Conflicting perceptions on participation between citizens and members of local government

There is a growing consensus among citizens and members of local government that citizen participation is desirable for local government. However in practice, there are differing perceptions between them regarding the level and extent of citizen participation. As citizen participation is a multi faceted concept, its meaning is construed differently by both the members of local government and the citizen groups. This paper attempts to describe the conflicts that arise from participation. The paper is based on the study of the process of citizen participation in local government carried out in Torbat-Heydarieh city, Iran. A qualitative research method is seen as the most suitable approach of collecting and analyzing the data. The method employed for data collection in this research is in-depth interviews. In-depth interviews were conducted to gauge the existence of conflicts regarding participation. The findings reveal four areas that give rise to conflicts. This study also attempts to highlight two different views regarding citizen participation; the people-centered view and authority-centered view.     

Managerial effect or firm effect: Evidence from the private debt market

This paper provides evidence that the managerial effect is a key determinant of firms’ cost of capital, in the context of private debt contracting. Applying the novel empirical method developed by an earlier study to a large sample that tracks the job movement of top managers, we find that the managerial effect is a critical and significant factor that explains a large part of the variation in loan contract terms more accurately than firm fixed effects. Additional evidence shows that banks “follow” managers when they change jobs and offer loan contracts with preferential terms to their new firms.     

Specific factors,unemployment and trade theory

Conclusions In this paper we have argued that the specific-factor model of trade is more suitable to the analysis of trade problems in the presence of unemployment than the traditional Heckscher-Ohlin, non-specific factor model used by Brecher and others. Among other things we have shown that protection granted to a land-using industry is unlikely to reduce unemployment, benefiting landlords at the expense of capitalists, while protection conferred to a non-land-using industry is likely to stimulate employment.

---

Zusammenfassung Spezifische Faktoren, Arbeitslosigkeit und Theorie des internationalen Handels. - In diesem Aufsatz wird ein Zwei-Sektoren-Modell bei allgemeiner Arbeitslosigkeit konstruiert und in das Hauptgeb?ude der Au\enhandelstheorie integriert. Ein Vorzug des Modells ist, da\ es den Produktionsfaktor Boden nicht ignoriert, den die moderne Au\enhandelstheorie als praktisch nicht existent behandelt. Unter anderem zeigt das Modell, da\ eine Protektion von Industrien, die Land und Boden nutzen, der Protektion anderer Industrien unterlegen ist und da\ deshalb der Schutz bodennutzender Industrien vor ausl?ndischer Konkurrenz wahrscheinlich die Arbeitslosigkeit vergr?\ert.

---

Résumé Facteurs spécifiques, ch?mage et théorie de commerce extérieur. - Dans cet article les auteurs construisent un modèle à deux secteurs en présence du ch?mage général et ils l’intègrent avec le cadre principal de la théorie du commerce international. Une qualité de ce modèle est qu’il n’ignore pas le facteur de production ?terre? qui est traité par la théorie moderne du commerce extérieur comme presque non-existant. Entre autres choses, le modèle démontre que la protection en faveur des industries qui utilisent le facteur terre est inférieure à la protection en faveur des autres industries, et c’est pourquoi la protection des industries qui utilisent le facteur terre probablement mène à un accroissement du ch?mage.

---

Resumen Factores específicos, desempleo y teoría del comercio. - En este trabajo se construye un modelo bisectorial en presencia de desempleo generalizado compatible con el cuerpo central de la teoría del comercio internacional. Una virtud de este modelo es que no ignora el factor ?tierra?, que es tratado como si no existiera por la teoría moderna del comercio. Entre otras cosas, este modelo muestra que la protección dada a sectores industriales que insumen tierra es inferior a la dada a otras industrias y que por lo tanto la protección de industrias que insumen tierra trente a la competencia extranjera podrfa contribuír a aumentar el desempleo.

     

Market ambiguity and individual investor information demand

We examine whether ambiguity in the market leads to an increase in information demand by individual investors. Drawing on the asset-pricing model proposed by Mele and Sangiorgi (2015), which incorporates market ambiguity, we measure individual information demand using daily Google searches and measure market ambiguity using a metric based on the market trades of institutional investors. We find that individual investors increase their information demand during periods of greater market ambiguity. We also provide evidence that information demand from individual investors spikes around earnings announcement days primarily when market uncertainty is driven by net-selling activity. Overall, these results suggest that the disagreement among institutional investors either represents uncertainty or contributes to the uncertainty related to a stock, leading to increased demand for information from individual investors.     

Predicting capacity utilization: Federal Reserve vs time-series models

This study evaluates the Federal Reserve forecasts of manufacturing capacity utilization employing, as benchmarks, the forecasts from a univariate model which utilizes past information in capacity utilization, and from a bivariate model which utilizes past information in both capacity utilization and the federal funds rate. In addition to accurately predicting the directional change in capacity utilization, the Federal Reserve forecasts are “weakly” rational and generally superior to the bivariate forecasts. In light of another finding that monetary policy is non-neutral, we argue the Federal Reserve forecasts of capacity utilization have positively contributed to the Fed’s success in maintaining a low inflationary environment.

Abnormal real operations,real earnings management,and subsequent crashes in stock prices

We study the impact of firms’ abnormal business operations on their future crash risk in stock prices. Computed based on real earnings management (REM) models, firms’ deviation in real operations (DROs) from industry norms is shown to be positively associated with their future crash risk. This association is incremental to that between discretionary accruals (DAs) and crash risk found by prior studies. Moreover, after Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002, DRO’s predictive power for crash risk strengthens substantially, while DA’s predictive power essentially dissipates. These results are consistent with the prior finding that managers shift from accrual earnings management to REM after SOX. We further develop a suspect-firm approach to capture firms’ use of DRO for REM purposes. This analysis shows that REM-firms experience a significant increase in crash risk in the following year. These findings suggest that the impact of DRO on crash risk is at least partially through REM.     

Volatility Linkages Among Gold Futures in Emerging Markets

We aim to detect the cross-border volatility linkages among gold futures in emerging markets, which still remain an untapped area. China, India, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, and U.S. futures markets are included in the sample. The volatility linkage analyses confirm the existence of volatility transmission among the majority of the sample countries’ gold futures. This article carries vital inferences and implications for policy makers and investors. The policy making is particularly important for China, which is a relatively isolated market. From investors’ perspective, the results indicate that the risk diversification and cross-market hedging opportunities in the emerging gold futures markets are quite limited.     

Motivating high‐impact innovation: Evidence from managerial compensation contracts

We investigate the relationship between Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation and firm innovation and find that long‐term incentives in the form of options, especially unvested options, and protection from managerial termination in the form of golden parachutes are positively related to corporate innovation, and particularly to high‐impact, exploratory (new knowledge creation) invention. Conversely, non‐equity pay has a detrimental effect on the input, output and impact of innovation. Tests using the passage of an option expensing regulation (FAS 123R) as an exogenous shock to option compensation suggest a causal interpretation for the link between long‐term pay incentives, patents and citations. Furthermore, we find that the decline in option pay following the implementation of FAS 123R has led to a significant reduction in exploratory innovation and therefore had a detrimental effect on innovation output. Overall, our findings support the idea that compensation contracts that protect from early project failure and incentivize long‐term commitment are more suitable for inducing high‐impact corporate innovation.     

The promise of granularity theory in simplifying challenges of entrepreneurial internationalization

This article proposes the use of the theory of granularity as an overall theme for this issue, in order to relate various issues discussed by the articles, and also to bridge across differences within and across articles in this issue.