An Examination of Changes in Residents' Perceptions of Tourism Impacts Over Time: The Impact of Residents' Socio-demographic Characteristics

This study investigates whether there has been a change in residents' perceptions of various tourism impacts over time and the impact of residents' socio-demographic characteristics on those changes. A survey of local residents (n?=?732 in 2004 and n?=?590 in 2009) was carried out for collecting the data for this study which was then followed by focus groups, conducted in 2012, consisting of academics, local residents and the tourism experts to validate the outcome from the survey. The results suggest that there has been significant increase in the level of agreement of the Sunshine Coast residents during this period on some of the tourism impacts such as job creation, attracting more investment, providing more business for local people and more cultural exchange between tourists and residents. The results also suggest that there is a significant decline in their perceptions of tourism negatively affecting the way of living of local residents and likelihood of residents suffering from living in a tourism destination. The residents also feel that there will be a decline in parks and other recreational areas for local residents with growth in tourism. The study also found that demographic variables such as age, gender, income, education and occupation are likely to influence residents' perceptions of tourism impact over time. Implications for future tourism development plans for the region are discussed.     

The inflation-hedging properties of Turkish REITs

This study empirically tests the inflation-hedging abilities of Turkish REITs in comparison to the indices of common stocks listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) over the period December 1999 to December 2004. Two main factors motivate this study. First, compared to their counterparts in developed capital markets, Turkish REITs have some important tax incentives as well as flexibility in managing their portfolios. Second, the Turkish economy provides a rare and good opportunity to test the hedging behaviour of real estate stocks in periods of both high- and moderate-inflation rates. The empirical results show that Turkish REITs, in general, provide a better hedge against both actual and expected inflation than do the ISE common stock indices. Dividing the entire sample period into the high- and moderate-inflation sub-periods, we find that the hedging ability of REITs is better under high inflation than under moderate inflation.     

Group identity in markets

We present a laboratory experiment that measures the effects of group identity—one's perceived membership in social groups—on market transactions in an oligopoly market with a few sellers and buyers. We artificially induce group identity using art preferences and college majors in different treatments, respectively. Subjects are randomly assigned into the roles of buyers and sellers and interact repeatedly. We find that the presence of groups influences both the selection of trading partners and the determination of prices. All else equal, sellers are more likely to make offers to ingroup buyers, and the buyers are more likely to accept offers from ingroup sellers. There are considerable intergroup price differentials with the outgroup sellers charging a lower price than the ingroup sellers.     

The impact of IQ and EQ on pre-eminent achievement in organizations: implications for the hiring decisions of HRM specialists

In this study, IQ and EQ determinants of pre-eminent achievement in organizations were explored to help HRM specialists in selecting more appropriate job applicants, having potential for outstanding performance in their career paths. Several EQ elements were proved the most important in the achievement. However, IQ elements still play a very important role in superior performance. Results also exhibit that correlation of IQ and EQ levels of superior performers is significant and strong. In conclusion, HRM specialists have to test both IQ and EQ in the hiring process, to create a high-performing workforce in their organizations.     

Mobile device based smart medication reminder for older people with disabilities

With the latest research in the fields of medicine and pharmaceutical sciences, an increasing number of drugs are being invented to cure many fatal diseases and this has enabled people to live healthier and longer. Consequently, the rate of medication usage is increasing, particularly among the elderly. It is important that the medication prescribed by doctors is taken at the correct times of the day and in the correct dosages. This seems to be a significant problem encountered by older people with disabilities. As a result of forgetfulness or other problems, many older patients either do not take the correct medicines or the correct dosage at the appropriate times and this reduces the benefits of treatments and increases both healthcare costs and the mortality rates. In order to find a solution to this problem, a mobile phone and Cloud-based smart application has been developed to improve patient adherence, particularly for older people with disabilities. The novelty of the developed application is the use of a Cloud service to provide two-way communication in the form of feedback between the older patients with disabilities and the doctors so that the medication adherence of the patients can be monitored. Mobile application developers should find the developed mobile phone based medication reminder application for older people with disabilities a useful example application, and it should help them in developing other mobile applications for older people with disabilities.

     

Measuring Takeover Premiums in Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions: Insights from Turkey

We investigate whether the merger announcement dates provided in a popular mergers and acquisitions (M&A) database, SDC, serve as accurate event dates for estimating the wealth effects of mergers on target firms located in Turkey. We find that 74 percent of SDC’s merger announcement dates are preceded by merger-related events such as merger rumors, target firms’ search for potential acquirers, and early-stage merger negotiation announcements. Target cumulative abnormal return (CAR) estimates around these early dates are almost twice as large as the CAR estimates around SDC’s merger announcement dates. We argue that our findings have implications for the recently flourishing cross-border M&A literature.     

Entrepreneurial Saving Practices and Reinvestment: Theory and Evidence

We use a novel enterprise survey to gauge the relationship between saving instruments and entrepreneurial reinvestment. We show that while most informal saving practices are not associated with a lower likelihood of reinvestment when compared with formal saving practices, there is a significantly lower association of saving within the household with the likelihood of reinvesting profits than other savings form, most importantly, formal saving forms. This result is robust to the model specification and controlling for a large array of variables including district‐level fixed effects. We also provide empirical tests to address reverse causation and omitted variable concerns. Our work contributes to the debate on the implications of different saving instruments in developing countries and expands the entrepreneurial financing constraints literature by focusing on internal rather than external funding constraints.     

Housing Price Indices Based on All Transactions Compared to Repeat Subsamples

The set of real properties sold during a given period of time may be subdivided into several subsets comprising those properties that sold only once, only twice, and three or more times. The major reason for subdividing the sample is to allow estimation of residential price indices by the repeat-sales methodology. The purpose of this paper is to compare price indices estimated with the repeat subsample to indices based on the entire sample.
Our data for five metropolitan areas indicate that cumulative price trends for the repeat subsamples can differ from the full samples over periods ranging from two to ten quarters. While short-term price trends can differ widely, there are no systematic differences among the samples over periods of three years or more. The data indicate that arbitrage typically forces prices for the repeat sample to grow at the same rate as those for the full sample. Whether this would be the case in areas experiencing greater disequilibrium than our towns in the Hartford area is uncertain.     

An international comparison of scale economies in banking: Evidence from Turkey

In this article economies of scale are examined for Turkish banks. The literature on economies of scale in depository institutions is substantial. Yet, virtually all published articles have examined production/costs using data for developed countries, such as the United States, Canada, and Israel. Here we examine data from a country that has an economic system vastly different in terms of per capita productivity. Despite the differences, the results are similar across countries in that we find no significant evidence of economies of scale at output levels near the sample mean. This suggests that the conclusion from examining banks in developed countries—that a bank does not have to be large in order to be competitive from a cost perspective—holds in a less developed country.     

Loan Sales and the Cost of Corporate Borrowing

When a loan is sold, it goes to a lower-cost financing sourcethan its originator. Yet, lending markets are less than perfectlycompetitive. Despite the lower funding cost, therefore, theloan price is not necessarily more favorable to the borrower.However, corporate borrowers are averse to the participationof their loans to other lenders because of the complexity ofdealing with multiple banks and the potential information costsof the sale announcement. Consequently, I conjecture that theborrower extracts a price concession in exchange for allowingthe bank to sell participations in the loan. Using a hand-matcheddataset of loans, borrowers, and lenders, I find that the averageyield spread on loans originated by active loan sellers is about20 basis points lower than the average spread on loans originatedby moderate loan sellers.