Modeling skewness with the linear stochastic plateau model to determine optimal nitrogen rates

Accurate modeling of skewness is needed to increase the actuarial fairness of crop insurance. We test Day's conjecture that crop yield skewness becomes negative as nitrogen rates increase and determine how well a linear response stochastic plateau (LRSP) production function matches the pattern of observed skewness using four long‐term nitrogen experiments. Stillwater wheat is consistent with Day's conjecture, but the skewness for Lahoma and Altus wheat yields as well as Altus cotton yields are not. The LRSP assumes normal random effects and can explain only a small part of observed skewness, so a new LRSP with skew‐normal random effects is introduced, which comes closer to explaining the observed skewness and should increase the accuracy of nitrogen rate recommendations. Negative skewness reduced optimal nitrogen rates and positive skewness increased optimal nitrogen rates.     

A statistical study of racism in English football

The English Premier League is often quoted as being the ‘best football league in the world’, a mix of British born and international stars showing off their skills almost every week. With around 25 % of Premier League players being from ethnic minority backgrounds, it is arguably one of the world’s most inclusive sports leagues—but is it really as fair as it seems? This analysis looks at the 2011–2012 Premier League season, to investigate whether there existed evidence of forms of racial discrimination against Black, non-White and non-European players during this period. We analyze player data collected from two hundred and ninety players and seventeen teams using logistic regression, to determine how being a Black, non-White or non-European player depends on variables like total number of appearances, number of fouls, number of yellow cards, number of red cards, number of cards awarded by English referees, number of cards awarded by non-English referees, total number of goals scored by the team, and total number of goals scored by the player. Our results show that there does seem to exist some discrepancy between the treatment of non-White and non-European and Black players compared to the sample of White players.     

Timing of technology adoption and product market competition

This paper examines how product market competition affects firms' timing of adopting a new technology, as well as whether the market provides sufficient adoption incentives. It demonstrates that adoption dates differ, not only among symmetric firms, but also among markets with different market features. More specifically, technology adoption can occur earlier in a market with Cournot competition than in a market with Bertrand competition. It can also occur earlier in a market in which goods are not too close substitutes. Therefore, this paper shows that competition toughness does not always reinforce adoption incentives. When goods are sufficiently differentiated, adoption occurs later than is socially optimal.     

Antecedents and consequences of management-espoused organizational cultural control

The issue of control is central to many conceptualizations of work and work organization. Although the body of research on organizational culture control is growing, this literature has a number of limitations. This article encourages theory building by supplying generalizable empirical evidence of the practices of organizations that aim to enhance management-espoused cultural control as well as developing insights into how such efforts impact on employees. The analysis of the responses to a survey of one thousand firms finds a number of significant associations between the three antecedent factors and cultural control as well as three associations with consequences. The article culminates with a discussion of the contributions and implications of these findings.     

Optimizing capital investments under technological change and deterioration: A case study on MRI machine replacement

ABSTRACT

We study the multiple style and type parallel asset replacement problem (MST-PRES), which determines an optimal policy for keeping or replacing a group of assets that operate in parallel under a limited budget. Operating assets generally suffer from deterioration, which results in high operation and maintenance (O&M) cost and decreased salvage value, and technological improvements make it possible for new assets to operate more efficiently at a lower cost. In order to address these issues, we formulate a multi-objective mixed-integer programming (MIP) model that minimizes fixed and variable costs of purchasing new assets, O&M cost, inventory cost, and penalty cost for unmet demand minus salvage values, while considering technological advances and deterioration as a gain and loss in capacity, respectively. We apply our model to a case study involving two different styles of assets: a full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine and a smaller extremity magnetic resonance imaging (eMRI) machine. Each has two types: high-field and low-field. We perform computational experiments and analyses using key model parameters and illustrate optimal replacement strategies considering the impact of technological advances and deterioration. Results show that the proposed MIP model provides valuable insights and strategies for companies, decision makers, and government entities on the capital asset management.     

Downstream Research Joint Venture with Upstream Market Power

In a vertically related industry, we examine the downstream firms' incentives to invest in cost‐reducing Research and Development (R&D), and to form a Research Joint Venture (RJV), under two alternative structures of input supply: exclusive vertical relations and a single supplier. In contrast to the “hold‐up” argument, in which downstream firms invest non‐cooperatively and spillovers are low, R&D investments are higher under a single supplier than under competing vertical chains. Downstream firms' incentives to form a RJV are also stronger in the former case than they are in the latter. We identify conditions under which an RJV is beneficial for society. Integrated innovation and competition policies are also discussed.     

Audit quality in common-law and code-law emerging markets: Evidence on earnings conservatism, agency costs and cost of equity

This study focuses on firms that are audited by a big auditor and examines the differentiation in the earnings management potential and the level of conservatism. It also investigates whether being audited by a big auditor would lead to lower agency costs and lower cost of equity. The study focuses on emerging common-law South Africa and code-law Brazil, and seeks to identify whether there are material differences given their dissimilar institutional characteristics. The study reports that even though firms may be audited by high quality auditors, their institutional differences influence significantly firms' earnings conservatism, agency costs and cost of equity. Client firms of big auditors in both common-law South Africa and code-law Brazil exhibit lower discretionary accruals. The study has found evidence of more conservative earnings for South Africa but insufficient levels for Brazil. For common-law South Africa, the presence of effective corporate governance mechanisms reduces agency costs. For code-law Brazil, the corporate governance mechanisms generally display an insignificant impact on reducing agency costs. For common-law South Africa, firm-level performance, growth and market determinants tend to lead to a lower cost of equity. For code-law Brazil, it is found that significant discretionary accruals, market beta and analyst forecast dispersion would result in higher uncertainty and would consequently raise the cost of equity.