A comparative analysis of perception of dividends by financial managers

This paper is a report about the perception of dividends by Chief financial officers (CFOs). The research encompasses five countries, on three continents, and covers three types of economies. Our cross-sectional study is concerned with both inter- and intra-societal differences that may or may not exist regarding the perception of dividends by those who are in charge of making such decisions in the firm. Using a survey instrument, we find that both similarities and dissimilarities exist inter- and intra-culturally. Perhaps the most important conclusion we reach is that dividend research must take a different track than it has been following so far.     

Macroeconomic and bank-specific determinants of non-performing loans: the case of baltic states

Empirica - This study examines selected macroeconomic and bank-specific determinants of non-performing loans (NPLR) for a panel of 21commercial banks from the Baltics States (Estonia, Latvia and...     

The state and evolution of information systems research in canada: a scientometric analysis

This paper investigates the state and evolution of information systems (IS) research in Canada as reflected in publications of the proceedings of the annual conference of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada from 1974 to 2007. We present a scientometric analysis of (a) individual and institutional research outputs; (b) differences in three productivity score calculation methods: straight count, equal credit, and author position; (c) study topics; (d) research methods; and (e) use of student samples. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Financial development and the evolution of property rights and legal institutions

Using a panel of 129 countries over the period from 1965 to 2008, we examine the role of financial development in the evolution of property rights and legal institutions. We postulate that changes in the level of financial development change the costs and benefits of, and the demand for property rights institutions. We predict, and find, a positive causal relationship between the level of financial development and the subsequent quality of property rights institutions, even after we control for country level heterogeneity and reverse causality. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that this relationship is especially strong in emerging market countries.     

Impact of Modeling Approaches on Dispatch Optimization of Combined Cycle Gas Turbines

Due to the age structure of the German generation system and the nuclear phase out, a significant amount of older power plants will be substituted during the coming years by newly built generation units. Such projects are frequently realized as combined gas and steam turbines, so-called Combined Cycle Power Plants or Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT). These power plants, mostly fired by natural gas, possess high efficiency factors combined with low specific CO₂-emissions compared to other conventional power plants, e.g. fired by coal and moreover provide a high operational flexibility. As they represent a combination of several thermal processes, their generation planning and optimized dispatch are more demanding than those of existing steam or gas turbines. Therefore, a new formulation of the unit commitment problem is required, including all relevant technical and economic restrictions for scheduling CCGT. In this paper, the relevant characteristics of the different types of CCGT are analyzed. This especially includes part load efficiency and the permitted modes of operation. For modeling of these characteristics and for optimizing the CCGT dispatch, a decomposition approach as well as a linearized closed-loop formulation is introduced. In the decomposition the optimization problem is split into sub problems, which can be solved with specialized algorithms. As the recombination of these sub problems may result in a limitation of the overall solution quality, the closed-loop approach considers the entire problem, but has to linearize the formulation to ensure solvability. By applying both methods on an exemplary case the advantages and shortcomings of both approaches can be analyzed in detail. This comprises model accuracy, overall solution quality and a detailed schedule analysis and comparison. The paper??s results will also show the deviations caused by the different modeling approaches. Finally, the results show the added value of the adequate modeling of combined cycle power plants towards gas or steam turbines.