long-term trends and structural breaks was found. While we were unable to uncover what characteristics drive the nature of these autocorrelation patterns, our analysis ruled out industry, investor type or degree of internationalisation as explanations.     

The effects of unions on research and development: an empirical analysis using multi-year data

A link between unionization and research and development rates (research and development expenditures divided by output) is tested for in thirteen aggregate Canadian industries. A balanced panel of thirteen industries covering 1968 to 1986 reveals a negative relationship between industry unionization rates and research and development. The results hold when a number of techniques are used to control for unobserved industry heterogeneity and non-linear responses to unionization. In an industry that moves from the 25th to the 75th percentile of unionization, research and development is predicted to fall by about 40 per cent. JEL Classification: J51
Les effets des syndicats sur l'intensité de la recherche et développement: une analyse empirique sur plusieurs années . Ce mémoire examine le lien entre le degré de syndicalisation et les taux de dépenses en recherche et développement en proportion de la production dans treize industries canadiennes. Pour ces treize secteurs industriels, entre 1968 et 1986, il semble qu'il y ait une relation négative entre les taux de syndicalisation et les taux de dépenses en recherche et développement. Ces résultats sont robustesmême quand on utilise des techniques pour tenir compte de l'hétérogéneité des secteurs et des réponses non linéaires à la syndicalisation. Pour une industrie qui voit son taux de syndicalisation passer du 25e au 75e percentile, on prévoit une chute de 40% dans la recherche et développement.     

Challenges of AACSB international accreditation for business schools in the United States and Europe

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB International) is committed to its role in setting worldwide standards to enhance the quality of management education. The organization is expanding its brand presence in Europe, where business schools are beginning to seek AACSB International accreditation. In the United States, an increase in the number of business schools seeking AACSB International accreditation is also occurring. Business school leaders not only see the transcendent importance of AACSB International accreditation; they also realize the challenges that are involved in the accreditation process. The focus of our discussion is on the challenges confronted by business schools in both the United States and Europe. We compare and contrast the challenges on both continents. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Business Sector Production in the Short and Long Run in Israel

Engle-Granger representation theory is used to estimate the secular and cyclical determinants of business output in Israel during 1960–1988. The specification of the secular production function is based on the technique of cointegration, while the cyclical, or short-term, production function is specified in terms of an error correction model. In the preferred model of the secular production function returns to scale are slightly increasing and the productivity of Palestinian workers is approximately 40 percent of Israeli workers. In the short-term production function total factor productivity is pro-cyclical.     

Defining indicators to assess socially responsible enterprises

Concern for the social responsibility of business by both the public and enterprises themselves has been growing since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The private sector's relative unconcern with Apartheid in South Africa, poor and dangerous products, and environmental disasters have all led concerned people to question the relative social autonomy of business. As Government's tire of social expenditures and the public become weary of paying taxes, the future corporation will have to take its share of responsibility for social concerns more than ever before. Globally, the worlds' production cannot eventually end up going to the lowest common denominator, ie the country with the lowest social costs, the most paltry wages, poorest working conditions, and those with meager pensions for the old. In practice this means that beggar-thy-neighbor rent-seeking by enterprises whereby production is allocated to the poorest but cheapest working conditions must come to an end. Consumers, too, will insist that the enterprises of the future must be more socially responsible both within and outside their workplaces. What sorts of indicators to measure what will be a ‘socially responsible enterprise’ of the future is the subject of this paper.     

Reviews

POLICIES FOR TRAINING AND THE LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED.

Corney, M. 1990: The Black Hole in Britain's Training System; Training for People in Employment: Robinson, P. 1989: Stagflation; Lessons from Other Places; and Meacher, M. 1990: Adopting the Employment Principle: A Green Paper. All published by the Campaign for Work. The price of the first is £4.00, the second £5.00 and the third £3.50.

US LESSONS IN EVALUATION.

Bingham, R. D., Hill, E. W. and White, S. B. (eds) 1990: Financing Economic Development: An Institutional Response. Newbury Park, California and London: Sage Publications, £33.25 cloth, £16.75 paper.

LESSONS FROM THE USA.

Hambleton, R. 1990: Urban Government in the 1990s: Lessons from the USA,

Occasional Paper No. 35, Bristol: School for Advanced Urban Studies. No price stated.

SKILLS TRAINING.

CBI, 1989: Managing the Skills Gap. London: CBI, £10.00 paper; Report of the Vocational Education and Training Task Force, 1989: Towards a Skills Revolution. London: CBI, £20.00 paper; Association of London Authorities, 1990: Training for London. London: ALA.     

Explaining Growth: A Contest Between Models

Recent contributions to the empirical growth literature show no tendency to convergence in specification, as researchers seek to identify new variables that can account for significant regional effects in earlier work. We conduct non-nested tests between the models of Barro (1997), Easterly and Levine (1997) and Sachs and Warner (1997). The data strongly prefer an encompassing model, but fail to reject any of the candidate models, implying that each model represents a partial truth. We identify a model that includes most (but not all) of the regressors in the candidate models and is robust to the inclusion of regional dummies.     

How Should An Accumulative Toxic Substance be Banned?

The harmful effects on human health or ecosystems of many toxic substances depend on their cumulative concentration in the carrying medium (water, soil, or air), not just on the annual deposition rates of the substances. Accumulative toxic substances pose challenges to regulatory policy that are not faced when controlling pollutants whose damaging effects are though to depend primarily on annual emission flows. An increasingly common response is to phase out offending uses or production of the substance. In this paper we take as given the goal of phasing out an accumulative pollutant and examine different ways this could be done using a simple, partial-equilibrium dynamic model. We focus on phaseout measures in which the cumulative production and release of the offending substance over the transition period is fixed. Once this cumulative volume is reached, users must convert to a known but higher-cost substitute that is assumed to be benign. The key to the analysis is the observation that the quota on cumulative production makes production of the toxic substance during the transition analogous to extraction of an exhaustible resource with a higher-cost, nonexhaustible ‘backstop’ technology. Using this framework, we first describe the cost-effective outcome when the ‘sunset’ date is chosen to maximize product market surplus subject to the cumulative production constraint. This outcome is compared to one in which the regulator fixes the sunset date, and one in which the regulator limits annual production as well as cumulative production out of concern for acute exposure effects. Finally, we discuss the kinds of market-based policy instruments that would be appropriate for supporting a cost-effective outcome.     

Internationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit forschungs- und wissensintensiver Unternehmen

Einige wichtige Indikatoren deuten darauf hin, dass der Innovationsstandort Deutschland im Bereich der forschungs- und wissensintensiven Branchen seine derzeitige technologische Wettbewerbsposition im Vergleich zu wichtigen Konkurrenzl?ndern nicht dauerhaft halten kann. Welche Schw?chen sind entlang der gesamten Wertsch?pfungskette erkennbar? Welche Ma?nahmen zum Gegensteuern sollten ergriffen werden? Dr. Michael Nusser, 38, ist Leiter des Gesch?ftsfeldes „?konomische Effekte neuer Technologien“ am Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung (ISI) in Karlsruhe.