The Worth of a Possum: Valuing Species with the Contingent Valuation Method

The focus of this paper is on methods of assessing the value peopleplace on the conservation of species for use in policy making. Of principalinterest is the relatively new methodology of contingent valuation, whichis a method for asking people directly about their preferences. The paperpresents an application of the contingent valuation method to theconservation of an endangered species in the State of Victoria, Australia.The results emphasise the importance of careful survey design,implementation and analysis as well as the precise definition of theenvironmental good being valued. Consequently, the contingent valuationmethod does provide information relevant to decision making processesbased on monetary economic considerations. Thus, in orthodox economicterms it makes sense to conserve species – but there are other moral andethical grounds for conserving species as well.     

U.K. Unit Trust Performance: Does it Matter Which Benchmark or Measure is Used?

We explore the validity of different benchmark specifications used to evaluate U.K. fund performance, and we examine the sensitivity of U.K. unit trust performance to the factor benchmark specification and two performance measures. Our findings suggest that the different benchmark specifications create some bias when we evaluate U.K. fund performance with either performance measure. We find that the performance of the trusts is sensitive to the factor benchmark specification used, but not to the performance measure. We also find significant time-series variations in the abnormal performance of the trusts.     

Global current account adjustment: trade implications for the euro area countries

Although the euro area is not one of the major players in current global imbalances, the rebalancing of the current global imbalances is coupled with a significant appreciation of the euro against. In this paper, I present estimations of trade equations for individual euro area countries using a vector error correction model. Each euro area member has got a different trade elasticity, in the short as well as in the short run. Results show that exchange rate innovations affect individual euro area countries at different rates, complicating the response of the euro area’s one-size-fits-all monetary policy.

Why do foreigners invest in the United States?

Why are foreigners willing to invest over $2 trillion per year in the United States? This paper tests various hypotheses and finds that standard portfolio allocation models and diversification motives are poor predictors of foreign holdings of U.S. liabilities. Instead, foreigners hold greater shares of their investment portfolios in the United States if they have less developed financial markets. The magnitude of this effect decreases with income per capita. Countries that trade more with the United States also have greater portfolio shares in U.S. equity and bond markets. These results support recent theoretical work on the role of financial development in sustaining global imbalances and have important implications for whether the United States can continue to attract sufficient financing from abroad without major changes in asset prices and returns, especially in bond markets.     

Financing decisions as a source of conflict in venture boards

Governance scholarship has suggested that venture boards should be structured so as to stimulate internal conflict. However, structure is a weak predictor of board effectiveness. Moreover, conflict can be dysfunctional, especially when it is focused on relationships rather than tasks. We show that venture boards experience more relationship conflict when they make financing decisions that involve devaluation of the venture and that this effect is moderated by whether the CEO is a founder. Our findings should prompt venture governance scholars to reconsider the importance of board structure, the value of board conflict and the behavior of founder- versus non-founder CEOs.     

Do Voluntary Biotechnology Labels Matter to the Consumer? Evidence from the Fluid Milk Market

This article examines the effects on the demand of voluntary labeling for the use of genetically modified growth hormone for retail fluid milk using supermarket scanner data. Retail fluid milk tracks one of the first biotechnology products approved, is fairly standardized and ubiquitous, and allows for cross-sectional differentiation between labeled and unlabeled products and between conventional and organic brands. The results indicate that voluntary labeling increases the demand for recombinant bovine growth hormone free milk. In addition, the estimated effects of labeling appear to have increased over time.     

Food risk perceptions by different consumer groups in Germany

This paper presents an analysis of the changing food risk perceptions of German consumers over the period 1992 to 2002. We analyse the respondents' general risk attitudes and their specific perceptions of food risks. Using cluster analysis we generate a typology of four consumer types. One group is worried about natural food risks, the second does not worry about any types of food risks, the third is concerned about technical food risks and the fourth is concerned about all food risks. A multinomial logit analysis identifies factors that describe the classification of households in this grouping. General risk attitudes and knowledge about food risk are significant variables in the explanation.     

Website development by nonprofit organizations in an emerging market: a case study of Thai websites

• Nonprofit organizations are pertinent players in making the world a better place. Their websites aid in fulfilling their socially beneficial missions by being a platform to present themselves, to interact with stakeholders around the world, and to perform e‐transactions to raise funds. This interdisciplinary research explores nonprofit websites in Thailand, an emerging market, to determine their progress through an adapted e‐business stage model. A manual website decoding process was used to determine the development of websites, within the sector. On average, almost three‐quarters of the websites offered interactivity and just less than half conducted online transactions, but internationally connected organizations in Thailand were significantly more likely to do so. The findings suggest that while nonprofit websites in Thailand are progressing, there is significant lag between local Thai websites and those that have international connections. While the model successfully provided new data for understanding nonprofit websites in less developed markets, it may need to be modified in future studies.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Signaling Effects of the US Food and Drug Administration Fast‐Track Designation

Pharmaceutical firms are reluctant to disclose proprietary information about a drug's likelihood of approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for fear of losing their competitive advantage. Instead, firms may use signals, like the FDA fast‐track designation, to indicate to investors the likelihood of a drug's approval. This analysis uses an event study methodology, with stock and market data from the Center for Research in Security Prices. The results show that the fast‐track designation is a strong, positive signal to investors (1998–2015), but its strength has markedly decreased over time. Results also show that the signal is strongest for the smallest firms. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.