Food Security and Agricultural Protection in South Korea

South Korea has been pursuing food self-sufficiency using high tariffs and high administrative prices in key agricultural and food markets. Using a dual approach to trade and trade restrictiveness indices, we analyze the impact of these market distortions on welfare and trade volume. Then, we compute second-best distortions, which minimize the welfare cost of meeting observed levels of self-sufficiency and production. We rationalize these second-best distortions to what could be claimed as legitimate protection under a "food security" (FS) box in World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. FS-box protection is sensitive to changes in the definition and the extent of the FS objectives. We show that FS via production targets and reliance on imports would be more palatable to consumers and trade partners, while preserving income transfer to the farm sector.     

Investment planning and the macroeconomic constraints in developing countries: The case of the Syrian Arab Republic

In this paper a disaggregated macro-econometric model of the Syrian Arab Republic was developed to evaluate the structural characteristics of an economy and to assess the macro-economic impacts of alternative economic policies, particularly alternative investment programs. By the model simulation, alternative investment programs and their effects on economic growth were evaluated in the light of various macro-economic disequilibria, such as government deficits, inflation, unemployment, and external imbalance resulting from investment expenditures.     

Cross ownership of wireline and wireless communications carriers: synergy or collusion?

This paper examines whether the ‘cross ownership’ of wireline and wireless communications carriers is socially beneficial or harmful, and therefore should be allowed or regulated. We analyze a generic model of cross ownership of the firms which produce different but inter-related services. We show that, first, if both of the wireline and wireless industries are monopolistic, cross ownership results in social gains when the two services are complements, and social losses when they are substitutes. Secondly, if the wireless industry is sufficiently competitive, there’s little or no welfare loss from cross ownership. Finally, we briefly address the effect of network externality on the welfare consequences of cross ownership.     

Asia’s Middle-Income Challenge: An Overview

Developing Asia has undergone a dramatic shift over the past five decades from a region of mainly low-income economies toward one that is largely middle income. The region faces the challenge of moving further to high income particularly because, as this study shows, it takes longer for economies to move from upper middle to high income than shifting from lower middle to upper middle income. The study finds that developing Asian economies transformed more quickly than the rest of the world, whether the transition is from lower middle to upper middle income or from upper middle to high income.     

The impact of surprise offer-share adjustments on offer-day returns: evidence from seasoned equity offers

Using a sample of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), we examine the eleventh-hour information carried by the final offer-share adjustment. We argue that if market participants interpret the final offer-share adjustment as a new information signal regarding the demand for the stocks issued, a greater final offer-share adjustment will affect the offer-day return positively (demand information hypothesis). Alternatively, if investors interpret the final offer-share adjustment as increasing the supply of stocks issued and/or as diluting the value of existing shares, a greater final offer-share adjustment will affect the offer-day returns negatively (price-pressure and dilution hypothesis). We provide empirical evidence that the offer-day returns are positively related to the final offer-share adjustment after controlling for confounding factors, supporting the demand information hypothesis. Our results also remain intact even after controlling for the endogeneity. Overall, our findings suggest that the final offer-share adjustment is another important determinant of offer-day returns, in addition to the final offer-price adjustment that Altinkiliç and Hansen [J Financ Econ 69(2):285–323 (2003)] report.     

Chief Financial Officers' Perceptions Concerning the IMA's Standards of Ethical Conduct

Do chief financial officers (CFOs) of publicly held corporations agree with the Institute of Management Accountants' (IMA) Standards of Ethical Conduct and are they willing to adopt them? To address these issues, a survey was conducted concerning the Standards. The IMA issued the Pronouncement of Standards in June, 1982. In November, 1992, 790 survey questionnaires were mailed to chief financial officers (CFOs) of corporations listed in Forbes. These CFOs held the positions of vice president of finance and controller. Completed questionnaires were received from 208 CFOs representing a 26.3% response rate. The questionnaire employed a 5-point Likert scale and included seven demographic questions to facilitate the interpretation of the findings. The surveyed CFOs agreed with the majority of the Standards. However, many CFOs commented that some of the Standards of Ethical Conduct were difficult to implement in the real world. The CFOs critically commented that all the Standards were too general, too vague, or did not cover the grey areas that occur in real world situations. Ironically, the more years of experience acquired by CFOs, the less they believed in the Standards. Surprisingly, only 41.3 percent indicated that their corporations experienced ethical issues or problems. From the survey, 98.6 percent consider the Standards reasonable, 96.6 percent comply with the them, and 88.4 percent have implemented their own code of ethical conduct standards within their organizations. Thus, 10.2 percent of the CFOs believe the Standards are reasonable but have not implemented any code of ethical conduct standards within their organizations. Also, 8.2 percent of the CFOs comply with the Standards but have not implemented them as policies in their organizations. Interestingly, 11.6 percent of the CFOs that have not implemented their own code of which 60 percent believed that their organizations should adopt a code of ethical conduct. The other 40 percent expressed no plans to adopt any code as policy. Evidence indicates that the less CFOs support the Standard to "Recognize and communicate professional limitations . . .", the more ethical issues and problems occur within their organizations. Also, the organizations with codes of ethical conduct support two particular Standards more than organizations without codes. Finally, CFOs with CPA certification supported the Standard to "Prepare complete and clear reports after appropriate analysis of relevant and reliable information" less than CFOs without the certification.     

Versatile networks in combining qualitative and quantitative data

Following a series of special volumes on the DISC conferences in the past, this themed issue focuses on versatile network forms particularly in combining qualitative and quantitative data. This special issue also celebrates the second publication born out of the DISC conferences under the Quality and Quantity.     

Pay Dispersion and Organizational Performance in Korea: Curvilinearity and the Moderating Role of Congruence with Organizational Culture

This study examines the curvilinear relationship between pay dispersion and organizational performance. According to the pay dispersion literature, a large pay gap has benefits and drawbacks for organizational performance because employees can feel motivated or demotivated depending on the degree of pay dispersion. We investigate the possibility of nonlinearity in the context of these countervailing forces, and aim to uncover the condition under which the positive effect of high pay dispersion prevails. Our empirical analysis of data from 436 Korean cross-industry firms shows that pay dispersion and organizational performance have an inverted U-shaped relationship. Moreover, when a pay scheme matches current organizational culture, the positive relationship between pay dispersion and organizational performance is more pronounced. We discuss the implications for future compensation research and practice.     

Towards the operationalization of controversial news: a study of online news articles and reader comments during the 2017 presidential election in South Korea

Quality & Quantity - In this brief research note, we propose a set of concepts and methods for identifying and operationalizing controversial news items. Based on an analysis of online...