Over the moon or sick as a parrot? The effects of football results on a club's share price

This article considers the impact of match results on the stock returns of English football clubs. We propose that the magnitude of the response to a given result depends on the importance of the game, which is measured in two ways. First, we consider the extent to which the clubs are close rivals vying for similar league positions, as winning such games is particularly significant. Second, we argue that each individual game becomes more important for those clubs likely to be promoted or relegated as the season draws to a close, since a given match will have increasing information content concerning the final league position of the club. Using a fairly large panel comprising data for 19 clubs, we find some support for the notion that stock prices are affected more by the results of important matches than matches of lesser importance. We also observe that the difference between the number of points the club secures from a given match, and the number it was expected to secure, affects its stock price, as does the number of goals that the club under question scores in the match, relative to its competitor.     

The road from Doha to Hong Kong in the WTO agricultural negotiations: a developing country perspective

Developing countries have both offensive and defensive interestsin the Doha Round of WTO trade negotiations. This paper discussesthe extent to which these interests have been addressed in theJuly 2004 Framework Agreement and in the subsequent negotiations.Many of the key demands of developing countries appear to havebeen accepted in principle in the Agreement, but the lack ofspecific details on how most of these principles will be operationalisedmakes it hard to evaluate their real significance. Progressis needed on the development dimension of the negotiations ifthe Hong Kong Ministerial Council meeting is to succeed.     

The impact of implementing the airline deregulation act on stock returns

Between 1978 and 1985, the airline industry underwent a period of phased-in deregulation. Airline deregulation resulted from passage of the Airline Deregulation Act on October 24, 1978. This paper investigates the impact of two main provisions of this Act on the security returns in the airline industry. Using event study methodology, this study examines the impact of (1) airlines becoming responsible for determining their domestic routes and schedules (December 31, 1981) and (2) airlines being allowed to set domestic fares and engage in price competition (January 1, 1983) on the returns of a sample of airline common stocks. The study finds a positive market response around the phase-in provision permitting airlines to assume responsibility for determining their domestic routes and schedules, but a negative response around the phase-in provision allowing airlines to set domestic fares and engage in price competition.     

Improved use of fisheries resources : Alleviating malnutrition in Southern Africa

The author reviews the potential for improved use of fisheries resources in nine southern African countries. These countries have serious problems of malnutrition and the author concludes that fisheries resources could make a substantially greater contribution to nutrition. Supply, processing and distribution of fisheries products are reviewed, and the benefits of improved kapenta and aquaculture production are discussed.     

Justice for Janitors in Los Angeles: Lessons from Three Rounds of Negotiations

We examine an important recent organizing success of the US labour movement: the 'Justice for Janitors' campaign in Los Angeles. This campaign has spanned a complete business cycle and shows the union's capacity for growth over time. It illustrates the potential for unions to overcome pro–employer bias of labour laws, as well as their efficacy in appealing to the wider public. It exposes the importance of building coalitions, as well as the value of union analysis of legal, industrial, and political conditions. Our analysis suggests conditions under which unions might survive and thrive in the service sector in the twenty–first century.     

Organizational Changes Resulting from the Privatization of State Enterprises

Agency and public choice theories, though commonly used, can only provide a static approach to the study of privatization and often neglect the cultural, contextual and organizational settings of the enterprises affected by privatization. The authors present a new model which can be used to understand the organizational processes involved in a successful privatization. This article analyses the academic literature on privatization, describes the cases of two privatized Swedish companies and then offers suggestions for further research.     

Employing labor-supply theory to measure the reward value of electrical brain stimulation

A model drawn from labor-supply theory is shown to provide a good account of time-allocation decisions taken by rats working for rewarding brain stimulation. The model makes it possible to infer, from behavioral data, the growth of the rewarding effect as a function of stimulation strength. Measurement of this function provides information about the stage of the reward circuitry where drugs or lesions alter the rewarding effect. The labor-supply model is used to illustrate how approaches drawn from economics, psychology, and neuroscience can inform each other. The model is linked to a set of psychological processes, including those responsible for transformation of the transient neural signal produced by the rewarding stimulation into an enduring record of payoff, estimation of a mean effort price, delay discounting, and estimation of the substitutability of work and leisure goods. All of these processes seem germane to economic behavior.     

The suitability of computer‐based training for workers with limited formal education: a case study from the US agricultural sector

The suitability of computer‐based instruction (CBI) for workers with limited education was evaluated in an Hispanic orchard workforce that reported little computer experience and 5.6 mean years of formal education. Ladder safety training was completed by employees who rated the training highly (effect size [d_gain] = 5.68), and their knowledge of ladder safety improved (d_gain = 1.45). There was a significant increase (p < 0.01) in safe work practices immediately after training (d_gain = 0.70), at 40 days post training (d_gain = 0.87) and at 60 days (d_gain = 1.40), indicating durability. As in mainstream populations, reaction or affective ratings correlated well with utility ratings, but not with behavior change. This demonstrates that an agricultural workforce with limited formal education can learn job safety from CBI and translate the knowledge to work practice changes, and those changes are durable.     

Kalman filtering estimation of unobserved rational expectations with an application to the German hyperinflation

The assumption that rational expectations always lie on a convergent path is subject to an empirical test using the German hyperinflation data. The estimation technique employs a Kalman filtering algorithm. After presenting a brief background for the convergent expectations problem and a derivation of the various model specifications, a generalized expectations model and its attendant Kalman filtering estimation technique are discussed. Additional estimation details and empirical results are then presented. Based on an assumption of normally distributed errors, the null hypothesis of convergent paths is rejected in all situations involving a deterministic specification of the evolution of the unobserved parameter which characterizes the convergent path. The same null hypothesis is rejected in four of the six cases corresponding to a stochastic specification of the evolution of the unobserved parameter which characterizes the convergent path. A discussion of these findings, their economic significance, and suggestions for further research concludes the paper.