A fractional cointegration analysis of Fisher hypothesis: evidence from Turkey

This paper examines the validity of Fisher hypothesis in Turkey over the period from 1990:01 through 2010:03 by using cointegration and fractional cointegration approaches. The findings from Engle and Granger cointegration test indicate that inflation and nominal interest rate series are cointegrated. Since the conventional cointegration tests do not provide strong evidence on the long run relationship, we also use fractional cointegration definition suggested by Cheung and Lai (J Bus Econ Stat 11:103–112, 1993) which requires only a mean reverting (d < 1) relationship between the series. The results from fractional cointegration tests based on GPH and Robinson methods show that inflation and nominal interest rate series are fractionally cointegrated. These findings support the validity of the Fisher hypothesis in Turkey.     

A TRACTABLE CITY MODEL FOR AGGREGATIVE ANALYSIS

An analytically tractable city model with external increasing returns is presented. The equilibrium city structure is either monocentric or decentralized. Regardless of which structure prevails, intracity variation in endogenous variables displays exponential decay from the city center, where the decay rates depend only on parameters. Given population, the equilibrium of the model is generically unique. Tractability permits explicit expressions for when a central business district (CBD) will emerge in equilibrium, how external increasing returns affect the steepness of downtown rent gradients, and how wages and welfare vary with population. An application to urban growth boundary is presented.     

Accounting variables and stock returns： Evidence from Istanbul stock exchange

The fundamental relationship between accounting variables and stock returns is a recurring theme in financial research. One of the major purposes of accounting is to help investors provide reliable, comparable and accurate information. If accounting data are informative about fundamental values and changes in values, they should be correlated with stock price changes. This study provides theory and evidence showing how accounting variables explain stock returns and examines the relationship between the stock returns and accounting variables of listed non financial companies in ISE-100 Indice for 2006-2008 period by using panel data methodology. Empirical analysis consists of 192 observations of 64 companies in years 2006-2008 to examine the effects of inventory, accounts receivable, gross margin, operating expense, return on assets, cash flow, leverage, liquidity, price/earnings, return on equity on stock returns. The results of the study confirm that the predicted roles of fundamental factors and stock returns are significantly related to gross margin, cash flow, leverage and equity variables. The model explains about 13.35 % of the variation of annual stock returns with the leverage variable with most of the significant power.     

New opportunities in social media for ad-restricted alcohol products: The case of ‘Yeni Rakı’

The rapid diffusion and technological evolution experienced in the new format of the Internet, particularly social media, have forced many brands to keep pace with this ongoing process in order to engage with their customers. Social media utilize multiple Internet-based communication platforms, including, but not limited to, blogs and social networking sites. This paper aims to examine how social media can be used to interact with consumers in the case of ad-restricted alcohol products, providing a case study from Turkey. The explored case provides an example of a well-planned, creative campaign that successfully exploits the opportunities provided by interactivity. The analysis of an alcohol product is critical due to the fact that such products face many restrictions, thus calling for a more creative and efficient approach to the design and implementation of social media practices, and their integration into integrated marketing communication (IMC) campaigns. This case will contribute to the articulation of the best ways to shape both business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer dialogue and fruitful applications of this new IMC tool.     

Testing the impact of educational expenditures on economic growth: new evidence from Latin American countries

This paper investigates the impact of educational expenditures on economic growth for 18 Latin American countries over the period 1970–2009 by using cointegration test procedure in the presence of two unknown structural breaks. Considering structural breaks is necessary for our analysis because of that Latin American countries implemented important reforms to expand their educational systems and these reforms may affect the cointegrating relationship. The findings indicate that there is evidence of cointegrating relationship between educational expenditures and economic growth for the considered countries except Chile, Guyana, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Another finding of the paper is that identified structural breaks refer to the educational reform periods of Latin American countries.     

Analysis of an integrated maximum covering and patrol routing problem

In this paper, we address the problem of determining the patrol routes of state troopers for maximum coverage of highway spots with high frequencies of crashes (hot spots). We develop a specific mixed integer linear programming model for this problem under time feasibility and budget limitation. We solve this model using local and tabu-search based heuristics. Via extensive computational experiments using randomly generated data, we test the validity of our solution approaches. Furthermore, using real data from the state of Alabama, we provide recommendations for (i) critical levels of coverage; (ii) factors influencing the service measures; and (iii) dynamic changes in routes.     

Sovereign bond yield spreads: A time-varying coefficient approach

We study the determinants of sovereign bond yield spreads across 10 EMU countries between Q1/1999 and Q1/2010. We apply a semiparametric time-varying coefficient model to identify, to what extent an observed change in the yield spread is due to a shift in macroeconomic fundamentals or due to altering risk pricing. We find that at the beginning of EMU, the government debt level and the general investors’ risk aversion had a significant impact on interest differentials. In the subsequent years, however, financial markets paid less attention to the fiscal position of a country and the safe haven status of Germany diminished in importance. By the end of 2006, two years before the fall of Lehman Brothers, financial markets began to grant Germany safe haven status again. One year later, when financial turmoil began, the market reaction to fiscal loosening increased considerably. The altering in risk pricing over time period confirms the need of time-varying coefficient models in this context.     

Rehearsal of professional practice: impacts of web-based collaborative learning on the future encounter of different disciplines

This study argues that the shift towards a more multidisciplinary professional life in contemporary design practice requires design curricula to equip students with collaborative skills. The study offers that by the aid of web-based collaborative learning (WBCL) in design education, different disciplines may be brought together during their education. A case study is held as a rehearsal of professional life; involving architecture and interior architecture students collaborating on a common project, using WBCL. The evaluations of the participating students about the process were analyzed. The findings convey that there is a mutual problem of recognition of professional domains. In order to diagnose and possibly reconcile tensions that may occur due to this problem in professional life, this paper asserts that integrating interdisciplinary work to the design curricula would be beneficial.     

Top Management Involvement in New Product Development: A Review and Synthesis

Established literature on new product development (NPD) management recognizes top management involvement (TMI) as one of the most critical success factors. With increasing pressure to sustain competitive advantage and growth, NPD activities remain the focus of close interest from top management in many organizations. TMI in the NPD domain is receiving increasing academic attention. Despite its criticality, there is no systematic review of the existing literature to inform and stimulate researchers in the field for further investigation. This paper introduces the current state of literature on TMI in NPD, synthesizes important findings, and identifies the gaps and deficiencies in this research stream. The contents of the selected articles, which investigated TMI in NPD, are analyzed based on the type of the study, level of analysis, research methodology, operationalization of TMI, and main findings. Additionally, other studies, which did not directly investigate TMI and support in NPD, but were sufficiently related, are briefly summarized. As a result of this detailed literature review, it can be stated that both exploratory and relational studies provide rich evidence on the critical role of top management in NPD. However, the identified gaps and deficiencies in this research stream call for a better theoretical understanding and well‐defined constructs of TMI in the NPD domain for different levels of analysis for future studies.