Price Expectations,Distressed Mortgage Markets and the Housing Wealth Effect

Using a unique combination of regulatory and survey microdata, we examine the importance of the life cycle theory of consumption in estimating housing wealth effects for the Irish mortgage market. Since the recent financial crisis, this market has experienced substantial house price declines and negative equity. Thus, house price expectations are likely to be important in influencing housing wealth effects. We find a positive correlation between consumption and changes in housing wealth among our sample of mortgaged Irish households. Furthermore, we find that this positive association only exists when housing wealth changes are perceived to be of a permanent nature.     

“This is England”: Punk rock's realist/idealist dialectic and its implications for critical accounting education

This paper studies the lyrics of two songs from the Clash, one of the two most important bands from the U.K.'s ‘first wave of punk’ scene. The paper interprets the songs within their institutional, social, economic and political context, i.e. pre-Thatcher and Thatcher Britain. I then draw out the implications of the Clash's punk ideology for critical accounting educators today, and especially the implications for ethics education. The Clash's message and moral compass are especially relevant today as (like the Clash's England) both Bush's America and an immediately post-Howard Australia have been vastly altered by a harsh neo-liberalism under which alternative (and especially collectivist) voices have been frequently mocked and suppressed. The Clash was able to simultaneously be both realist and idealist and, whilst this contradiction captured the hearts of many, the classic line-up of the band was to disintegrate under the weight of its own contradictions. The critical accounting community is reminded to continue to aspire to both aspects of the realist/idealist dialectic that is so vividly apparent in the Clash's powerful and poignant early work and especially from the self-titled debut album up to Sandinista!     

Racial biases in recruitment by accounting firms: The case of international Chinese applicants in Australia

This paper documents the difficulties in finding accounting work faced by international Chinese accounting graduates in Australia in the two years after graduation. We argue that Chinese accounting graduates remain a marginalised group within today's Australian society. The interview results support this assertion, with even high-achieving Chinese graduates finding it difficult to obtain work with mainstream accounting firms and corporations. The main reasons appear to be their lack of Australian working experience, lack of knowledge of Australian culture, and lack of “Australian English”. Australian accounting firms, due to a revealed preference to hire white Australian graduates, appear to be missing out on a vast reservoir of Chinese talent. Chinese accounting graduates speak two or three languages and have established business networks in China or at the very least insider knowledge of how that country's business culture operates. Whilst their sub-cultural capital may be lower on average than white graduates on some conventional measures, it is higher in those areas of bilingual capability and cross-cultural knowledge which are becoming of increasing importance to Australian business.     

Airport Services and Airport Charging Systems: A Critical Review of The EU Common Framework

This paper reviews proposals contained in the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) Consultation Paper of 1995 and Draft Directive of 1997 on Airport Charges. Economic and practical problems associated with the CEC proposals are highlighted. The main conclusions are that the CEC proposals will be difficult to enforce because they are vague, implementation is left to the individual member states, and because they allow for a variety of approaches to charging systems which can include substantial cross-subsidisation across aeronautical and non-aeronautical uses at one or more airports. The fact that the Commission will not have significant powers of enforcement further reduces the impact which the proposals can have.     

The Prospects for Future Economic Growth in the Euro Area

With a long-term projection of TFP growth of 0.2 per cent, a gradual decline in the work-age population and a static average workweek, we project a "baseline" average real GDP growth rate in the euro area of just 0.6 per cent over the next decade — even if the unemployment rate and investment share of GDP return to their pre-crisis levels by 2020.