Poverty in the third world: Ugly facts and fancy models

It is argued that the evidence from Asia indicates that despite the rise in average incomes the incidence of rural poverty has shown little tendency to diminish and in many cases the standard of living of some groups and classes, notably the landless, actually has declined. It then is suggested that the reasons for this have less to do with aggregate or sectoral rates of growth than with the interaction between the structure of the economy and four dynamic processes. Finally, the limitations of conventional theories and models are indicated and an alternative framework of analysis is proposed.     

Toward Equitable and Sustainable Rural Water Supplies: A Contingent Valuation Study in Brazil

Because many rural people are poor, it is usually assumed thatrural water supplies must be financed by government agencies.It is now widely recognized, however, that many rural peoplecan and will pay for improved water supplies, and that sustainingand extending services depends on mobilizing this willingnessto pay. This article describes a study of willingness to payfor water in Brazil. The study shows that surveys of actualand hypothetical water-use practices can provide policy-relevantinformation on willingness to pay, which is shown to vary accordingto household socioeconomic characteristics and the characteristicsof the existing and new supplies of water. In rural Brazil,tariffs for yard taps can be increased substantially beforesignificant numbers of households would choose not to connectto an improved system, whereas provision of free water at publictaps can protect the poor without jeopardizing the financialviability of the scheme.     

DEVELOPMENT OF ESTIMATES OF THE STOCK OF FIXED CAPITAL IN THE UNITED KINGDOM*

The historical background and present methodology used in compiling the U.K. official estimates of the stock of fixed capital are described. Mention is made of the possibility that with the development of commercial accounting direct estimates of capital stock may be derived from enterprise accounts at some future time. For the present, however, an indirect perpetual inventory approach is followed. Some of the deficiencies of the present estimates are discussed including the effects of possible biases in the life-length assumptions, price indices and the treatment of secondhand assets. Estimates of gross capital stock are given analysed by industry group of ownership and by type of asset. Some conceptual issues are discussed in relation to user requirements, including the distinction between the stock of capital and the flow of services from it. The authors conclude that little can be done to improve the perpetual inventory estimate of fixed capital in the U.K. without devoting more resources to the collection and analysis of new information, particularly on the service lives of fixed assets, the extent of leasing and the transfer of assets between industries.     

The market for credit default swaps: new insights into investors' use of accounting information?

The market for credit default swaps has developed into a well‐functioning, global multi‐trillion dollar market, wherein investors price and transfer corporate financial instruments on the basis of credit risk. This paper first summarizes the structure and growth of the market. Next, I introduce theory and evidence on how investors price credits risk and explain how the quality of financial statement information plays a unique role in the determination of credit spread. I then review the nascent empirical accounting literature on this topic. This review sheds light on several accounting research questions that might be understood better in the setting of the credit default swap market. The final section summarizes suggestions for future work.     

Covariance measurement in the presence of non-synchronous trading and market microstructure noise

This paper studies the problem of covariance estimation when prices are observed non-synchronously and contaminated by i.i.d. microstructure noise. We derive closed form expressions for the bias and variance of three popular covariance estimators, namely realised covariance, realised covariance plus lead and lag adjustments, and the Hayashi and Yoshida estimator, and present a comprehensive investigation into their properties and relative efficiency. Our main finding is that the ordering of the covariance estimators in terms of efficiency crucially depends on the level of microstructure noise, as well as the level of correlation. In fact, for sufficiently high levels of noise, the standard realised covariance estimator (without any corrections for non-synchronous trading) can be most efficient. We also propose a sparse sampling implementation of the Hayashi and Yoshida estimator, study the robustness of our findings using simulations with stochastic volatility and correlation, and highlight some important practical considerations.     

The Face of the Brand: How Art Directors Understand Visual Brand Identity

This study interviewed 15 art directors to explore their understanding of visual brand identity. Art directors define visual brand identity as the holistic look and feel of a brand, manifest as consistency among the brand, its strategy, and all its individual visual elements, ongoing over time. Art directors search for “ownable” visual elements within the competitive space and rely on examples of previous brand advertising to start ideation. We identified four possible routes that visual brand identity construction can take, corresponding to whether existing visual brand identity is strong or weak, and whether many or few client mandatories are imposed. The interviews also indicated that conflicts with clients may arise because elements that contribute to a brand's visual identity may be selected, in part, based on art directors’ personal taste preferences and felt emotion. Implications for managing visual branding and for future research on brand identity are discussed.