Is Real Estate Becoming Important Again? A Neo‐Ricardian Model of Land Rent

Classical economists believed that land rent as a share of total income would increase with economic growth. This belief was important to many 19th and 20th century critiques of capitalism. Land rents as a share of national income apparently declined for most of the 20th century, but increased during the 1990s. In this paper, we develop a model of the classical theory of land rent that allows rent to increase or decrease as a share of national income, depending on several parameters. It seems likely that the long decline in land rent is over and that land rent in the future will slowly increase as a share of national income.     

The operating‐financing distinction in financial reporting

This paper addresses an important issue of presentation in the financial statements, namely the distinction between, on the one hand, the obligations and associated flows arising from the provision of finance to an entity ('financing') and, on the other hand, all other activities of the entity ('operating'). This operating‐financing distinction has been wellestablished in the finance literature since the work of Miller and Modigliani (1958, 1961) and is ubiquitous and of considerable importance in practice in financial markets (e.g. Koller et al., 2005; CFA Institute, 2005; Penman, 2006). Yet accounting standards are underdeveloped in this area, and there are gaps and inconsistencies in both IFRS and US GAAP. Drawing upon the distinction between nature and function in the presentation of financial statement information, the paper contributes, first, to enhance our theoretical understanding of the operating‐financing distinction, which is currently defined in different and unreconciled ways in the literature and, second, to propose a practical basis for accounting standard‐setters to determine requirements for the reporting of financing activity in the financial statements.     

Can company-fund manager meetings convey informational benefits? Exploring the rationalisation of equity investment decision making by UK fund managers

Conventional economic theory, applied to information released by listed companies, equates ‘useful’ with ‘price-sensitive’. Stock exchange rules accordingly prohibit the selective, private communication of price-sensitive information. Yet, even in the absence of such communication, UK equity fund managers routinely meet privately with the senior executives of the companies in which they invest. Moreover, they consider these brief, formal and formulaic meetings to be their most important sources of investment information. In this paper we ask how that can be. Drawing on interview and observation data with fund managers and CFOs, we find evidence for three, non-mutually exclusive explanations: that the characterisation of information in conventional economic theory is too restricted, that fund managers fail to act with the rationality that conventional economic theory assumes, and/or that the primary value of the meetings for fund managers is not related to their investment decision making but to the claims of superior knowledge made to clients in marketing their active fund management expertise. Our findings suggest a disconnect between economic theory and economic policy based on that theory, as well as a corresponding limitation in research studies that test information-usefulness by assuming it to be synonymous with price-sensitivity. We draw implications for further research into the role of tacit knowledge in equity investment decision-making, and also into the effects of the principal–agent relationship between fund managers and their clients.     

Sequential Decision-making in Interdependent Sectors with Multiobjective Inoperability Decision Trees: Application to Biofuel Subsidy Analysis

Decision-making involving large-scale systems often involves considerations for temporal changes, interdependencies in organizational structures, multiple competing objectives, and risk and uncertainty, among others. In this paper we develop a risk-based methodology, the Multiobjective Inoperability Decision Tree (MOIDT). It integrates several dimensions of decision-making processes associated with interconnected systems in terms of: (i) evaluation of sequential policies; (ii) analysis of interdependencies; (iii) treatment of multiple objectives and their tradeoffs; and (iv) characterization of uncertainties. To demonstrate the integration of these four components, we present a case study to analyze the impact of government policies towards mass-scale biofuel production. Using a multi-period decision framework, the analysis utilizes economic input–output data to model the probabilistic demand adjustments for sectors that will likely be affected by biofuel policies.     

The legal implications of electronic document retention: Changing the rules

Document retention policies are an often overlooked aspect of information management in most organizations. As 99% of business documents are currently being produced electronically, processes governing the location and storage duration of these documents are very important. Given that most organizations in the United States will find themselves named in a lawsuit and the documents mentioned above may have to be produced in original form for litigants during discovery, document retention policies can spell the difference between successful defense and painful, expensive loss in litigation. While some organizations have such policies, do those policies cover new communication and data storage technologies? Do the policies address cell phones, personal data assistants, high density flash drives, instant messaging technologies, and a workforce that is no longer concentrated in one physical space? This article explores the new rules for electronic discovery and how those rules should drive changes regarding organizational management and storage of documents.     

Het nationale inkomen en de berekening ervan

Lezing gehouden voor de Statistische Studieclub, October 1938. Ten behoeve van deze lezing is door den bibliothecaris van het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek een Literatuur-Overzicht over het nationaal inkomen en vermogen samengesteld. Voor een beperkt aantal belangstellenden zijn nog exemplaren beschikbaar.     

Irish women accountants and career progression: a research note

This article presents the findings of research into the career progression of Irish Chartered Accountants which compares the career progress of men and women and examines the obstacles to progression encountered by women. The research indicates that women face obstacles that are not encountered by their male counterparts and that career progression is frequently made at substantial cost to their personal lives.     

Managing Food Chain Risks: Integrating Technical and Stakeholder Perspectives on Uncertainty

We explore ways for expressing and communicating uncertainties about food risks and the options for including views from different stakeholders, including members of the public, in risk assessment and risk management. Uncertainty is not only a major consideration of technical risk assessments but also needs to be understood within the two‐way interaction with various stakeholders, ranging from specialist risk managers to members of the public. We consider techniques for integration of technical risk assessment methodologies, including measures of the uncertainties, with social science inputs on participation processes, consumer behaviour and effective risk communication. We use case studies representing different types of risk – chemical contamination, and microbial contamination – to focus the discussion. The paper reviews the approach of ongoing interdisciplinary research which is exploring ways of communicating risks and involving members of the public and other stakeholders in defining the interfaces and processes needed.     

Survey and Market-based Evidence of Industry-dependence in Analysts' Preferences Between the Dividend Yield and Price-earnings Ratio Valuation Models

Prior research has shown that analysts' preferred valuation models are the price-earnings (PE) ratio and the dividend yield. This paper presents strong evidence that the relative importance of these two models varies according to stock market sector. Companies in the services, industrials and consumer goods sectors are shown to be 'PE-valued' while financials and utilities companies are shown to be 'yield-valued'. These findings are derived from survey research and then tested in a market-based model. This use of independent, mutually reinforcing research methods contributes to the robustness of the findings.