Valuation of SGARAs IN THE Wine Industry: Time for Sober Reflection

The application of AASB 1037 Self Generating and Regenerating Assets provides little guidance to the commercial performance of winemakers. The valuation of grapevines essentially requires the valuation of a segment of a business (vineyards), from which is deducted the value of associated infrastructure. Grapevines are reported at a fictional "net market value" even though they cannot be bought or sold. The combination of recognising revaluation increments as distributable profits through the valuation of grapevines at "net market value", and the subsequent "amortisation" of those revaluation increments over the useful lives of the grapevines, creates a reporting maze which is more likely to confuse than inform.     

Pricing mortgage-backed securities in a multifactor interest rate environment: a multivariate density estimation approach

Multivariate density estimation (MDE) suggests that mortgage-backedsecurity (MBS) prices can be well described as a function ofthe level and slope of the term structure. We analyze how thisfunction varies across MBSs with different coupons. An importantfinding is that the interest rate level proxies for the moneynessof the option, the expected level of prepayments, and the averagelife of the cash flows, while the term structure slope controlsfor the average rate at which these cash flows should be discounted.     

Attitudes of Businessmen,Consumers, and Consumerists Toward Consumerism

Despite the apparent concern about consumerism issues by various groups, it appears that much of this concern has been based on speculation and casual observations. There is a paucity of empirical research regarding attitudes toward consumerism. This study is the first to assess the attitudes of businessmen, consumers and consumerists—all from the same geographic and market environmenttoward several important consumerism issues. The results, which show significant differences in various areas, have important policy implications for consumerists, politicians and businessmen.     

Zur Qualität der Medienkontrolle: Ergebnisse einer Befragung deutscher Rundfunk- und Medienräte

This article presents the results of a survey among German media supervisors (members of supervising boards in public broadcasting stations and state media institutions). Given the increasing commercialization and internationalization of television, the supervising boards play a crucial part in assessing the quality of programs. From among 940 German supervisors, 364 took part in the survey, which covered the individual role conceptions of respondents as well as their attitudes towards quality criteria for television. Results suggest that both the supervisors’ amount of television use and the types of programs they prefer is clearly different from patterns in the population. This, along with the observation that supervisors often criticize what they saw privately, suggests (given the diversity of programs) that too much might be expected of them. Media supervisors do heed quality criteria in their work, but these probably do not correspond to other groups’ criteria, and especially not to the general population’s. To conclude, suggestions are discussed to improve the system of supervising programs by important social groups.     

The short run efficacy of monetary policy under floating exchange rates reconsidered

This paper disputes the argument that the short-run effectiveness of monetary policy in stabilizing domestic output under floating rates is necessarily reduced if elasticities of demand for imports and exports with respect to the current exchange rate are low and capital flows depend on the exchange rate. It is shown that the relative efficacy of monetary changes is determined by the interest rate elasticity of international interest payments and receipts and the effect of exchange rate variations on the demand for money in addition to the exchange rate elasticities of trade and capital flows.