Contract theory and mortgage foreclosure moratoria

Contracts are an essential institution in capitalist economies. Contract law provides a long and interesting constitutional history. At the same time, mortgage foreclosure moratoria is shown to be an occasional and repeated phenomenon. This paper explores the legal and economic aspects of this issue via a survey of the schools of thought on contracts. The paper also speculates about the nature of mortgage contracts and the economics of moratoria statutes.     

The impact of accounting restatements on CFO turnover and bonus compensation: Does securities litigation matter?

This paper examines the association between accounting restatements, class-action securities litigation and chief financial officer (CFO) turnover and bonus compensation. We identify income-decreasing earnings restatements that were the result of aggressive accounting policies, and hypothesize that these restatements will result in higher CFO turnover rates, and lower bonus compensation, especially when the firm is the target of a restatement-related class-action securities lawsuit. Our results indicate that CFO turnover and bonus compensation are affected by restatements, but only when the restatement firm is the target of a class-action suit. When we expand the analyses to consider other types of executives (e.g., CEOs and COOs), we continue to find that turnover only occurs in the presence of a class-action suit. However, bonus compensation penalties to other types of executives are not limited to litigation-related restatements.     

Manifest destiny meets inclusion: Texas nationalism at the Alamo

In San Antonio, Texas, the Alamo is an annual destination for 2.5 million visitors. From the early 1900s, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) controlled the Alamo, with their nationalist, Anglo-centric version of the past. They allegedly ignored its previous history, erasing the Tejanos (Texas Latinos) who supported the 1836 Texas Revolution. Texas lawmakers recently voted to restrict DRT's control of the site. For tour guides, what is the Alamo's meaning? What happens as that meaning becomes more inclusive? This study documents Alamo guides' interaction with tourists, through the use of participant observation and interviews. At the Alamo, narratives now embrace Tejano heroism alongside Anglo heroism, and there is substantial inclusion of the Spanish language. Tour guides integrate political context and evidence-based history, alongside – and often in conflict with – the myth-making of the DRT. These are distinct and important adjustments, yet slavery and Alamo tourism's antagonistic past are not fully confronted. Guides wonder whether their story is simply harder to promote in the face of cultural pressures. When contested sites become more inclusive, there are unforeseen obstacles and consequences.     

Ethical statements as smokescreens for sectional interests: The case of the UK accountancy profession

The UK accountancy industry has traded upon its professional status as a means of expanding and legitimating its activities. Extensive appeals are made to ethical codes and disciplinary arrangements as part of its claim to professional status. This study examines some recent events relating to audit failures and alleged unprofessional conduct by accountancy firms and their partners in the UK with a view to assessing the validity of the claims to professional status. It concludes that the rhetoric of the claims is belied by the failure/inability of the professional accountancy bodies to take effective action against the offending firms or their partners.Austin Mitchell After an early career as a university lecturer he became a television journalist and since 1983 has been a Member of Parliament. He was the Labour Party's Trade and Industry spokesman from 1987–1989. He published a number of books and many articles in the press.Anthony Puxty has since 1987 been professor of Accounting and Finance at the University of Strathclyde. He has published some seven books and more than seventy papers and articles.Prem Sikka is a professionally qualified accountant. He is currently a Principal Lecturer at the University of East London. He has published two research monographs and more than seventy five articles.Hugh Willmott is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Manchester School of Management, having worked previously at the University of Aston and the Copenhagen Business School. He has published seven books and contributed numerous articles to leading management, accounting, finance, and social science journals.     

The biological standard of living in early nineteenth‐century West Africa: new anthropometric evidence for northern Ghana and Burkina Faso1

West Africans are on average shorter than Europeans today. Whether this was already the case at the end of the Atlantic slave trade is an important question for the history of nutrition and physical welfare. We present the first study of changing heights for people born mostly in what are now northern Ghana and Burkina Faso during the early nineteenth century. The dataset, not used before for anthropometry, documents men born between 1800 and 1849. Mostly purchased from slave owners, they were recruited into the Dutch army to serve in the Dutch East Indies. We find that height development was stagnant between 1800 and 1830 and deteriorated strongly during the 1840s. In international comparison and after taking selectivity issues into account, these Ghanaian and Burkinabe recruits were notably shorter than north‐western Europeans but not shorter than southern Europeans during this period.     

Applying a Universal Content and Structure of Values in Construction Management

There has recently been a reappraisal of value in UK construction and calls from a wide range of influential individuals, professional institutions and government bodies for the industry to exceed stakeholders’ expectations and develop integrated teams that can deliver world class products and services. As such value is certainly topical, but the importance of values as a separate but related concept is less well understood. Most construction firms have well-defined and well-articulated values, expressed in annual reports and on websites; however, the lack of rigorous and structured approaches published within construction management research and the practical, unsupported advice on construction institution websites may indicate a shortfall in the approaches used. This article reviews and compares the content and␣structure of some of the most widely used values approaches, and discusses their application within the construction sector. One of the most advanced and empirically tested theories of human values is appraised, and subsequently adopted as a suitable approach to eliciting and defining shared organisational values. Three studies within six construction organisations demonstrate the potential application of this individually grounded approach to reveal and align the relative values priorities of individuals and organisations to understand the strength of their similarity and difference. The results of these case studies show that this new universal values structure can be used along with more qualitative elicitation techniques to understand organisational cultures.     

Securitization: The Transformation of Illiquid Financial Assets into Liquid Capital Market Securities Examples from the European Market

Since the benefits a firm can derive from securitization are universal, the discussion of a market bounded by national borders is somewhat artificial unless the focus is on constraints particular to the country which promote or inhibit the use of securitization. With the exception of the United Kingdom, regulatory constraints have been an important factor in slowing the development of a European market for asset and mortgage backed securities. In addition to the regulatory hurdles, securitization in Europe has been inhibited by segmented corporate bond markets and the relatively slow development of money market savings vehicles for households. Liquidity across credit spectrums has been enhanced since the introduction of the Euro, as has been the competition for savings. European companies are developing the ability to securitize even if the technique is not yet being widely exploited. What is the European market for mortgage and asset backed securities? Does it include the U.S. credit card banks, Citicorp, Chase, MBNA, and First USA that have refinanced U.S. credit card receivables in European currencies and in Euro? Does it include GMAC which has structured Swiss Franc and Euro ABS backed by its U.S. dealer floor plan loans? Does it include Japanese banks that have refinanced Yen denominated leases with Euro and Swiss Franc ABS? Does it include Barclays' issue of $1 billion of ABS backed by sterling credit card receivables? Of course the answer is yes. Markets are defined by both the supply and demand sides. Our analysis focuses on the supply side of the domestic European market.