Synergies or Trade-Offs in University Life Sciences Research

Major legislative, legal, and technological changes paved the way for a period of remarkable growth in the patenting of life science research by U.S. universities in the 1980s and 1990s. Using a multiple-output cost framework and two decades of panel data on ninety-six universities, this article examines whether economies of scope and/or scale are present in university production of three major life science research outputs: journal articles, patents, and doctorates. The results show strong evidence of economies of scale in life science research production with mixed evidence of economies of scope between articles and patents.     

The Impact of Analysts' Forecast Errors and Forecast Revisions on Stock Prices

Abstract:  We present a comprehensive analysis of the association between stock returns, quarterly earnings forecast errors, and quarter-ahead and year-ahead earnings forecast revisions. We find that forecast errors and the two forecast revisions have significant effects on stock prices, indicating each conveys information content. Findings also show that the fourth quarter differs from other quarters—the relative importance of the forecast error (quarter-ahead forecast revision) is lower (higher). We also find a marked upward shift over time in the forecast error and forecast revision coefficients, consistent with the I/B/E/S database reflecting an improved quality of both earnings forecasts and actual earnings.     

When Is Bad News Really Bad News?

We examine whether the price response to bad and good earnings shocks changes as the relative level of the market changes. The study is based on a complete sample of annual earnings announcements during the period 1988 to 1998. The relative level of the market is based on the difference between the current market P/E and the average market P/E over the prior 12 months. We find that the stock price response to negative earnings surprises increases as the relative level of the market rises. Furthermore, the difference between bad news and good news earnings response coefficients rises with the market.     

Changes in Well-being in Zimbabwe, 1990-6: Evidence Using Semi-parametric Density Estimates

Semi-parametric density reweighting techniques are used to examinesources of change in well-being in Zimbabwe during the first-halfof the 1990s. Changes in urban well-being are decomposed intochanges in employment propensities, changes in human capitalattainment and changes in the structure of urban employmentchoice. Declines in national well-being are decomposed intochanges resulting from urban–rural residence choice andchanges in the structure of residential location. Finally, worseningrural conditions are decomposed into that part due to droughtand that due to improved educational attainment. Results showthat despite improvements in human capital attainment duringthe 1990s, well-being has worsened in all employment states.Investments in human capital only partially offset the generalworsening of the economy. Likewise, decisions to migrate tourban areas from rural Zimbabwe helped offset worsening ruralconditions. Drought explains a small amount of the general ruraldecline, but the bigger part of the worsening was due to generalequilibrium effects associated with a deteriorating economy.     

Government debt,national income and causality

The concept of Granger causality is applied to assess the validity of the Ricardian Equivalence Hypothesis. The analysis is conducted using a multivariate approach with a US data set consisting of annual observations for the 1919–1981 period. The empirical evidence generated by this investigation does not support the strict debt neutrality position.     

Financialization and Income Inequality in the United States, 1967–2010

This article presents a historical overview of the late 20^th‐century advent of financialization, that is, the unprecedented growth of the financial sector. We summarize its origins and consequences, particularly greater income inequality. An econometric model quantifies the relationship. We conclude that along with higher unemployment and an eroding minimum wage, the growth of the U.S. financial sector has contributed to the exacerbation of inequality in recent decades.