The Substitution Effect of Mobile Games on Console Games: An Empirical Analysis of the Japanese Video Game Industry

In this paper, we discuss the substitution effects between mobile games and console games. We estimate such effects by a fixed-effect regression with instrumental variables using panel data of about 100,000 observations. The results showed that the substitution effects of playing smart devices on 3DS, Wii, and PSP were recognizable, but did not have significant effects on PS3, and the substitution effects on PSP were very small. Therefore, mobile games had a substitution effect on casual console games, or on console games in which the play situation resembled mobile games. In addition, the substitution effects were at most about 0.1. The substitution effects were small. Our results indicate that mobile games represent the pioneers in the new market of gaming at least during our observation period. But new games and traditional games will coexist for a while.     

The pattern of managerial behaviour in Thai culture

This paper examines the various factors which have shaped contemporary Thai managerial behaviour, exploring the influence of basic cultural values, beliefs and religion, and education. Though the paper is primarily conceptual in orientation, empirical data is presented on the leadership styles of Thai managers. The paper demonstrates how what is essentially an ethnographic approach can be useful in understanding the impact of culture on managerial style.The authors are from the Faculty of Management Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand.     

The relative and incremental explanatory powers of dirty surplus items for debt interest rate

This study investigates the relationship between dirty surplus items on the balance sheet and the cost of debt for Japanese firms. We focus on three dirty surplus items—unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale securities (SEC), foreign currency translation adjustment (FOC), and land revaluation surplus (LAND). While many previous studies on dirty surplus adopted the value-relevance perspective, we examine the effect of dirty surplus items on the interest rate spread of bonds from the bond market perspective. We use the [Vuong, Q. H. (1989). Likelihood ratio tests for model selection and non-nested hypotheses. Econometrica, 57, 307–333] test to evaluate the relative explanatory power of the equity ratio with and without dirty surplus items for the interest rate spread on bonds issued. We find evidence that the equity ratio with dirty surplus items is more strongly associated with the debt interest rate than that without dirty surplus items. The results suggest that the total amount of dirty surplus items have statistically significant explanatory power for the interest rate spread. However, some dirty surplus items do not have explanatory powers for the bond interest rate spread. While FOC has relative and incremental explanatory powers and SEC has only incremental explanatory power, LAND has neither relative nor incremental explanatory power for the bond interest rate spread. The results mean that FOC and SEC are useful to Japanese bond investors.     

A Theory of the Demand for Underwriting

We examine the demand for underwriting and its effect on equilibrium in an insurance market in which insureds know their risk type, but insurers do not. Our analysis indicates that a set of policies including one that requires buyers to take an underwriting test can constitute a full coverage Nash equilibrium when perfect classification is possible. We also find that underwriting equilibria, in which low risks obtain greater coverage than they would without underwriting, widely exist in a Wilsonian market with nonmyopic insurers. Our findings provide a potential explanation for why empirical evidence on adverse selection is mixed.     

Dissemination of Accruals Information,Role of Semi‐Annual Reporting,and Analysts' Earnings Forecasts: Evidence from Japan

Our study investigates the effects of dissemination of accounting accruals information on stock prices using Japanese annual reports as our sample. We conduct month‐by‐month detailed analyses of price adjustment behavior with a particular focus on revisions of analysts' earnings forecasts and changes in trading volume around the period of upcoming semi‐annual reports. We find that analysts' forecasts are often revised around this time, and analysts use this as auxiliary information. In addition, an accompanying re‐adjustment of abnormal returns and an increase in trading volume are observed. Our findings demonstrate that informational uncertainty initially triggered by the announcement of annual reports decreases as semi‐annual reports are disclosed and analysts change their earnings forecasts, and confirms the importance of semi‐annual reporting.     

PACIFIC RIM TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT: HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENT AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

Pacific Asia is deep rooted in its cultural heritage and historical background, which have set the tone for regions success. These same factors also have created rather different trading practices, compared with those of the West — practices that are less transparent and full of hidden private trade barriers.
Interdependence within the region suggests integration, but Pacific Asia has taken a course of non-exclusive cooperation rather than following the exclusive course of the European Community (EC) and of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The latter two trade blocs threaten the continued success and development of Pacific Asia. Although the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) sends relief, fostering a cooperative rather than a retaliative Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization offers the most promise.