Productivity Shocks and Labour Market Outcomes for Top Earners: Evidence from Italian Serie A

How are top earners affected by productivity shocks? We address this question using a unique longitudinal data set on the universe of professional football players in the Italian Serie A, representing 20% of top earners in Italy. We use traumatic injuries and adopt an IV strategy to provide causal estimates of the impact of productivity shocks on several labour market outcomes. We find that a 30-day injury substantially affects the probability of contract renegotiation and reduces net wages by around 12%. We show that this large penalty is due to employer's precautionary motives rather than to shock-induced reduction in current player's performance.     

The Effects of Auditor Social and Human Capital on Auditor Compensation: Evidence from the Italian Small Audit Firm Market

Abstract

This study examines whether social and human capital influence the compensation of individual auditors in the small audit firm market. We employ a sample of Italian auditors and use measures from the network and auditing literatures to capture their professional connections, representing social capital, and their industry expertise, representing human capital. Our findings show a positive and economically meaningful association between these individual attributes and auditor compensation. We run several tests to address potential endogeneity issues in our research design. Our results suggest that, in the small audit market, clients perceive as valuable those auditors with higher social and human capital, and as a result, are willing to pay a premium for these specific auditor attributes.     

Efficiency Wages and the Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage: Evidence from a Low‐Wage Labour Market*

This article exploits a natural experiment provided by the 1999 introduction of the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) to test for efficiency wage considerations in a low‐wage sector, the UK residential care homes industry. The empirical results provide support to the wage‐supervision trade‐off prediction of the shirking model and suggest that the NMW may have operated as an efficiency wage in the care homes sector, leading to a reduction in supervision costs. These findings can explain earlier evidence suggesting that although the NMW introduction increased wages dramatically in the care homes sector, it generated only moderate negative employment effects.     

The Value Relevance of Environmental Audits: Evidence from Japan

Environmental audits are implemented internally in order to monitor compliance with environmental laws, regulations and related accounting rules, and to develop recommendations for ways in which to improve environmental accounting processes and performance. In addition, external third‐party assurance on environmental information is used to verify whether firms’ disclosures on environmental information are in compliance with environmental accounting rules and regulations. We examine whether firms’ environmental audits positively affect their market values and whether third‐party assurance strengthens positive effects, using value relevance theory as a theoretical foundation. Our main tests are based on 266 Japanese manufacturing firms’ published environmental reports for the period 2010–2013. We find that the average market value of firms that implement environmental audits is 9 percent greater than those that do not. Further, we find that environmental audits positively affect firm value, largely through interaction with third‐party assurance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Understanding Labour Turnover in a Labour Intensive Industry: Evidence from the British Clothing Industry*

ABSTRACT The clothing industry is both a quintessential global industry and one that is inescapably labour intensive. Despite more and more production shifting to low wage economies in the past decades, there remains a significant amount of clothing manufacturing in high wage economies. This study examines the drivers of change that are forcing restructuring in one such country and the outcomes of such changes for the organization of production. Because the changes have involved treating workers as a resource to be developed rather than a cost, preventing labour turnover has become a crucial component of this strategic repositioning. In presenting the results of a national survey of UK clothing manufacturers we find that high labour turnover rates persist. We discuss the historical background to this phenomenon and current trends, and then explore the principal variables that might explain these trends. We conclude with a discussion of the outcomes facing firms in this industry and comment on why managers resist comprehensive changes in organizational routines and the effort bargain.     

Local Labour Markets and Theft: New Evidence from Canada

This paper provides causal evidence that labour market opportunities affect theft‐related crime rates in Canada. Synthetic panel data from 2007–2011 combine the Labour Force Survey and Uniform Crime Reports microdata. Low‐skill unemployment rates and corresponding crime rates are measured for age‐city‐specific groups of young males. IV estimates exploit the exposure of low‐skill employment to exogenous demand for exports to the US. Causal estimates of the elasticity of theft‐related crimes with respect to low‐skill unemployment range from 0.357 to 0.654. The use of aggregated unemployment rates appears to bias OLS estimates downward. IV estimates are found to mitigate this aggregation bias.     

Heterogeneity in Labour Supply Responses: Evidence from a Major Tax Reform

We use a large and rich administrative household panel data set to estimate labour supply responses for a large number of subgroups in the Netherlands. The identification of the parameters benefits from a major tax reform in the data period. We uncover large differences in behavioural responses. In particular, we find differences in labour supply responses between households with and without children that are much bigger than suggested by previous studies that had to pool these household types in the estimation of preferences. An efficient tax‐benefit system should take the substantial heterogeneity in behavioural responses into account.     

企业的成长力对其创新溢价的影响——来自创业板上市公司的经验证据

在资本市场有效的前提下,创新溢价作为市场对企业创新价值的有效估值很重要。传统方法的缺陷,截至目前,依然没有非常令人信服的方式对创业型企业进行估值。通过梳理和归纳现有文献,总结出创新溢价为何能作为创新指标来衡量企业的创新潜力,以及通过构建创新溢价影响因素的分析框架,结合创业板上市公司数据进行实证研究。研究结果表明企业的成长能力显著地影响创新溢价,意味着那些具有增长潜力和前景的企业被认为是创新能力强的企业。此外,净利润、净资产利润率以及公司规模等传统指标与创新溢价负相关。     

Labour Values,Prices of Production and the Effects of Income Distribution: Evidence from the Greek Economy

This paper explores the relationship between labour values, prices of production and changes in income distribution in an actual economy. For this purpose we use a linear model of production with circulating capital and homogeneous labour, assuming that wages are paid ex ante. On the basis of this model and data from input–output tables of the Greek economy for the period 1988–1997 we estimate the labour values and prices of production, which are normalized with the use of the Sraffian standard commodity and the actual output vector. Furthermore, we extend Steedman's polynomial approximation of prices of production to include the case where wages are paid ex ante and the accuracy of this approximation is tested with actual input–output data. Finally, we find that prices of production change as a result of hypothetical changes in income distribution more often than not in a monotonic way and in a few cases display curvatures that reverse the order between prices of production and values.     

The Risk-Relevance of Accounting Data: Evidence from the Spanish Stock Market

This paper analyses the relevance of accounting fundamentals to inform about equity risk as measured by the cost of equity capital. Assuming the latter is a summary measure of how investors make decisions regarding the allocation of resources, the strength of the association between the cost of capital and the accounting‐based measures of risk indicates how important these measures are for market participants when making economic decisions. To infer the cost of equity capital, we use the O'Hanlon and Steele's method, which is based on the residual income valuation model. Moreover, we use the insights from this model to provide a theoretical underpinning for the choice of the accounting variables related to risk. The sample refers to the non‐financial firms listed in the Madrid Stock Exchange along the period 1987–2002. Our results support our initial expectations regarding the association between the cost of equity capital and the accounting‐based risk variables, thereby supporting the usefulness of fundamental analysis to determine the risk inherent in share's future payoffs. In particular, we highlight the role of investing risk, which has been ignored in previous research. Our results are also robust to measures of risk other than the cost of capital such as the variability in total returns and the firm's systematic risk (β).     

The fundamental law of highway congestion revisited: Evidence from national expressways in Japan

The fundamental law of highway congestion states that when congested, the travel speed on an expanded expressway reverts to its previous level before the capacity expansion. In this paper, we propose a theory that generalizes this statement and finds that if there exists a coverage effect, that is, the effect of longer road length on traffic conditional on capacity, then the new equilibrium travel speed could be lower than its previous level. Given the fundamental law, the theory predicts that the elasticity of traffic to road capacity is at least 1. We estimate this elasticity for national expressways in Japan and test this prediction. Using the planned national expressway extension as an exogenous source of variation for capacity expansion, we obtain elasticity estimates ranging between 1.24 and 1.34, consistent with the prediction of our theory. We further investigate the sources of the larger-than-unity elasticity and find that the coverage effect plays a critical role, compared with the effect due to lane expansion.     

Market Effects of Changes in Consumers' Social Responsibility

In a duopoly model of vertical differentiation, we study market equilibrium and the resulting social welfare following an increase in the consumer's willingness to pay (WTP) for products sold by socially responsible manufacturers. Different types of such changes emerge depending on their effects on consumer heterogeneity. We show that, in most cases, increases in the consumers' social consciousness yield higher profits to socially responsible firms and may lead to higher levels of social welfare, provided that the market structure is left unchanged. However, when an increase in the consumer's social consciousness changes the market structure, welfare may fall, while the duopolists' profits rise. The resulting tension between private and social interest calls for a cautious attitude toward information campaigns aimed at increasing the consumer's social consciousness.     

中国企业社会责任信息披露影响因素研究——基于润灵环球评级社会责任报告

文章以263家上市公司2009年—2015年的面板数据为基础,实证分析了企业内外部因素对企业社会责任信息披露的影响。研究结果显示政府、媒体所造成的外部压力对企业社会责任信息披露水平具有正向相关性;企业内部因素中的企业规模对社会责任信息披露水平具有正向影响、盈利能力与社会责任信息披露水平不显著相关、财务风险则对社会责任信息披露水平存在负向影响,表明企业规模越大越有压力和动力提高披露水平,盈利能力强弱对社会责任披露水平推动作用不明显,但若企业负债经营则只会更关注生存问题。     

The Implications of Trade Credit for Bank Monitoring: Suggestive Evidence from Japan

Firms in modern developed economies borrow from both banks and trade partners. Using Japanese manufacturing data from the 1960s, we estimate the price of trade credit, and explore some of the ways firms choose between the credit and bank loans. We find that firms of all sizes borrow heavily from their trade partners, and at implicit rates that track the explicit rates banks would charge. They borrow from banks when they anticipate needing money for relatively long periods; they turn to trade partners when they face short-term unexpected exigencies. This apparent contrast in the term structures follows, we suggest, from the fundamentally different way bankers and trade partners cut default risk. Because bankers seldom know their borrowers' industries first hand, they rely on formal legal protection (like security interests). Because trade partners know the industry well, they reduce risk by monitoring their borrowers closely instead. Because the costs to creating legal mechanisms are heavily front-loaded, bankers focus on long-term debt; because the costs of monitoring debtors are ongoing, trade creditors do not. Apparently, banks monitor less than we have thought.     

How Social Structures Influence the Labour Market Participation of Individuals with Mental Illness: A Bourdieusian Perspective

Adopting a Bourdieusian perspective, this paper examines the social structures that influence the labour market participation of individuals with mental illness. We draw on 257 qualitative surveys completed by individuals with diagnosed mental health conditions in Europe, North America, Oceania, Africa, and Asia. We employed thematic analysis to analyse the data. The findings reveal that the interplay of capital endowments, symbolic violence, habitus and illusio shape the labour market participation of individuals with mental illness. Capital endowments of individuals with mental illness are afforded less value in the labour market and these individuals internalize, legitimize and normalize their disadvantaged position, blaming themselves rather than questioning the social structures leading to the challenges they encounter. We highlight that social structures condition the opinion these individuals have of themselves and how this affects how they navigate the labour market. In sum, we show that Bourdieu's concepts provide a useful lens to study inequalities in the labour market, as they reveal the social structures that produce, sustain and reinforce the social order that disadvantages individuals with mental illness.     

The Impact of the Big 8 Mergers on Market Power: Evidence from the Hong Kong Market

This study examines the impact of the Big 8 mergers on market power in an audit market where the merging firms have little presence. Audit fee changes for each merger participating firm are identified and fee changes for several post‐merger years are examined. The pre‐merger differential market power between the merging and non‐merging long‐established Big 8 firms (Price Waterhouse and KPMG Peat Marwick) in Hong Kong provides a unique opportunity to examine whether the mergers could help the merging firms to increase their market power. The results are consistent with the hypotheses that the audit fees of the merging firms were significantly lower than that of the non‐merging, long‐established Big 8 firms before the mergers, but the audit fees of the merged firms increased significantly to a level comparable with that of the latter group after the mergers. In addition, the market share of the merged firms increased significantly after the mergers. However, no association is found between market concentration and market power. Overall, the results show that the Big 8 mergers have helped the merged firms increase their market power and market share in the Hong Kong audit market where they had little presence.     

Representation of Developments in Labour Market Research

A knowledge graph is a kind of semantic network representing some scientific theory. The paper describes the state of art in this field and addresses a number of problems that has not been solved yet. These are: implicit relations, strength of (causal) relations, and conditions. Concepts might be too broad or complex to be used properly, directions for solving this problem are explored. The solutions are applied to a knowledge graph in the field of labour markets.     

The Information Content of Earnings Components: Evidence from the Chinese Stock Market

China's listed firms report substantial non-operating revenues and expenses. We argue that these non-core earnings should have different properties and different valuation implications than operating or core earnings. Furthermore, the different types of firm ownership may have differential impacts on the information content of earnings components. Based on data from 1996 to 2008, we find that core earnings are more persistent than non-core earnings. Because of this, core earnings have a greater association with contemporaneous stock returns. However, the stock market does not fully incorporate all the information in earnings; we find that core earnings are undervalued and non-core earnings are overvalued. This effect is much reduced for privately controlled listed firms. We develop an investment trading strategy to exploit these market inefficiencies.     

李晶社会保险的重要性

社会保险具有强制性和法定性,用人单位和劳动者必须执行法律法规中有关社会保险的各项规定。尽管如此,用人单位和劳动者对社会保险等方面的问题还存在许多模糊甚至错误的认识。     

The regulation of health and safety in Britain: from old Labour to new Labour

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA 1974), passed twenty‐five years ago, has been hailed as a significant advance for organised labour and a model for modern work‐place regulation. This article argues that, contrary to conventional interpretations, the making of the Act was dominated by business interests. We suggest that the Act’s emphasis on self‐regulation and goal‐setting made it vulnerable to deregu‐latory initiatives, which are unlikely to be reversed by new Labour in the foreseeable future.