Option prices as predictors of stock prices: intraday adjustments to information releases

The purpose of this study is to analyse the evolution of payment behaviours by emphasizing the role of the regulation and the financial opening. We test whether the convergence process of payment technologies and regulations is propagated from upstream to downstream through the channel of standardized products, leading to the convergence of the demand for payment services. A test of conditional beta-convergence, relating to the use of five payment instruments, is performed on a panel of European countries. In general, results show evidence for convergence for all means of payment.     

Representing Reality: The Critical Realism Project

Neoclassical economists posit a set of stylized facts which mark the structural transformation of national economies. Yet these facts, when disaggregated by gender, exhibit puzzling anomalies. For the 132 countries in our sample, female rates of economic activity are much lower than men's, and GDP per capita accounts for less than 16 percent of the variation in female rates. We argue that the missing female labor is occupied in a fourth sector-production and maintenance of human capital. Utilizing a series of heroic assumptions, the paper makes a first rough estimate of the value of this sector on a country-by-country basis.     

Coping with risk: analysis on the importance of integrating social perceptions on flood risk into management mechanisms – the case of the municipality of Águeda,Portugal

The paper reflects on how populations prone to flood risk perceive such hazards and the way this perception has or has not been incorporated into the measures and mechanisms of flood risk management. The frequent occurrence of flooding, as well as the population's vulnerability and exposure to this risk, shows that the municipality of Águeda is a paradigmatic case for analysis of these issues. Similar to the rest of the country, the municipality of Águeda has been neglecting the multidimensional nature of flood risk. The data collected present some disparity between the proposals and technical perspectives regarding the management and mitigation of flood risk and the perception of local populations. In addition, neither knowledge of social perception of flood risk nor of the local communities is being integrated in a substantial and pro‐active way, whether in the processes of policy‐making or in the implementation of these policies. Empirical evidence equally shows that there is a clear tendency towards acceptance and coping with flood risk by the population in the municipality of Águeda. This seems to be connected to the local populations' recognition that though it is impossible to eliminate risk, there are at the same time advantages to occupying the floodplains.     

An Empirical Investigation of Audit Pricing in the Public Sector: The Case of Greek LGOs

This paper investigates the associations between audit pricing and multidimensional characteristics of local governments by using a sample of Greek municipalities. The Greek institutional setting is interesting because it is politically pluralistic. Moreover, independent auditors appointed through a bid process exclusively perform the audits. Our results suggest a considerable variation on audit fees which is mainly driven by politically related factors indicating the importance of relevant theoretical anticipations in audit pricing in the public sector. Agency costs appear strong enough to explain audit pricing. We also confirm prior findings on the significance of audit complexity and size. Results also suggest that audit fees are reduced when an internal team dedicated to accrual accounting is appointed. Therefore, our conclusions offer practical implications for policy setters and regulators in the public sector in relation to audit quality.     

Relationship Between Companies and the Public on Facebook: The Portuguese and the Brazilian Context

ABSTRACT

This study analyzes how companies use Facebook to facilitate discussions with the public in two countries, Portugal and Brazil, through an exploratory content analysis of corporate Facebook pages. Overall, companies in both countries tend to recognize the relevance of Facebook in relationship development and therefore they use online strategies. Nevertheless, Portuguese companies are ahead of the Brazilian in providing calendars of events and partnerships with blogs/giveaways. They also tend to include more links to media reports. Compared to the Portuguese, the Brazilian public enjoys posting publications that express their feelings and/or emotions more. The article also discusses the implications of corporate relationship management practice.     

Analyzing the Demand for New Value-Added Product: Case of Pure Blueberry Sweetener

Analyzing the demand for a new product that is not on the market presents challenges as agricultural producers search for potential value-added products and develop marketing strategies for these products. This study examines the market potential for a new pure blueberry sweetener in Kentucky. The results from a contingent choice survey indicate that the average respondent was not willing to pay a significantly positive amount for the product. However, a small group of respondents, who can be identified by their overall blueberry purchasing intentions and age, was willing to pay a price higher than the product's cost of production. Small and medium-size producers who are often limited by the financial and technical constraints associated with actual market trials of new products are likely to find that the type of marketing research described here is a particularly cost-effective method of getting information to assess market potential.     

Great expectations but poor results: financial and social performance of the T oscana Energia merger

Benchmarking is often used in the public sector as a way of driving up performance. This article explains why benchmarking does not necessarily lead to better performance and why it can generate unwanted consequences. The article recommends ways of improving the link between benchmarking and performance. These involve the design of the benchmarking scheme, the presentation of benchmarking scores, the stakeholders to which these scores will be disclosed, and the actions that will be undertaken as a follow-up.     

Factors Influencing Corporate Environmental Disclosures

We investigate the effectiveness of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a not‐for‐profit organization that facilitates environmental disclosures of firms with institutional investors, thereby serving as a corporate governance mechanism for shareholders to influence the firm's environmental disclosures. We examine firm characteristics associated with firms' decisions to disclose carbon‐related information via the CDP for a sample of 319 Canadian firms over a four‐year period. In particular, we examine how firms' decisions to disclose via CDP are associated with shareholder activism, litigation risk, and the opportunity for low‐cost positive publicity once requested by the firms' “signatory” investors. Our results also show that management's decision to release climate change data is associated with domestic, but not foreign, signatory investors. We also find that disclosing firms tend to be those from lower polluting industries with less exposure to litigation risk. This suggests that this new form of coordinated shareholder activism may not be successful at altering the behavior of firms that are heavier polluters.     

Justice and Financial Market Allocation of the Social Costs of Business

Regulation is often applied to business behavior to ensure that the social costs of doing business are included in the cost and pricing structures of the firm. Because the consumer benefits from the transaction that generated the social costs, asking the consumer to bear the burden imposed by the transaction is fair. However, there may be a lack of Justice m the internal and external distribution of the social costs of doing business if consumers are the only party bearing that burden, or if the costs are being shifted to employees or taxpayers when a closer stakeholder is also benefiting from the transaction – the stockowner. A social justice perspective requires that those benefiting from a transaction share in the burdens of it. We propose that a Tobin-like tax on stock transactions might be a just means of achieving greater justice in the distribution of the social cost burden.