New public stock issues by seasoned and unseasoned firms: A comparative analysis in a turbulent environment—the case of israel

This study presents and examines new evidence on the relationship between financial structure and ownership in New and Veteran Public firms (sometimes known as unseasoned or seasoned firms, respectively). The major findings are: (1) the cost of capital and the cost of equity increased with financial leverage, but at a different magnitude in new and veteran public firms reflecting different risk conceptions; and (2) management and administration costs for new public firms are indicated to be higher than for veteran public firms. Reasons for and implications of these findings are subsequently discussed.     

Guard labor

We explore the economic importance of the private and public exercise of power in the execution of contracts and defense of property rights. We define power and represent it in a model of growth in a modern capitalist economy, borrowing themes from the classical economists (unproductive labor, profit-driven investment), Marx (the labor disciplining effect of unemployment), and the contemporary theory of incomplete contracts (the role of monitoring and enforcement rents). We use this model to identify the resources devoted to the exercise of power, which we term guard labor as we measure these in labor units. Data from the United States indicate a significant increase in its extent in the U.S. over the period 1890 to the present. Cross-national comparisons show a significant statistical association between income inequality and the fraction of the labor force that is constituted by guard labor, as well as with measures of political legitimacy (inversely) and political conflict. Some observations on the welfare implications of guard labor conclude the paper.     

Notes on a possible Bentham manuscript: a mystery unresolved

In the Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo (Volume x)Piero Sraffa noted that the Mill-Ricardo case of the RicardoPapers deposited at Cambridge contained ‘a paper probablyin Bentham's hand-wriring on the effects on profits of cultivatingsuccessive qualities of land'. In 1978 I made a search of theRicardo Papers and no such document was to be found. This notereports the discovery in Trinnity College Library—andprovides a trancription—of a document that may be theelusive item, though it is in James Mill's hand.     

Evidence on the internal labor market during a process of rapid economic growth

We examine the nature and extent of labor market segmentation in Brazil through a survey of 82 modern sector firms in São Paulo. Hiring, training and promotion patterns are found to differ significantly between occupations and a key to understanding these patterns is the nature of skill acquisition, particularly ‘learning on the job’. Furthermore the presence of skill- specificity and internal labor markets for supervisory personnel provide a possible explanation for why relative wages have widened during Brazil's period of rapid economic growth.     

Capitalist development and educational structure

This essay presents a theoretical overview of the relationship between the accumulation process and educational change in the capitalist periphery. The author argues that the school system may serve the interests of the capitalist class by (a) regulating the labour flow between the capitalist and non-capitalist modes of production, (b) raising labour productivity in the capitalist mode, (c) thwarting the development of either a large and class-conscious proletariat or a peasant-worker alliance, and (d) undermining the ideological and political position of traditional elites. Data are introduced consistent with the proposition that where the state represents primarily the interests of the capitalist class, it is these objectives, not a commitment to equality or to maximizing the rate of economic growth, which dominate educational policy.     

Rates of Return on Art Objects, the Fisher Hypothesis, and Inflationary Expectations

After surveying the evolution of the major methodologies in inflation hedging, this study presents a unique methodology that uses principal component factor analysis to separate the effects of variability in the real rate of return from the nominal rate of return. This approach allows the effects of both anticipated and unanticipated inflation on rates of return to be estimated more precisely. This study finds that art objects perform well in terms of average real rates of return and that the market, though not perfect, integrates anticipated inflation into the rates of return. However, unanticipated inflation is very often negatively related to the rates of return.     

Accelerated Product Introductions and Emerging Managerial Accounting Perspectives: Implications for Marketing Managers in the Technology Sector

Rapid changes in manufacturing and design technologies coupled with increased competition domestically and internationally have led to shorter product life cycles and compressed lead times for product introductions in the technology sector. Traditional cost accounting systems, which assume labor to be the major cost component in the production process, have resulted in distortions in cost information. Samuel Rabino and Arnold Wright describe emerging cost accounting approaches that more adequately address the changing competitive and technological environments and facilitate an improved evaluation of product launch programs.     

Can food calorie be an index for poverty in a rural economy? An extrapolation from farm households in Ogun State,Nigeria

The study assessed poverty in rural areas of Ogun State, Nigeria through the food energy (calorie) intake approach. A sample of 60 households (comprising of 346 members) were selected using a multistage sampling technique and were interviewed with the aid of well‐structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using nutrient estimation techniques, cost of calorie method and poverty index. The estimated food poverty line was 64.72 naira. The incidence, intensity and severity of poverty were consistently higher among female‐headed households and households that lack access to credit facilities with values 0.290, 0.359, 0.160 and 0.313, 0.371, 0.160 for the poverty measures respectively. Incidence of poverty reduces with educational level and age of household heads, but the corresponding intensity and severity were higher for households whose heads are between 46‐ and 55‐year brackets and those who have secondary school education. All measures of poverty decline with farm size. Multipronged strategies involving improvement of educational level of household heads, improved access to agricultural land and credit facilities, as well as fair distribution of resources towards women, among others, are recommended for poverty and hunger reduction and for sustained agricultural production.