Why Do Foreign Firms Leave U.S. Equity Markets?

Foreign firms terminate their Securities and Exchange Commission registration in the aftermath of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) because they no longer require outside funds to finance growth opportunities. Deregistering firms’ insiders benefit from greater discretion to consume private benefits without having to raise higher cost funds. Foreign firms with more agency problems have worse stock‐price reactions to the adoption of Rule 12h‐6 in 2007, which made deregistration easier, than those firms more adversely affected by the compliance costs of SOX. Stock‐price reactions to deregistration announcements are negative, but less so under Rule 12h‐6, and more so for firms that raise fewer funds externally.     

Auditing,Reasoning Systems,Reporting Frameworks,and Accounting Policy Risk: A Response to Alexander

This response to Alexander (2010 ) clarifies the approach taken in Smieliauskas et al. (2008 ). Here we elaborate further on the significance of the accounting risk concept for fairness of presentation in financial reporting. In the process we show how Alexander's potentially important concept of accounting policy risk can be made operational via the concept of accounting risk.     

The Role of Qualifying Language on Consumer Perceptions of Environmental Claims

A copy-test of seven environmental claims on aerosol packages shows that consumers interpret general, unqualified claims (e.g., environmentally friendly or ozone friendly) as meaning the product is safe for the environment in both an absolute (safe) and a relative (safer) sense. These perceptions of environmental safety are enhanced by specific qualifiers for general claims such as No CFCs and general qualifiers for specific claims. In addition, the results show that almost all specific environmental claims improve consumers’ perceptions of the aerosol product relative to general claims for environmental benefits of the product. Implications for marketing and public policy professionals are presented.     

COMPARABLE WORTH: CANADA'S EXPERIENCE

This paper discusses the design, implementation and administration of comparable worth legislation in Canada, focusing particular attention on the potential of comparable worth to close the male-female earnings gap. The authors document the Canadian legislative initiatives, provide illustrative evidence on the impact of comparable worth, and identify the main policy lessons to be learned from the experience of Canada, where the comparable worth concept has evolved furthest.     

Bunching, Time Constraints, and Workfare

This paper explores the use of workfare as part of the optimal tax mix. When agents have preferences that are quasilinear in leisure, unproductive workfare is optimal only if an optimal nonlinear tax scheme in the absence of workfare would feature distortions at the bottom of the wage distribution. These distortions can arise from two sources: binding constraints on the maximum available time, and bunching. An example is presented to illustrate the computation of an optimal schedule with work requirements.     

A Survey of Manufacturing Industry Policy: From the Tariff Board to the Productivity Commission

Since World War II Australian industry policy has shifted from providing extensive assistance such as tariff protection to the manufacturing sector to creating an environment for the efficient operation of markets. This paper surveys the evolution of the goals and instruments of industry policy in Australia and elsewhere.     

Household Response to Government Debt: Evidence from Life Insurance Holdings

We use state‐level panel data on life insurance in force in the United States and find that a $1 increase in government debt, at either the state or federal level is associated with a $0.96 increase in the face value of the average life insurance holdings per capita for a household in the average state. This increase represents an intention to save that would almost completely offset the government debt in specific states of the world (i.e., if the insured dies). Because this state of the world is rare, the immediate increase in actual savings is only about $0.03, the cost of the additional insurance. We find, in addition, that this response occurs mainly on the intensive margin, meaning that the size of the average life insurance policy increases when government debt increases. Along the extensive margin, we find the number of policies in force falls slightly with federal debt, and rises slightly with state debt increases. The results show altruistic planning in response to changes in government debt that are consistent with Ricardian Equivalence and the long‐run neutrality of government debt.     

Taxes and Corporate Policies: Evidence from a Quasi Natural Experiment

We document important interactions between tax incentives and corporate policies using a “quasi natural experiment” provided by a surprise announcement that imposed corporate taxes on a group of Canadian publicly traded firms. The announcement caused a dramatic decrease in value. Prospective tax shields partially offset the losses, adding 4.6% to firm value on average, and vary with the tax status of the marginal investor. Further, firms adjust leverage, payout, cash holdings, and investment in response to changing tax incentives. Overall, the event study and time series evidence supports the view that taxes are important for corporate decision making.     

Consumer knowledge and behaviour regarding safety of reusing food packaging materials

Consumers (n = 750) were surveyed regarding knowledge and behaviour concerning reuse of food packaging materials. Cross-tabulation of completed questionnaires (n = 597) indicated that middle-aged, urban and suburban women engaged in the highest number of correct packaging reuse practices. Nearly 50% of consumers thought egg cartons, plastic syrup bottles, produce bags and microwave meal plates were designed to be reused. Less than 50% thought it was safe to store food in containers formerly used to store non-food items, and that washed bread wrappers (turned inside-out were a safe material in which to store fresh food. Over 50% knew that plastic packaging contains additives that can end up in food, that packaging materials may be sterilized with chemicals or irradiation and that plastic wraps begin to melt at 71° (160°). Point Biserial Correlations indicated that behaviour was not necessarily consistent with knowledge.