The Informativeness of Dividends and Associated Tax Credits

This paper investigates the informativeness of dividends and the associated tax credits with respect to earnings persistence. After confirming that dividend‐paying firms have more persistent earnings than non‐dividend‐paying firms, we show that the taxation status of the dividend is also important. Firms that pay dividends with a full tax credit attached have significantly more persistent earnings than firms that pay dividends which carry no associated tax credit. Consistent with higher levels of tax credits identifying more mature firms, those paying dividends with full tax credits have significantly less persistent losses than firms that pay dividends with only partial tax credits. Further, market pricing tests confirm that the incremental information in dividends and tax credits contributes to reductions in market mispricing of the persistence of earnings and earnings components. Our results are robust to alternative model specifications and controlling for dividend size and firm age.     

Geography,geopolitics, and policy in the performance of transition economies

The economic performance of the transition economies as of 2015 is well explained by three variables: (1) years of membership in the EU; (2) physical distance from the heart of the EU economy, taken to be Dusseldorf; and (3) annual revenues from oil and gas production, reflecting natural resource deposits. These three factors account for around 86 percent of the variation in per capita income across the 28 transition economies, and reflect the interplay of domestic policy, geopolitics, geography and natural resources.     

Pricing hybrid bundles by understanding the drivers of willingness to pay

Many companies are increasingly selling hybrid bundles, which comprise one or more goods and one or more services. Hybrid bundle pricing depends on understanding consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for the bundle, which rests on trade-offs among the benefits from four key drivers: service autonomy, complementarity, service quality variability, and overall bundle quality (basic vs. premium). The effects of these drivers and their interactions on the WTP of hybrid bundles are unknown. The authors develop hypotheses and test them rigorously using incentive-aligned choice-based conjoint and hierarchical Bayesian analysis. The results offer important guidelines for developing appropriate hybrid bundles. If a typical firm under budget constraint has to offer either of two hybrid bundles, one with high complementarity or one with service autonomy, the results suggest that it should offer the bundle with high complementarity. Furthermore, contrary to the conventional wisdom of minimizing service quality variability for premium quality bundles relative to basic quality bundles, the results recommend lowering service quality variability for basic quality bundles but maintaining it for premium bundles.     

Will America create a Cold War with China

ABSTRACT

American policy towards China is now up for grabs, with hardliners and soft-liners battling for the upper hand. The hardliners view China as an existential threat to American security and interests. The soft-liners regard China as a powerful counterpart, on occasion friend, competitor, or adversary, but not an existential threat. In my view, the hardline approach – to be pursued through protectionist trade policies and aggressive technology policies — would prove disastrous, weakening the world economy and creating a self-fulfilling grave risk of future conflict.     

The Volatility of Return Revisions and Financial Statement Literacy in Emerging Markets: The Case of Cross‐listed Chinese Firms

Are foreign investors in emerging markets more financial statement literate than domestic investors? If so, this conjecture implies that foreign (domestic) investors are more likely to revise their return expectations to cash flow (discount rate) news. It also implies that cash flow news and discount rate news are likely to be uncorrelated when evaluating return revisions by domestic investors, whereas cash flow news and discount rate news are likely to be negatively correlated when evaluating return revisions by foreign investors. The Chinese equity markets yield robust empirical results that are consistent with both hypotheses.     

Labor and Capital in the Twenty-First Century: Rereading Braverman Today

How has Harry Braverman’s book Labor and Monopoly Capital, published forty years ago, stood the test of time? In this essay I argue that it remains a vital text for understanding the capitalist labor process. But I also address three lacunae in Braverman’s book. First, it overlooked limits to deskilling, such as the challenge of standardizing services; second, Braverman refused to concede that states could provide workers with material welfare, which can protect them from the labor market; and third, Labor and Monopoly Capital’s vision of the future is unnecessarily pessimistic. Standardization and automation can degrade work, but they also generate surplus that can potentially expand human freedom. Braverman’s critical analysis of production begs an equally critical account of exchange and distribution.     

Perceptions of tourism revenue sharing impacts on Volcanoes National Park,Rwanda: a Sustainable Livelihoods framework

Tourism revenue sharing (TRS) has become a popular strategy for integrated wildlife conservation and rural development in Africa. In Rwanda, 5% of tourism revenue is invested annually in communities adjacent to protected areas. However, the conservation impact of the TRS strategy has been challenged. Previous studies have revealed structural constraints of TRS, which partially explain TRS shortfalls. The TRS application is complex and needs deeper understanding of both conceptual and structural constraints. In this paper, we examine local perceptions of TRS, and use the Sustainable Livelihoods framework to conceptually understand the livelihood capability, equity and sustainability constraints of TRS at Volcanoes National Park (VNP). Results suggest that TRS has had minimal conservation impact due to acute food insecurity and limited livelihood capabilities among the poorest residents in proximity to VNP. This is exacerbated by several TRS structural constraints, such as the association membership fee requirement for TRS benefits, political influence, poor conservation linkages, and limited participation of the most socially and economically disadvantaged residents in proximity to VNP. This paper recommends restructuring of the TRS decision-making process to ensure consideration of both short-term and long-term conservation goals, wildlife conservation linkages and participation of the most economically disadvantaged residents in proximity to the park boundary.