Segmented asset markets and optimal exchange rate regimes

This paper revisits the issue of the optimal exchange rate regime in a flexible price environment. The key innovation is that we analyze this question in the context of environments where only a fraction of agents participate in asset market transactions (i.e., asset markets are segmented). Under this friction alternative exchange rate regimes have different implications for real allocations in the economy. In the context of this environment we show that flexible exchange rates are optimal under monetary shocks and fixed exchange rates are optimal under real shocks.     

Soren Mentz. The English Gentleman Merchant at Work: Madras and the City of London, 1660-1740. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2005. 304 pp. ISBN 87-7289-909-3, $25.00 (paper).

As the title aptly notes, in The English Gentleman Merchantat Work Søren Mentz explores merchant connections betweenIndia and London from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenthcentury. In particular, the book explores the organization ofprivate trade by East India Company personnel operating fromMadras on the Coromandel coast of India. Mentz argues that thesetrades should not be seen as merely part of an already existingIndian/Asian trade but rather as     

Diversity and business performance: 50 years of research

This study has carried out a review of the literature appearing on diversity in the last 50 years. Research findings from this period reveal it is impossible to assume there is a pure and simple relationship between diversity and performance without considering a series of variables that affect this relationship. In this study, emphasis has been placed on the analysis of results arrived at through empirical investigation on the relation between the most studied dimensions of diversity and performance. The results presented are part of a more extensive research.     

Race and Income Distribution: Evidence from the USA,Brazil and South Africa

The aim of this paper is to provide some empirical evidence about black–white differentials in the distribution of income and wellbeing in three different countries: Brazil, the USA and South Africa. In all cases, people of African descent are in a variety of ways socially disadvantaged compared with the relatively more affluent whites. We investigate the extent of these gaps in comparative perspective, and analyze to what degree they are associated with differences in the observed characteristics of races, such as where they live, the types of household they have, or their performance in the labor market. We undertake this analysis with the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition at the means and with a propensity score approach at the entire distribution. Our results show how the factors underlying the racial divide vary across countries and income quantiles.     

Model Analysis of the Relationship Between Strategic Organization Knowledge and the Use of Information Systems in Firm Performance in Brazil

Information Technology （IT） consolidates as an essential element to support the business strategies to survive and rapidly adapts to changes in the competitive environment. This paper examines the impact of the use of information systems （IS） and strategic organization knowledge （SOK） on firm performance in 150 Brazilian companies. The study uses partial least squares structural equation modeling （PLS-SEM） and establishes models to express the relationship among the constructs examined. The study identifies that the direct influence of 1S use on performance is moderately significant. However, when mediated by orientation strategy, the total effect of IS use on firm performance is demonstrated to be highly significant. The model explains 54% of the variability of firm performance and confirms IS use as a fundamental resource to support strategic business processes.     

Impacts of technology readiness on emotions and cognition in Brazil

This study proposes and tests an extended model for consumer adoption of high technology products in a Latin American country (Brazil) by integrating concepts present in the consumer behavior literature: the Consumer Acceptance of Technology model (Kulviwat et al., 2007) and the technology readiness construct (Parasuraman, 2000). The proposed model considers the relationships between cognitive and affective constructs with technology readiness. By means of structural equation modeling conducted on a sample of 435 young consumers, the results indicate significant relationships between the constructs assessed, showing that consumers' cognitive and affective evaluations of new technologies are significantly influenced by their technology readiness. The effects of technology readiness over affective assessments were greater than those relative to cognitive evaluations regarding high-tech innovations. Nonetheless, the results may reflect specific characteristics of Brazilian (and other Latin American) consumers, who are usually more emotive than those of more rational cultures.     

The public bond offering of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.

In April 2007, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) issued debt for USD 7.5 billion, the largest debt offering to date by a Latin American company. The conditions surrounding this issue, which was denominated and tradable in dollars, but payable in bolivars, were quite special, particularly when considering the strict foreign exchange control system put into place by the Venezuelan government in 2003. The fact that the bond issue attempted to fulfill the dual purpose of offering dollars to local companies and investors in the midst of prevailing exchange rate controls, while helping to finance PDVSA as a company, creates a unique dilemma that is ideal for class discussion. This teaching case provides the information necessary for estimating and proposing a price for PDVSA's bond offer.     

The Influence of Improvements in Accounting Standards on Earnings Management: The Case of IFRS

This article examines the effect of improvements in the quality of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the level of earnings management. In order to achieve this aim, we study the accounting quality of German listed companies through discretionary accruals yielded from 1998 to 2006. We assess the effectiveness of efforts by the International Accounting Standards Board to improve IFRS by using two indices that consider the revision process of the standards, and their mandatory application. Our results indicate that the improvement of accounting standards quality significantly reduces the level of reported negative discretionary accruals of the German listed firms during the period of analysis, once incentive variables are controlled. Further, companies gradually assume the quality of the new standards from the moment they can be voluntarily applied.     

The theoretical structure of producer willingness to pay estimates

This article analyzes the theoretical underpinnings of producer willingness to pay (WTP) for new inputs. In addition to conceptualizing the producer WTP function, we derive its comparative statics and show how these properties can be used to estimate quantities demanded or supplied and price elasticities. We also discuss implications of the comparative statics.