How does European termination rate regulation impact mobile operator performance?

This paper presents an empirical study of the impacts of mobile termination rate (MTR) regulation on European mobile operator performance. It examines the effects of both glide path and asymmetric regulation on incumbents as well as new entrants to this market using a dynamic econometric model accounting for internal and cross performance effects. The study provides strong supportive evidence for current MTR regulation in Europe.     

Long-Run Economic Performance and the Labor Market

This article uses a simple variation of the Solow model to study the interrelations between economic growth and the labor market. We show, both analytically and empirically, that income and capital per worker in the steady state depend positively on flexibility of the labor market; that the steady-state unemployment rate depends positively on the rate of population growth and the productivity growth rate and negatively on the savings rate and flexibility of the labor market; and, finally, that labor market flexibility affects convergence toward steady state.     

Adaptive permutation tests for serial independence

Permutation tests for serial independence using three different statistics based on empirical distributions are proposed. These tests are shown to be consistent under the alternative of m‐dependence and are all simple to perform in practice. A small simulation study demonstrates that the proposed tests have good power in small samples. The tests are then applied to Canadian gross domestic product (GDP data), corroborating the random‐walk hypothesis of GDP growth.     

Turnover in U.S. Agricultural Labor Markets

Agricultural workers move in and out of agriculture frequently. Migration between types of jobs takes relatively little time. Legal female workers tend to stay out of the U.S. labor market longer once they stop being employed and their access to jobs outside of agriculture is more limited than that of their male counterparts. Predictions made when the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed that granting people amnesty would induce most of them to leave agriculture were incorrect.     

Exclusive versus inclusive devolution in forest management: Insights from forest land allocation in Vietnam's Central Highlands

The devolution of forest management is high on the agenda in international forest policy. Devolution is generally conceived as a policy that aims to include a more diverse set of actors in forest management. One of the most problematic outcomes of devolution policies, therefore, is their tendency to exclude the claims of some local actors. This paper examines the exclusionary effects of devolutions in settings characterized by overlapping state and customary regulations and links these effects to exclusive notions of property and governance contained in particular devolution policies. The paper draws on insights gained in a pilot initiative of forest devolution in Vietnam's Central Highlands. Forest land allocation, as the initiative is called in Vietnam, took an exclusive approach to devolution by assigning ownership-type rights on forest to local actors, obliging those to protect the forest against encroachment by other actors, and centering governance in the state. In this particular case, exclusive devolution failed to diminish the gap between state and customary regulations, created conflicts among local actors, and contributed to forest loss. The unintended outcomes of exclusive devolution suggest the need for an inclusive approach to devolution that accommodates diverse kinds of overlapping claims made by multiple actors. The key elements of inclusive devolution are proprietary but not ownership rights granted to individual users and nested governance relations involving state and customary actors.     

All in the Mind: Citizen Satisfaction and Financial Performance in the Victorian Local Government System

While a significant body of literature exists on local government efficiency, much less is known about its effectiveness, especially financial performance and resident satisfaction. To address this gap in the empirical literature, the present paper uses system‐wide official annual data on resident satisfaction in the Victorian state local government system in Australia to investigate the relationship between annual net operating results and overall citizen satisfaction. In addition, in order to garner a deeper understanding of this relationship, we evaluated the assumption in the ‘near‐to‐zero balance’ public accounting literature that local residents prefer an insignificant annual balance in operating performance compared to substantial annual losses or surpluses. We found that there is a significant negative association between overall satisfaction and its components and financial performance for Victorian local government as a whole. However, this association is largely restricted to rural councils with surpluses. By contrast, we find no relationship between satisfaction and near‐to‐zero balances. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for both the public accounting literature and local government policymaking.     

The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns: New Evidence from an Emerging Market

Over 300 factors have been found to explain the cross-section of expected stock returns. Empirical studies also show that findings from multifactor asset-pricing models have not been consistent in an emerging market. Using DuPont analysis and a residual income valuation model for 284 nonfinancial companies on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange during the period 2008–2014, findings suggest that the return on equity and its change are informative for stock returns in Vietnam. In addition, the level of capital turnover, financial cost ratio (FCR), and changes in capital and in the FCR contain incremental explanatory power for stock returns.     

The role of accountability in determining the relationship between financial reporting quality and the performance of public organizations: Evidence from Vietnam

Drawing on the new public management and agency theory, this study examines the mediating role of accountability in the relationship between financial-reporting quality and the performance of public organizations. The research model and hypotheses tested with a survey of 177 responses obtained from accountants and managers working in the public sector in Vietnam. Our analysis shows that accountability has a mediating role on the relationship between financial-reporting quality and performance, with significant implications for public organizations seeking to improve both their financial-reporting quality and their organizational performance with better designed systems of accountability.     

Economic uncertainty,ownership structure and small and medium enterprises performance

This paper investigates the effect of economic uncertainty on the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) over the period 2007–2016. This paper also examines the effects of ownership structure on the relation between Economic Uncertainty and firm performance. We find that an increase in economic uncertainty is negatively associated with the performance of SMEs. Our results also reveal that increased economic uncertainty is associated with a lower performance level for state-owned SMEs, whereas foreign-owned SMEs can better mitigate the negative impact of on their performance than domestic-owned firms.     

Has Reality Television Come of Age as a Promotional Platform? Modeling the Endorsement Effectiveness of Celebreality and Reality Stars

Reality television programming (RTVP) was once simply an innovative entertainment phenomenon. But RTVP also has recently evolved into a mainstream promotional platform. Two new forms of celebrities arose during this progression: “reality” and “celebreality” stars. This study, which is grounded in connectedness theory, addresses an unresolved issue related to the use of celebrity endorsers, that is, how endorsers’ status as reality or celebreality stars influences viewers’ perceptions of, beliefs about, and purchase intentions toward products they endorse. These relationships were examined through SEM, as were the effects of viewers’ connectedness to RTVP stars and their perceptions regarding whether RTVPs are authentic. Four primary findings emerged. The observation that reality impacted viewer connectedness and that connectedness and authenticity impacted viewers’ purchase intentions (endorsement effectiveness) revealed various practical and theoretical contributions, as did the observation that endorsers’ celebreality or reality star status moderated each of these relationships.