The unit root problem: Affinities between ergodicity and stationarity,its practical contradictions for central bank policy,and some consideration of alternatives

The initial focus in this article is the problem of mismatch between policy goals and statistical analysis, based on how data is transformed and processed. This intrinsically raises ontological issues regarding the nature of an economy within which policy is made and to which statistical analysis is applied. These are of general significance to post Keynesians irrespective of the position they take on the specifics of the ergodicity debate. However, they involve some issues that overlap with some aspects of that debate. The problem as posed in this article is specific and involves a practical contradiction regarding central bank policy and the problem of unit roots. The authors then consider some additional ways in which one can go beyond common practice based on the example of Forward Guidance in the United Kingdom and a more institutional approach to post Keynesian analysis.     

Species Being in the Twenty-First Century

ABSTRACT

In this article, I focus on what is implicitly the more humanist aspect of Marx’s work. That is, species being and alienation. I do so informed by a commitment to pluralism and based on a background in social ontology. I argue that species being and alienation continue to provide insight into the nature of the modern world. They are integral components to Marx’s exploration and constructive critique of capitalism and help to make sense of how potential is shaped for a social entity who can be harmed and who can flourish. However, the way in which one relates to Marx as still relevant regarding these matters can cover a range. I then set out how species being provides useful insight in the twenty-first century at a time of anticipated major social and economic change.     

An Exploratory Study of the Level of Disaster Preparedness in the Canadian Hospitality Industry

Disaster planning is an important, but often neglected, part of leading an organization. Currently there exists little data on the level of disaster preparedness of organizations in the Canadian hospitality industry. In this article we present the results of a survey of a representative sample of organizations in this industry to assess the level of disaster preparedness. Results reveal an overall low level of preparedness. Implications of these results are discussed and recommendations for research and practice are suggested.     

Sociocultural vectors of effective risk communication

Kasperson’s reflections on the ‘state of the art’ in risk communication thinking and practice set out an ambitious programmatic vision of how future progress in effective risk communication might be achieved. In this critical but supportive response, I first outline two perspectives on how progress in risk communication might be evaluated. This is followed by some discussion relating these issues to the sociocultural nature of risk communication thinking and practice, and the normative basis of underlying assumptions and ideas of effectiveness. It is suggested that inasmuch as the practical application of effective risk communication requires knowledge of human thinking and behaviour, then further considerations of some sociocultural regularities, contingencies and varieties in risk communication thinking and behaviour within particular contexts should also have practical applications.     

Relationships between leader behaviors and audit team performance

This study considers the nature and importance of leadership in the audit process. The relationships between audit team performance and leader behaviors, which are practised by in-charge auditors to supervise staff assistants, are examined in a field experiment. The results identify a number of leader behaviors which relate, either directly or through some intermediary factors, to audit team performance. For example, high performing audit teams tended to be supervised by in-charge auditors who allowed staff innovation, were considerate to the staff's personal needs, administered frequent positive reinforcement, relied heavily on time budgets, assigned a small number of tasks per staff member and administered negative reinforcement infrequently. These and other results appear to have implications for practicing auditors as well as future research in the area.     

Measuring Heterogeneous Price Effects for Home Acquisition Programs in At‐Risk Regions

Any entity offering flood insurance, whether it is private or government‐administered such as the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), faces the challenge of solvency. This is especially true for the NFIP, where homeowner affordability criteria limit the opportunity to charge fully risk‐based premiums. One solution is to remove the highest flood risk properties from the insurer's book of business. Acquisition (buyout) of flood‐prone structures is a potentially permanent solution that eliminates the highest risk properties while providing homeowners with financial assistance to relocate in a less risky location. To encourage participation, homeowners are offered a preflood fair market value of their damaged (or at risk of damage) structures. Although many factors have been shown to affect a homeowner's decision to accept an acquisition offer, very little research has been devoted to the influence of price or monetary incentive offered on homeowners' willingness to participate in acquisition programs. We estimate a pooled probit model and employ a bootstrap methodology to determine the effects of hypothetical home price offers on homeowners' acquisition decisions. We do so while controlling for environmental factors, property characteristics, and homeowner sociodemographic characteristics. Results show that price indeed has a positive effect on likelihood of accepting an acquisition contract. Furthermore, estimated homeowner supply curves differ significantly based on the damage status of the acquisition offer, as well as homeowner and property characteristics.     

Political importance and its relation to the federal prosecution of public corruption

In the US, federal prosecutors are appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and have significant discretion over which cases they choose to take to court. Federal prosecutors handling an overwhelming majority of corruption cases invites the possibility of political influence in the monitoring of corruption. Additionally, political disparities across states may result in differences in corrupt behavior. Using individual case level data, I examine the effect political factors have on federal corruption cases, with an emphasis on states that are an important focus in the next presidential election. I find that corruption convictions tend to be higher in politically important states. This effect seems more significant when Democratic administrations are in power. In addition, it seems that these effects are relevant only for corruption crimes labeled as “federal”.     

Ethical Sensemaking in Impact Investing: Reasons and Motives in the Chinese Renewable Energy Sector

Journal of Business Ethics - Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered products have started to permeate various spheres of our lives. One of the most controversial of such products is the sex robot, an...     

Using Google Scholar citations to rank accounting programs: a global perspective

We conduct an assessment on accounting program research performance based on Google Scholar citations for all articles from a set of 23 quality accounting journals during 1991–2010. Our work is a new approach in accounting by directly measuring the impact of the faculty research in accounting programs. We find that the top-5 accounting programs are the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University. These top programs produce a large number of high impact articles. In addition, using the mean citations from all articles in a journal, we find that the Review of Accounting Studies (RAST) is a top-5 journal, replacing Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR).