Global imbalances and asymmetric returns to US foreign assets: fitting the missing pieces of the US balance of payments puzzle

The issue of whether the US earns a persistently higher return on its foreign direct investment (relative to returns to foreign-owned direct investment in the US) has received considerable attention but little closure in the ‘global imbalances’ debate. Measuring the rate of returns to US direct investment abroad and foreign direct investment in the US we find higher returns to US foreign direct investment relative to its foreign counterparts in the US. Given the evidence indicating higher returns to US direct investment overseas, we link the irresolution in the contemporary literature regarding the existence of these returns to the unsettled debate over the origin of global imbalances. Reviewing the macro-financial literature on global imbalances, we find a failure to acknowledge that the US current account deficit is, in part, the outcome of transnational production networks in a global economy under-pinned by dollar hegemony. Given the growth in US multinational supply chains, we argue that the US trade deficit is consistent with asymmetric returns to US direct investment and that the sustainability of these return differentials rests on the stability of the status quo.     

Liquidity and Volatility of Stocks Moved from the Main Market to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)

Asia-Pacific Financial Markets - Companies moving from the Main market of London Stock Exchange to the AIM impair their information environment when entering the AIM; the information environment is...     

Financial profiles and the disclosure of expenditures for socially responsible purposes

Recently the relationship between “socially responsible” activities and the financial performance of corporations has received attention in the business literature. Most studies have focused on the market reaction of shareholders to the disclosure of both monetary and nonmonetary corporate contributions relating to pollution control, employee welfare, affirmative action, and other activities deemed to be in the public interest. Results of this research have been mixed, with some authors finding favorable market response to socially responsible actions, and others finding no difference between the market performance of more and less responsible firms. The purpose of this paper is to examine financial performance and socially responsible activities from a different perspective. Specifically, it examines the relationship between the disclosure of monetary expenditures for various social initiatives and composite financial accounting profiles of disclosing and nondisclosing firms. Using two-group discriminant analysis, the authors conclude that management tends to disclose monetary expenditures for these generally nonproductive purposes at times when the financial statements of the firm otherwise look favorable to shareholders. Such disclosure in a sample of Fortune 500 firms in 1976 and 1977 was clearly not unrelated to financial performance, and neither did it appear to occur in order to explain relatively poor financial statements.     

Scientific publications, patents and technological capabilities in late-industrializing countries

Investments in learning in late-industrializing countries have began to include outputs in the form of scientific publications and patents. We examine the patterns which these outputs take by correlating their growth rates with foreign investment, capital formation, R&D expenditures and other variables. We also analyze the scientfic fields of Publications. Where possible, we compare the patterns of latecomers with those af advanced countries, and try to assess whether there has been convergence or divergence in the number of patents and scientific publications over time.     

Struggling with Meaningfulness when Context Shifts: Volunteer Work in a German Refugee Shelter

This article draws on an ethnographic study of volunteer work in a German refugee shelter to explore how individual experiences of meaningfulness are intertwined with shifting discursive and organisational contexts. At the beginning of the so‐called refugee crisis, societal discourses portrayed this volunteer work as extraordinarily meaningful – a state we capture through the metaphor of ‘overflow’. This ‘overflow’ mobilised volunteers and was an important point of reference for framing their work experiences as meaningful. Later, shifting discursive and organisational contexts challenged their framings. Instead of letting go, however, the ‘overflow’ triggered volunteers to reframe their experience in dysfunctional ways in order to sustain their sense of meaningfulness. This paper reveals how shifting societal discourses feed into individual experiences of meaningfulness, shows how individuals may respond to such shifts in problematic ways and theorises the nature of such shifts in drawing on Swidler’s notion of settling contexts.     

Hat die Einführung der Abgeltungsteuer Aktienkurse beeinflusst?

This paper discusses findings of a current research project whose results indicate that the implementation of the German flat withholding tax on capital gains at the turn of the year 2008–09 led to a temporary but significant increase in trading volumes and share prices on the German stock market. As this capital gains tax reform had already been announced in 2007, corresponding market reactions imply a delayed dissemination of tax information. Hence, our results raise some doubt regarding the information-processing capacity of stock markets. This holds true especially in the following circumstances: 1) extensive trading activities of individual investors with limited information access and attention; 2) a strong focus by a large group of individual investors to a limited number of trading days (herd behaviour); and 3) limited liquidity in the market (e.g. stocks with a small market capitalisation).     

The temporal becoming self—towards a Ricoeurian conceptualization of identity

To enrich conceptually the study of identity work, the paper directs attention to how identity-self constitutes in individuals’ interactions and relationships. By using a narrative approach that includes Ricoeur’s notions of idem and ipse, it elevates temporal dynamics of identity work with reference to the becoming aspect of the individual self in relation to the other. Idem identity denotes sameness and permanence through time and space, and ipse identity concerns selfhood in the sense of change and interrupted continuity. As pointed out, a Ricoeurian conceptualization of identity helps to extend our understanding of practical actions beyond individual character and traits. In consideration of both concordance and discordance in narrative structure, this conceptualization suggests a middle way between stability and variability, refraining us from relying on a narrative that presupposes a linear plot based on a causal-type model of occurrences to construct and maintain a stable and coherent personal identity.     

Comparing the Forecasting Performance of Futures Oil Prices with Genetically Evolved Neural Networks

In this paper, a hybrid system combining neural networks and genetic training is designed to forecast future oil prices. The architectural design is that of the multilayer back propagation network that is fed monthly prices for West Texas Intermediate covering the period 1986–2014. The model’s predictions are compared to those of the one, two, three, and four-month futures prices and are evaluated both on their level of accuracy as well as correctness. While accuracy measures the degree of error, correctness tests the model’s ability to predict the direction of the movement. By processing information more efficiently, and identifying patterns that may be ill-defined as a result of pronounced price volatility, this paper aims to improve the accuracy of oil price forecasts.