Consumers' willingness to innovate: ownership of microwaves,computers and entertainment products

This paper examines the factors influencing the probability and years of ownership of four technological products: microwaves, home computers, video cassette recorders (VCRs) and compact disc players. Family income increased the probability of ownership of microwaves and video cassette recorders and the length of ownership of microwaves. Males were more likely to own a computer than females and the probability and length of computer ownership increased with educational level. Innovation adapters as measured by an innovation index had owned microwaves and VCRs longer. The identification of the indicators of product adoption provides guidance for future acceptance of innovative products.     

Board games in health education within primary schools

The effectiveness of a novel teaching method for health education within primary schools was established using pre-test and post-test assessments to measure the amount of information taken in by children in health education lessons. The assessment of effectiveness of health education teaching was carried out via a new and innovative approach to health education advice involving the use of an educational board game and posterdesigning techniques. Results suggest that the introduction of games and activities, such as poster designing, can be beneficial in terms of knowledge absorption and retention. The increase in knowledge between pre- and post-test assessments was statistically significant (P < 0·05 or greater)where new methods were used to present information on the importance of exercise, sleep, oral hygiene, road safety and on certain physical and emotional aspects of growing up. Nutrition information was less well absorbed and the possible reasons for these results are discussed with areas in which future research would help to ensure maximum benefit for minimum teaching resources.     

Earnings Management through Transaction Structuring: Contingent Convertible Debt and Diluted Earnings per Share

In this article we examine whether firms structure their convertible bond transactions to manage diluted earnings per share (EPS). We find that the likelihood of firms issuing contingent convertible bonds (COCOs), which are often excluded from diluted EPS calculations under Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) 128, is significantly associated with the reduction that would occur in diluted EPS if the bonds were traditionally structured. We also document that firms' use of EPS‐based compensation contracts significantly affects the likelihood of COCO issuance and find weak evidence that reputation costs, measured using earnings restatement data, play a role in the structuring decision. These results are robust to controlling for alternative motivations for issuing COCOs, including tax and dilution arguments. In addition, an examination of announcement returns reveals that investors view the net benefits and costs of COCOs as offsetting one another. Our results contribute to the literature on earnings management, diluted EPS, financial reporting costs, and financial innovation.     

Stock Exchange Disclosure and Market Development: An Analysis of 50 International Exchanges

This study examines associations between measures of stock exchange disclosure and market development at 50 of the member stock exchanges of the World Federation of Exchanges. We focus on stock exchange disclosure systems (rather than actual company disclosures) because this approach links stock exchange policy with desired outcomes related to market development (such as liquidity, trading activity, and market size relative to gross domestic product). We find strong support for the hypothesis that the strength of the disclosure system (disclosure rules, monitoring, and enforcement) is positively associated with market development, after controlling for legal system, legal protection of investors, market size, and several other potentially relevant explanatory variables.     

Factors influencing the use of microwave ovens and video cassette recorders

The purpose of this study was to examine ownership of microwave ovens and video cassette recorders (VCRs) and factors influencing their use. Data were collected from 148 consumers who participated in an in-depth personal interview. For both microwave ovens and VCRs, ownership rates of the sample exceeded that of the general population. Five categories of microwave oven use were examined: use of the oven to heat water or leftovers, prepare convenience foods, prepare foods from scratch, use of alternative power levels and use of programmable features. Three categories of VCR use were examined: watch movies, tape shows to watch later and programming the VCR to record while no one is present. As the complexity of use increased, fewer respondents performed that task often. Use of microwave ovens was influenced by the innovation index score, presence of children, gender, age and education. Use of VCRs was associated with the innovation index score and age.     

Voluntary Disclosure,Information Asymmetry,and Insider Selling through Secondary Equity Offerings*

This paper examines the relation of voluntary disclosure of management earnings forecasts and information asymmetry to insider selling through secondary equity offerings. We hypothesize that the pattern of voluntary disclosure and level of information asymmetry prior to secondary equity offerings differs systematically based on the identity of the seller. Specifically, we predict a greater frequency of voluntary disclosure and decreased level of information asymmetry when managers sell their stock through a secondary offering. We examine this hypothesis in a cross-sectional analysis of 210 secondary equity offerings from 1984-91, using a two-stage conditional maximum likelihood simultaneous equations estimation procedure, which allows for possible endogeneity in the manager's decision to sell stock. Consistent with our predictions, we document a significantly positive association between managerial participation and voluntary disclosure of earnings forecasts in the nine-month period prior to registration of the offering. We also document a significantly negative association between managerial participation and two proxies for information asymmetry. The findings provide evidence that managers act as if reduced information asymmetry correlates with a reduced cost of capital.     

RESTORATION-BASED COMPENSATION MEASURES IN NATURAL RESOURCE LIABILITY STATUTES

In the past two decades, the U.S. Congress has passed several major environmental statutes that designate natural resource management agencies as trustees of the resources on behalf of the public and that allow the trustees to recover damages for injuries to public resources from releases of hazardous substances and discharges of oil.
The standard measure of damages in the various statutes is the cost of restoring the resources to baseline conditions ("primary restoration") plus the interim loss in alue from the time of the incident until full recovery from the injuries. However, trustees are allowed to spend their damage recoveries only on enhancing or creating ("restoring, rehabilitating, replacing or acquiring the equivalent of") natural resources. The statutory restriction on the use of the recoveries has motivated the development of an alternative measure of damages for interim losses—the cost of "compensatory restoration" actions providing in-kind compensation—which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) incorporated in its 1996 regulations implementing the natural resource liability provisions of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA).
This analysis first identifies the statutory measure of damages and the traditional framing of damages for interim losses (monetary compensation). It then defines an alternative utility-theoretic measure of resource compensation and identifies alter-native methods of implementation.     

RACIAL DISPARITIES IN FEDERAL DISABILITY BENEFITS

We estimate racial differences in the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) decision to award federal disability benefits using newly available data, multivariate econometric models, and Oaxaca decomposition methods. We focus on the appellate level of SSA’s disability decision‐making process. We find that for claimants represented by attorneys there is no statistically significant difference in benefit award rates between whites and African‐Americans. However, for claimants without attorney representation, we find sizable and significant differences between whites and African‐Americans. (JEL J15, H53)