The Insolvent Thrifts of 1982: Where Are They Now?

In 1982, 237 thrifts were GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principle) insolvent. By 1987, 92 of these were either merged or closed and 77 remained insolvent. The remaining 68 were GAAP solvent with an average GAAP-to-total-assets ratio of 5.6%. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that affected the probability of solvency for the 1982-insolvent thrifts over the period 1983–1987.
To identify these factors, the probability of insolvency is modeled in each year between 1983 and 1987 using logistic regression. Because a thrift can earn its way out of insolvency or raise outside capital, the probability of solvency is a function of the infusion of outside capital along with balance sheet and income statement ratios reflecting the thrifts earning ability. The only variable consistently significant in each year is the variable reflecting the raising of outside capital.     

The Agrarian Land Question in South Africa in Its Historical Context, 1652-1988

A bstract . The highly uneven land distribution in South Africa which favors the White ruling minority has its roots in many historical events and legislative measures. These include the "Great Trek" (the migration of Dutch farmers into the interior of South Africa), squatter laws in British colonies and Dutch republics , and the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910 whose parliament immediately took up the issue of land distribution and passed the ultimate land expropriation legislation, the Natives Land Act (1913), No. 27. Since the passage of this landmark act, indigenous Africans have been virtually landless while South Africa has emerged as one of the world's most economically advanced nations.     

A General Stationary Stochastic Regression Model for Estimating and Predicting Beta

A beta regression model is proposed where the coefficients follow a general class of stationary stochastic processes. The procedure identifies the process and estimates the parameters of the model simultaneously from the information contained in the return series. The returns of each of the Dow Jones 30 securities are examined. Betas of 5 of the securities are nonstationary and do not appear to follow a particular form of nonstationarity. Conclusions of many earlier studies may be suspect since they are based on procedures tailored to adoption of a specific form of beta nonstationarity and, thereby, based on an erroneous a priori assumption regarding such form. The ordinary least squares model is also found to be quite robust, providing reliable beta and intercept estimates not materially different from the more complex procedure with 25 of the return series.     

Structural factors associated with primary fiscal balances in developing countries

The study explores the conditions under which a government in a developing country is likely to run a balanced or surplus budget. We contend that primary fiscal deficits are likely to persist where the economy is too saving constrained to raise private sector investment. To conduct the investigation, a logit model is applied to a sample of developing countries to see whether the saving constraints are associated with the fiscal stance of governments. Accordingly, income level, growth, external current account balance and foreign direct investment are used as indicators of the saving constraint. With the exception of economic growth, positive developments in these variables turned out to be significant to the likelihood of the government adopting a surplus budget.     

Project management in retailing: integrating the behavioral dimension

The retail environment is globalizing, requiring high levels of consistent experimentation. Project management can be used to help retailers test new ideas and implement the most successful ones. Unfortunately, project management in the retail setting often delivers unsatisfactory results. Project management has traditionally focused on conventional planning tasks. The people dimension is often overlooked as a key to project management success. However, human behavior is particularly important in the retail setting, where projects are generally focused on testing new concepts, increasing collaboration, and implementing new technologies. This research examines the role of the behavioral dimension in retail project management and supports the view that the behavioral dimension is central to retail project management success.