‘Contested knowledges’ and leisure studies provision

This paper discusses an initial exploration of some of the processes of leisure education. Focusing upon a level 2 module titled Gender, Difference and Leisure (GDL), which is concerned not only with developing knowledge but also critical reflection, it examines a number of interrelated emergent issues. These issues are concerned with formal and informal affects/outcomes of the provision of a module concerned with ‘contested knowledges’. The research examines a number of undergraduate student experiences of undertaking the module, which at times necessitated discussions of a sensitive or contentious nature. The majority of students undertaking this module were young men, many taking a sports specialization. The paper considers the module's impact upon students' perceptions. Rather than assessing students' experiences of the module in a quantitative manner, the research adopts a qualitative approach to interpreting students' understanding and experiences of the module content and its delivery, through the use of participant observation and interviews. Furthermore, it examines interactions in seminars, highlighting different perspectives on the relative significance of sex and ‘race’ issues. The problematic of the ‘silencing’ of ‘race’ and the strategies some students adopted to resist challenges to their gendered values and beliefs are examined. The findings show that making available ‘contested knowledge’ within a culture heavily steeped in masculinist, racist and positivistic discourses is difficult, beset with tensions and requires considerable sensitivity in approach and an awareness of current popular discourses.     

THE ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF A JOINT SUPPLY CHAIN INNOVATION

In this paper we discuss the economic evaluation of a supply chain innovation. We look at a situation in which a single manufacturer and a single distributor consider relocating assets and reengineering processes, in order to reduce total assets and total costs in the supply chain. The selling price between the manufacturer and distributor needs to be adjusted to reflect the new costs and asset levels. We investigate the price adjustment needed to maintain the ROA (Return on Assets) of both companies and to yield a nonnegative NPV (Net Present Value) for both companies. We identify conditions under which ROA and NPV yield the same results, such as the absence of implementation costs. We also demonstrate that the minimum price required by the manufacturer may lie above the maximum price acceptable for the distributor. Then the price range is empty and companies will not be able to find a price adjustment that results in a nonnegative NPV and nondecreasing ROAs for both companies.     

Serial Correlation in Management Earnings Forecast Errors

We examine whether management earnings forecast errors exhibit serial correlation and how analysts understand the serial correlation property of management forecast errors (MFEs). MFEs should not exhibit serial correlation if managers efficiently process information in prior forecast errors and truthfully convey their earnings expectations through management forecasts. However, for long‐horizon management forecasts of annual earnings, we find significantly positive serial correlation in MFEs, and sample self‐selection does not seem to drive this phenomenon. Further analyses suggest that managers’ unintentional information processing bias contributes to this positive serial correlation. Analysts anticipate the intertemporal persistence of MFEs but underestimate the persistence level when reacting to management forecasts. Our findings have implications for market participants who rely on management forecasts to form earnings expectations, and also shed light on the efficiency of managerial decision making.     

Earnings Announcements,Stock Price Adjustment,and the Existence of Option Markets

This paper employs a new approach to study the effects of option trading on the behavior of underlying stock prices. Extant research compares distributional properties of the stock price at two points in time divided by an event in the option market that might affect price behavior. As an alternative, we examine the stock price adjustment to the release of quarterly earnings using samples of firms with and without listed options. We find the two samples exhibit different adjustment processes, with the nonoption firms requiring substantially more time to adjust.     

Countercyclical Policy and the Speed of Recovery after Recessions

We consider policies intended to accelerate recoveries by analyzing the duration of recoveries of U.S. states. Studying multiple recessions for a state and multiple states for a recession controls for differences in the economic conditions and the causes of recessions. Expansionary monetary policy at the national level helps to stimulate the exit of individual states from recession. Exogenous measures of decreases in taxes or targeted increases in federal spending reduce state recovery times, while ambient economic conditions (other states in the same region suffering from recession, the length of the preceding recession, and increases in oil prices) extend recovery times.     

Securitization and Capital Structure in Nonfinancial Firms: An Empirical Investigation

Contrary to recent accounts of off‐balance‐sheet securitization by financial firms, we show that asset securitization by nonfinancial firms provides a valuable form of financing for shareholders without harming debtholders. Using data from firms’ SEC filings, we find that securitization is attractive to firms in the middle of the credit quality distribution, which are the firms with the most to gain. Upon initiation, firms experience positive abnormal stock returns and zero abnormal bond returns, and largely use the securitization proceeds to repay existing debt. Securitization minimizes financing costs by reducing expected bankruptcy costs and providing access to segmented credit markets.     

Mutual Fund Tax Clienteles

Mutual funds are held by investors in taxable and tax‐qualified retirement accounts. We investigate whether the characteristics, investment strategies, and performance of mutual funds held by these diverse tax clienteles differ. Examining both mutual fund distributions and mutual fund holdings, we find that funds held primarily by taxable investors choose investment strategies that result in lower tax burdens than funds held primarily in tax‐qualified accounts. Despite these differences, we find no evidence that any investment constraints that may arise from these tax‐efficient investment strategies result in performance differences between funds held by different tax clienteles.     

Tax-Loss Selling and the January Effect: Evidence from Municipal Bond Closed-End Funds

This paper provides direct evidence supporting the tax‐loss selling hypothesis as an explanation of the January effect. Examining turn‐of‐the‐year return and volume patterns for municipal bond closed‐end funds, which are held mostly by tax‐sensitive individual investors, we document a January effect for these funds, but not for their underlying assets. We provide evidence that this effect can be largely explained by tax‐loss selling activities at the previous year‐end. Moreover, we find that funds associated with brokerage firms display more tax‐loss selling behavior, suggesting that tax counseling plays a role.     

Emerging Class Relations in the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam: A Network Analysis

Neoclassical theory has not succeeded in explaining the relationship between increasing landlessness and class differentiation in rural southern Vietnam. In this paper, we take a relational approach, using statistical techniques from social network theory, to examine the governance structure of markets in a commune of Tra Vinh province in the Mekong River Delta. We demonstrate that new opportunities provided by the process of market development are accessible only to those households controlling the right bundles of resources in the core agricultural production and trading system of the area. Further, industrial employment is available only to those who have, at some stage, controlled land, while those who have never participated in the land and rice markets are confined to casual agricultural labour. The governance structure, embedded informally in relatively stable market networks, therefore reproduces class divisions.