The non-7% solution

While the vast majority of underwriters charge a gross spread of exactly 7%, as documented in Chen and Ritter (2000), more than a third charge something other than 7%. Among offerings of $50 million and below where underwriters charge the firm other than 7%, two-thirds of issuers pay more than published NASD¹ compensation guidelines. When underwriters charge less than expected, they do not trade-off IPO compensation with underpricing. However, our evidence suggests a trade-off between IPO compensation and future SEO business among underwriters that charge something other than 7% and less than expected. Underwriters that overcharge may provide a signal to investors about future underperformance.     

Has Technology Introduced New Ethical Problems?

Drawing on William F. Ogburn's cultural lag thesis, an inherent conflict is proposed between the rapid speed of modern technological advances and the slower speed by which ethical guidelines for utilization of new technologies are developed. Ogburn's cultural lag thesis proposes that material culture advances more rapidly than non-material culture. Technology is viewed as part of material culture and ethical guidelines for technology utilization are viewed as an adaptive aspect of non-material culture. Cultural lag is seen as a critical ethical issue because failure to develop broad social consensus on appropriate applications of modern technology may lead to breakdowns in social solidarity and the rise of social conflict. Reasons for cultural lag between technology and ethics include the social structural and market conditions under which each are developed. The thesis is illustrated by reviews of technological trends involving computer-telecommunications electronics and bio- genetic engineering, and the implications of these and other technologies for privacy rights, electronic commerce, control of essential resources and social definitions of life are discussed.     

Student Perceptions of Earnings Management: The Effects of National Origin and Gender

Earnings management is the practice of makingdiscretionary accounting choices or timingoperating decisions to move reported earningstoward a desired goal. Prior research revealswide disagreement among both students andbusiness executives regarding the ethicalacceptability of earnings management. Thisstudy investigates whether gender and nationalorigin influence accounting students'perceptions of earnings management. Male andfemale accounting students from the U.S. andfive Asian countries evaluated thirteenvignettes describing earnings managementpractices. Very few differences were detectedbetween the responses of the male and femalestudents or between the students from the U.S.and the Asian countries, indicating that thepractice of earnings management was perceivedsimilarly across all the groups of studentsstudied.     

Comparing supply‐side specifications in models of global agriculture and the food system

This article compares the theoretical and functional specification of production in partial equilibrium (PE) and computable general equilibrium (CGE) models of the global agricultural and food system included in the AgMIP model comparison study. The two model families differ in their scope—partial versus economy‐wide—and in how they represent technology and the behavior of supply and demand in markets. The CGE models are “deep” structural models in that they explicitly solve the maximization problem of consumers and producers, assuming utility maximization and profit maximization with production/cost functions that include all factor inputs. The PE models divide into two groups on the supply side: (1) “shallow” structural models, which essentially specify area/yield supply functions with no explicit maximization behavior, and (2) “deep” structural models that provide a detailed activity‐analysis specification of technology and explicit optimizing behavior by producers. While the models vary in their specifications of technology, both within and between the PE and CGE families, we consider two stylized theoretical models to compare the behavior of crop yields and supply functions in CGE models with their behavior in shallow structural PE models. We find that the theoretical responsiveness of supply to changes in prices can be similar, depending on parameter choices that define the behavior of implicit supply functions over the domain of applicability defined by the common scenarios used in the AgMIP comparisons. In practice, however, the applied models are more complex and differ in their empirical sensitivity to variations in specification—comparability of results given parameter choices is an empirical question. To illustrate the issues, sensitivity analysis is done with one global CGE model, MAGNET, to indicate how the results vary with different specification of technical change, and how they compare with the results from PE models.     

Cereal grain production: Potential for Latin America

The authors analyse the potential for self-sufficiency in cereal grain production in six different Latin American countries. Based on the assumptions and empirical results of this study, most Latin American countries, with the likely exceptions of Argentina and Colombia, will find it virtually impossible to become selfsufficient in cereal grain production in the 1980s. However, increased investment in agricultural research and the expansion of fertilizer use can help thwart potential cereal grain deficits. Fertilizer and cereal grain imports will be required in most countries to help increase the available supply of cereal grain.     

Workplace isolation: Exploring the construct and its measurement

Virtual offices are a growing trend in today's work environment and are expected to influence marketing roles dramatically, especially selling. These conditions may lead to perceptions of isolation, both socially and organizationally. Workplace isolation is a twodimensional construct that represents individuals' perceptions of isolation from others at work and includes perceived isolation from both colleagues and from the company's support network. This article reports the results of a four‐sample study to develop and validate a selfreport scale for measuring the two facets of workplace isolation. The scale's usefulness for future research and management applications are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

CAN A NEW NUCLEAR PROGRAMME BE JUSTIFIED?

The moratorium on the building of new nuclear power stations in the UK that has existed since the 1980s may be ended as a result of government concerns about the security of energy provision and the environmental impact of fossil-fuel-based energy supply. This viewpoint argues that the case for nuclear power on both counts is unproven. Moreover, renewed government support for a civil nuclear power programme may be a case of government attempting to pick winners, when the evidence suggests that such decisions are best taken by energy suppliers, producers and consumers.     

The effect of the equal rights amendment on the economic status of women

Conclusion The empirical analysis of the effect of stateERA's on the economic status of women yielded mixed results. The amendment has provided more job opportunities and promotions into male-stereotyped occupations. TheERA, however, has not commensurately provided equal pay for equal work or higher relative pay. Yet, on balance, theERA has provided gains for women. The employment gains progressed slowly but steadily between 1969 and 1976. Women in states that passed an equal rights amendment have made a small but substantial stride toward equality with men.