Tactical Redistribution Between Regions When Parties and Voters Care About Ideology

In this paper, redistributive transfers between regions are examined in a political economy model where both parties and voters are led by selfish as well as ideological motives, the latter taking the form of egalitarian objectives. Parties announce election platforms about how to distribute funds between regions and different income types, and voters react to these platforms when casting their vote. It is found that regional transfers are completely tactical; it is the political power of a region that decides if it will be a receiver or a contributor. Ideological goals are reached by redistributive transfers between different income types.     

Further Comment on the Social Benefits from an Effective Antimerger Policy

Review of Industrial Organization -     

What’s trade got to do with it? Relative demand for skills within Swedish manufacturing

What’s Trade Got to Do with It? Relative Demand for Skills within Swedish Manufacturing. — This paper seeks to identify the contribution of trade and technological change to the increase in inequality between skilled and unskilled workers in Sweden since the 1970s. An empirical approach is adopted which allows for the outsourcing of the low-skill parts of the production chain to low-wage locations and is applied to detailed industry and bilateral trade data, the latter distinguishing between low-wage sources of imports and OECD countries. The paper finds that, in contrast to previous studies, trade with low-wage countries may have contributed to the rise in inequality in Swedish manufacturing. The empirical results also suggest that the increased use of technology also played a role in creating greater inequality between skilled and unskilled workers in Sweden, with the magnitude of this impact increasing in the 1990s.     

The Value Relevance of Accounting Income Reported by DAX-30 German Companies

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are required for consolidated financial statements of all European Union (EU) publicly traded companies starting from the December 2005 fiscal year end [Regulation (EC)]; and endorsed by the International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) for its member countries beginning in 2000. We examine the challenges and benefits, including value relevance, of the adoption of IFRS by DAX‐30 companies, the German premium stock market. Based on a survey sent to DAX‐30 company executives, we find most companies agreeing that implementing IFRS should improve the comparability of financial statements. The complex nature, high cost of adopting and lack of guidance for implementing IFRS, as well as increased volatility of earnings after adopting IFRS, are listed among the most important challenges of conversion to IFRS. We use regression to measure another benefit: the value relevance of book values of earnings and equity in explaining market values of DAX‐30 companies during the period 1995–2004. Using 265 observations, we find that adopting IFRS or US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or cross‐listing on the New York Stock Exchange significantly increases the value relevance of earnings relative to market prices.     

Changes in market concentration of manufacturing industries

The impact on concentration of advertising and other variables is examined in a multiple regression model. The findings indicate that the positive influence of advertising observed for earlier periods continued during 1972–1977. By testing hypotheses suggested by other researchers, this paper resolves most, if not all, of the seemingly conflicting findings of researchers examining changes in concentration since 1963. The findings also strongly suggest that lagged models provide little, if any, added insight into the causes of changes in concentration.     

Spontaneous duodenal fistula due to hepatic hydatid cyst

Connunication of a hepatic hydatid cyst to the duodenum appears to be extremely rare. This is the first case described in the imaging literature of hepatic echinococcosis fistulized to the duodenum studied by computed tomography.