Order aggressiveness and order book dynamics

In this paper, we study the determinants of order aggressiveness and traders’ order submission strategy in an open limit order book market. Applying an order classification scheme, we model the most aggressive market orders, limit orders as well as cancellations on both sides of the market employing a six-dimensional autoregressive conditional intensity model. Using order book data from the Australian Stock Exchange, we find that market depth, the queued volume, the bid-ask spread, recent volatility, as well as recent changes in both the order flow and the price play an important role in explaining the determinants of order aggressiveness. Overall, our empirical results broadly confirm theoretical predictions on limit order book trading. However, we also find evidence for behavior that can be attributed to particular liquidity and volatility effects.

Sustainable Entrepreneurship and B Corps

Sustainable entrepreneurship contributes to solving social and environmental problems through the means of successful for‐profit businesses. This paper contributes to understanding how sustainable entrepreneurship is implemented by exploring an emerging new form of business, ‘B Corps’, that employs market tactics to address social and environmental issues. Through interviewing 14 B Corps, the exploratory research study found that B Corps treat profit as a means to achieve positive societal ends, they regard the B Corp model as a tool for change, the B Corp model provides a common collective identity for internal and external validation, they are focused on societal impact rather than maximizing profits and they attempt to legitimate this form of sustainable entrepreneurship by influencing the business community and government officials. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

A methodological note on diversity measurement

This research addresses the question, do categorical and continuous measures capture the same construct of diversity? Using analysis of variance, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis, we investigated whether continuous measures (entropy and product count) differentiate between diversification categories, whether continuous measures converted to categories and subjectively assigned categories classified companies similarly, and whether continuous and categorical measures predicted similar diversity–performance relationships. We concluded that the techniques were associated but did not yield the same performance predictions. For researchers investigating diversity–performance relationships, choice of measurement technique will influence research results. Our research results suggest that attempts to combine categorical and continuous techniques as a way to overcome the limitations of both methods is not appropriate.     

Corporate governance,accounting and finance: A review

We review accounting and finance research on corporate governance (CG). In the course of our review, we focus on a particularly vexing issue, namely endogeneity in the relationships between CG and other matters of concern to accounting and finance scholars, and suggest ways to deal with it. Given the advent of large commercial CG databases, we also stress the importance of how CG is measured and in particular, the construction of CG indices, which should be sensitive to local institutional arrangements, and the need to capture both internal and external aspects of governance. The ‘stickiness’ of CG characteristics provides an additional challenge to CG scholars. Better theory is required, for example, to explain whether various CG practices substitute for each other or are complements. While a multidisciplinary approach to developing better theory is never without its difficulties, it could enrich the current body of knowledge in CG. Despite the vastness of the existing CG literature, these issues do suggest a number of avenues for future research.     

Tuition increases Geaux away? Evidence from voting on Louisiana’s amendment 2

In many states, public institutions of higher education have the autonomy to raise tuition. This has not been the case in Louisiana since a 1995 constitutional amendment required a two-thirds majority of the state legislature for any tuition increase. In November of 2016, voters in Louisiana rejected Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that would have given state institutions of higher education autonomy in setting tuition. We examine parish-level voting on Amendment 2 using an empirical political economy model and find that parishes with a greater percentage of African-Americans and university employees were more likely to vote yes. Student enrolment at public institutions seemingly did not play a role in Amendment 2 losing.     

The teacher–community of practice–student interaction in the New Zealand technology classroom

This research investigated how secondary school technology teachers planned and implemented units that enabled students to access authentic technological practice through their contact with a community of practice (CoP). It was found that when teachers plan to access a community of practice for their students a complex dance-style relationship develops between the three parties involved. Unplanned interactions can have a significant effect on the planned teaching unit. If teachers are reflexive to the demands of the student and the CoP representative, there is the potential for the development of teaching programmes with technological outcomes that reflect authentic technological practice.     

Measuring underlying economic activity

Recently, interest in the methodology of constructing coincident economic indicators has been revived by the work of Stock and Watson (1989b). They adopt the framework of the state space form and Kalman filter in which to construct an optimal estimate of an unobserved component. This is interpreted as corresponding to underlying economic activity derived from a set of observed indicator variables. In this paper we apply the Stock and Watson approach to the UK where the observed indicator variables are those that make up the Central Statistical Office (CSO) coincident indicator. The time series properties of the indicator variables are examined and three of the five variables are first difference stationary and are cointegrated, the remaining two are stationary in levels. We then construct two alternative measures of economic activity, each of which deals with the different orders of stationarity of the variables. The first uses the levels of the observed component variables that allows for the cointegrating relationship. The second imposes stationarity on the I(1) variables before the estimation by taking first differences. The levels index is viewed as the preferred specification as it allows for the long-run relationships between the variables and has a superior statistical fit. ©1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Animating the Urban Vortex: New Sociological Urgencies

The current era of global urbanization is defined by a convergence of economic and political crises requiring urgent sociological reflection on the meaning of the ‘urban' today. This article responds to the current rethinking of worldwide processes of urbanization sparked off by Brenner, and Brenner and Schmid, arguing for a renewed sociological approach to urban formations that probes beyond the economic logic of urban ‘de‐territorialization', towards the capricious life‐worlds and forms of planetary organization that define the urban. We pursue a theory of the ‘urban vortex' to capture the maelstrom of disorienting crises since 2008, and explicate the social formations implicated in the construction, materialization and practice of power and transgression in cities today. Our aim is to consider what forms of social change emerge in volatile, intense and centralized dynamics (the urban vortex), and how this might relate to arrangements of interconnectivity, particularity and variegation (the planetary). The article highlights three prominent processes of urban social formation: accumulation, stratification and hyper‐diversity—reinstating the need to theorize the centrality of the city within the formations of twenty‐first century capitalism.     

Bunk bed injuries in Australia: the case for a mandatory safety standard

Bunk beds have long been recognised as a potential source of injury to children. This study was undertaken to establish an evidence base for a proposed injury reduction program and to determine whether or not there is a case for a mandatory safety standard. Recent literature on bunk bed safety was reviewed to provide an overview of the injury issues involved. Major sources of relevant Australian and international data were identified and the available data summarised. An in-depth analysis of Victorian data was undertaken to identify the nature and severity of injuries sustained and any patterns or trends, including age profiles. It is estimated that, in Australia, in the under fifteen age-group, there are at least 2,100 bunk bed-related injuries treated annually by hospital emergency departments. This represents a rate of about 50 injuries per 100,000 age-specific population. The majority of these injuries (86%) occur in children under the age of 10 years with injuries peaking in the 5-9 year age-group. The main cause of non-fatal injury is falls from the top bunk resulting in a fracture (33%), mainly to the upper extremity (75%). There have been at least two deaths from asphyxia in Australia in the past 10 years, due to entrapment in the bunk structure. It is clear from the current evidence that bunk bed injuries are a significant problem in Australia and represent a life-threatening hazard to young children in particular. The existing voluntary Australian/New Zealand Standard adequately addresses the safety issues raised by the examination of the literature and the analysis of the injury data. It is also clear that, in Australia, voluntary standards and the market place have been ineffective in achieving compliance. It is therefore recommended that the Australian Standard be made mandatory in an effort to significantly improve the safety of bunk beds in Australia.