The impact of the minimum driver licensing age on mobility in New Zealand

In the year to August 2002, 15% of the New Zealand road toll was attributed to 15–19 year-old drivers. This is the highest percent of casualties by any five-year age group, with the motor vehicle accident risk peaking at 16 years of age. New Zealand has the highest road accident statistic for this age group in the motorised world. It has been proposed that the driver licensing age be raised from 15 to 17 years of age. A 1998 Parliamentary Select Committee rejected the final proposal of a minimum driver licensing age of 16, on the grounds that such a rise would disadvantage rural youth through less accessible employment, educational facilities, social, and recreational activity, due to inadequate transport alternatives. This paper presents the results of research that examined the impact of the minimum driver licensing age on youth mobility. High school students were surveyed through interviews, questionnaires and travel diaries. It was concluded that the social benefits of raising the minimum driver licensing age to 17 years of age outweighed the social benefits of the status quo, as only minimal number of essential trips were totally dependent on youth acquisition of a driver licence.     

Calling 911: geopolitics,security and America's new war

The events of 11 September and their aftermath led rapidly to a military response by American forces in Afghanistan. The assumption that a state of war existed was widespread and quickly became official policy, but events might have been interpreted differently. Geopolitical reasoning was crucial to the specification of matters in terms of warfare. Three major assumptions were widely prevalent in the public discussions in the United States. First was that matters could only be understood as war, second that the primary axis of conflict was directly between America and terrorism and third that detailed investigation was unnecessary as the facts of the airliner impacts spoke obviously and said that this was an attack on America. Unpacking these assumptions shows that they are not necessarily obvious and that other geographical specifications of current geopolitical realities might lead to very different conclusions. An understanding of imperial power in particular suggests both a different geography and how assumptions of autonomous states and territorial responsibilities foreclosed other possible understandings and actions.     

Personal development on youth expeditions: a literature review and thematic analysis

Youth expeditions are associated with a range of benefits for participants. More young people are participating in overseas expeditions than ever before as vacation and gap year choices are diversified by a rising number of expedition providers. To date, there has been no systematic research effort to draw together and evaluate the evidence that underpins the benefits or, otherwise, for youths participating in overseas expeditions. This paper reviews empirical and philosophical literature which has been published in a range of journals and themes emerging are placed into a personal growth model. This review (or mapping exercise) focused on post-1990 literature and found 35 key publications which met the criteria: youth expedition; duration exceeding 14 days, self-propelled, and based overseas or out-of-state. The 35 publications (UK 26; USA 4; Australia 3; Japan 1; South Africa 1) were subjected to a thematic analysis using Greenaway’s ‘Four Arrows’ model of personal growth. Outcomes associated with overseas youth expedition participation included (1) upward personal growth (realising potential) including increased confidence; physical and social resilience; self-reliance and ability to overcome challenges, (2) outward personal growth (learning about & relating to others), (3) inward personal growth (learning about self) and (4) downward personal growth (learning about environment). The processes that were valued in overseas expeditions and which, with some caution, may be linked with some of the aforementioned outcomes include: genuine independence; group isolation and self-sufficiency; person-centred leadership; positive responses to stress and physically demanding activity. Suggestions for areas for further meaningful research are offered.     

Structural effects of asset-backed securitization

This paper analyses the potential changes in the operational structure of deposit-taking financial institutions that securitize assets. Findings indicate that banks can create an asset securitization pipeline structure that enables them to increase their return on capital. In other words, through securitization banks can expand their loan provision business without increasing their liabilities or their capital levels. Using a contingent claims model, four factors that impact on the bank's decision to securitize are highlighted and analysed: (i) the level of deposit insurance; (ii) capital adequacy requirements; (iii) insolvency risk; and, (iv) the risk of credit enhancements. Furthermore, we identify key accounting and regulatory challenges that emerge for banks from the process of asset backed securitization.     

Rebuilding the limit order book: sequential Bayesian inference on hidden states

The limit order book of an exchange represents an information store of market participants’ future aims and for many traders the information held in this store is of interest. However, information loss occurs between orders being entered into the exchange and limit order book data being sent out. We present an online algorithm which carries out Bayesian inference to replace information lost at the level of the exchange server and apply our proof of concept algorithm to real historical data from some of the world’s most liquid futures contracts as traded on CME GLOBEX, EUREX and NYSE Liffe exchanges.     

Technological advances and the decision to invest

Technological advances impact a firm’s investment decision, as they affect the investment cost. They can also affect the profitability due to demand shocks. We study a firm’s optimal investment decision when technological advances occur as surprises and induce uncertain reductions in the investment cost and in earnings. Despite this complex setting we derive closed-form solutions for the investment option value and the investment threshold. When technological advances only impact the investment cost, we demonstrate significant contributions compared to existing research, which restricts the analysis by keeping the expected investment cost path constant. For example, we show that, albeit the investment threshold is constant, the option value is very sensitive in the expected impact of technological advances. Leaving the restrictive setting, we obtain more intuitive results, e.g. that more frequent technological advances increase the option value. When technological advances impact future earnings we find important long-term effects: the investment threshold increases, whereas the option value decreases. Finally, earnings volatility postpones investment, while uncertainty due to technological advances expedites investment.     

Food for Thought on the ABS Academic Journal Quality Guide

This paper discusses issues relating to the use of the Association of Business Schools' (ABS) Academic Journal Quality Guide within UK business schools. It also looks at several specific issues raised by the Chair of the British Accounting Association/British Accounting and Finance Association regarding the ratings for top international journals, and for accounting education and accounting history journals. The increasing use of this guide by business school deans/heads as a tool for staffing and research resource allocation has significant implications both for individuals and specialist areas of research.