Prometheus unbound

Professor Nicholas Onuf argued in the February 1984 issue of Futures that those participating in the revival of interest in long waves of economic activity had generally failed to relate their analyses to the debate on growth spawned by Limits to Growth. The challenge is taken up in this article, which relates the two debates in terms of the role of technology in long-term growth and cycles; changes in ‘technological paradigm’ are seen as a major feature of each successive growth cycle. The article finally discusses the effects of paradigm change on employment and investment, and confronts the central issue of Onuf's paper—the social and political effects of the micro-electronics revolution.     

Frothy Housing Markets and Local Stock-Price Movements

Prior empirical research finds habitat effects manifest in stock pricing among firms that share headquarters cities. We empirically investigate whether trends in residential real estate prices affect headquarters-city stock pricing phenomena for companies across U.S. metro areas for 1989?C2004. Specifically, we hypothesize that stocks of firms headquartered in ??hot?? residential real estate markets experience higher returns compared to stocks of firms from ??cold?? markets. We also hypothesize that stocks of firms headquartered in hot real estate markets display stronger return comovement with same-city stocks. We find support for these hypotheses during the 1999?C2004 sample period which coincides with the start of the housing bubble of the 2000?s; we find mixed results in earlier periods. Our findings indicate that city-specific home price patterns conditionally affect stock pricing of local firms, suggesting that investor behavior is influenced by localized shocks to household real estate wealth.     

Does Order Flow Commonality Extend Across Trade Sizes and Securities?

We examine commonality in order imbalances across different types of securities and find that the extent of commonality is greater than previously documented. Order imbalances in portfolios of small stocks, large stocks, and closed-end funds have explanatory power for other portfolio returns even in the presence of own order flow. Our analysis of order flow composition reveals commonality in small and medium trades, but not in large trades, across portfolios. The activity from small-size trades is systemic, but not generally associated with returns on other securities. Order imbalances from larger size trades provide more information relevant to stock prices.     

Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory

In this paper we argue that theory, method, methodology, and knowledge gains in qualitative field studies are intertwined through the ongoing hypothesis development in the field. We develop our argument through a discussion of specific qualitative field studies in management accounting. We emphasise in particular the distinctive role of theory in qualitative research as relating to expression of a subjective reality more than clarification of an objective one. In considering this subjectivity we discuss the ways in which the doing of qualitative research brings to bear discipline on the researcher allowing us to assess the trustworthiness of their accounts. The intention is to develop a more appropriate basis for judging the plausibility of qualitative field studies than notions borrowed from positivistic methodology.     

Estimating demand from eBay prices

This paper presents results for identification and estimation of the value distribution from eBay auction prices. The paper presents results for eBay type auctions with independent private values and unobserved participation. It is first shown that the distribution of values is identified from observing the distribution of prices and knowing the distribution of potential bidders. The main identification result presents conditions for which the distribution of values and the distribution of potential bidders are simultaneously identified. Not surprisingly, the intuition is similar to the standard results for identifying demand from observed equilibrium prices. The estimation method suggested by the identification results is used to estimate the value distribution for the “C5” Chevrolet Corvette sold on eBay. The results suggest that a simple OLS model on prices will over estimate the mean value of the item. The estimation results are then used to calculate the optimal reserve price for these cars. The estimated optimal reserves are compared to the actual reserves. Actual hidden reserves are set much higher than actual non-hidden reserves. The evidence suggests sellers set Buy-It-Nows and hidden reserves optimally to account for re-listing opportunities.     

Investor Reactions to Concurrent Positive and Negative Stakeholder News

This paper examines the impact on firm value created by investor reaction to same day news of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) activities. First, using trading volume, the authors establish that the perceived value of moral capital generated by news involving institutional (e.g., environmental and community) stakeholders is less clear to investors than that of the news involving technical (e.g., customers and employees) stakeholders. Subsequently, the authors analyze abnormal returns from 565 unique firm events—each comprising at least one positive and one negative stakeholder news item. Using signaling theory, the authors demonstrate that news of the number of CSR activities involving institutional groups counteracts the effects of same day CSiR news in an inverted U-shaped fashion. In contrast, they find that news of the number of CSR activities involving technical groups mitigates the effects of same day CSiR news in a U-shaped fashion.