An empirical evaluation of the determinants of Research Joint Venture Formation

This paper empirically analyses the determinants of firm participation in Research Joint Ventures (RJVs). A review of the theoretical literature highlights the difficulty of identifying testable hypotheses. Using a large database of European RJVs, we estimate a participation equation at the firm level using the logit procedure. We find that sectorial R&D intensity, industry concentration, firm size, technological spillovers, and past RJV participation positively influence the probability of forming RJVs. By contrast, patents' effectiveness reduce the likelihood of RJV formation. Last, country fixed effects suggest that firms from larger countries are less likely to participate in cross–border RJVs.     

Managing the Sources of Uncertainty: Matching Process and Context in Software Development

There is increasing interest in the literature about the notion of a contingent approach to product development process design. This interest stems from the realization that different types of projects carried out in different environments are likely to require quite different development processes if they are to be successful. Stated more formally, a contingent view implies that the performance impact of different development practices is likely to be mediated by the context in which those practices operate. This article provides evidence to support such a view. Our work examines whether projects in which the development process matches the context achieve superior performance. We focus on two sources of uncertainty that generate challenges for project teams: platform uncertainty, reflecting the uncertainty generated by the amount of new design work that must be undertaken in a project; and market uncertainty, reflecting the uncertainty faced in determining customer requirements for the product under development. We develop hypotheses for how these sources of uncertainty are likely to influence the relationships between a number of specific development practices and performance. We then test these hypotheses using data from a sample of 29 Internet software development projects. Our results provide evidence to support a contingent view of development process design. We show that in projects facing greater uncertainty, investments in architectural design, early technical feedback, and early market feedback have a stronger association with performance. The latter relationships are influenced by the specific sources from which this uncertainty stems: platform uncertainty mediating the impact of early technical feedback and market uncertainty mediating the impact of early market feedback. Our results also indicate that while greater uncertainty is associated with making later changes to a product's design, this practice is not associated with performance. Our findings suggest that managers carefully must evaluate both the levels and sources of uncertainty facing a project before designing the most appropriate process for its execution. In particular, they should explore the use of specific development practices based upon their usefulness in resolving the specific types of uncertainty faced. Importantly, these decisions must be made at the start of a project, with purposeful investments to create a process that best matches the context. Reacting to uncertainty ex‐post, without such investments in place, is unlikely to prove a successful strategy.     

A Forecasting Model for Stock Market Diversity

We apply the recently introduced generalized tree-structured (GTS) model to the analysis and forecast of stock market diversity. Diversity is a measure of capital concentration across a market that plays a central role in the search for arbitrage. The GTS model allows for different conditional mean and volatility regimes that are directly related to the behavior of macroeconomic fundamentals through a binary threshold construction. Testing on US market data, we collect empirical evidence of the model’s strong potential in estimating and forecasting diversity accurately in comparison with other standard approaches. In addition, the GTS model allows for the construction of very simple portfolio strategies that systematically beat the standard cap-weighted S&P500 index. Financial support by the Foundation for Research and Development of the University of Lugano and by the National Centre of Competence in Research “Financial Valuation and Risk Management” (NCCR FINRISK) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors thank four anonymous referees for helpful comments.     

Accounting and governance in the final years of the Papal States: Dual roles in the papacy of Pius IX (1846–1870)

The Papal States represent a unique and long period in Italian government and in the government of the Roman Catholic Church prior to Italy's unification in 1870. The 25-year period prior to unification was a particularly tumultuous period when the Papal States struggled for survival, faced military and popular challenges and became increasingly indebted. Accounting could become an important tool to assist decision-making and enhance the Papal States' sustainability, as shown by the governance reforms promulgated by Pope Pius IX in this period. Nevertheless, accountants chose what to make visible and emphasised secular, rather than the sacred aspects of the Papal States. Despite reforms, there was a disconnection between the leaders and the accountants. This research therefore examines the role of accounting in such an institution, and extends the concept of a sacred-secular divide to a state government beset by resource constraints and challenged to fulfil its spiritual aims.     

Multivariate Lévy processes with dependent jump intensity

In this work we propose a new and general approach to build dependence in multivariate Lévy processes. We fully characterize a multivariate Lévy process whose margins are able to approximate any Lévy type. Dependence is generated by one or more common sources of jump intensity separately in jumps of any sign and size and a parsimonious method to determine the intensities of these common factors is proposed. Such a new approach allows the calibration of any smooth transition between independence and a large amount of linear dependence and provides greater flexibility in calibrating nonlinear dependence than in other comparable Lévy models in the literature. The model is analytically tractable and a straightforward multivariate simulation procedure is available. An empirical analysis shows an accurate multivariate fit of stock returns in terms of linear and nonlinear dependence. A numerical illustration of multi-asset option pricing emphasizes the importance of the proposed new approach for modeling dependence.     

Mortgage Default and Prepayment Risks among Moderate‐ and Low‐Income Households

Using a unique sample of community reinvestment loans, we study the propensity of very low‐income households to terminate a mortgage and compare it to the outcomes for low‐income and moderate‐income households. The results indicate that, even within moderate‐ and low‐income segments, lower or very low income is associated with higher default and lower prepayment probabilities. In addition, depending on how low the borrower's income is, classic determinants of loan termination such as credit scores, the amount of equity in the home and local labor market conditions can have different impacts on default and prepayment probabilities.     

Modelling technical change in Italian agriculture: a latent variable approach

This paper presents an alternative approach to the measurement of technical change. It is based on the latent variable level of technology that enters explicitly the input demand system and on a hypothesis about the innovation generating process. By adding measurement error equations, the behavioral system can be viewed as a Multiple Indicators/Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model. The parameter estimates are obtained with a maximum likelihood estimator which involves the implicit covariance matrix. The analysis refers to Italian agriculture and the results provide some evidence on the nature and level of technical change during the years 1961–1991.     

The relationship between machistic tendencies and budgeting: A cross-cultural study

Increasing globalization in business heightens the importance of understanding cultural differences and their effects on business practice. In this light, an empirical cross-cultural study comparing U.S. and Latin American respondents was made to determine the relationship between machistic tendencies and budgeting. Though difficulty was experienced in defining the machism variable, three stereotypes, Chauvinist, Classic, and Aggressive, were identified. These stereotypes are associated with one's cultural orientation (Latin American or U.S.) and predicted budgetary behavior in terms of budget procedural attitude, culpability, and risk attitude.