Expectational data and Japanese stock prices

This paper examines the impact of a change in analysts' forecasts of earnings and sales per share on the subsequent price performance of a large sample of Japanese stocks. Changes in earnings and sales estimates affect price and the impact is incorporated slowly over time. This lag can be utilized to construct a portfolio of securities which while acting like an index fund earns an excess (extra) return.     

Qualitative multiple criteria choice analysis

In recent years an avalanche of literature has been published in the field of multiple criteria analysis. This methodology for decision-making and evaluation serves to find the best compromise solutions among alternative choice options, taking into account the existence of conflicting judgment criteria.The present paper focuses attention on one particular class of multiple criteria methods, viz. those in which the available information (impacts and policy priorities) is measured in an ordinal sense. This low level of measurement precludes the application of standard numerical methods. For this problem a new method, the so-called regime analysis, is devised in the paper.     

American Dual Containment in Asia

US grand strategy after 9/11 turned from post-containment drift to preemption. But the costs are high – suspicion of American power, hedging by traditional allies, expensive, go-it-alone ventures like Iraq. Tried-and-true containment better reflects American values. While forward in the world, containment is also defensive. It reassures skittish partners and reflects liberal, anti-imperial US preferences. In Asia, containment would deter the primary contemporary challengers of US power – radical Islam and Chinese nationalism – without encouraging a Bush-style global backlash. In a reductive analysis of US alliance choices, this article predicts a medium-term Indo-American alliance. India uniquely shares both US liberal democratic values and the same two challengers; it is the likely pivot in a US-backed neo-containment architecture in Asia.     

Distortions Resulting from Residential Land Use Controls in Metropolitan Areas

Residential land use controls in metropolitan areas are intended to and typically do restrict housing supply and inevitably raise housing prices. This paper estimates the effects of metropolitan area land use controls on housing prices, employing a remarkable data set compiled by Gyourko, Saiz and Summers. We embed the estimates in a four equation model that estimates the effects of the resulting high housing prices on metropolitan population, real incomes and employment.     

A team-based approach to mechanical integrity implementation

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgated the Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals standard (29CFR 1910.119) in 1992. One key provision of the regulation calls for a Mechanical Integrity (MI) program to ensure that process equipment containing and controlling highly hazardous chemicals is maintained to high standards, standards which minimize the chances of accidental release and subsequent injuries or incidents. This article addresses the approach taken by Tennessee Eastman Division in the implementation of the OSHA MI requirements.