Political scrutiny and earnings management in the oil refining industry

The fortunes of the oil refining industry have historically been tied to the political process. In periods of high gasoline prices public outcry increases pressure on the political process to increase regulation, taxation, and other costs on the industry. This study explores the relationship of gasoline prices and oil firm earning with accounting earnings management of oil firms. Findings indicate that firms make accounting changes and discretionary accruals to decrease (increase) earnings in periods when gasoline prices and oil firm earnings are rising (falling).     

Do Mothers Matter? A Comparison of Models of the Influence of Mothers' and Fathers' Educational and Occupational Status on Children's Educational Attainment

The first objective of this article is to clarify which model best captures the structure and trend of the influence of social origin on children's education. The second objective is to analyse how general conclusions on historical trends in educational reproduction change if we add mother's status background to the model. Six contrasting hypotheses are derived fromthe body of literature dealing with models on families' socioeconomic status. All hypotheses are translated into empirical models and their explained variance is compared. A pooled data set is used that contains data from the Netherlands, West Germany, and the USA. The Modified Dominance Model, that distinguishes the influence of the highest from thelowest status parent, has the best model fit. Regarding the second objective we see that adding the mother's influence to that of the father's does not change general conclusions on trends in educational reproduction. Over time the influence of both parents decreases continuously. However, the influence of the mother's education and occupational status on children's educational attainment is substantive.     

Social economics and economics imperialism

Address delivered at a session on April 2, 1993 at the Midwest regional meetings of the Association for Social Economics, Indianapolis, IN.     

A longitudinal study of the cause and consequences of changes in diversification in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry 1977–1986

The paper hypothesizes that diversification by firms based in the pharmaceutical industry during the 1977-86 time period was primarily undertaken to reduce the risks associated with being dependent upon a technologically dynamic environment. Consistent with this non-efficiency motive for diversification, declining economic performance is predicted. A longitudinal empirical analysis provides support for these propositions.     

MNE competitiveness: A scenario-driven technology transfer construct

To compete effectively, multi-national enterprises (MNEs) must establish market presence in their global rivals' home courts and/or profit sanctuaries. Technology transfer is often used as a means toward that end. The technology adoption decisions of an aggressor MNE and a defender MNE are investigated in a model that features indirect moves and changes in strategy through technology transfer. Each firm may adopt a strategy that incorporates the transfer of high technology or appropriate technology. The strategic decision situation is modelled as a closed-loop sequential equilibrium in discrete time. In contrast to results in the technology adoption literature, the aggressor MNE may successfully transfer technology first, to be imitated later by the defender MNE. This and several other scenarios emerge from the model which, by incorporating the cost of social adjustment and risks involved in technology transfer, ties technology to the competitive interaction of MNEs and specifies conditions for creating competitive advantage through technology, both locally and worldwide.