The Impact of Mergers on Quality Provision: Evidence from the Airline Industry

We examine how mergers affect quality provision by analyzing five U.S. airline mergers, focusing on on‐time performance (OTP). We find that airline mergers have minimal negative impacts on OTP, and likely result in long‐run improvements due to efficiencies. Importantly, we show that this finding is not driven by post‐merger changes in price that could affect OTP. Consequently, at least in the case of airlines, policymakers should not, as a rule, fear the negative quality effects of mergers.     

Memberships Levels in U. S. Private Clubs During the 2008–2010 Economic Downturn

This study measured membership changes in private clubs in the United States during the economic downturn from 2008 to 2010. Specifically examined were the changes clubs experienced with their number of members, waiting lists, and attrition rates. A letter was sent via e-mail to the same 1,000 private clubs that were sent a survey in a similar study conducted by Ferreira and Gustafson (2006 Ferreira, R. R. and Gustafson, C. M. 2006. Declining memberships during an economic downturn in U.S. private clubs. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 7(2/3): 3–18. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) The managers of these clubs were members of the Club Managers Association of America. The majority of respondents managed country clubs and member-owned clubs, representing different areas of the United States. An overall response rate of 53% was achieved. Most clubs experienced a decrease in the overall number of members and an increase in annual attrition rate. Fewer clubs reported having a waiting list of members wanting to join. The clubs without waiting lists reported a larger number of membership openings in their clubs. The results of this study suggest the levels of memberships in many private clubs are heavily influenced by economic conditions. An implication from this study is that clubs need to implement membership development strategies during economic downturns because of the decline in the number of members, candidates proposed, and waiting lists during these periods.     

Schumpeterian economics: some observations on the relevance of his theoretical contributions to the management of industrial research and development

This paper investigates the relevance of the theoretical writings of Schumpeter to the management of research and development (R&D) in small and large industrial firms. Schumpeter's emphasis in his early work on three main aspects of industrial R&D; namely the importance of entrepreneurship, industrial innovation and resultant creative destruction, were major new insights that rejected the long‐standing view that equilibrium was the best state for any industrial economy. This paper, with the aid of relevant literature from both Schumpeter and others, seeks to relate his theoretical approach (that changed over time to favour large firm R&D) to the implication for industrial R&D, and in particular, the relationship between R&D in small and large firms. The paper concludes that if Schumpeter had lived to see the current industrial landscape, he might have returned to his early belief that entrepreneurial new small firms remain key harbingers of technological progress.     

Estimation of household preferences for long distance telecommunications carrier

The competitive environment in long-distance telecommunications markets changed considerably with the divestiture of AT&T in 1982. A variety of providers appeared, offering myriad services. In this environment, customer selection of preferred long-distance carrier became more complicated and more important.In this paper, we analyze and quantify the determinants of this choice. To our knowledge, this focus is distinct. By contrast, the literature to date has analyzed the behavioral determinants of calling volume (local and long-distance) and the selection of local service options.In our analysis, we allow the alternative carriers to differ in terms of tariffs, reputation, quality, access, and specialized customer services. We quantify the interactive effects of these carrier attributes and customer demographics upon the selection of carrier. Price and income elasticities are estimated. A distinguishing feature of our analysis is that it examines behavioral differences among households in equal-access and unequal-access areas. We find that households assured of the convenience of 1 + dialling for their chosen carrier in equal-access areas display more rational and sophisticated decision making. On the other hand, households in unequal-access areas display greater status quo effects in their decision making.     

The U.S.-China Exchange Rate Debate: Using Currency Offer Curves

The paper introduces an innovative graph for presenting bilateral exchange rates. The currency quantities are on the axes and the exchange rate is the ratio between them, i.e., the slope of a ray from the origin. Behavior is captured by currency offer curves. The paper uses the model to address the issues surrounding China’s export-led growth strategy, i.e., its policy of undervaluing the yuan.     

Jackson,Karl D., (Ed.), Asian Contagion: The Causes and Consequences of a Financial Crisis

The purpose of this article is to identify the extent of inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide. A large number of countries were aggregated on a regional basis to examine their inward and outward stocks as a percentage of gross fixed capital formation for the period 1980–2006. Among the findings was that the annual increase for both inward and outward FDI was less than 1%. Also, countries grouped by the aggregates developed, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, Asia and Oceania, and developing were found to differ significantly in their means.     

PREDICTING PRIVATE COMPANY FAILURE

Private company failure is a significant problem that is not fully addressed by existing research. This study develops a discriminant model from data on 107 private companies. The model predicts success and failure, based on six ratios obtained from the two immediately prior years' publicly available accounting reports. Based on a hold-out sample of 40 companies a prediction with 85% accuracy was achieved. This prediction was made one year ahead. The model indicates that the retained earnings/total assets, total liabilities/total assets, and shareholders funds/total liabilities ratios are the three major predictors of bankruptcy. Overall the model's coefficients are, as expected, substantially different to those of public company models.     

The Relationship Between REITs Returns and Inflation: A Vector Error Correction Approach

Previous studies show that REITs returns and inflation arenegatively related. This paper reexamines this perverse inflation hedgephenomenon by investigating the relationship among REITs returns, realactivities, monetary policy and inflation through a Vector ErrorCorrection Model. Empirical results show that inflation does notGranger-cause REITs returns and that REITs returns signal changes in monetary policy. The observed negative relationship between REITs returnsand inflation is merely a proxy for the more fundamental relationshipbetween REITs returns and other macroeconomic variables.