Patterns of Research Output in the Accounting Literature: A Study of the Bibliometric Distributions

This study examines whether any regularity exists in the publication pattern among accounting researchers. The empirical results reveal that a strong bibliometric regularity exists in the accounting literature: the number of authors publishing in papers is approximately 1/ n ^c of those publishing one paper. It is shown that the accounting literature conforms very well to the model with c=1.872 if data are taken from a large collection of journals. When applied to individual journals, the result shows that values of c range from 2.220 to 4.368. The graduates of seven graduate programs are found to account for more than one-third of the most prolific authors, indicating strong institutional dominance in the production of accounting literature.     

Union Members' Usage of IT

An important issue in assessing the potential benefits of information technology (IT) as a tool for increasing labor's effectiveness is union members' use of IT. Using 2003 Current Population Survey data, we examine the union members' IT and Internet usage at home and work. We find that union members are more intense users of IT at work than nonunionized employees and that high-intensity IT users constitute about one-third of the union sample.     

A Reconsideration of Rent‐to‐Own

Rent‐to‐own agreements (RTO) are traditionally seen as disguised installment contracts imposed on uninformed consumers at usurious interest rates. After the flaws and omissions in these interest rate calculations are addressed, the implied annual percentage rates (APRs) remain extraordinarily high. It is shown that alternatives to RTO, such as layaway and long‐term rental, yield comparable APRs. The appeal of rent‐to‐own is then attributed to its structure that includes an initial pure rental phase of high value to persons in volatile financial and/or personal situations followed by an installment phase. Should these situations be resolved, the consumer exercises an imbedded option to acquire a perhaps otherwise unobtainable installment agreement at a competitive interest rate.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
David McDermott Hughes, From Enslavement to Environmentalism: Politics on a Southern African Frontier
Edmund Abaka, Kola is God's Gift: Agricultural Production, Export Initiatives & the Kola Industry of Asante & the Gold Coast c.1820–1950
David Hall-Mathews, Peasants, Famine and the State in Colonial Western India
Linda Whiteford and Scott Whiteford (eds), Globalization, Water and Health
Penelope Francks, Rural Economic Development in Japan: From the Nineteenth Century to the Pacific War
Him Chung, China's Rural Market Development in the Reform Era     

Impacts of state laws on the consumption of wine per capita

Wines are exempt from the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, as are tobacco and firearms. Each state can regulate the commerce including the taxation, pricing, and authorized sales agencies of such products. This paper examines the impact of taxation levels and other regulations on the consumption of wine per capita in six selected states. Each state is composed of a different set of consumers who react differently to tax levels and retail price levels, as well as product availability. In general, sales tax and excise tax on wine were found to have decreasing impacts on wine consumption. Greater product availability made possible by relaxation of off-sale authorization regulations had an increasing impact on wine consumption.     

Fundamentals or Noise? Evidence from the Professional Basketball Betting Market

This paper uses the betting market for professional basketball games to address the issue of unexplained asset price volatility. A pricing model is presented which identifies two components in point spreads for professional basketball games. Both components—the market's estimate of relative team abilities and an idiosyncratic factor—are essentially unobserved, but can be identified ex post. The structure of this market enables tests of competing hypotheses about point spread variation. The tests reject the hypothesis that variation in the two components represents irrelevant noise. The hypothesis that unobserved fundamentals account for this variation is consistent with the data.