Evaluating the Effectiveness of Sustainability Disclosure: Findings from a Recent SASB Study

Early research into the relationship between corporate sustainability programs and financial performance suggests a positive relationship between strong sustainability performance and a lower cost of capital. As investors increasingly incorporate sustainability information into financial decisionmaking, the importance of high‐quality sustainability disclosure is growing. Just as investors have relied on financial disclosures based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to assess corporate risk, a market standard is needed to help companies disclose comparable sustainability information. To address this issue, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) conducted a recent analysis of the current state of sustainability disclosure in annual Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The study reviewed the disclosures of over 700 U.S.‐and foreign‐domiciled companies, focusing on material sustainability topics as identified by SASB's industry‐specific accounting standards. The authors find large variations among different corporate sectors in the frequency and quality, as well as the focus, of their sustainability disclosures. Then, after examining in detail disclosures within the SASB Resource Transformation and Consumer Staples sectors, the authors suggest a number of possible drivers of this variation, including key sustainability and economic trends, while also presenting evidence of increasing investor interest in sustainability information. Although the authors' analysis was not intended to determine the extent to which the quality of sustainability disclosure affects investor returns, the findings provide a useful baseline for the as yet largely unexplored relationship between sustainability disclosure and corporate financial performance.     

An assessment of another decade of capital controls in Colombia: 1998–2008

We explore the effectiveness of capital controls in Colombia. We analyze the impact of administrative restrictions to capital flows on aggregate capital flows, the composition of capital flows, the real exchange rate, and economic activity using restricted versions of vector error correction models (VEC) that control for exogenous global financial conditions. The models are estimated using monthly data ranging from August of 1998 to May of 2008. In addition we estimate GARCH models to identify if capital controls have had relevant impacts on the volatility of the nominal exchange rate and of other relevant asset prices. These models are estimated using weekly data covering the same time period. Results suggest that the capital controls used since 1998 have been ineffective in reducing capital flows and the trend of the Colombian peso to appreciate. In addition there is no evidence suggesting a change in the composition of capital flows induced by capital controls. We find some evidence in favor of capital controls reducing nominal exchange rate volatility at high frequencies.     

On maximum likelihood prediction based on Type II doubly censored exponential data

In this paper, the maximum likelihood predictor (MLP) of the kth ordered observation, t _k, in a sample of size n from a two-parameter exponential distribution as well as the predictive maximum likelihood estimators (PMLE's) of the location and scale parameters, θ and β, based on the observed values t _r, …, t _s (1≤r≤s<k≤n), are obtained in closed forms, contrary to the belief they cannot be so expressed. When θ is known, however, the PMLE of β and MLP of t _k do not admit explicit expressions. It is shown here that they exist and are unique; sharp lower and upper bounds are also provided. The derived predictors and estimators are reasonable and also have good asymptotic properties. As applications, the total duration time in a life test and the failure time of a k-out-of-n system may be predicted. Finally, an illustrative example is included. Received: August 1999     

Excess Burden of Taxation and Environmental Policy Mix with a Consumer‐Friendly Firm

This study examines the environmental policy mix of tradable emission permits and emission taxes in a duopoly model with a consumer‐friendly firm. We analyse the interplay of the two policies and the welfare consequences in the presence of excess burden of taxation. We show that an emission tax can be redundant when both the excess burden of taxation and the degree of consumer friendliness are insignificant. However, when the excess burden of taxation is significant, tradable permits policy with tax treatment should be applied to enhance welfare in the presence of a consumer‐friendly firm. Finally, under the tax revenue‐neutral case where the excess burden of taxation does not matter, the environmental policy mix is also efficient if the degree of consumer friendliness is sufficiently high.     

Evaluating corruption under the application of the SOCIO-economic development desgrowth index (Ð-index): the case of Guatemala

Getting a clear sense of the intensity and dynamics of corruption in a society or country is a critical platform for economic growth and development. This paper sets out to bring clarity to the study of corruption through an alternative approach. It examines and demonstrates how corruption can be evaluated by basically hinging it on the socio-economic development deaccumulation that any country can experience in different historical periods. The paper presents the socio-economic development desgrowth index (Ð-index), a new indicator with a complete set of mathematical tools that capture and calculate all the aspects that encompass corruption within a system or country. The paper successfully applied the (Ð-index) to X-ray the successive administrations of Guatemala from 1986 to year 2016 from where we convincingly observed the highs and lows in the corruption dynamics of Guatemala.     

The quantitative and qualitative evolution of the social security research

This article examines the evolution of social security research from a theoretical and empirical perspective. This is done through an extensive review and analysis of publications from the Journal of International Social Security Review published by Wiley within a 50-year period (1967–2017). It was observed that at a different period in time, the social security research focused on different national and international issues that invoked different social welfare programs and pension systems approach (public or private) to facilitate the explanation of its final socio-economic impact into different social groups in the same country or region respectively.     

Packard Electric/Delphi and the birth of the autopart cluster: the case of Chihuahua,Mexico

The purpose of this article is to describe, from a dual perspective, the birth and evolution of the technological cluster located in Chihuahua, Mexico. It reconstructs Packard Electric–Delphi’s evolutionary path as a dominant company, alongside the technological trajectory of the wiring harness. I build a taxonomy whose purpose is to distinguish different moments in the harness history. This approach to the harness demands systemic distinctions of a dynamic, quantitative and qualitative nature. The formation of the electrical/electronics cluster of automotive parts located in Chihuahua can be understood in the context of Packard Electric’s integration/disintegration dynamics. This regional and international reconstruction process reflects: (1) the accumulation of technological and organizational capabilities inside a firm; (2) technological competition within the sector; (3) the fact that each company follows particular technological learning ‘paths’ as well as a unique regional technological cluster formation (technological path); and (4) that the integration/disintegration dynamics of firms are difficult and unstable processes, dependent on the difference between internal and external transactional costs. L’article décrit lémergence et le développement du district technologique de Chihuahua (Mexique) à travers une approche évolutionniste qui s’attache à reconstituer une double trajectoire: celle d’une firme; Packard Electric–Delphi (PE), et celle d’une technologie, le câblage. Les différentes étapes de la technologie du câblage sont appréhendées en mettant l’accent sur la dynamique systémique de nature quantitative et qualitative. La formation du district technologique du câblage électrique/électronique de Chihuahua est mise en perspective avec la stratégie d’internationalisation et de localisation de la firme multinationale. Cette dynamique est le résultat d’un processus de développement des ressources technologiques et organisationnelles de la firme, du jeu de la concurrence technologique au sein de l’industrie du câblage et de l’articulation entre la trajectoire d’apprentissage technologique de la firme et celle associée à la formation du district technologique. La dynamique d’intégration et de d’externalisation de la firme apparaît ainsi de nature instable, dépendant des différences entre les coûts de transaction interne et externe.     

Do Insider Trading Laws Work?

This paper presents the first comprehensive global study of insider trading laws and their first enforcement. In a sample of 4,541 acquisitions from 52 countries, I find that insider trading enforcement increases both the incidence, and the profitability of insider trading. The expected total insider trading gains increase. Consequently, laws that proscribe insider trading fail to eliminate insider profits. However, harsher laws work better at reducing the incidence of illegal insider trading.     

Adopting better corporate governance: Evidence from cross-border mergers

Cross-border mergers allow firms to alter the level of protection they provide to their investors, because target firms usually import the corporate governance system of the acquiring company by law. Therefore, cross-border mergers provide a natural experiment to analyze the effects of changes in corporate governance on firm value, and on an industry as a whole. We construct measures of the change in investor protection induced by cross-border mergers in a sample of 7330 ‘national industry years’ (spanning 39 industries in 41 countries in the period 1990–2001. We find that the Tobin's Q of an industry — including its unmerged firms — increases when firms within that industry are acquired by foreign firms coming from countries with better shareholder protection and better accounting standards. We present evidence that the transfer of corporate governance practices through cross-border mergers is Pareto improving. Firms that can adopt better practices willingly do so, and the market assigns more value to better protection.