Japanese vocal intervention and the yen/dollar exchange rate

This paper examined the patterns of Japanese vocal intervention and its influence on the yen/dollar exchange rate using the daily data between January 2000 and August 2003. The major findings of this paper are as follows. First, vocal intervention that is leaning against the wind was found to be successful as opposed to lean-with-the-wind intervention which had mixed results in its effectiveness. Second, vocal intervention turned out to be more effective when it was intended for yen depreciation than for yen appreciation. Third, in the cases of leaning against the wind and yen depreciation intended interventions, the Japanese authorities normally relied on vocal intervention and engaged in actual intervention only when repeated vocal intervention proved ineffective.     

An Example of Data Technology Product: A Control Chart for Weibull Processes

This work proposes a new Shewhart-type control chart of the Weibull percentile (i.e. the reliable life) as a practical example of a product attained following the Data Technology (DT) approach. DT is briefly introduced as a new discipline defined apart from Information Technology (IT). Following this approach, some specific Bayes estimators are selected from literature and then used to build the above new chart. These estimators allow to improve the control making use of any available kind of data (statistical and non-statistical). The operative steps of DT approach are fully explained. The results are illustrated by means of a real applicative example.     

ICT Co-evolution and Korean ICT strategy—An analysis based on patent data

This paper investigates the interactive nature of relationships between Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in terms of their technological innovations and diffusion. For the purpose, the United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) database was used and Lotka-Volterra equations were applied to the patent data, resulting in a Patent Interaction Network (PIN). This matrix was employed to investigate the interaction patterns among ICT-related industries, allowing co-evolution process across ICTs to be analyzed. This paper also examined patenting activities in the Korean ICT sector, which has announced the IT839 strategy to address ICT-related services, infrastructures and growth drivers. It is judged that the evolving pattern of Koran ICT has been compatible with the PIN, facilitating the development of each other. It is also expected that promoting broadband and home-network technologies, together with technologies on digital contents and software solutions, can lead to the growth of the whole ICT industry. Such research findings will provide numerous implications for policy-making and strategic planning for ICT development.     

How does changing age distribution impact stock prices? A nonparametric approach

This paper examines whether variations in demographic structure have influenced stock prices. The study employs a nonparametric approach based on the Fourier Flexible Form representation, which relates variations in the entire age distribution to the normalized stock price under a flexible functional form. The main findings of this paper are that there is a significant impact from prime working‐age consumers on the stock price, and that this impact is robust for all G5 countries (France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA). These findings survive many robust tests, and are consistent with the predictions from the life‐cycle models. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Online image content analysis of political figures: an exploratory study

This study investigates the emotional content of facial images of South Korean politicians. The data were drawn from official websites of 18th National Assembly members. We categorized facial expressions (smiling, frowning, and no expression) by using photos on the websites. The smiling image was the most prevalent facial expression regardless of the socio-political-demographic attributes of the politicians. The existence and strength of the smiling image had significant positive correlations with the politicians’ web visibility. Opposition parties were significantly more likely to show frowning or expressionless images than the ruling party. The more experienced politicians were more likely to continue their use smiling images than similarly aged politicians with less experience.     

Examining academic Internet use using a combined method

Since the inception of the Internet in South Korea, the Internet has become an important medium for information and communication among collegians due to its complete integration into everyday school lives. This study examines the scholarly use and role of advanced computer and communications technologies in general and the Internet in particular via an open-ended, qualitative survey among Korean university students. Through word frequency analysis and semantic mapping, this paper identifies the key issues in academic Internet use. In addition to information science methods, content analysis is used to investigate the attitudinal and behavior dimensions in scholarly Internet use. The results are expected to enable professors and policymakers to target populations who underutilize the educational potential of Internet technologies and to design e-learning programs for such students.     

How do social scientists use link data from search engines to understand Internet-based political and electoral communication?

As link data become more available from search engines, the data can play an important role in understanding socio-political activities in cyberspace. However, the majority of social scientists have not engaged in link data collection, transformation, and analysis to perform research using publicly available search engines. This article offers two case studies of Internet-based political and electoral communications conducted in Korea, where online communication is among the most well-established in the world. These cases reveal that link data collected from search engines have several merits for political communication research, including inexpensive access to web resources and ease of use. However, link data have some weakness, such as reliability issues: internal algorithms are not made in public and there are inconsistencies among search engines. This article examines the two case studies to draw conclusions about the use of link data drawn from search engines for research purposes.     

Partner Characteristics,Information Asymmetry,and the Signaling Effects of Joint Ventures

We provide theory and evidence regarding the signaling effects of joint venture (JV) announcements. We argue that when a firm characterized by information asymmetry with respect to the stock market announces a JV, the growth opportunities and the quality of resources of the partner provides a signal to investors about the true value of the firm. Our study shows that (i) apart from synergies, JV announcements impact firm value also because of the information they convey about future growth opportunities; and (ii) JVs may not only validate but also ‘invalidate’ the quality of a firm by revealing that it is unable to attract strong partners. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Community-based development and poverty alleviation: An evaluation of China's poor village investment program

We conduct the first systematic evaluation of the world's largest community-based development program—China's flagship poverty alleviation program began in 2001 which finances public investments in designated poor villages based on participatory village planning. We use matching methods and a panel household and village data set with national coverage to compare changes from 2001 to 2004 in designated poor villages that began plan investments and in designated poor villages that had yet to begin plan investments. We find that the program significantly increased both government- and village-financed investments. While the program did not increase the income or consumption of poorer households, it did increase the income and consumption of richer households by 6.1 to 9.2%. We also find suggestive evidence that governance matters in the distribution of program benefits. Relative gains were greater for richer households in villages with more educated leaders, and higher quality village committees delivered greater benefits to both richer and poorer households.     

Corruption and valuation of multinational corporations

This paper examines the relationship between U.S. MNCs' valuation and corruption in countries where the MNCs' foreign subsidiaries are located. We uncover that country-level corruption has a multi-dimensional impact on MNCs' valuation. We find that the impact of intangibles is less pronounced for MNCs operating primarily in corrupt countries, consistent with the view that the lack of property rights protection and information asymmetry problems are more prevalent in corrupt environments. We also find that the expansion of a MNC network dominated by corrupt countries negatively affects MNCs' valuation, suggesting that investors may recognize it as an additional risk. However, more importantly, we find that geographic diversification in corrupt countries significantly increases firm value if the MNC has high levels of intangibles such as technological know-how and marketing expertise. Assuming that transactions costs in corrupt countries are higher, our findings are consistent with the notion that the advantages from internalizing the cross-border transfer of intangibles are greater in the presence of corruption. Our findings remain unchanged when we account for endogeneity at the country-and firm-level, when we use alternative corruption measures, and when we re-estimate models by omitting MNCs with operations in locations with big “negative” shocks during the sample period. Moreover, we show that firms with expertise in dealing with corruption enjoy greater benefits from internalization.