Determinants of intellectual capital disclosure in prospectuses of initial public offerings

Intellectual capital is recognised as the new economic era’s pivotal factor underlying value creation. Deficient and inconsistent intellectual capital reporting is escalating information asymmetry between informed and uninformed investors. This provides fertile ground for informed investors to extract higher abnormal returns and higher wealth transfers from uninformed investors, particularly during a firm’s initial public offering (IPO). This study investigates the association between intellectual capital disclosure levels in prospectuses of 444 IPOs listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange between 1997 and 2006, and three potential explanatory determinants: (1) ownership retention; (2) proprietary costs; and (3) corporate governance structure. Statistical analysis supports our conjecture of a positive association between intellectual capital disclosure and ownership retention. We also find, consistent with expectations, a negative influence of proprietary costs on the positive intellectual capital disclosure – ownership retention association. However, contrary to predictions, we do not find an IPO’s corporate governance structure significantly influences the negative interaction of proprietary costs on the ownership retention – proprietary cost association. Our findings have implications for various parties such as regulators who may impose unnecessary costs on issuers if they introduce mandatory disclosures whilst lacking an understanding of the factors influencing intellectual capital disclosures.     

Assessing the Impact of Changes in Petroleum Prices on Inflation and Household Expenditures in Australia

This article analyses the expected impact of a twofold rise in petrol prices on sectoral prices and household expenditures in Australia using 1996–97 and 1977–78 input-output tables.     

BOUNDARY EVOLUTION EQUATIONS FOR AMERICAN OPTIONS

We consider the problem of finding optimal exercise policies for American options, both under constant and stochastic volatility settings. Rather than work with the usual equations that characterize the price exclusively, we derive and use boundary evolution equations that characterize the evolution of the optimal exercise boundary. Using these boundary evolution equations we show how one can construct very efficient computational methods for pricing American options that avoid common sources of error. First, we detail a methodology for standard static grids and then describe an improvement that defines a grid that evolves dynamically while solving the problem. When integral representations are available, as in the Black–Scholes setting, we also describe a modified integral method that leverages on the representation to solve the boundary evolution equations. Finally we compare runtime and accuracy to other popular numerical methods. The ideas and methodology presented herein can easily be extended to other optimal stopping problems.     

The integration of nutrition components into culinary programs: perspectives of experts and educators

ABSTRACT

Consumers are increasingly eager for healthier food selections, but not at the expense of taste. As the foodservice industry continues to respond to these trends, graduates from culinary and hospitality programs are expected to be trained to meet these changing needs. The aim of the study was to compare industry experts’ and educators’ perceived importance of nutritional competencies in culinary curriculum, as well as the perceived barriers to integrate nutritional competency in accredited culinary programs. The study analyzed data provided by two U.S.-based groups of participants: (1) culinary and industry experts, and (2) educators in culinary and hospitality management programs. Results indicate that experts view nutritional competency as important to a student’s program of study and that success depends on educators meeting these competencies. However, the analysis reveals that educators significantly undervalue the importance of nutritional competency placement in curriculum and overrate how well they are preparing culinary graduates.     

Cost-effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke: an Australian payer perspective

Aims: The goal of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) from an Australian payer perspective.

Methods: This study used a Markov model that employed a life-time time horizon, modeling patients from symptom onset of stroke until end of life. Clinical efficacy and safety data were taken from an individual patient level data (IPD) meta-analysis of clinical studies. The treatment effect of MT compared to usual care was measured by changes in modified Rankin Score (mRS). Post-treatment mRS scores were used to determine short- and long-term stroke care costs. Treatment costs were modeled, with health state utility values determined by literature review. All analyses were conducted using Microsoft Excel.

Results: In comparison to usual care, MT is associated with higher costs ($10,666 per patient) and additional quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) (0.8281 per patient), resulting in an incremental cost per QALY of $12,880. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated the reliability of the base case results across a range of assumptions. The higher cost associated with MT is, to an extent, offset by the cost savings resulting from lower stroke care costs due to improved patient outcomes. The life-time cost savings in terms of stroke care costs are estimated to be more than $8,000 per patient for patients who had received MT in combination with usual care.

Limitations: Stroke care costs based on patient disability/functional level were not available and were derived. As a consequence, long-term care costs for patients with poorer outcomes may be under-estimated. Patient outcomes at 90 days were extrapolated to a lifetime horizon, but this approach was supported by long-term evidence on stroke survival.

Conclusions: Mechanical thrombectomy is a cost-effective treatment option for AIS, with clinical benefits translating to short- and long-term cost benefits. This analysis supports rapid update of stroke care pathways to incorporate this therapy as a treatment option.     

Density Nowcasts and Model Combination: Nowcasting Euro‐Area GDP Growth over the 2008–09 Recession*

Combined density nowcasts for quarterly Euro‐area GDP growth are produced based on the real‐time performance of component models. Components are distinguished by their use of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’, aggregate and disaggregate, indicators. We consider the accuracy of the density nowcasts as within‐quarter indicator data accumulate. We find that the relative utility of ‘soft’ indicators surged during the recession. But as this instability was hard to detect in real‐time it helps, when producing density nowcasts unknowing any within‐quarter ‘hard’ data, to weight the different indicators equally. On receipt of ‘hard’ data for the second month in the quarter better calibrated densities are obtained by giving a higher weight in the combination to ‘hard’ indicators.     

Dual clocks: Entry order influences on incumbent and newcomer market share and survival when specialized assets retain their value

Entry order analysis often shows that early entrants to an industry or technical subfield of an industry outperform laggards. Some studies, though, have found that late entrants prevail. This paper tests dual-clock hypotheses of entry order effects on performance, measured both as market share and survival. One entry clock records the entry of all entrants to a new technical subfield within an industry, while a second clock records the entry of industry incumbents. Relative to the appropriate clock, early entrants are predicted to outperform laggards, but when entry is measured on only one clock, the estimated influences may be inaccurate. Error will be particularly likely if a study contains a survivor bias. The study, which finds entry timing trade-offs between market share and survival, is generalizable to cases in which a plausible set of conditions is found.