Productivity Growth in the European Insurance Industry: Evidence from Life and Non-Life Companies

This paper estimates and decomposes productivity growth for a sample of European insurance companies using Standard and Poor’s Eurothesys panel data set of company accounts. We focus on a period (1995–2008) where substantial deregulation took place, as well as significant shocks to global capital markets and unforeseen climatic and terrorism-related events. We estimate parametric stochastic production frontiers for life and non-life insurance from which we decompose productivity growth using a derivative-based approach. In order to capture the inherent variability of productivity in the insurance sector, we explore the consequences of adopting three different proxy measures for insurance output. In each case, we observe temporal variations in overall productivity growth for both life and non-life insurance, corresponding to systematic shocks to the market. The decomposition of these fluctuations provides important lessons for the measurement of long-term productivity growth in insurance markets and more generally in sectors which are exposed to stochastic and market-wide systematic shocks to performance. Our findings cast doubt on many previous studies of productivity growth in the financial service sector where outputs are inevitably difficult to measure due to their contingent nature. The choice of output proxies appears to be critical, particularly when exploring long-term productivity trends.     

The Aggregate Production Function of the Finnish Economy in the Twentieth Century

This article uses the Bayesian approach to estimate the parameters of the normalized constant elasticity of substitution (CES) function with factor‐augmenting technical progress directly, rather than using derived first‐order conditions of profit maximizing behavior. Bayesian estimation is applied because maximum likelihood estimation is sensitive to the starting values of maximization, and the parameters typically fail to converge to the global optimum because of a multimodal likelihood. Thanks to a convenient prior distribution, the posterior simulation of parameters works fairly well. The results indicate that in the long run (over 100 years) the parameters for the elasticity of substitution and capital income share are intimately linked to the shape of capital‐augmenting technological progress. In particular, the linear restriction excludes the possibility that the speed of capital‐augmenting technological progress converges to zero, which seems to lead to upwardly biased estimates of the elasticity of substitution and income share parameters.     

On the convergence of management accounting and financial accounting – the role of information technology in accounting change

In this article we theorize and conceptualize the recent convergence of management accounting (MA) and financial accounting (FA) with the advancements in information technology (IT), and explicate not only how this convergence is manifested in the technical and technological domain, but also how it is reflected in their convergence at the behavioral and organizational level.Drawing on the analytical model by Hemmer and Labro (2008), in which the forward-looking perspective of FA leads to forward-looking MA, we build a conceptual framing to analyze this convergence. According to this framing, information technology (IT) serves as a facilitator, catalyst, motivator, or even an enabler for the convergence of MA and FA. We further argue that convergence is a much broader phenomenon than claimed by Hemmer and Labro. It firstly covers the technical and technological domain, including the intentional integration of information systems and software, as well as the intentional combination of methods or standards, extending thereafter to the behavioral and organizational domain with the (un)intentional alignment regarding both functions and processes as well as the (un)intentional convergence regarding both work and roles. The applicability of this conceptual framing is illustrated with a set of examples.We present illustrations of the manifestations and outcomes of convergence in both the technical and technological domain (related to accounting standards, discretionary reporting, performance measurement, transfer pricing, competitor, customer and contractor analysis, due diligence in M&As), and the behavioral and organizational manifestation domain (related to accounting processes, work and the role of accountants, incentive systems, accounting and control in multinational companies, the control of business networks, the board of directors and venture capitalists). Based on our observations, we conclude that the forward-looking FA elements are often intertwined with MA, and vice versa, and that convergence in the technical and technological domain appears to precede convergence in the behavioral and organizational domain. In most of our observations, IT plays an important or even crucial role in this convergence process. In the light of these convergence observations, we open several avenues for further research.     

Has US inflation really become harder to forecast?

Since the mid-1980s, Phillips curve forecasts of US inflation have been inferior to those of a conventional causal autoregression. However, little change in forecast accuracy is detected against the benchmark of a noncausal autoregression, more accurately characterizing US inflation dynamics.     

Credibility of corporate announcements and market reaction: evidence from Canadian share repurchase programs

Do market participants evaluate the credibility of a firm's share repurchase announcement based on the firm's share repurchase history? Using a sample of 1,507 share repurchase programs for firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange from 1994 to 2005, we find that 69% of firms fail to acquire the target number of shares specified at announcement and many firms fail to repurchase any shares. We develop credibility indices and find a positive relationship between current announcement abnormal returns and completion credibility of previous announcements. We conclude that the market prices completion credibility of past share repurchase announcements in reacting to current repurchase announcements. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Business cycle and aggregate industry mergers

This paper tests the relationship between industry-level mergers and business cycle using panel tests that allow us to control for macro-economic and industry-level determinants of merger activity. We find robust evidence that both related and unrelated industry-level mergers are pro-cyclical. However, the evidence is asymmetric between related and unrelated mergers. We also find strong evidence in support of two major theories of merger activity that have been proposed and tested in the existing literature, namely, neoclassical theory and behavioral theory. The proxies of both neoclassical and behavioral theories explain merger activity in general; however, the pro-cyclicality of mergers is not fully captured by any of these proxies, individually or collectively.     

Changing employment relation systems in Japan: cases of the Mitsubishi Chemical Group and the Federation of Shinkin Banks

Over the past decade or so a number of changes have been observed in traditional Japanese employment relations (ERs) systems such as an increase in non-regular workers, a move towards performance-based systems and a continuous decline in union membership. There is a large body of Anglo-Saxon and Japanese literature providing evidence that national factors such as national institutions, national culture, and the business and economic environment have significantly influenced what were hitherto three ‘sacred’ aspects of Japanese ERs systems (ERSs). However, no research has been undertaken until now at the firm level regarding the extent to which changes in national factors influence ERSs across firms. This article develops a model to examine the impact of national factors on ER systems; and analyses the impact of national factors at the firm level ER systems. Based on information collected from two different groups of companies, namely Mitsubishi Chemical Group (MCG) and Federation of Shinkin Bank (FSB) the research finds that except for a few similarities, the impact of national factors is different on Japanese ER systems at the firm level. This indicates that the impact of national factors varies in the implementation of employment relations factors. In the case of MCG, national culture has less to do with seniority-based system. Study also reveals that the national culture factors have also less influence on an enterprise-based system in the case of FSB. This analysis is useful for domestic and international organizations as it helps to better understand the role of national factors in determining Japanese ERSs.     

The influence of in‐store personnel on online store value: An analogical transfer perspective

In today’s multichannel retail environment, consumers’ experiences in one channel influence their perceptions of another channel. Specifically, consumer evaluations of a firm’s online store have been found to be influenced by consumer interactions with the firm’s in‐store personnel. This paper is among the first to address this assumption and test it empirically. Drawing upon the analogical transfer paradigm, we propose hypotheses and accordingly model in‐store personnel’s competence and friendliness as determinants of online store usefulness, online store enjoyment, and online store value. Using consumer data collected from two Dutch multichannel retailers, we test this model with partial least squares modeling. The results provide clear support for the model and confirm that consumers may use characteristics of in‐store personnel as analogies when evaluating a firm’s online store. Implications for research and retail managers are discussed.     

Industry Merger Intensity and Cost of Capital

Using a panel of industry‐average implied cost of equity capital and the value of prior year aggregate industry mergers, we find strong evidence that the industry cost of equity capital is negatively associated with industry merger activity. Our evidence is consistent with greater media coverage, analyst following, or increase in investor attention associated with industry merger activity lowering the required return on equity for firms in an industry that is not involved in merger activity via the ‘information risk’ or ‘incomplete information’ channels.     

Group identity in a network formation game with cost sharing

This paper introduces the choice of group identity, which is comprised of characteristics and commitments to these characteristics, in a network formation model where links costs are shared. Players want to link to the largest group given that linking costs for players of the same (different) characteristic are decreasing (increasing) in their commitments. The equilibrium concepts used are Nash equilibrium as well as one that looks for stability allowing for bilateral negotiations. Conditions are shown under which the endogenous choice of characteristics and commitments allow for multiple groups with segregated or connected networks. When group identity is partly endogenous, such that characteristics are fixed and players only choose commitment, it is shown that the equilibrium population commitment profile dictates whether the resulting network is segregated or connected. When group identity is fully endogenous, it is shown that multiple groups and segregated networks are possible equilibrium outcomes but such outcomes are not stable unless the group size additionally affects the costs of link formation.