The impact of the Multi-jurisdiction Disclosure System on audit fees of cross-listed Canadian firms

The Multi-jurisdiction Disclosure System (MJDS), a treaty between Canada and the United States (U.S.), was intended to facilitate the cross-listing of a firm's securities in the neighboring country. Under this system, eligible Canadian companies are allowed to use home-country documents to meet U.S. disclosure requirements and these documents are generally not reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We posit that the single-reporting requirement and lower SEC scrutiny may result in lower audit fees for MJDS firms. Based on audit-fee disclosures mandated by the SEC rule-making authority granted by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we find a negative association between audit fees paid by U.S. cross-listed Canadian companies and their use of the MJDS. This result suggests that the lower audit fees provide an economic incentive to use the MJDS. Thus, our study provides evidence that the implementation of the MJDS may help facilitate cross-border listings by reducing audit costs. Additionally, this study confirms, for Canadian firms, some of the audit-fee determinants reported in earlier studies.     

Why poor people get rich: Kenya 1960–1979

This paper challenges the conventional model underlying much thinking on Kenya which has stressed the extant inequality of assets (including human capital) and the presumed weakness of intersectoral links owing to structural rigidities in the system. On the basis of recent survey data, the authors test their hypothesis that the pattern of growth and distribution in the Kenyan smallholder sector is best understood rather as being the outcome of the complex interaction of rural factor market failure and urban labour market participation. The sources of growth may be distinguished as improved resource allocation, capital formation and innovation, so that the transmission mechanisms from factor market malfunctioning and urban employment onto growth and distribution must be via these three components. The arguments which follow question the orthodox views on such phenomena as urban bias, trickle-down growth, the functions of urban-rural remittances, and the need for land reform.     

The real exchange rate,capital inflows and inflation: Sri Lanka 1970–1982

Zusammenfassung Realer Wechselkurs, Kapitalimporte und Inflation: Sri Lanka 1970–1982. - Der Aufsatz unterscheidet zwischen effektiven Kaufkraftparit?ten und realen Wechselkursen. Die Bedeutung der letzteren als ein diagnostisches Werkzeug wird hervorgehoben, indem der Kapitalverkehr einbezogen und das Salter-Modell auf eine offene Volkswirtschaft mit Zolltarifen ausgedehnt wird. Bei Anwendung des Modells auf Sri Lanka stellt sich heraus, da\ die Inflation der Jahre 1977–1982, die mit der unvermeidlichen Erh?hung des realen Wechselkurses infolge massiver Kapitalimporte verbunden war, aus der Erh?hung der Preise von nicht-handelbaren Gütern herrührte und nicht so sehr aus einer exzessiven Geldmengenausweitung. Der Autor meint, eine nicht-inflation?re und wirksame Absorption von sozial erwünschten Kapitalzuflüssen erfordere, da\ die notwendige Erh?hung des realen Wechselkurses durch eine Senkung der Z?lle - also der heimischen Preise handelbarer Güter- herbeizuführen ist und nicht durch eine Erh?hung der Preise nicht-handelbarer Güter oder durch nominale Wechselkursbewegungen. Eine Verringerung der Protektion würde auch den Kaufkraftparit?tenwechselkurs senken, was erforderlich ist, damit die Wettbewerbsf?higkeit auf den Exportm?rkten erhalten bleibt.

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Resumen El tipo de cambio real, importaciones de capital e inflación: Sri Lanka entre 1970 y 1982. - El trabajo distingue entre tipo de cambio real y tipo de cambio efectivo PPA y enfatiza la importancia de este último como instrumenta de diagnóstico integrando la cuenta de capital y extendiendo el modelo de Salter a la economía abierta distorsionada por aranceles. Se aplica el modelo a Sri Lanka resultando que la inflación entre 1977 y 1982, que acompa?ó al inevitable aumento del tipo de cambio real, a raíz de la importación masiva de capital, fue debida más bien al aumento de los precios nomínales de los bienes no comerciados que a la expansión monetaria excesiva. Se arguye que la absorción eficiente y no inflacionaria de importaciones de capital socialmente deseadas requiere que la revaluación necesaria del tipo de cambio sea producto de una reducción de aranceles, o sea, del precio nacional de los bienes comerciados, y no de aumentos en los precios de los bienes no comerciados o de movimientos nominales del tipo de cambio. Reducir la protección significaría también devaluar el tipo de cambio PPA necesario para mantener la competitividad de las exportaciones.

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Résumé Le taux de change réel, afflux des capitaux et inflation: Sri Lanka 1970–1982. — L’article distingue les taux de change PPA effectifs et réels et souligne l’importance du dernier taux comme instrument diagnostique en intégrant la balance des capitaux et étendant le modèle de Salter à une économie ouverte aux tarifs douaniers. L’auteur applique le modèle à Sri Lanka et trouve comme résultat que l’inflation en 1977–1982 qui accompagnait l’augmentation inévitable du taux de change réel incitée par des afflux massifs des capitaux était due à l’augmentation du prix monétare des biens non-commercés au lieu de l’expansion monétaire excessive. Il argue que l’absorption non-inflationniste et efficiente des afflux des capitaux qui sont désirables d’un point de vue social rend nécessaire la révaluation du taux de change réel qui devrait être accomplie par une réduction tarifaire et des restrictions quantitatives et ainsi par la réduction des prix locaux des biens commercés au lieu des augmentations des prix des biens non-commercés ou des mouvements en taux de change nominal. Une réduction de la protection dévaluerait le taux de change PPA ce qui est nécessaire pour maintenir la capacité concurrentielle des exportations.

     

On the estimation of location parameters in the multivariate one sample and two sample problems

Summary In this paper we consider the problem of estimating the vectors of location parameters in the multivariate one sample and two sample problems. These estimators are obtained through the use of the multivariate rank order statistics such as theWilcoxon or the normal scores statistic considered by the authors inPuri, Sen [1966] andSen, Puri [1967] for the corresponding testing problems. The distribution of these estimators is shown to be symmetric with respect to the parameters being estimated. These estimators are translation invariant, robust and asymptotically normal. Their asymptotic relative efficiencies with respect to the estimators based on the vector of means and medians are discussed by applying the criterion ofWilks generalized variance [Anderson, p. 166]. In particular, it is shown that the estimators based on the multivariate normal scores statistics are asymptotically as efficient as the ones based on the method of least squares when the parent distributions are normal. Research sponsored by National Science Foundation Grant No. GP-12462, and by Research Grant, GM-12868 from the N.I.H., Public Health Service.