Adopting hybrid pension plans: financial and communication issues

This article provides a systematic framework for the evaluation of the movement toward hybrid pension plans by examining the reasons given by firms for converting their existing pension plans to hybrid plans, illustrating the impact of plan changes on expected pension benefits, and identifying winners and losers.     

Personal religiousness and ethical judgements: An empirical analysis

It has been acknowledged on numerous occasions that personal religiousness is a potential source of ethical norms, and consequently, an influence in ethical evaluations. An extensive literature review provides little in the way of empirical investigation of this recognized affect. This investigation conceptualizes religiousness as a motivation for ethical action, and discovers significant differences in ethical judgements among respondents categorized by personal religious motivation. Suggestions as to the source of these differences, and the implications which they offer to managers are discussed and supported from the literature.James W. Clark is the Director of the Center for Retailing and assistant professor of marketing at James Madison University. His work has been published in The Journal of Advertising, and the proceedings of The Cutting Edge III and IV, the Southern Marketing Association, The Academy of Marketing Science, and The Decision Sciences Institute. Lyndon E. Dawson, Jr. is professor of marketing at Louisiana Tech University. His work has been published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, Psychology and Marketing, and Psychological Reports among others.     

Stock prices and merger movements: Interactive relations

Zusammenfassung Die wechselseitigen Beziehungen zwischen Aktienkursen und Firmenzusammenschlüssen. - Der Aufsatz untersucht die Beziehungen zwischen Firmenzusammenschlüssen und makro?konomischen Variablen. Es werden Kausalit?tstests mit US-Daten der Periode 1919–1979 durchgeführt, die zeigen, da? Zusammenschlüsse und Aktienkurse in derselben Periode aufeinander einwirken und da? keine Lead- oder Lag-Beziehungen bestehen. Die Zeitreihenanalyse deutet darauf hin, da? die Reihe der Zusammenschlüsse einem autoregressiven Proze? 2. Ordnung folgt, die „random walk”-Hypothese also abzulehnen ist.

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Résumé Cours des actions et mouvements de fusion: Relations interactives. - Dans cet article l’auteur examine la relation entre des mouvements de fusion et des variables macro-économiques. Après avoir testé la causalité avec des données des E.U. pour la période 1919–1979, l’évidence démontre que l’activité de fusion et les cours des actions interagissent dans la même période et ne revèlent pas une relation d’avance ou à retard. L’analyse des séries chronologiques indique que la série de fusion suit un processus AR (2), refusant l’hypothèse de ?random walk?.

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Resumen Precios de valores bursátiles y la pauta de fusiones: relaciones interactivas. - En este trabajo se examina la relación entre la pauta de fusiones y variables macroeconómicas. Los resultados de tests de causalidad utilizando datos de los EE UU para el período 1919–1979 muestran que las fusiones y los precios de las acciones interactúan en forma comtemporánea y no revelan rezago o adelanto alguno. El análisis de series de tiempo indica que las series de fusiones responden a un proceso AR(2), lo cual significa un rechazo de la hipótesis del ?random walk?.

     

Protection by international transport charges: Analysis by stage of fabrication

This study employs the effective protection model to evaluate the incidence of ad valorem transport charges (freight factors) on U.S. imports at various stages in the production process, with special emphasis on their impact upon the development of manufacturing activities in LDC's. Freight factors, unlike tariffs, are not found to display a widespread tendency to escalate by fabrication stage, and do not appear to bear more heavily on products of major export interest to LDC's than on U.S. imports from industrial nations. Results suggest forces other than transport charges are primarily responsible for inhibiting the growth of manufacturing export industries in LDC's.     

Experimental socio-economic models of Europe

The work described here was carried out as part of a Study Contract sponsored by the European Commission, to examine the feasibility of constructing mathematical socio-economic models of regional issues in the European zone. The final model would include numerous economic and demographic variables, including representations of trade between the EEC and other regions of the world. This article discusses the main problems in constructing a final model and indicates its various possible forms.