STANDARDIZATION IN THE WIRELESS INTERNET MARKET: LESSONS FROM JAPAN AND KOREA

The wireless Internet market has been growing rapidly since NTT DoCoMo first introduced the service in 1999. This paper provides a framework within which the wireless Internet market can be analysed so as to draw valuable policy implications. We show that if platforms are standardized: (i) social welfare is increased with the rational expectation of larger installed bases; (ii) the neutrality of a revenue‐sharing ratio that is valid for non‐standardized network platforms is affected; and (iii) the collusive interconnection charge is lower than the social optimum insofar as the population mass of content providers is less dense than that of Internet users.     

A suicide survivor: the life of a Chinese worker

In 2010, 18 employees working for Foxconn in China attempted suicide. These shocking events focused the world's attention on the manufacturing supply chains of China's export industry and the experience of working within them. What had driven these young, migrant, assembly line workers to commit such a desperate act? This article provides a first‐hand account of the experiences of one of those who survived a suicide attempt, 17‐year‐old Tian Yu. Her personal narrative is embedded within the broader context of labour process, work organisation and managerial practice at Foxconn, the Taiwanese‐owned multinational that provides products and components for Apple and others. The factory conditions are further shaped by the company trade union and Chinese government policies. The paper concludes with additional contextualisation indicating the emergence of an alliance of workers, students, scholars and transnational labour movement activists who are campaigning for Chinese workers' rights.     

Pedigree or Placement? An Analysis of Research Productivity in Finance

We examine pedigree and placement effects of research productivity in finance and find a notable placement effect: authors who are currently affiliated with "elite" institutions tend to be more productive, especially among the top three finance journals. The placement effect, however, weakens in more recent years. We also observe a pedigree effect in the top three journals, where there is a higher concentration of publications by authors with degrees from "elite" institutions. We provide rankings of the institutions that are best at developing and training scholars.     

Do star analysts know more firm-specific information? Evidence from China

Using a unique database in China, we extend the literature to further distinguish the information production role of star vs. non-star analysts. We confirm the general conclusion of a positive association between analyst coverage and stock return synchronicity measured by a firm’s R² in China. The findings from star analysts, however, show that star analyst coverage actually decreases stock return synchronicity. We contend that the firm-specific human capital in star analysts helps the analysts overcome the challenges of information production in an emerging market. The superior firm-specific human capital argument of star analysts is further supported by the negative association of star analysts’ firm-specific experiences and stock return synchronicity. Our conclusions are robust to different specifications of star analyst presence and different definitions of analysts’ firm-specific experiences. We also find that star analysts exhibit a more accurate earnings forecast than non-star analysts.     

Pay disparity in multinational and domestic firms in China: the role of pro-disparity norm

A survey of Chinese employees was conducted in China to examine the antecedents and consequences of a pro-disparity norm concerning the pay disparity associated with expatriate managers and with Chinese managers recruited from distant geographical areas (outside managers). These two groups, especially expatriate managers, tend to receive high salaries. Interactional justice received from outside managers was positively related to pro-disparity norm and task interdependence with them was negatively related to pro-disparity norm, but no significant relationship was found for expatriate managers. When innovative climate was high, interactional justice and task interdependence showed a positive relationship with pro-disparity norm. With regard to consequences of pro-disparity norm, when innovative climate was high, it was positively related to compliance with the requests of expatriate and outside managers and positively related to knowledge sharing with them.     

Religious‐based portfolio selection

We examine religious attendance and portfolio selection decisions for an individual with religious beliefs within a continuous-time framework. Our findings are three-fold. First, religious contributions increase with wealth capital, the degree of religious devotion, and an increase in the wage level. Second, religious attendance positively relates to wealth capital and the performance of stock investments, but negatively correlates with wage return rates. Third, participation in religious activities can result in declining demand for risky asset investments. Theoretically, this study explains how individuals’ portfolio choices correlate with their religious activities.     

Desired attributes of public accounting firms in the job selection process: an empirical examination of accounting graduates' perceptions

The purpose of this study is to identify attributes of public accounting firms that accounting graduates find most desirable in their job selection decisions, and the impacts of individual differences on these perceptions. Factor analysis performed on the responses of 167 final-year accounting students in Hong Kong to a 30-item questionnaire identified seven factors. The results indicate that accounting graduates considered help in finishing their professional accounting examinations and good staff relationships as the most important criteria in their choice of employers. In addition, female accounting graduates were more concerned about the possibility of being required to travel or be transferred, but were less concerned about the reputation and profile (such as the client base and the size) of the firms than their male counterparts. Accounting graduates with a higher grade point average (GPA) were less concerned about the working environment, but more concerned about a firms' reputation and profile than those with a lower GPA. The implications of these results are discussed.     

巴拉圭农村小额保险介绍

小额保险是为农村和城市低收入人群提供的一种简易保险,发展小额保险不仅可以加强低收入群体的保障水平,有效弥补社会保险的不足,而且能够减轻政府负担,加速国民经济的发展。本文在项目启动、投保机制、资金来源、保险利益以及风险管理等方面介绍了巴拉圭的农村小额保险产品(SI项目)。     

Government spending and the exchange rate

This paper investigates the effects of govenment spending on real and nominal exchange rates within the context of an open economy equilibrium rational expectations model. The model predicts that both real and nominal exchange rates appreciate in response to anticipated and unanticipated increases in government spending. Empirical evidence from Germany for the period 1975:2–1989:4 provides some weak support for the predictions of the model.