The value of information in cross-listing

Until 2004, the London Stock Exchange allowed firms to be traded in the specialized SEAQ-I platform without the firm's involvement. Trading only required an application by one LSE trading member firm. Such an institutional arrangement, which made cross-listings possible without a firms' approval, allows for a direct test of different theories of foreign listing. In particular, we can differentiate between market segmentation and liquidity hypotheses, which rely on a firm trading in a foreign exchange and informational hypotheses, which assume that a firm makes the decision to trade in a foreign exchange. We identify a sample of international firms that are admitted to trading on London's SEAQ-I platform without their involvement. We estimate the valuation effects of this multi-market trading event and compare them to those enjoyed by firms that pursue a standard London Stock Exchange cross-listing. A cross-sectional abnormal returns analysis documents significant evidence in support of information-related hypotheses of cross-listing. An analysis of the firms' home market price volatility corroborates the results.     

Decomposition of gender differentials in agricultural productivity in Ethiopia

A number of studies document gender differentials in agricultural productivity. However, they are limited to region and crop‐specific estimates of the mean gender gap. This article improves on previous work in three ways. First, data representative at the national level and for a wide variety of crops is exploited. Second, decomposition methods—traditionally used in the analysis of wage gender gaps—are employed. Third, heterogeneous effects by women's marital status and along the productivity distribution are analyzed. Drawing on data from the 2011–2012 Ethiopian Rural Socioeconomic Survey, we find an overall 23.4 percentage point productivity differential in favor of men, of which 13.5 percentage points (57%) remain unexplained after accounting for gender differences in land manager characteristics, land attributes, and access to resources. The magnitude of the unexplained fraction is large relative to prior estimates in the literature. A more detailed analysis suggests that differences in the returns to extension services, land certification, land extension, and product diversification may contribute to the unexplained fraction. Moreover, the productivity gap is mostly driven by non‐married female managers—particularly divorced women—; married female managers do not display a disadvantage. Finally, overall and unexplained gender differentials are more pronounced at mid‐levels of productivity.     

A new method for generating approximation algorithms for financial mathematics applications

This paper describes a new technique that can be used in financial mathematics for a wide range of situations where the calculation of complicated integrals is required. The numerical schemes proposed here are deterministic in nature but their proof relies on known results from probability theory regarding the weak convergence of probability measures. We adapt those results to unbounded payoffs under certain mild assumptions that are satisfied in finance. Because our approximation schemes avoid repeated simulations and provide computational savings, they can potentially be used when calculating simultaneously the price of several derivatives contingent on the same underlying. We show how to apply the new methods to calculate the price of spread options and American call options on a stock paying a known dividend. The method proves useful for calculations related to the log-Weibull model proposed recently for empirical asset pricing.     

Borrowing Interest Rate as a Function of the Debt-Equity Ratio in Capital Budgeting Models

This research extends Weingartner's basic horizon model by letting the borrowing terest rate vary from period to period as a function of the debt-equity ratio. blicly available data for two industries are used to obtain the function. Two models 2 developed: a non-convex nonlinear programming problem, which is solved by the oke and Jeeves algorithm; and an iterative linear model. It is concluded that either del can be used to represent the relationship between borrowing interest rate and Dt-equity ratio in the context of the capital budgeting problem.     

Wine Tourism in Spain: Denomination of Origin Effects on Brand Equity

This research focuses on the analysis of wine tourism in four Spanish regions. Specifically, its main purpose is the development of a model to study the influence of the denomination of origin brand image, as a regional brand, and destination image on wine tourism destination brand equity. Due to the importance of destination marketing strategies, this study has been carried out from the wine industry's perspective. The conclusions obtained are applicable to the tourist sector and, particularly, to those wineries that wish to start a new line of business: wine tourism. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Buyer–supplier relationship's influence on traceability implementation in the vegetable industry

The increasing importance of food safety has made traceability a crucial issue in the agri-business industry. In this article, we have analysed the factors that shape buyer–supplier relationships, and how they influence the traceability of raw materials. In order to do so, first, we have reviewed the literature to develop an analytical framework. Next, we have carried out four case studies on vegetable firms with the purpose of uncovering the variables that characterise buyer–supplier relationships, and their influence on traceability in this sector. Finally, we have compared the observed links with the conceptual framework derived from the literature in order to build an improved model.     

Localised Estimates of Dynamics of Multi‐dimensional Disadvantage: An Application of the Small Area Estimation Technique Using Australian Survey and Census Data

Deep and persistent disadvantage is an important, but statistically rare, phenomenon in the population, and sample sizes are usually not large enough to provide reliable estimates for disaggregated analysis. Survey samples are typically designed to produce estimates of population characteristics of planned areas. The sample sizes are calculated so that the survey estimator for each of the planned areas is of a desired level of precision. However, in many instances, estimators are required for areas of the population for which the survey providing the data was unplanned. Then, for areas with small sample sizes, direct estimation of population characteristics based only on the data available from the particular area tends to be unreliable. This has led to the development of a class of indirect estimators that make use of information from related areas through modelling. A model is used to link similar areas to enhance the estimation of unplanned areas; in other words, they borrow strength from the other areas. Doing so improves the precision of estimated characteristics in the small area, especially in areas with smaller sample sizes. Social science researchers have increasingly employed small area estimation to provide localised estimates of population characteristics from surveys. We explore how to extend this approach within the context of deep and persistent disadvantage in Australia. We find that because of the unique circumstances of the Australian population distribution, direct estimates of disadvantage have substantial variation, but by applying small area estimation, there are significant improvements in precision of estimates.     

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is often cited as a model for Central American economies because of its strong democratic institutions, political stability, and open economy. Foreign investment continues to play a pivotal role in fueling economic growth, particularly in the electronics, services, and medical components sectors. A strong record of social investments has resulted in a superior human resource base, a skilled labor pool, and preservation of its biodiversity. The recent formation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) provides new opportunities for the country but has also increased the pressures for more openness and privatization, particularly in the telecommunications industry, provoking fresh internal debate about the balance between economic growth and preserving social institutional arrangements. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.