Elektromobilität braucht intelligente Förderung

Die EU-Kommission sieht in ihrer Roadmap 2050 vor, ab 2050 keine Fahrzeuge mehr mit Verbrennungsmotoren in den St?dten zuzulassen. Der Verbrennungsmotor als Antrieb für Kraftfahrzeuge muss entsprechend mittelfristig durch andere Antriebsformen abgel?st werden. Dies geschieht nicht reibungslos und macht eine intelligente F?rderung notwendig. Wie gro? die Bereitschaft in der Bev?lkerung ist, auf Elektromobilit?t umzusteigen, wird von den Autoren anhand eines Experiments gezeigt.     

Discretionary Accounting Accruals,Managers' Incentives,and Audit Fees*

This paper examines the linkages between discretionary accruals (DAs), managerial share ownership, management compensation, and audit fees. It draws on the theory that managers of firms with high management ownership are likely to use DAs to communicate value‐relevant information, while managers of firms with high accounting‐based compensation are likely to use DAs opportunistically to manage earnings to improve their compensation. OLS regression results of 648 Australian firms show that (1) there is a positive association between DAs and audit fees; (2) managerial ownership negatively affects the positive relationship between DAs and audit fees; and (3) this negative impact is further found to be weaker for firms with high accounting‐based management compensation.     

Chinese Auditors' Ethical Behavior in an Audit Conflict Situation

This paper draws on the economics of ethical compliance model to examine the association between ethical reasoning, perceived risk of detection, perceived levels of penalties and Chinese auditors' ethical behavior in an audit conflict situation. Using 53 Chinese auditors from Shenzen as subjects, and a survey questionnaire, this study found that there is a significant negative association between ethical reasoning and the likelihood of unethical behavior and that this negative association is weaker for auditors who perceive higher risks of detection.     

Deutsche Wirtschaft gut ausgelastet — Wirtschaftspolitik neu ausrichten

The German economy is experiencing a moderate recovery: GDP is expected to grow by 1.9 percent this year, 1.4 percent next year, and 1.6 percent in 2018. Over the course of the forecast period, capacity utilisation will be somewhat higher than in the longterm average. Nevertheless, the contribution of corporate investment to the current upswing is minimal. The global economy is generating only minor stimulating effects, which means that exports are increasing only moderately. The extremely low long-term interest rates are likely to reflect not only the current monetary policy, but also low growth expectations. All of these factors are inhibiting investment into equipment, and thus, consumption continues to be the main growth driver. Private consumption is benefiting from the sustained increase in employment; the high expenditures for accommodating and integrating the refugees is still having a strong impact on public spending. Residential construction is getting a boost from the low interest rates.     

Non-audit services, auditor quality and the value relevance of earnings

This paper tests the hypothesis that there is an inverse relation between non‐audit services (NAS) provided by a firm auditor and the value relevance of earnings (measured as the earnings response coefficient) and that this relation is weaker for firms with Big 6 auditors. The hypothesis is based on anecdotal evidence and previous research that suggests that the provision of NAS by the external auditor is likely to adversely affect investors’ perceptions of the credibility of financial reports, and that Big 6 auditors, because of reputational capital and litigation costs, are likely to mitigate the adverse effects of NAS. Results using 840 firm‐year observations of Australian companies document a statistically significant inverse relationship between NAS and the value relevance of earnings, and this inverse relationship is weaker for Big 6 auditors, therefore supporting the hypothesis.     

The Economic Effects of Integration in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community: Some General Equilibrium Estimates for Cameroon

In this paper we quantitatively assess the impact of the CEMAC on its largest member, Cameroon. We find that Cameroon will gain between 0.41 and 0.62 percent of its GDP. Our decomposition shows that the part of the agreement that calls for further preferential reduction of tariffs is immiserizing, although given the low level of intra‐regional imports, the quantitative impact is quite small. Improved access to partner country markets accounts for about one‐quarter of the gains. We find, however, that about three‐quarters of the gains come from reduction of Cameroon’s tariff against the rest of the world. Moreover, our estimates for Cameroon’s unilateral trade liberalization show that it can gain marginally even more from full unilateral trade liberalization than it can from implementation of the CEMAC arrangements. Our results incorporate, in an otherwise small open economy model, the fact that Cameroon may possess regional market power, and we assess the difference in results with models that have no regional market power. Dans cet article, nous évaluons quantitativement l’impact de la CEMAC sur son pays membre le plus important par son poids économique: le Cameroun. Nos estimations indiquent que le Cameroun enregistrera un gain compris entre 0,41% et 0,62% de son PIB. La décomposition de cet impact montre que l’approfondissement des préférences tarifaires réduit le bien‐être, même si compte tenu du faible niveau des importations intra‐régionales, son impact quantitatif apparaît assez faible. L’amélioration de l’accès aux marchés des partenaires régionaux explique environ un quart des gains. Cependant, environ trois quarts des gains sont expliqués par la réduction par le Cameroun de ses tarifs vis‐à‐vis du reste du monde. De plus, nos estimations indiquent qu’àla marge, le Cameroun gagnerait plus d’une libéralisation commerciale unilatérale que de la mise en oeuvre des accords de la CEMAC. Nos résultats incorporent dans ce qui est par ailleurs un modèle d’une petite économie ouverte, le fait que le Cameroun puisse posséder un pouvoir de marché régional, et nous comparons les résultats àceux des modèles sans pouvoir de marché régional.     

An Analysis of Joint Effects of Investment Opportunity Set,Free Cash Flows and Size on Corporate Debt Policy

This study, based on a sample of 1869 observations from 1989 to 1993 for non-regulated U.S. firms, examines the association between investment opportunity set (IOS), free cash flows (FCF) and debt, and also tests whether firm size acts as a moderating variable on this association. The results show that there is a significantly positive association between FCF and debt for low IOS firms, which provide support to Jensen's (1986) control hypothesis. The results also show that the positive association between debt and high FCF for low IOS firms is more pronounced for large firms, suggesting that the firm size serves as a moderating variable on the association.     

Internationalization as Interaction: A Process Perspective on Internationalization from a Small Developing Country

Despite their heavy dependence on international markets, small developing countries or small states have been underrepresented in the internationalization literature. Unlike developed or large developing countries, small states face dual constraints of relatively weak institutions and a narrow resource base along with an open market environment. A changing domestic environment in small states requires firms to adapt and a process approach was employed in order to examine sustained internationalization firms from Trinidad and Tobago (TT). Analysis of the findings indicates that changing economic circumstances result in varying domestic production and market resource availability. In response, firms from small states may engage in phased rather than staged patterns of activity that include accelerated, reverse, and inward internationalization. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Investor sentiment and advertising expenditure

A strategic issue facing marketing managers is ‘how much and when’ to spend on advertising. We argue that investor sentiment in the stock market may influence advertising expenditure by affecting firms' ability to raise new funds. We show that during periods of low (high) investor sentiment, firms decrease (increase) their advertising expenditure, even though the effectiveness of advertising is greater (lower) during such periods. We also find that these results are stronger for financially constrained firms that rely more on external financing. Our findings suggest that marketing managers can improve the efficiency of their advertising expenditure by raising (reducing) it during periods of low (high) sentiment.