Safety of the U.S. food supply: consumer concerns and behaviour

To examine consumer concern about food safety, identify characteristics of those most concerned, and determine behavioural responses to concerns, we used mailed questionnaires to survey a random sample of 630 adults. Eighty-eight percent of respondents were very or somewhat concerned about safety of the food supply. Subjects perceived greatest likelihood of harm from chemicals and lowest likelihood of harm from bacterial contamination. Relative to other concerns about food such as cost or taste, food safety ranked low. Because the concern was across all ages, education levels, genders, and places of residence, we were unable to define a type of person most likely to be concerned about food safety. Less than half the subjects had changed dietary behaviour in response to food safety concerns. Foods reduced or eliminated from the diet most often were meats, fruits, eggs and vegetables. The findings indicate that consumers need risk assessment education and help in making food choices that do not compromise diet quality.     

DISCOUNT RATE VALUE AND CASH FLOW DEFINITION: A NEW RELATIONSHIP AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

This article uses different standpoints to approach the question of the consistency of project valuation methods. It shows that the NPV of a project can be obtained by discounting adjusted operating cash flows at a different rate from the risk-adjusted discount rate which should normally be used. Each of the conventional project valuation methods (standard WACC, equity residual, Arditti-Levy, APV) accordingly corresponds to a specific choice of the discount rate. Thus the convergence of these methods is obvious when the risk-adjusted discount rate integrates a debt ratio equal to the one of the project. Moreover, we obtain the Modigliani-Miller relationship generalized to the case of a project of any duration.     

In-home videotex shopping: potential adopters and non-adopters

This study was designed to identify potential adopters and non-adopters of videotex shopping. Data (n =205) were collected with a questionnaire following demonstration of a typical use of actual videotex shopping. As compared to non-adopters, potential adopters of videotex shopping were more likely to be social shoppers, price conscious, and were less likely to enjoy catalogue shopping. Potential adopters were also more likely to have prior awareness of videotex, a positive attitude towards merchants/service of videotex shopping and overall videotex services. However, they felt that current or demonstrated videotex shopping information was inadequate. In addition, differences existed between potential adopters and non-adopters in some demographics, videotex service needs and almost all videotex shopping merchandise needs.     

Accounting, Intangible Assets, Stock Market Activity, and Measurement and Disclosure Policy—Views From the U.K.

This paper considers the impact of U.K. practices with respect to the measurement and disclosure of intangible assets, focusing on R&D activities. We first update prior U.K. work relating R&D activities to market prices. Second, given the clearly identified role of disclosure outside of the financial statements in helping market participants value R&D expenditures, we consider whether market forces are generally sufficient to ensure adequate disclosures with respect to intangibles by considering the cases of two biotechnology firms involved in the issuance of misleading disclosures. Within this context, we consider how disclosure regulation and enforcement mechanisms have evolved in recent years, and how this evolution has likely been affected by our 'scandal' cases. Our conclusions are that the case of the U.K. does not give rise to any wide-scale concerns about the economic ill-effects caused by the current state of recognition and disclosure with respect to expenditures on intangibles. Further, market forces are unlikely to be sufficient in ensuring honest and timely disclosures with respect to intangibles, but the combination of official regulation and voluntary self-regulation appears to have stemmed the tide of any such disclosure scandals in the U.K.