Motivations of Australian Listed Companies Effecting Share Buy-Backs

The bulk of prior research on share buy-backs has been undertaken in the U.S. As the legislative environment and capital market perception of buy-backs in Australia are different to the U.S., it is both desirable and necessary to examine the motivations of Australian share buy-backs. Contemporary Australian financial press reports, the U.S. financial management literature and anecdotal evidence provide numerous feasible motivations for a company to undertake a buy-back. In an Australian context, this article considers the following: (a) the development of the legislative framework relating to share buy-backs and why some forms of buy-back are preferred over others; (b) a set of potential motivations (reasons) for Australian companies undertaking a buy-back; and (c) the actual motivations as provided in ASX announcements by forty-four listed companies effecting sixty-seven share buy-backs over the period 1990 to 1995. Results reveal that motivations differ depending on the type of buy-back and are reasonably consistent across time. The two prime motivations for on-market buy-backs are: (a) signalling of future expectations (underpricing), and (b) an attempt to increase financial performance (EPS) and/or position (NAB/share). For selective buy-backs, the main purpose is to remove specific shareholders from the share register. Employee buy-backs are generally seen as an off-market means of providing a market for the company's shares. Finally, the overriding motivation for equal access buy-backs is as an alternative to dividends.     

The Political Economy of the Kuznets Curve

The paper provides a political economy theory of the Kuznets curve. When development leads to increasing inequality, this can induce political instability and force democratization on political elites. Democratization leads to institutional changes which encourage redistribution and reduce inequality. Nevertheless, development does not necessarily induce a Kuznets curve, and it is shown that development may be associated with two types of nondemocratic paths: an "autocratic disaster," with high inequality and low output, and an "East Asian Miracle," with low inequality and high output. These arise either because inequality does not increase with development, or because the degree of political mobilization is low.     

Reconciling microeconomic and macroeconomic estimates of price stickiness

This paper attempts to reconcile the high estimates of price stickiness from macroeconomic estimates of a New-Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) with the lower values obtained from surveys of firms’ pricing behaviour. This microeconomic evidence also suggests that the frequency with which firms adjust their prices varies across sectors. Building on the insights of Carvalho (2006), we present Monte Carlo evidence that suggests that in the presence of this heterogeneity estimates of the NKPC obtained using conventional methods, such as GMM, are likely to considerably overstate the degree of aggregate price stickiness. Furthermore, if roundabout production is a characteristic of the economy the NKPC will falsely suggest that a sizeable fraction of prices are indexed to past inflation. These problems arise because of a type of misspecification and a lack of suitable instruments.     

A Nonparametric Test for I(0)

There is frequently interest in testing that a scalar or vector time series is I(0), possibly after first-differencing or other detrending, while the I(0) assumption is also taken for granted in autocorrelation-consistent variance estimation. We propose a test for I(0) against fractional alternatives. The test is nonparametric, and indeed makes no assumptions on spectral behaviour away from zero frequency. It seems likely to have good efficiency against fractional alternatives, relative to other nonparametric tests. The test is given large sample justification, subjected to a Monte Carlo analysis of finite sample behaviour, and applied to various empirical data series.     

Regulatory Uncertainty and the Volatility of Regional Electricity Company Share Prices: The Economic Consequences of Professor Littlechild

This paper attempts to measure the effects of regulatory intervention by measuring the conditional variance of stock price changes in the 12 UK regional electricity companies before and after an unexpected intervention by the electricity regulator in March 1995. The analysis uses an ARCH model in which the conditional variance follows an autoregressive formation. The results indicate a significant increase in the volatility of the conditional variance for eight of the 12 companies.     

非财务指标与企业财务业绩相关吗——一项基于中国国有企业的实证研究

非财务指标是否能预测企业财务业绩的增长，综合业绩指标体系是否适合我国企业．是我国理论与实务界普遍关心的问题。本文以76家国有企业为样本，系统分析了非财务指标“客户满意度”与企业财务业绩的相关关系，为我国企业建立综合业绩评价体系找到了实证依据。研究表明，客户满意度高的企业具有更高的盈利能力；从客户满意度提高带来的两方面作用来看．企业更可能是通过提高单位产品的利润率来提高盈利能力．而不是通过增加销售来提高盈利能力。     

观光与转变中的文化资产价值:访古以开创未来

University of Birmingham-Ironbridge Institute and National Taiwan University in Association with UNESCO UNITWIN Network-Tourism,Culture,Development(Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)and Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change,UK 2013年4月5～9日,中国台湾台北在国家、区域及社会中,文化资产不仅是认同感符码,而且比以往更全面地嵌入全球消费当中。观光客参观自身及他处历史的方法主要有二:造访各式各样的实体遗迹,或参与各种形式遗留下来的仪式和行为。     

The role of the human resources manager: strategist or conscience of the organisation?

The human resource manager treads a fine line in seeking to reconcile the values of the organisation with professional values about the ethical management of people. This paper seeks to explore this ambiguity. The research findings suggest that the extent to which HR professionals can influence organisational ethics is dependent on the culture and structure of the organisation, as well as on the status and credibility of the HR specialists themselves. In the main there is little evidence that their influence is significant.     

The West and China: Shake‐up in global banking?

The global recession of 2007–2009 is altering the structure of the global banking industry. Many Western banks suffered after the fallout of the subprime mortgage market in 2007 and are having to respond to the policy ramifications of the crisis and recession. China's banks, however, have undergone performance improvements in a number of areas, both leading into and during the crisis, and they are now emerging as significant players in the global banking market.¹ This “shake‐up” in global banking is occurring in five areas: independence, profitability, market focus, business models, and talent. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.