The Diversity of Farmers' Risk Management Strategies in a Deregulated New Zealand Environment

In this paper, the results of a nation-wide survey of New Zealand sheep and beef farmers are presented. Multivariate statistical techniques are used to identify groups of farmers who differ in their risk management practices. Five groups are identified. They are labelled income risk reducers, capital managers, part-timers, debt and market risk managers, and production managers. These groups differ in their perceptions of risk sources and in some farm and farmer characteristics. Reasons for these differences are identified and discussed in the context of deregulation.     

Discrimination by Gender and Disability Status: Do Worker Perceptions Match Statistical Measures?

We explore whether perceptions of discrimination are related to ordinary statistical measures. The majority of disabled respondents report feeling some discrimination due to their disability, the majority of women feel some discrimination because of their gender, and a surprising number of men also report some discrimination. We do not find a strong link between perceptions of discrimination and measured discrimination perhaps because those who perceive discrimination feel that it occurs along other dimensions than pay. However, we do find a connection between whether a person feels his or her income is inadequate and measured discrimination for all groups studied.     

Einzelbesprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Spatial Statistics and Real Estate

Real estate has historically employed statistical tools designed for independent observations while simultaneously noting the violation of these assumptions in the form of clustering of same sign residuals by neighborhood, along roads, and near facilities such as airports. Spatial statistics takes these dependencies into account to provide more realistic inference (OLS has biased standard errors), better prediction, and more efficient parameter estimation. This article provides an overview of the field and directs readers to the relevant literature and software.     

Working part time: by choice or by constraint

The selection of workers into part-time jobs and the wages they earn are analysed using the 1989 Labour Market Activity Survey. We focus on the distinction between voluntary and involuntary part-time workers, since involuntary part-time workers earn substantially lower wages than other workers. We find that the selection of individuals into involuntary part-time work is more closely tied to job characteristics than personal or human capital characteristics. The lower wage earned by involuntary part-time workers is largely due to differences in returns and selection effects, rather than differences in endowments. JEL Classification: J22, J23, J31     

Coping with Stress in Outdoor Recreational Settings: An Application of Transactional Stress Theory

This study uses a transactional model of stress and coping as a way to understand how outdoor recreationists deal with negative setting elements during a recreation experience. Within the transactional model, coping behaviors can be viewed as the result of on-going transactions among personal and environmental factors, perceptions of threat or stress, and the perceived effectiveness of coping strategies. The current study focuses specifically on the relationship between reported levels of stress and the types of coping strategies used by recreationists in Glacier National Park. Findings suggest that certain behavioral and cognitive coping responses to stress are associated with different levels of reported stress. Specifically, respondents with lower levels of stress were more likely to engage in certain cognitive adjustments to cope with detracting situations. Respondents reporting higher levels of stress were more likely to engage in either direct action aimed at changing the environmental conditions or are displaced entirely from the recreational setting. In addition to these primary findings, the study discusses the range of coping behaviors employed.     

How Do Investors Interpret Announcements of Earnings Delays?

Unlike in the case of delays of 10‐K or 10‐Q filings, the SEC does not require managers to disclose delays of earnings announcements to the public. Thus, for companies that are unable to report earnings by their expected date, managers face a decision: remain silent or announce the delay. Prior research has investigated all earnings delays, whether or not they are accompanied by announcements of the delay announcement, and found that the market reaction is slightly negative, on average, for companies that allow their expected earnings dates to pass without disclosing results. It's not clear, however, whether this negative reaction was due to the absence of news or to the information contained in the announcements of the earnings delays. The authors' recent study documents that earnings delay announcements are associated with an average one‐day abnormal stock return of a negative 6%. This statistically as well as economically significant reduction in value is consistent with anecdotal evidence in the popular business press as well as predictions of disclosure theories, in particular the explanation that concerns about legal liability and managerial reputation motivate managers to disclose bad news. The study also shows that almost all managers who announce earnings delays attempt to influence the market reaction by disclosing the underlying cause. Finally, the study shows that the market reaction to earnings delay announcements is positively related to future earnings changes, consistent with the role of these disclosures in providing a signal of deteriorating financial performance.