Comparison of Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances for at least equal protection of respondents

In this paper, a new randomized response model is proposed, which is shown to have a Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance that is lower than the Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance suggested by Singh and Sedory at equal protection or greater protection of respondents. A new measure of protection of respondents in the setup of the efficient use of two decks of cards, because of Odumade and Singh, is also suggested. The developed Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances are compared under different situations through exact numerical illustrations. Survey data to estimate the proportion of students who have sometimes driven a vehicle after drinking alcohol and feeling over the legal limit are collected by using the proposed randomization device and then analyzed. The proposed randomized response technique is also compared with a black box technique within the same survey. A method to determine minimum sample size in randomized response sampling based on a small pilot survey is also given.     

The Influence of Governance Structure and Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Toward Sustainability Reporting Quality

Increased business complexities coupled with enhanced global transformation have propelled corporations to behave as responsible citizens to drive the sustainability agenda. Many corporations incorporate their affirmative commitment to sustainable business practices into their corporate identities and give evidence for this in their sustainability reports. This paper examines the role of the board of directors in sustainability reporting quality (SRQ) in the Asia‐Pacific region. Based on a cross‐sectional study of 113 companies from 12 countries in the region, we find that the SRQ in the region leaves much room for improvement. However, we find that the institutionalization of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in an organization provides a sound foundation for enhancing SRQ. We find that the value of CSR anchored in the vision and/ or mission statement and strategic alliances fostered with non‐governmental organizations are positively associated with SRQ. This study contributes to strengthening the understanding, promoting discussion on the state of sustainability reporting in the Asia‐Pacific context and laying a solid foundation for more aggressive efforts to enhance SRQ. The study identifies the significant drivers currently associated with SRQ. The weak role of the board of directors in upholding the sustainable development agenda through the reporting process is highlighted. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The effects of workforce strategies on manufacturing operations

This paper tests the effects of three workforce strategies on a multistage, multiproduct manufacturing system under various operating conditions. These three strategies are those that are predominant in today's world economics. One type is a chase strategy, often used by firms that employ low skilled workers and faced with seasonal product demands, where workforce levels fluctuate according to increases and decreases in production requirements. A level-flexible strategy, commonly called the Toyota system, keeps the aggregate workforce at a constant size but by having flexibly trained workers it can allow transfers of workers between various departments and processes as production requirements dictate. The third major type is a level-inflexible strategy, such as that used on mass-assembly lines employed by American automobile manufacturers. Under this strategy, the number of workers remains constant in each department as well as at the aggregate level regardless of short term changes in the production requirements. The manufacturing system is envisioned as a sequential planning process with interrelated decisions made at the levels of aggregate planning, master production scheduling, and departmental planning. This process is modeled as a zero-one mixed integer program. The operating conditions under which the strategies are tested are the variability of demand, the level of service, and the degree of inventory investment. The strategies are statistically tested as to their effects on five criteria: average weekly workforce size, average quarterly inventory investment, average weekly overtime, total setups and the average weekly ratio of departmental load to capacity.Using four different products and an experimental manufacturing environment described within the paper, we tested for any statistical differences between the three strategies. We found that none of the strategies had significantly different workforce sizes. Also, the chase strategy had the smallest average quarterly inventory investment. This implies that the “Japanese” level-inflexible strategy does not have the smallest workforce or lowest inventory as claimed by some.We also tested the effects of the operating conditions on the workforce strategies. The level-flexible strategy was most insulated from the seasonality, inventory restrictions, and service level. Thus again the claims made for the level-inflexible strategy about being insulated from its environment were not substantiated. It was found that the seasonality of demand had the greatest impact on the three workforce strategies. Also, the level of service greatly affected the utilization of labor resources.The major overall conclusion is that the level-flexible strategy which is associated with some Japanese manufacturing firms does not achieve the claims that some of its adherents have made for it. It does not have the smallest workforce or the lowest inventory nor is it best insulated from its environment. Furthermore, the seasonality of demand and the level of service do effect this strategy.     

Bivariate non-central negative binomial distribution: Another generalisation

Summary Another bivariate generalisation (Type V) of the non-central negative binomial distribution is considered. This generalisation is constructed (i) as a latent structure model; (ii) as an extension of an accident proneness model investigated by Edwards/Gurland (1961); and (iii) as a reversible stochastic counter model. The third construction gives, as a result, an apparently new formulation of the Edwards/Gurland model. The probabilities, moments, recurrence formulas and some properties are given. An application to the data used by Holgate (1966) is considered.     

The elasticity of substitution in urban housing production: A VES approach

Many of the models which have been developed to explain urban spatial structure and land-use patterns rest on the properties of production functions. Differing factor price ratios within urban areas, particularly land prices, result in capital-land ratios exemplified by high-rise apartments and single-family dwellings. The purpose of this paper is to explore a new functional form for the housing production function. Specifically, a variable elasticity of substitution production function is proposed and some preliminary empirical evidence is provided using data for single-family housing.     

Taxation and Durable Goods Monopoly*

This paper studies the role of taxation in durable good markets with dynamic monopolies. By conditioning the marginal tax rate on the volume of trade, the regulator can provide incentives for the monopolist to accelerate trade. When marginal cost pricing generates a loss for the monopolist, strategic delay cannot be avoided under regulatory budget constraint and the effects of tax policy depend on the monopolist's ability to commit. In the context of binary consumer types, we find a tax policy involving “back-loaded subsidy” that achieves the second-best outcome with commitment. In contrast, without commitment, a “front-loaded subsidy” improves welfare.     

WHAT MAKES INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL FLOWS PROMOTE ECONOMIC GROWTH? AN INTERNATIONAL CROSS‐COUNTRY ANALYSIS

This paper re‐examines the relationship between international capital flows and economic growth within the context of various ‘conditional factors’ that possibly have the potential to influence such relationships. It achieves this by employing panel data for 80 countries that cover 1976–2007. International capital inflow is broken down into foreign direct investments (FDI) and foreign portfolio investments (FPI). We find interesting evidence that only FDI has a positive effect on growth and that FPI has an unfavorable, if not negative, effect on growth. The conditional variables of banking liberalization, high‐income level, twin crises, lower corruption, and human capital mitigate the positive impacts of FDI on growth. In contrast, the middle‐income level and good shareholder protection have a positive effect. As concerns FPI, the level of financial liberalization, being in a Latin American region, the wealth of countries, and market governance all influence the way that FPI affects growth, whereas the conditional variables of twin crises and human capital do not influence the effect of FPI on economic growth.     

Treatment effect analysis of early reemployment bonus program: panel MLE and mode-based semiparametric estimator for interval truncation

We use Korean data to find the effects of Early Reemployment Bonus (ERB) on unemployment duration; ERB is a bonus that the eligible unemployed receive if they find a job before their unemployment insurance benefit expires. A naive approach would be comparing the ERB receiving group with the non-receiving group, but the ERB receipt is partly determined by the unemployment duration itself (thus, an endogeneity problem). Interestingly, there were many individuals who did not receive the ERB despite being fully eligible, and this is attributed to being unaware of the ERB scheme. Taking this as a ??pseudo randomization??, we construct treatment and control groups using only the eligible. Our data set is an unbalanced panel with the response variable interval-truncated due to eligibility requirement of the ERB. We propose a panel random-effect MLE and a semiparametric ??mode-based?? estimator for the interval-truncated response. Our empirical finding is that the effect varies much, depending on individual characteristics. As for the mean effects, whereas the MLE indicates large duration-shortening effects, the semiparametric estimator shows much weaker and mostly insignificant effects.     

Dynamic modelling of real estate investment trusts and stock markets

Taiwan launched the first case of real estate securitization in 2005. The interrelationship between Taiwan Real Estate Investment Trusts (T-REITs) and the aggregate equity markets and segmented industries has drawn the interests of both investors and academia. This paper employs Toda and Yamamoto's (1995) procedure and the generalized impulse response approach to uncover the extent and the magnitude of the relationship between T-REITs and aggregate and segmented stock prices. We collected daily data of the first two issued T-REITs, Fubon No.1 and Cathay No. 1, from March 2005 to March 2010 and October 2005 to March 2010, respectively, to examine their causal relationships with aggregate stock markets, the financial sector, and the construction sector. The empirical results indicate that all variables have break points, reflecting shocks from the Subprime Mortgage Crisis or deregulation of the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors (QDII) for Mainland Chinese to invest in Taiwan. We also discover that an individual T-REIT may lead or lag behind stock price indices due to its capitalization scale or business type. The transitory initial impacts of innovations in T-REITs on stock price indices are observed herein.     

Damage Estimation and Its Accuracy Antitrust Policy Implication *

This paper empirically estimates antitrust damage based on the rich information on cost factors in the bid-rigged Texas school milk market. Empirical results demonstrate that damage estimate by antitrust agency is a significantly underestimated amount of the true damage. This understatement of true harm inevitably includes implementation biases in the antitrust system. [K21, L13, L40]