The Value of a Finance Journal Publication

The empirical analysis examines the salary and publication records of 311 finance professors at public research universities to calculate the worth of a top finance journal article. Within rank, salary regressions provide measures of the direct returns of a journal publication, while probit models consider the indirect returns that result from promotion. Ultimately, the analysis uses a reduced form salary equation to measure both the direct and indirect effects of publishing a journal article. Depending on professorial rank, the present value of the first top finance journal article is between $19,493 and $33,754, with the additional result of large returns to subsequent publications.     

Focus group methods: Using interactive and nominal groups to explore emerging technology-driven phenomena in accounting and information systems

This paper puts forth arguments for why focus group methods should be used more frequently in accounting and information technology research in order to address emerging technology-driven phenomena in accounting. In this overview of focus group methods and their application to studying accounting and information technology phenomena, we focus on what alternative types of focus group methods may be applied, when such methods are applicable, and what methodological challenges the researcher must address. In examining the methodological challenges that face researchers when using these methods, we demonstrate how these challenges have been addressed in our own research as a way of exemplifying the challenges researchers may face and what compensating strategies researchers might use. Our objective is to highlight when focus groups may be the best method for accounting information systems researchers and demonstrate how they can be used when they are applicable.     

Product Design: Preference for Rounded versus Angular Design Elements

Two experiments tested whether a general relative preference for objects with rounded rather than angular form (Bar & Neta, 2006, 2007) can be applied in the context of the design of consumer products. Images of product packaging—a chocolate product (Experiment 1) and water and bleach bottles (Experiment 2)—were manipulated with regard to the shape of both contour and graphics. There was a preference for rounded designs that extended to self‐report purchase likelihood—with additive effects of contour and graphics shape that could not be accounted for by design typicality or perceived ease of use.     

The Consistency of Merger Decisions at the South African Competition Commission

The South African Competition Commission's merger decisions for fiscal year (FY) 2002 through FY2009 are analysed to empirically identify the factors historically influencing prohibition, conditional approval and unconditional approval, as well as the factors historically influencing whether merger applications are deemed non‐complex, complex or very complex. The focus of the analysis is on whether or not the historical process has remained consistent through time, and whether or not that process can be obviously linked to the provisions of the 1998 Competition Act. Initial results point to behaviour that is not consistent over the time period considered; however, those inconsistencies are removed, once additional measures of market contestibility, associated with the 1998 Competition Act are included in the analysis. The final results suggest that the commission is less likely to approve mergers that they link to markets that are less contestable. In addition to protecting competition, the commission is simultaneously protecting other public interests. Therefore, our research supports the hypothesis that the commission consistently applies its legislative remit.     

Increasingly Marginal Utilities: Diversification and Free Cash Flow in Newly Privatized UK Utilities

This article was the experience of the newly privatized UK utilities as a unique natural experiment to explore aspects of the life cycle/free cash-flow hypothesis of Dennis Mueller and Michael Jensen. It demonstrates that in their immediate post-privatization, regulated environment the UK utilities experienced severe attenuation of all the principal forms of corporate governance, while remaining substantial cash generators but with limited scope for core business growth. It shows that the firms responded with a rapid – and apparently unsuccessful – expansion of non-core activities. The article then uses a two-way random effects panel design and finds substantial and robust support for the maintained hypothesis that (lagged) cash-flow drove diversification. The results also generate clear implications for privatization policy. In particular, they suggest that the incentive benefits anticipated from substituting private for government ownership may become distorted if the managements of newly privatized enterprises are sheltered from the regular disciplines of corporate governance.     

Capital accumulation and growth: a new look at the empirical evidence

Using annual data for 75 countries in the period 1960–2000, we present evidence of a positive relationship between investment as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) and the long‐run growth rate of GDP per worker. This result is robust for our full sample and for the subsample of non‐OECD countries, but not for the subsample of OECD countries. Our analysis controls for time‐invariant country‐specific heterogeneity in growth rates, and for a range of time‐varying control variables. We also address endogeneity issues, and allow for heterogeneity across countries in model parameters and for cross‐section dependence. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

麦道夫的狱中生活

因诈骗650亿美元而被判监禁150年的麦道夫，在狱中已经度过快一年的时光。出人意料的是，监狱中的麦道夫不再是那个千夫所指、被人唾骂的对象，而是如明星一般受人追捧。     

经济衰退如何影响了美国人的消费行为

金融危机打断并阻碍中国经济转型。2008年的国际金融危机造成世界经济衰退，严重打击了出口导向型经济，造成出口部门萎缩、就业岗位减少、失业率提高、工资增长率降低，打断了中国经济正在经历的转型。