The role of the technology barometer in assessing the performance of the national innovation system

Along with increasing significance of innovation in socio-economic development grows the need to utilize future-oriented knowledge in innovation policy-making. Foresight and road-map exercises are aimed at supporting planning and priority-setting of R&D and have become indispensable elements of policy-making. Besides technological development decision-makers need all-inclusive knowledge of future developments of society, economy and impacts of science and technology. When the worldwide competition is about the attractiveness of innovation systems, such knowledge is important for comparing the innovation performance of nations to other economies. Finland is among the countries improving her position in worldwide performance comparisons since the late 1990s and reached leading nations in early 2000s. This attainment raised national interest and critical debate of the reliability of the data basis and methodologies used in comparisons. In The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers (TEK) this discussion led to a decision to develop an own comparative exercise together with VTT. In addition to performance analysis based on ex-post indicators the barometer includes the questionnaire of the views and visions of the future development by relevant national actors. The theoretical framework of the barometer is based on the evolution of economies from industrial development phase to sustainable knowledge society. The barometer has been undertaken in 2004, 2005 and 2007, and a wide interest and emerged discussion of barometer proves that a social interest and order exists for the barometer. The article presents the background, methodology and results of technology barometer, discusses its impacts on national discussion, and gives perspectives for the future development of barometer.     

Financial Constraints Risk

We construct an index of firms’ external finance constraintsvia generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation of an investmentEuler equation. Unlike the commonly used KZ index, ours is consistentwith firm characteristics associated with external finance constraints.Constrained firms’ returns move together, suggesting theexistence of a financial constraints factor. This factor earnsa positive but insignificant average return. Much of the variationin this factor cannot be explained by the Fama–Frenchand momentum factors. Cross-sectional regressions of returnson our index and other firm characteristics show that constrainedfirms earn higher returns and that the financial-constraintseffect dominates the size effect.     

Public Predisclosure Information, Firm Size, Analyst Following, and Market Reactions to Earnings Announcements

Abstract:   This study examines the effects of public predisclosure information on market reactions to earnings announcements. We develop an empirical measure of public predisclosure information impounded in price prior to earnings announcements by cumulating abnormal returns on public news release dates during the quarter. Consistent with prior literature, we document a negative association between this measure and market reactions to subsequent earnings announcements. Moreover, we find that after controlling for this measure, firm size and analyst following are significantly positively associated with market reactions to earnings announcements. Contrary to prior empirical evidence, our results suggest that, after controlling for actual predisclosure information impounded in price, market reactions to earnings announcements are greater in magnitude for larger, more widely-followed firms than for smaller, less widely-followed firms.     

Wettbewerbsmessung im Bankensektor: alternative Maße — divergierende Ergebnisse

Precise assessment of the competitive conditions is the necessary foundation of numerous stability, productivity and profitability analyses of the banking industry. From a theoretical point of view, a wide range of alternative approaches are available. Nonetheless, the operationalisation of these measures has proved difficult due to regional market conditions, individual business models and generally high data requirements. Considerable divergences and contradictory results are revealed by a comparison of more than 50 studies from four decades. In reference to the resilience and comparability of regulatory inferences, the question remains as to which measure should be favoured in the future.     

Thin-slicing Tremé as a subjective sashay: heretical pilgrimages to St. Augustine Catholic Church

ABSTRACT

Five heretical field researchers celebrate human subjectivity in a fractured journey toward St. Augustine Catholic Church in the heart of Tremé in September 2015. They populate their diverse pentagonal thoughts with Mary Douglas’ negotiated concepts of purity and pollution, rituals and symbols as a counterweight in their backpacks. Some are inspired by the theatrical mythologies of the guides who take them there, others are stopped in their track by the residual devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Some stop to wonder at Nicolas Cage’s future resting place, others line up at food-trucks to add smells and taste to Tremé’s mediated precreation. Some frame it as a battle ground of past and present injustice, others acknowledge the strife inside the dirty tourist. The thin-sliced meanings acquired on the boulevards to St. Augustine Catholic Church provide a touch of truthfulness, in the idiosyncratic segments, and the spirited spaces in between.     

From information society to biosociety? On societal waves, developing key technologies, and new professions

The article discusses the possible societal transition from information society toward biosociety. Furthermore, the impacts of this possible transition on professional and educational branches (PEBs) are examined. It is based on the study completed in Lahti Center at the Helsinki University of Technology between years 2001-2003. In the study, the most important developing key technologies were defined and their impacts on professions analysed through the application of Delphi technique. The developing key technology groups were information and communication technology, biotechnology, and material and nanotechnology. In addition, combinations of these technologies, that is, so-called fusion technologies, were also subjects for analysis. The first empirical aim was to analyse the plausibility and the timing of the so-called technological theses. The following technologies (technological theses) were deemed to be the most important ones: highly selective drugs, sensors, integrated technology, biomedical materials, photonic materials, 3G technology, intelligent materials, diagnostics, and virtual reality. The second empirical objective of the study was to analyze the professional and educational impacts of these technologies. Moreover, the article takes an experimental glance into the future through the creation and evaluation of “future professions”.     

Minimum distance estimation of the errors-in-variables model using linear cumulant equations

We consider a multiple mismeasured regressor errors-in-variables model. We develop closed-form minimum distance estimators from any number of estimating equations, which are linear in the third and higher cumulants of the observable variables. Using the cumulant estimators alters qualitative inference relative to ordinary least squares in two applications related to investment and leverage regressions. The estimators perform well in Monte Carlos calibrated to resemble the data from our applications. Although the cumulant estimators are asymptotically equivalent to the moment estimators from Erickson and Whited (2002), the finite-sample performance of the cumulant estimators exceeds that of the moment estimators.     

Capital structure dynamics and transitory debt

Firms deliberately but temporarily deviate from permanent leverage targets by issuing transitory debt to fund investment. Leverage targets conservatively embed the option to issue transitory debt, with the evolution of leverage reflecting the sequence of investment outlays. We estimate a dynamic capital structure model with these features and find that it replicates industry leverage very well, explains debt issuances/repayments better than extant tradeoff models, and accounts for the leverage changes accompanying investment “spikes.” It generates leverage ratios with slow average speeds of adjustment to target, which are dampened by intentional temporary movements away from target, not debt issuance costs.