Do analysts who understand accounting conservatism exhibit better forecasting performance?

This study investigates the performance of analysts when they match the asymmetric timeliness of their earnings forecast revisions (i.e., asymmetric forecast timeliness) with the asymmetric timeliness of firms’ reported earnings (i.e., asymmetric earnings timeliness). We find that better timeliness‐matching analysts produce more accurate earnings forecasts and elicit stronger market reactions to their forecast revisions. Further, better timeliness‐matching analysts issue less biased earnings forecasts, more profitable stock recommendations and have more favorable career outcomes. Overall, our results indicate that analysts’ ability to incorporate conditional conservatism into their earnings forecasts is an important reflection of analyst expertise and professional success.     

Evolution of urban housing stocks: A model applied to Baltimore and Houston

Historical simulations of urban residential growth in Baltimore and Houston based on a model of the growth process which has two distinct components are presented. The vintage component utilizes the growth of income and population, and an assumption that housing is putty-clay, to predict the age distribution of the housing stock in each period. The spatial component of the model determines where this housing construction will take place according to (1) housing is built on vacant land and (2) the pattern of construction obeys the rules of the standard monocentric models. Housing is demolished when economically obsolete. The putty-clay (vintage) aspect of the model produces fairly accurate city-wide vintage distributions, but there is much more mixing of vintages and income (in Baltimore) by location than predicted, even under monocentric assumptions most favorable to mixing.     

Mismeasured Household Size and Its Implications for the Identification of Economies of Scale: Correction

We correct an error from Halliday (2010) in which we explored the degree to which household size is measured with errors.     

Confucian Controversy over Westernization in China: An Exposition and Criticism

The semiconductor industry in Taiwan has successfully developed over the past 20 years. The development of the industry can be featured by a spiral‐type industrial policy deployment of the state with special emphasis on R&;D and human resource development at public institutes and mobilization and organization of overseas human resources. All in all, the role played by the state has not been market‐intervention but the coordination of various systems functioning in the private sector.     

Local and Global Competition in Information Technology

We examine the implications of changing competitive dynamics in global information and communications technology (ICT) markets for government demand-steering policies whose goal is local rents. Both computing and telephony are undergoing changes in global industry structure and changes in the nature of competition. The convergence of computing and telephony and the rapid technological change (and accompanying technological uncertainty) driving this convergence reinforce trends toward vertical competition. The emergence of global ICT markets lowers entry barriers, likely encouraging government-supported local entrants into global ICT markets. There are, however, strongly offsetting disadvantages. The underlying economics of ICT markets under vertical competition will work to reinforce the dominant position of U.S.-based incumbents in many segments. The prospects for exports, command of rent-related standards, and large rents from exports are not very bright. We expect to see far more demand-steering attempts than successes. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 1999, 13(4), pp. 336–371. Landau Economics Building, Department of Economics-6072, Stanford, California 94305-6072; and International Computer Services Research, Stanford Computer Industry Project, Landau Economics Building, SIEPR 144, Stanford, California 94305-6016. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: L5, F110.     

SLIPPAGE AND THE CHOICE OF MARKET OR LIMIT ORDERS IN FUTURES TRADING

Retail futures traders face uncertainty regarding the price they will obtain when trading. This price surprise, known as slippage, can be substantial. Using unique data from an introducing brokerage for Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat, corn, and soybean futures contracts, we quantify time-to-clear and the magnitude of slippage. We then identify factors that affect these trade quality measures. Finally, we analyze individual trader choice between market and limit orders and find that the likelihood of placing limit orders, where regulations protect traders from slippage, is greater when order and market characteristic indicate that adverse slippage is likely.