Value-relevance of pension transition adjustments and other comprehensive income components in the adoption year of SFAS No. 158

In the present study, we examine the value-relevance of pension transition adjustments and other comprehensive income (OCI) components in the initial adoption year of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) 158—Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans. Using a sample of 697 Standard and Poor (S&P) firms with the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2006, we perform several cross-sectional regression analyses to test the value-relevance of transition adjustments and OCI components in presence of various earnings measures. The results indicate that there is a negative relationship between both the level and change in stock returns and the magnitude of pension transition adjustments. We also find earnings measures and some OCI components are significantly associated with stock returns. When analyzed separately, we find our main results are mostly confined to the sample large S&P 500 firms. We do not find any result for the S&P mid-cap and small-cap firms. The overall results suggest the stock market negatively reacts to the adverse impact of SFAS #158 pension transition adjustments on net worth and future cash flows when the impact is substantial in its magnitude in dollar terms. The study further provides useful insight into the information processing by documenting that the market evaluates accounting information more effectively when such information is recognized in the financial statements rather than disclosed only in the financial footnotes.     

Optimal and competitive programs in reachable multi sector models

Summary. We show that in multi-sector optimal growth models, where the technology satisfies a simple reachability condition, infinite horizon programs which satisfy the competitive conditions are optimal. We provide examples of a variety of production models where the reachability condition is satisfied. An example is also provided where the reachability condition is not satisfied and there are competitive programs which are not optimal. The results of the paper are of interest from the standpoint of decentralization in intertemporal economies. Received: March 24, 1994; revised version: October 10, 1998     

Disability and household economic wellbeing: evidence from Indonesian longitudinal data

A health shock in general, and a disability in particular, may expose households to material insecurity due to out-of-pocket health expenditures and reduced earnings. Studies on the impact of disability on household welfare in developing countries are scarce, although the expected impact is large given the absence of social protection programmes. Using a unique Indonesian longitudinal dataset with individuals followed over a 17-year period, this study analyses the economic impact and coping mechanisms adopted by households following a physical disability. Fixed effects estimations reveal that households experience rising health expenditures and reduced labour income. Households cope by reducing their food, non-food and education expenditures, selling assets and receiving more remittances. While all household groups are affected by disability, only the poorest households become significantly more likely to cut their food expenditures.     

Managerial overconfidence,ability, firm-governance and audit fees

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - Prior studies document that managerial overconfidence potentially increases the risk of financial misstatements, and that overconfident managers...     

Modelling risk factors for fatal pedestrian crashes in Kolkata,India

Abstract

In developing countries, pedestrian safety is an issue of major concern. Although an extensive body of literature is available on the identification of elements related to the pedestrian’s risk; the studies are primarily conducted in urban areas of developed countries. The findings from these studies may only be partially relevant to the cities of an emerging country such as India. The present study analyzes historical crash records obtained from the “Kolkata Police” and identifies the risk factors at the road network level for the hazardous corridors posing a high risk to the pedestrians. The study findings reveal that pedestrians’ fatalities at intersections are associated with a high vehicular volume, higher pedestrian-vehicular interaction, high approach speed, overtaking tendency of vehicles, certain land-use type, encroachment of footpath, inadequate sight distance, inaccessible pedestrian crosswalk, wider minor carriageway, the absence of a pedestrian signal head, and lack of enforcement. On the other hand, the models outcomes reveal that pedestrians’ fatalities at midblock road segments are associated with low pedestrian volume, high approach speed, overtaking tendency of the vehicle, encroachment of footpath, on-street parking, wider road width, certain land-use type, inadequate sight distance, insufficient lighting, and inadequate pavement markings.     

Transnational remittances and state protection of human rights: A case for caution

This paper explores the impact of transnational remittance receipts on state respect for human rights, identifying the latter with the CIRI Index of Physical Integrity Rights which aggregates information on disappearances, extrajudicial killings, political imprisonment, and torture. Based on sample of 106 developing economies considered over the period 1981–2011, we find that remittances have a strong negative impact on state respect for physical integrity rights, the results being robust to alternate specifications and estimation methods. Our results underline the need for caution in evaluating the developmental consequences of remittance inflows, especially on institutional quality.     

Product market power and management’s action to avoid earnings disappointment

We investigate the empirical relationship between a firm’s product market power and its management’s action to use real-activity-based earnings management techniques to avoid earnings disappointment by meeting or beating earnings targets such as analysts’ earnings forecasts, positive earnings, or higher earnings relative to previous years. While there is a general consensus that product market competition in an industry affects management’s operating and financial decisions, and thus is an important intervening factor in a firm’s strategies for many economic situations (Nickell in J Political Econ 104:724–746, 1996; Porter in The competitive advantage of nations. Macmillan, London, 1990), the linkage between product market power, managerial incentives, and financial reporting quality has so far received little academic attention. Our analyses show that while the firms manage both accruals and real activities in varying degrees, the firms having greater product market power with the ability to differentiate their products to earn additional revenue, if necessary, are less inclined to engage in real-activity-based earnings management in certain suspect economic situations compared to the firms with less market power. We, however, do not find any significant relationship between product market power and accrual-based earnings management.     

The relationship between conditional value at risk and option prices with a closed-form solution

Options and CVaR (conditional value at risk) are significant areas of research in their own right; moreover, both are important to risk management and understanding of risk. Despite the importance and the overlap of interests in CVaR and options, the literature relating the two is virtually non-existent. In this paper we derive a model-free, simple and closed-form analytic equation that determines the CVaR associated with a put option. This relation is model free and is applicable in complete and incomplete markets. We show that we can account for implied volatility effects using the CVaR risk of options. We show how the relation between options and CVaR has important risk management implications, particularly in terms of integrated risk management and preventing arbitrage opportunities. We conduct numerical experiments to demonstrate obtaining CVaR from empirical options data.     

Customer portfolio composition and customer equity feedback effects: Student diversity and acquisition in educational communities

Researchers in marketing have long recognized that current populations of customers can influence the behavior of prospective customers. This paper draws on existing marketing theories to empirically examine how changes in student body demographic segments influence future demand for MBA programs. Using a longitudinal analysis of data spanning 18 years, we find that higher proportion of female students leads to significant increases in future applications. This implies a marketing rationale for business schools in encouraging gender diversity. In contrast, we find evidence of prejudice towards minority and international students among business school applicants. We discuss the results of the analysis in the context of the current affirmative action debate and changes in demographic trends.