A comparison of the National Geographic Stewardship Scorecard Ratings by experts and stakeholders for selected World Heritage destinations

The National Geographic Society Center for Sustainable Destinations Stewardship Scorecards for 2003 and 2006 compared ratings by “experts” for 33 World Heritage Site destinations. Nine (27.3%) improved by four or more points and six (18.2%) decreased by four or more points in the three years. In 2006, local stakeholders rated these World Heritage destinations using the same criteria as the experts. Stakeholders rated six destinations (18.2%) lower and almost half of the 33 destinations (48.8%) increased by five or more points. A moderate positive correlation was determined between the ratings of the experts and stakeholders. Comments by experts and stakeholders related to each of the scorecard criterion measures were analyzed. ANOVA and t-test were performed to examine the six stakeholder categories ratings for each of the six criteria and the results are presented. The assumptions and limitations of the survey methodology are discussed along with recommendations for improving the Destination Stewardship Scorecard Survey.     

Firm values and sovereign wealth fund investments

We analyze the impact of sovereign wealth fund (SWF) investments on firm values and provide evidence consistent with the tradeoff between the monitoring and lobbying benefits versus tunneling and expropriation costs of SWFs as blockholders. The data show significant positive (negative) returns to announcements of SWF investments (divestments). The returns are non-monotonic, first rising (falling) and then falling (rising) with the share sought (sold) for investments (divestments). Moreover, we find that SWFs are often active investors. Slightly more than half of the target firms experience one or more events indicative of SWF monitoring activity or influence.     

The impact of the Social Cash Transfer Scheme on food security in Malawi

The Malawi Social Cash Transfer Scheme (SCTS) was launched in 2006 to improve food security by directly providing cash transfers to the country’s most destitute households. Although government-implemented cash transfer schemes have gained popularity throughout Latin America, these schemes are just emerging in Africa. While where there is evidence of the beneficial impact of cash transfers on food security from Latin American countries, there is a dearth of evidence from resource poor countries in Africa.     

Dividends, Asymmetric Information, and Agency Conflicts: Evidence from a Comparison of the Dividend Policies of Japanese and U.S. Firms

We compare dividend policies of U.S. and Japanese firms, partitioning the Japanese data into keiretsu, independent, and hybrid firms. We examine the correlation between dividend changes and stock returns, and the reluctance to change dividends. Results are consistent with the joint hypotheses that Japanese firms, particularly keiretsu-member firms, face less information asymmetry and fewer agency conflicts than U.S. firms, and that information asymmetries and/or agency conflicts affect dividend policy. Japanese firms experience smaller stock price reactions to dividend omissions and initiations, they are less reluctant to omit and cut dividends, and their dividends are more responsive to earnings changes.     

The factor content of Chinese trade

This article demonstrates that the growth of China's exports in recent years is consistent with the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) prediction of the factor content of trade based on international differences in factor endowments, after adjusting for substantial differences in factor-specific productivity. A comparison of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development input–output data in the year 2000 shows that China's labor productivity relative to the United States is the lowest in a sample of 33 diverse countries, although China's capital is more productive than US capital. This in turn demonstrates the importance of a factor-specific rather than factor-neutral productivity adjustment common in much of the HOV literature. The use of value-added data to measure factor usage helps to correct for unobserved differences in factor qualities and differences in productivity across sectors, as is demonstrated for China. China's low average labor productivity reflects the structure of the Chinese economy where most employment is still in the inefficient agriculture and service sectors, with only 11% of employment in the more modern export-oriented manufacturing sector. Due to a trade surplus, China exports both labor and capital but Leamer's (The Journal of Political Economy 1980;88: 495–503) test for trade-revealed factor abundance confirms that China is labor abundant even after substantial factor-specific productivity adjustments.     

Finding Donors by Relationship Fundraising

Our research utilizes revenue–business-based relationships and data to expand the donor bases of non-profit organizations. Fundraisers desire to predict who will donate and how much to allocate their marketing resources effectively. To answer both questions, we develop the Spatial Tobit Type 2 (ST2) model that integrates the auto-Logistic (AL) and auto-Gaussian (AG) models into the Tobit type 2 framework. The AL component is used to predict who is likely to donate by inferring inter-client similarities based on the clients' transaction information from the revenue businesses. Similarly, the AG component is used to predict how much based on a similar measure of inter-client similarities. The Tobit type 2 framework combines both components into the single framework of ST2. Our empirical application linking a veterinary school's medical treatment records to its donation records demonstrates that clients' relationships built through their medical treatments at the school hospital positively contribute to their donation decisions.     

Sports sponsorship perceptions: An exploration

This study examines how consumers perceive sports sponsorship by a financial services organisation. Current literature provides information on the advantages and objectives of sponsorship to an organisation. However, it is evident that there is little on how consumers react to sponsorship and in particular how the differences in brand and event involvement (EI) affect response. Data was collected from two audiences of a sponsored sports event, those who attended the game and those who did not. The research findings indicate that, in the context of sponsorship activity, brand involvement is a direct positive influence on brand attractiveness and brand meaningfulness. This study also shows that EI has a direct negative influence on brand trustworthiness. Those who were classed as involved spectators considered the brand to be less trustworthy. Limitations of the study include the economic environment, type of research method and sample size. Areas of further research are recommended.     

Testing how information about cost-effectiveness,cause preferences,and geographic preferences interact to affect philanthropic giving

The broad instrumental philanthropy movement advocates for considerations of cost-effective impact in donation decisions. Within that broader movement, the effective altruism movement goes as far as to advocate for cause neutrality and geographic neutrality when prioritizing cost-effectiveness in charity. We present a survey experiment that examined how information about cost-effectiveness, cause area preferences, and geographic preferences interact to affect philanthropic giving. The experiment varied these three dimensions in a hypothetical giving situation and found that cost-effectiveness information had the strongest influence on hypothetical giving. Participants gave most when presented with charities that were shown to be highly cost-effective, local/domestic, and that matched their preferred cause area. Understanding how these three considerations interact to affect donors is important as donors continue to desire more information about the cost-effective impact of their donation.     

The changing economic status of U.S. disabled men: Trends and their determinants, 1982–1991

We track the level of economic well-being of the population of men who began receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in 1980–81 from the time just after they became beneficiaries (in 1982) to 1991. We present measures of the economic well-being of disabled individuals and their nondisabled peers as indicators of the relative economic position of these two groups. These measures also provide an intertemporal comparison of well-being and hardship as disabled persons and their nondisabled peers age and retire. We first show several economic well-being indicators for new male recipients of disability benefits in 1982 and 1991. We then compare their economic position to that of a matched group of nondisabled males with sufficient work histories to have been disability-insured. Because labor market changes over this decade have led to a relative deterioration in the position of younger and less-educated workers, we compare men with disabilities to those without disabilities and distinguish different age and educational levels within the groups. We conclude by assessing the antipoverty effectiveness of Social Security income support for both younger and older male SSDI recipients. First version received: May 1998/final version received: July 1999     

Developing the Leadership Capacity and Leader Efficacy of College Women in Science,Technology, Engineering,and Math Fields

The current study examined the extent to which college women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors demonstrated differential levels of leadership capacity and/or leader efficacy than their non‐STEM, female peers. Data represented 14,698 women from 86 institutions of higher education in the United States. Results indicated similar levels of leadership capacity but significantly lower leader efficacy for women in STEM majors. Implications explore unique predictors of leader efficacy for women in STEM majors along with recommendations for changes to policy and professional practice that might address how the differential organizational contexts shape leadership development.