Concerns and perceptions immediately following Superstorm Sandy: ratings for property damage were higher than for health issues

Governmental officials, health and safety professionals, early responders, and the public are interested in the perceptions and concerns of people faced with a crisis, especially during and immediately after a disaster strikes. Reliable information can lead to increased individual and community preparedness for upcoming crises. The objective of this research was to evaluate concerns of coastal and central New Jersey residents within the first 100?days of Superstorm Sandy’s landfall. Respondents living in central New Jersey and Jersey shore communities were differentially impacted by the storm, with shore residents having higher evacuation rates (47% vs. 13%), more flood waters in their homes, longer power outages (average 23 vs. 6?days), and longer periods without Internet (29 vs. 6?days). Ratings of concerns varied both among and within categories as a function of location (central vs. coastal New Jersey), stressor level (ranging from 1 to 3 for combinations of power outages, high winds, and flooding), and demographics. Respondents were most concerned about property damage, health, inconveniences, ecological services, and nuclear power plants in that order. Respondents from the shore gave higher ratings to the concerns within each major category, compared to those from central Jersey. Four findings have implications for understanding future risk, recovery, and resiliency: (1) respondents with the highest stressor level (level 3) were more concerned about water damage than others, (2) respondents with flood damage were more concerned about water drainage and mold than others, (3) respondents with the highest stressor levels rated all ecological services higher than others, and (4) shore respondents rated all ecological services higher than central Jersey residents. These data provide information to design future preparedness plans, improve resiliency for future severe weather events, and reduce public health risk.     

Dealer Markets Under Stress: The Performance of NASDAQ Market Makers During the November 15, 1991, Market Break

The liquidity of the NASDAQ market was seriously undermined during the crash on October 19, 1987, when bid-ask spreads widened dramatically and dealers reputedly withdrew from market making. This paper studies the liquidity of 36 NASDAQ issues on November 15, 1991, when average prices fell over 4%, representing the first major correction in the post-crash era. We find that bid-ask spreads, the percentage of dealers posting inside quotes, and trading volume remained virtually unaffected. Effective spreads were also largely unaffected, except for trades in excess of 1,000 shares among issues whose market makers avoided odd-eighth quotes. Our evidence implies that, unlike October 1987, the liquidity of the NASDAQ market did not deteriorate appreciably during this episode of unusual market stress.     

Career concerns and peer effects in institutional tournaments: Evidence from ECB reserve currency portfolios

Using data on European Central Bank's (ECB's) reserve currency portfolios, we find that money managers react to relative rankings (i.e., own vs. peers’ performance) by adjusting portfolio active risk levels measured ex ante by actual deviations from their benchmark. This occurs in the absence of explicit incentives as no monetary reward is promised for winning this “tournament” among portfolio managers. We collect information on managers’ characteristics, including age, education, tenure, salary, and career path, and investigate the role played by implicit incentives. We provide evidence that both individual career concerns and institutional peer pressure contribute to the documented relationship between ranking and risk taking.     

The stabilizing effect of social distancing: Cross-country differences in financial market response to COVID-19 pandemic policies

COVID-19 has had far-reaching global effects on the health and wellbeing of individuals on every continent. The economic and financial market response has been equally disastrous with high levels of volatility observed. This study explores the temporal relations between structural breaks, market volatility and government stay-at-home policy interventions and social distancing measures for 28 countries and their respective indices. We present results which indicate the establishment of stay-at-home policies influence sharp discontinuities in 15 of 28 markets (53.57 %) and increase market efficiency in 30 of 49 cases observed (61.22 %). These results indicate a small, statistically significant degree of stabilization in international financial markets responding to government stay-at-home policies and social distancing measures, a promising result for political actors concerned with economic performance during the public health response to the coronavirus 2019 pandemic.     

Political-economy of pension plans: Impact of institutions,gender, and culture

National pension systems are an important part of financial intermediation and worker welfare in most countries, but how and why do they differ internationally? Controlling for important political, economic and social institutions, we document that international differences in pension progressivity, or how pensions reflect lifetime earnings, are negatively related to masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, long-term orientation, employment rights, average pension levels, social trust and economic inequality. We also find that pension progressivity is positively related to the economic and societal role of women, the extent of Catholicism; as well as political voice and accountability. These results provide important insights for both public policy and MNC managers.     

Resilience of Environmental and Social Stocks under Stress: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper examines whether environmental and social (ES) activities affect the resiliency of firms during the COVID-19 crisis. We study a sample of 330 firms operating in five developed countries: Canada, France, Japan, the UK and the US. Our analysis shows that US firms with a high ES ranking experienced a significantly lower stock price range volatility during the Covid stock market rundown of February-March 2020. Such findings also hold for Japanese firms but only later on after the introduction of government support. In terms of returns, compared to their peers with a low ES ranking, Japanese and UK stock prices with a high ES ranking suffered more during and after the market rundown. For other countries, we do not find significant differences in stock price behavior based on ES ratings. Our findings suggest that engaging with ES activities is not associated with a better or worse performance during crisis times, which has important implications for investors and managers.     

Changing science and ensuring our future

Science is not static but dynamic. A key challenge in its development is the reflection and accommodation of weaknesses, rather than just inherent strengths, both in its practices and institutional structures and settings. Pivotal to this are a range of issues including uncertainty, contextual issues, broader societal involvement, interdisciplinarity, and the enablement of reflexivity. These are not unrelated, autonomous concerns but intrinsically interdependent ones. For example extended characterisation and representation of uncertainty can facilitate integration between what have been regarded as separate: the technical and the contextual. This will require reflexive practices, often involving dialogue between scientists and the broader community. Much of this correlates with recent developments in social theory, such as conceptions of the risk society, and has significant implications for the relationship between the natural and the social sciences. This paper will identify, examine and describe these emergent changes to science and discuss their broader implications.     

Sweden in the world: Some alternatives for a small state

This article summarises some studies of Sweden in the long-term international context, undertaken by the Swedish Secretariat for Future Studies. Four broad scenarios are presented; they contain international and domestic issues. They are then related to three images of Sweden that bring in solidarity with other countries, material wellbeing, and national and personal security. All these issues require public debate. The extent to which Sweden counts as a small state, and the implications of being one, are not clear-cut.     

The brain, the mind, and societal and cultural learning: the emergence of a new paradigm of futures research

Research reveals that historical episodes of societal and cultural change have always been mediated by out groups which seek direct experience of reality and the personal transformation it entrains. The strictly rationalist model of cultural change used in Futures Research is out of step with this fact. A new model of cultural change is proposed and its implications for Futures Research discussed. The main implications are: Futures Research should be layered, in the sense that the various levels of mental modality should be made explicit in any piece of research; the dynamics of interaction between these layers needs to be explored: a complete Futures program would combine analysis of the inner lives of humans with scientific and social scientific data.     

Borrower Misreporting and Loan Performance

Borrower misreporting is associated with seriously adverse loan outcomes. Significantly more residential mortgage borrowers reported personal assets just above round number thresholds than just below. Borrowers who reported above‐threshold assets were almost 25 percentage points more likely to become delinquent (mean delinquency was 20%). For applicants with unverified assets, the increase in delinquency was greater than 40 percentage points. Misreporting was most frequent in areas with low financial literacy or social capital. Incorporating behavioral cues such as threshold effects into a risk assessment model improves its ability to uncover delinquencies, though at a cost of mischaracterizing some safe loans.     

平均税率、标准税率与收入分布对个人所得税累进性的影响

运用中间累进性指标将个人所得税累进性的变化分解为标准税率的影响及收入分布的影响,对再分配效应变化也做了类似的分解,实证分析了我国2005~2011年个人所得税累进性及再分配效应的变化。结果显示,收入分布改变对于累进性的变化发挥主导作用,平均税率对于再分配效应的变化非常关键。因此,个人所得税的改革首先需要在分析居民收入分布的基础上进行,另外在累进性提高的同时也需十分关注税收规模的变化。     

Growth,financial development,societal norms and legal institutions*

Do societal norms help to explain cross-country differences in financial development? We analyze whether societal norms, in addition to legal institutions, have an impact on financial development. In particular, we address the implications of the inclusion of societal norms on the analysis of the impact of financial development on economic growth. Our first conclusion is that societal norms indeed are important in explaining stock market capitalization, while this is not the case for the supply of bank credit. Secondly, the value added of including societal norms in models that explain financial development or, indirectly, economic growth largely coincides with the inclusion of formal institutions, like legal variables.     

Post-industrial life: A US perspective

Adulthood is no longer the relatively static plateau of personal development. Increasing freedom of choice between life and work, and within work itself, produces greater responsibilities and an increase in psychological stress. The family, the school, and various other social institutions are losing their rigid control over an individual's life course. Developmental adulthood is now emerging, as the categories of youth and adolescence emerged in the 19th century. If changes in the fields of culture, work, and social scheduling are out of step, problems of marriage breakdown, decreased economic growth, or personal aimlessness will result. Even if the changes are in harmony, a time-sensitive social policy will be necessary to bridge the growing gap between individual decisions and aggregate flows of people, resources, and jobs.     

Involving community members in preparedness and resiliency involves bi-directional and iterative communication and actions: a case study of vulnerable populations in New Jersey following superstorm Sandy

Abstract

Recent increases in hurricanes and other weather events have brought to light the importance of understanding what people think should be done to improve recovery and resiliency in their communities. While most studies focus only on perceptions of concerns, effects, medical issues and personal preparedness, herein subjects in New Jersey were interviewed to determine future actions they intend to follow, the actions they think agencies or others should be taking, and present a conceptual model for involvement of vulnerable community members in their own protection for future catastrophic events. The emphasis was on government and community actions. It is a bottom-up approach rather than a top-down approach to reduction of future risk. The case study involved subjects interviewed immediately following Sandy (general affected public; N?=?756) and 2–3?years after Sandy (vulnerable population, N?=?586). Concerns of subjects within 100?days related to friends family, safety and survival, food and water and medical concerns as well as recovery, repairs on their property, and community safety. Two to three years later, subjects remembered being significantly more concerned about family, friends, safety and survival, food and water and medical concerns than subjects interviewed within 100?days. Memories (or concern) also faded with respect to future preparedness; significantly more subjects interviewed 2–3?years after Sandy were going to do nothing, were less concerned about protecting family, community, and possessions than subjects interviewed within 100?days of Sandy. In contrast, the same percentage were going to evacuate and buy supplies, so it is not just a matter of forgetting the whole event. The data from open-ended questions indicated that subjects believed that recovery and preparation for a future severe storm event involved complicated and iterative activities of many different individuals, organizations, and governmental agencies. Thus we present an iterative, interactive model, and provide examples of how subjects viewed the interactions necessary to provide resiliency to their communities. We discuss the value-added of a bottoms-up approach to understanding risk reduction, preparedness and resiliency.     

Money, Monetary Policy, and Central Banking

Anna Schwartz's insights and careful analysis of the forces shaping institutions have contributed greatly to our understanding of money, central banks, and monetary policy. We discuss these contributions in the context of three issues. The first concerns governments' role in money. First, we focus on Anna's contribution to our understanding of the quality of money. In this context, we consider how the acceleration of globalization and developments in information technology has, as an external development, forced improvements in institutions and social arrangements. The second issue concerns the potential for currency boards to serve as an intermediate institution in the evolution toward and, perhaps now, away from so many central banks and sovereign monetary authorities. Finally, we turn our attention to current issues in the implementation of monetary policy.     

The death of the urban vision?

Debate on the future city has changed greatly in the last 20 years. From visions of a distant, orderly and mobile Utopia, peopled with enlightened ‘modern man’, concerns have become more sporadic and less coherent, determined by economic recession and the need to preserve existing urban social fabric rather than with the need to plan holistically for the city of the future. However, there should be no return to the earlier modernist visions, which lacked sufficient social understanding (as illustrated by failed experiments with highrise flats in the UK). Planning for the city of the future must be based on realistic societal needs.     

ATTRACTING AND RETAINING MAORI STUDENTS IN ACCOUNTING: ISSUES,EXPERIENCES AND WAYS FORWARD

The literature of social and educational research reflects the significance that issues of culture and ethnicity have gained in such research. This is evident, for example, in concerns to analyse and redesign social practices and to elaborate a critique of dominant Western institutions. In the research literature upon the accounting focus, evidence of such concerns has been comparatively scarce. While some research has been done@8ifor example, researchers have pointed to the Eurocentric character of accounting and critically analysed ethnic minority experiences of accountancy@8ithere is much more to do. Particularly scarce in the accounting literature have been studies concerned to focus upon accounting from an indigenous cultural perspective or to promote multicultural accounting education. Such a silence is of significance in the light of increasing worldwide concerns to learn from and to protect the cultures of indigenous peoples and to question the universal validity of Western practices, notably such as those of Eurocentric education. In this paper we focus upon Maori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, and critically assess and explore their participation in and experiences of accounting education. We concentrate upon university accounting education which is central to the process of gaining admission into the accountancy profession of Aotearoa New Zealand. We provide a historical and contextual analysis which elaborates upon the oppression and marginalisation of Maori people. The study reflects our concern that, in inquiring into why particular ethnic groups, including indigenous peoples, are under represented and lack influence in particular social activities and occupations, we need to give consideration to the role of cultural as well as socioeconomic factors. And in this respect we need to critically analyse the very institutions and practices of Western accountancy and Western accounting education as forms of insensitive cultural imperialism. These forms can change rather than the culture of peoples. For us, increasing the participation of Maori in accounting education and accounting practice and changing the character of these practices so that they are more reflective of Maori indigenous culture are two dimensions of the struggle for change which can be mutually reinforcing. We are supportive of such change and seek to bring this about in the Eurocentric institutions of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our contention is that a deeper critical analysis of issues of ethnicity in Western society can help to inform a critique of Eurocentric practices and institutions including in the sphere of accounting. In brief, we explore a range of interconnected themes: the complex character of the marginalisation and oppression of Maori; focusing in, the position respecting accounting education and the very practice of accounting; how this relates to ways forward and connects up with wider issues.     

经济政策不确定性、地区文化与保险需求

本文在拓展背景风险理论研究的基础上,揭示了经济政策不确定性对保险需求的影响及其受地区文化制约的理论机制。并利用2007-2017年中国30个地区的月度面板数据,检验了经济政策不确定性、地区文化与保险需求间的内在联系。结果发现:第一,经济政策不确定性会对保险需求产生显著正影响,且这种效应在地区人身险需求上表现更明显;第二,将地区文化指标集纳入经济政策不确定性与保险需求关系的研究框架,发现地区文化差异会对经济政策不确定性影响保险需求产生调节效应。因此政府需在充分重视经济政策波动和文化对经济活动的双重影响基础上,加强国内社会保障体系建设,建立更透明的信息传递渠道,培育人们主动抵抗风险的意识和文化习惯,调整保险供给结构,以减少不确定性对社会经济行为的负面冲击。     

强化“三农”审计 为推进农业现代化和社会主义新农村建设服务

做好农业、农村和农民的三农工作,对于顺利实现我国十二五经济社会发展规划,建设全面小康社会的目标具有重要意义。本文阐述了现阶段我国审计机关要发挥保障三农工作健康发展的免疫系统功能作用,使审计工作更好地促进现代农业发展和社会主义新农村建设,必须进一步理清三农审计的工作思路,加大对我国三农政策措施贯彻落实情况的跟踪审计力度,促进强农惠农政策落实到位。在深入分析三农审计面临的资金管理、多部门权力失控、经济转型等风险基础上,提出以三农政策执行、资金项目、经济责任为三个抓手,强化三农审计,推动三农工作与十二五规划协调健康发展。