Industrial slavery in the United States: the North Carolina turpentine industry 1849-61

The operation of the North Carolina turpentine industry in the late Antebellum period (1849-61) depended upon labour supplied by slaves who were either owned or hired. The nature of the work, which covered thousands of acres of forestland, led to the use of a task system whereby each slave was assigned a large tract of forest that was worked with little supervision over several months. An important finding is the content and significance of the production records for the slaves assigned to these long-term tasks. The slaves, like those in other industries and on plantations, could earn a certain amount of money for themselves by taking on extra chores. Details of those payments appear in these records. The conditions of life, including food, clothing, and the forest environment are reconstructed where possible. The records raise some questions about the relationship between the payments, extra work and slave behaviour which however, remain unanswered.     

Mighty oaks from little acorns: Can microenterprise serve as the seedbed of industrialization?

How can microenterprises foster the development of an industrial sector featuring a dynamic medium or large enterprise sector? We propose two possible mechanisms, graduation of microenterprises and savings by microentrepreneurs. We examine the barriers to both mechanisms and reexamine policies designed to aid the sector. Projects aimed at the enterprise level are not likely to remove barriers to firms graduating or saving. Changes in macro policy may have a positive effect. Reforms of the legal and regulatory environment may be very important, and should be rethought with the mechanisms of the seedbed role specifically in mind.     

From Central Research to Local Practice: Identifying and Addressing Repeat Victimization

This article describes the action taken by a central government research group to ensure the implementation of recommendations for both policy and practice, which arose from a major programme of research on the prevention of crime. The research, which demonstrated that significant reductions in a range of offences could be achieved by focusing on the protection of first-time victims, is used as an example of what needs to be done to ensure implementation. The article outlines the research findings and describes what the staff of the research group did to increase the likely uptake of these findings by policy-makers and practitioners.     

Testing for Multicointegration in Panel Data with Common Factors*

This paper addresses the concept of multicointegration in a panel data framework and builds upon the panel data cointegration procedures developed in Pedroni [Econometric Theory (2004), Vol. 20, pp. 597–625]. When individuals are either cross‐section independent, or cross‐section dependence can be removed by cross‐section demeaning, our approach can be applied to the wider framework of mixed I(2) and I(1) stochastic processes. The paper also deals with the issue of cross‐section dependence using approximate common‐factor models. Finite sample performance is investigated through Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, we illustrate the use of the procedure investigating an inventories, sales and production relationship for a panel of US industries.     

Seasonality and Industrial Production in Uganda*

Abstract: This paper explores the seasonal dimension of industrial production activity in Uganda using monthly data covering the period 1987 to 2000. Unit root tests and structural time series modelling are used to ascertain the nature of the seasonal component. The evidence in support of stochastic seasonality is not found to be overwhelming. In treating the seasonal effects as deterministic we find, in contrast to the existing evidence from industrialized economies, only a small part of the total variation in output is explained by seasonal factors suggesting a greater role for cyclical and random factors. However, there is some casual empirical evidence suggesting that industrial activity is related to weather conditions.     

Electronics: A case study of economic value added in target costing

Whilst target costing and strategic management accounting (SMA) continue to be of considerable interest to academic accountants, both suffer from a relative dearth of empirically based research. Simultaneously, the subject of economic value added (EVA) has also been the subject of little research at the level of the individual firm.The aim of this paper is to contribute to both the management accounting and value based management literatures by analysing how one major European based MNC introduced EVA into its target costing system. The case raises important questions about both the feasibility of cascading EVA down to product level and the compatibility of customer facing versus shareholder focused systems of performance management. We provide preliminary evidence that target costing can be used to align both of these perspectives, and when combined with other SMA techniques it can serve as “the bridge connecting strategy formulation with strategy execution and profit generation” (Ansari et al., 2007, p. 512).     

Corporate Governance and the CEO Pay–Performance Link: Australian Evidence

We examine the influence of corporate governance mechanisms, namely blockholdings and board structure, on CEO pay–performance sensitivity in listed Australian firms. Results highlight blockholders' role in shaping observed pay–performance associations and their impact varying with their independence and relative magnitude of ownership. Monitoring blockholders increase the sensitivity of long‐term at‐risk pay to performance, better aligning manager and shareholder interests. However, consistent with a shorter investment horizon, insider blockholders increase (decrease) the responsiveness of cash bonuses (long‐term at‐risk pay). Finally, consistent with them affording less‐effective monitoring, larger boards raise (lower) the sensitivity of known pay (long‐term at‐risk pay) to performance.