Measurement of cost inefficiency with safety first measure of risk

The objectives of this paper are to incorporate a measure of risk aversion in the translog frontier cost function to estimate cost inefficiency. Risk-averse behaviour of farmers is hypothesised to reduce efficiency by leading to a situation in which the marginal value product of an input is less than price. In developing agriculture, farmers are aware of their subsistence needs and seek to minimize the probability of their incomes falling below a disaster level of income. Using such a safety first principle, a measure of risk-taking is developed and explained by socio-economic characteristics. This measure is used in the translog cost function as a fixed input and, using the frontier approach (with half normal distribution of inefficiency disturbance), a measure of cost inefficiency is obtained. This is related to socio-economic characteristics such as education, assets and holding size. A survey data of 436 farmers for the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan is used to reach policy conclusions for reducing cost inefficiency.     

Effect of government regulations on the severity of injuries in fisheries

This study analyses the severity of commercial fishing accidents in the Gulf of Mexico using data from the USCG. Estimates from ordered probit models find no statistically significant effect for either the IFQGT program or the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010. However, the presence of an NOAA observer on fishing vessels appears to have reduced the severity of injuries during the study period, which can be partially attributed to the success of the USCG vessel safety certification program. Poor weather conditions increase the likelihood of fatality, particularly when a person falls overboard. Information from the interaction effects between poor weather conditions and vessel attributes can be used in designing new commercial fishing vessels to enhance safety.     

Firm and Group Influences on Venture Capital Firms’ Involvement in New Ventures

abstract Drawing on expectancy, equity, and collective effort theories, we argue that the level of involvement of individual firms in multifirm alliances depends on both individual firms’ self‐focused interests and factors stemming from the firms’ membership in the alliance group. We apply our theoretical arguments to the context of venture capital syndicates and test the hypotheses using data about 160 venture capital firms (VCFs) drawn from a survey instrument and a secondary data source. The results show that individual firms’ involvement in a multifirm alliance is somewhat dominated by group effects; specifically, financial stake relative to that of the group and the reputation of the other group members significantly influence the focal firm's involvement. However, focal firms’ involvement relates negatively to their own reputation. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research. Our results imply that firms in multiparty alliances pay attention to the characteristics of their alliance partnership to calibrate their own behaviour. In our specific setting, VCF involvement in syndicates depends more on relative syndicate characteristics than on the focal firm's absolute level of investment. Further, because reputation is negatively associated with involvement, entrepreneurs and potential syndicate entrants should ensure that they fully leverage VCF reputation to achieve their goals.     

Overreaction and Insider Trading: Evidence from Growth and Value Portfolios

Insider transactions are not random across growth and value stocks. We find that insider buying climbs as stocks change from growth to value categories. Insider buying also is greater after low stock returns, and lower after high stock returns. These findings are consistent with a version of overreaction which says that prices of value stocks tend to lie below fundamental values, and prices of growth stocks tend to lie above fundamental values.     

The relevance of pecking order hypothesis for the financing of computer software and biotechnology small firms: some UK evidence

This study explores the funding issues at the early stages of development of computer software and biotechnology small firms in the UK. This study reviewed previous relevant literature in this area and presents empirical evidence derived from an extensive online questionnaire survey. The sample contains a total of 83 small firms, which includes 41 biotechnology and 42 software firms. With regards to funding issues, we found that software firms reports more funding problems than the biotechnology firms. Software firms are fastest growing firms and goes through the early stages of development quicker than the biotechnology firms. With regards to the sources of funding the evidence shows that biotechnology small firms mainly use venture capital finance whilst the main source of funding for the software firms are personal savings and house mortgage/re-mortgage. On the one hand, software firms seem to follow the pecking order hypothesis whilst financing their business growth and development. On the other hand, the pecking order hypothesis may not be fully followed by the biotechnology small firms. However, both software and biotechnology small firms report difficulties in securing equity finance. Software firms are financially constrained not only due to the supply side financial constraints but also by the demand side financial constraints.     

Bangladesh’s trade partners and the J-curve: an asymmetry analysis

Separating currency appreciations from depreciations and using non-linear models in recent literature have improved discovering significant link between the trade balance and the exchange rate. We add to this growing literature by considering the experience of Bangladesh with 11 trading partners. When a linear model was used, support for the J-curve effect was present only with one small partner. However, when a non-linear model was used, support increased to three countries including the largest partner, the United States, which accounts for more than 12% of Bangladesh’s trade. Furthermore, the non-linear models supported short-run asymmetry adjustment as well as short-run asymmetry effects of exchange rate changes in most cases. However, long-run asymmetric effects were limited to a few.     

Estimating national road crash fatalities using aggregate data

Injuries and fatalities from road traffic crashes have emerged a major public health challenge in Pakistan. Reliable estimates of road crash fatalities (RCF) of a country, is a vital element needed for identification and control of key risk factors, road-safety improvement efforts and prioritizing national health. Reliability of current annual RCF estimates for Pakistan becomes highly questionable due to serious underreporting. This study aimed to predict annual RCF for Pakistan using data from World Health Organization and International Road Federation sources. An ordinary least square (OLS) regression model that relates fatality rate with different explanatory variables was developed. RCF were predicted for Pakistan for year 2012 and 2013, and results were compared with national police reported estimates. Study results indicated that there is serious underreporting of RCF in Pakistan and immediate measures are needed to improve the existing road crash recording and reporting system at the national and subnational levels.     

Centralization of intragroup equity ties and performance of business group affiliates

Research summary : Although prior research has suggested that equity ties are important for business groups, less attention has been paid to the specific mechanisms through which equity ties create value. We develop a framework that specifies how centralization of intragroup equity ties affects the performance of group affiliates. We use the exogenous shock of the 2008 financial crisis and a difference‐in‐differences analysis of 51,730 observations of business group affiliates in Taiwan to show that centralization of equity ties enhances affiliate performance, but such effects weaken when the environment becomes turbulent. Moreover, we find that listed affiliates obtain fewer benefits from centralization than unlisted affiliates. Overall, our study deepens scholarly understanding of not only how groups create value, but also how value is differentially appropriated among affiliates. Managerial summary : Our research speaks directly to owner‐managers of business groups with respect to creating an optimal equity network structure that binds the affiliated firms of the group. Our findings suggest to managers that the overall structure of equity ties in a business group has major implications for the performance of the affiliate firms of the group, and the network structure within the group should be designed deliberately and thoughtfully on an on‐going basis. In particular, control through centralized equity ties is performance‐enhancing in normal periods, but such control may be counterproductive as turbulence increases in business environments, or as the number of listed group firms increases. Hence, owner‐managers may consider optimizing the network structure by lowering the degree of centralized equity ties under such circumstances, or at a minimum, lowering centralized control. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.