Nonparametric Generalized Least Squares in Applied Regression Analysis

This paper compares a nonparametric generalized least squares (NPGLS) estimator to parametric feasible GLS (FGLS) and variants of heteroscedasticity robust standard error estimators (HRSE) in an applied setting. NPGLS consistently estimates the unknown scedastic function and produces more efficient parameter estimates than HRSE. We apply these various approaches for handling heteroscedasticity to data on professor rankings obtained from RateMyProfessors.com. We find that the statistical significance of key variables differs across seven versions of HRSE, leading to different conclusions, and a standard parametric approach to FGLS suffers from misspecification. NPGLS combines the virtues of both of these parametric approaches.     

Die Verkehrsinfrastruktur in Deutschland: marode und unterfinanziert

In German transport infrastructure provision, political decision-making and a lack of user charges are the main reasons for inefficiencies, such as underinvestment, misallocation of funds and congestions. In the last decades, transport policy in Germany has focused on network extensions, while maintaining and renewing the infrastructure have been neglected. Additional financial resources will be needed to restore the quality of the federal, state and local transportation networks, in order of magnitude of yy7.2 billion p.a. in the next 15 years. Although the government collects about yy45 billion in taxes and infrastructure charges from road transport, it is unable to fund the transport infrastructure adequately. Several committees have suggested new concepts to provide sufficient funding, continuity and efficiency for renewing the transport infrastructure, and different options of raising more funds are under discussion (launching a fund, increasing general or energy taxes, extending road charges). Special attention is paid to the political economy of public funding and both tax and charge resistance which are considered to be the main obstacle rather than a lack of ideas or scientific knowledge. In the end, German transport infrastructure does not only need additional money but also structural reforms to increase efficiency in the infrastructure sector.     

The Impact of the New Product Development Project on the Success of Financial Services

This article explores the impact of a number of aspects of the new product development project on the success of new financial services in the United Kingdom. It is found that synergy between the new product and the organisation, and the quality of internal marketing are particularly associated with eventual success for the new product. Technological advantage, market research and responsiveness (i.e. speed of development) are also associated with success. Banks seem to be particularly effective in their use of market research, whereas Building Societies are good at in ternal marketing and synergy. New interest accounts have been particularly successful due to the use of market research and the speed of their development.     

Professional Research,Lobbying and Intangibles: A Review Essay

The publication in January 1992 of The Valuation of Intangible Assets, a report by Arthur Andersen & Co., has again stimulated the ‘brands’ debate. The Report claims to present a range of valuation methods for intangibles that command a ‘consensus’ among preparers, and that overcome the problems of subjectivity, consistency, separability and relevance identified in earlier research into brand accounting. This paper argues that the concept of separability, upon which these claims depend, is far from clear. The Andersen Report also raises questions as to the nature of its appeal to consensus, the role of codification in determining accounting policy, and the status of professional ‘research’.     

Aristocratic Accounting: the Bute Estate in Glamorgan 1814–1880

The aristocracy played a significant role in the development of the British economy in the first half of the nineteenth century, not only as the owners of most of the agricultural land but also as promoters of urban development, transportation links and mineral extraction. One of the most important aristocratic families was that of the Marquesses of Bute, who made a crucial contribution to the development of the city and port of Cardiff and the South Wales coal industry. During this period, however, the Butes seldom lived on their Glamorgan estate, and they thus had to institute systems whereby the estate could be managed at a distance. This paper examines the accounting information used to manage a large aristocratic estate, and considers its relevance in the light of the economic, political and social objectives of the nineteenth century British aristocracy.