A Tale of Two Indices: The Story of the NASDAQ and the SENSEX

Using the daily data on SENSEX and NASDAQ from January to October of 2000, the paper attempts to find out to what extent the “news” on NASDAQ helps price formation at the beginning and at the end of a trading day at the Indian bourses. The possible impact of NASDAQ on SENSEX is analyzed through OLS equations under cointegration and error correction framework. The results indicate that the “news” on NASDAQ plays an important role in price formation at the beginning of a trading day at the Indian bourses. However, as the impact of NASDAQ fades a lot during the trading hours when the Indian market remains open and the US market remains closed, the closing figures at SENSEX could not be predicted well with this information.

     

Bribery in International Business in Post-Soviet Union Countries

Data from 1996 to 2016 on perceived levels of bribe taking in 15 post-Soviet Union countries indicate three distinct groups—Russia and seven contiguous countries are most prone to bribe taking, a set of four countries in the southwest less so, and the three Baltic nations are the least corrupt. Public officials in countries that have high economic freedom and human development, are democracies, and proactively adhere to global anti-bribery treaties are less likely to take bribes. The findings show that despite a common recent history, the countries have evolved differently following the breakup. Implications for international businesses are discussed.     

Average of forecasts: an improvement

Stein-rules are used in forming combination forecasts. Such forecasts have smaller prediction risk, under certain conditions, than the preferred method of average of forecasts. The new composite forecasts will be theoretically biased, but are likely to have smaller mean squared error of forecasts as shown in the empirical exercises examined. When the forecasts appear to be unbiased and have a common mean, Lindley-type combination is most useful.     

Evolving Weak-Form Informational Efficiency of Indian Stock Market

This empirical study deals with the changing weak-form informational efficiency of Indian stock market in recent years. The data cover daily information on BSE-100 index for a period of nine years from January 4, 1993 to December 31, 2001. In order to assess the evolving weak-form efficiency over time, entire data period is partitioned into 18 sub-periods and spectral shape tests are carried out separately in each sub-period. Based on empirical results it is seen that the extent of informational efficiency (weak form) of Indian stock market fluctuated substantially from sub-period to sub-period. The market was considerably inefficient during each sub-period till June 1996, achieved high level of efficiency during July 1996 to December 1999 and showed efficiency at relatively lower level thereafter except little aberration during 2000.

     

The Effects of Different Teaching Approaches in Introductory Financial Accounting

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to examine the effect of the two different teaching approaches in the first accounting course on student performance in a subsequent finance course. The study compares 128 accounting and finance students who took introductory financial accounting by either a user approach or a traditional preparer approach to examine their academic performance on a subsequent finance course. The results indicate that there is no significant difference in the finance course grade between students who took the traditional introductory accounting course and students who were taught under the user approach. These findings support the argument that the user approach has no impact on subsequent finance course grade and either method can be used to teach introductory financial accounting. Three factors were found to affect subsequent performance in an introductory finance course: GPA prior to taking the finance course, grades in macroeconomics, and statistics.     

Subcutaneous vs intravenous rituximab in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a time and motion study in the United Kingdom

Objective:

Rituximab is part of standard therapy for many non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients, and is usually administered as an intravenous (IV) infusion. A formulation for subcutaneous (SC) injection will be available from June 2014. A time and motion study was conducted to investigate the staff time and costs associated with administration of SC and IV rituximab.

Research design and methods:

The time and motion study was conducted in three UK centers alongside a phase III trial of SC rituximab in patients with NHL (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01461928). Active healthcare professional (HCP) time spent on the preparation and administration of IV and SC rituximab was recorded and used to calculate the associated costs.

Results:

Total active HCP time associated with administration of IV rituximab was 223.3?min (95% CI?=?218.0–228.7), vs 48.5?min (95% CI?=?45.5–51.6) for SC rituximab, a saving of 174.8?min (95% CI?=?172.5–177.1) per session. Patient time in the treatment room was 263.8?min (95% CI?=?236.6–294.3) for IV rituximab and 70.0?min (95% CI?=?57.1–87.2) for SC rituximab, per session. The SC formulation reduced total mean staff costs by £115.17 (95% CI?=?98.95–136.93) per session. Differing monitoring scenarios during infusion consistently showed time and cost savings for SC rituximab.

Limitations:

Study limitations include the non-interventional design and lack of statistical power, and the investigational nature of SC rituximab. The data collected did not account for patient and center characteristics and variability on active HCP time.

Conclusions:

SC rituximab was associated with reduced active HCP time and costs vs IV rituximab, as well as reduced patient time in the treatment room. Switching from IV to SC rituximab could increase treatment room capacity and patient throughput, as well as improving the patient experience.     

Determinants of bribery in international business

Levels of perceived bribe taking in 54 countries in two time periods were analyzed with respect to two independent variables—their level of human development measuring education, wealth, and health (Human Development Index) and the level of economic freedom measuring the extent to which a nation's economy is open to market forces. The results indicate that lower levels of bribe taking are associated with high human development and greater economic freedom. Developed countries that have shown improvements on the two variables over a five‐year period also show a reduction in their perceived levels of bribe taking. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.