Understanding the NGO revolution in Korea

Using institution‐building theory from the school of neoliberalism, the paper examines the role of leadership and institutional bargaining in moving the “10+3” regional cooperation framework forward. The core argument developed here is that close cooperation between Japan and China is key to the future of “10+3”, and ASEAN states and South Korea should utilize the “10+3” platform for bringing Japan and China together. Finally, some ASEAN states’ fear that a more integrated East Asia will mean the withdrawal of U.S. presence in the region is very remote.     

Service employees’ deviant behaviors and leader–member exchange in contexts of dispositional envy and dispositional jealousy

Hotels represent a prime service industry. The current study examined the role of leader-member exchange (LMX) on hotel service employees’ deviant behaviors in contexts of dispositional envy and dispositional jealousy. Specifically, we collected two different samples of US hotel employees to examine interactions of LMX with dispositional envy and jealousy on deviant behaviors. The results supported our hypotheses, showing that (1) LMX had a negative relationship with deviant behaviors and that (2) higher levels of dispositional envy and jealousy led to more deviant behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Government Policy and Trajectories of Radical Innovation in Dirigiste States: A Comparative Analysis of National Innovation Systems in France and Korea

Contrary to the argument that radical innovation is only compatible with institutional arrangements characteristic of liberal market economies, this paper shows how state-led economies successfully organize their innovation systems to promote radical innovation with a comparative analysis of two dirigiste states, France and Korea. The authors further analyse how government policies under similar institutional arrangements drive different trajectories of radical innovation, as illustrated by their relative competitiveness in the ICT sector. The two dirigiste economies have undergone substantial institutional changes adapting to globalization but sustained state initiatives in coordinating their relationship-based innovation systems, reinforcing the cooperation among the state, academia and industry.     

The US National Tobacco Settlement: the effects of advertising and price changes on cigarette consumption

This paper provides an econometric analysis of the effects of cigarette price and advertising changes stemming from the United States Tobacco Settlement of 1998. This is done by estimation of a demand function for cigarettes, based on data from both before and after the Settlement. The model is estimated using monthly time series data for the period 1990–2000. Results show that the increase in cigarette prices stemming from the Settlement reduced per capita cigarette consumption in the USA by 8.3%. However, the cigarette companies also increased advertising in the years immediately preceding and following the Settlement. This study estimates that this increased advertising partially offsets the effects of the higher prices, increasing cigarette consumption by 2.7 to 4.7%, and hence blunting the effects of the price increase by 33–57%.     

Security Market Effects Associated with SFAS No. 131: Reported Business Segments

In this study we examine the economic impact of the expected shift from the FASB's segment reporting requirements found in SFAS No. 14 to those found in SFAS No. 131. SFAS No. 131 was the joint effort of the United States' FASB and Canada's Accounting Standards Board (AcSB). It requires firms to report segments based on the firm's internal reporting and management arrangements (the management method) rather than on SFAS No. 14's line-of-business method. One alleged deficiency with the line-of-business method is its flexibility that allowed companies to combine segments. Analysts complained that companies abused this flexibility to conceal information. The management method allegedly is less flexible because companies must report segments externally the same way that they manage them internally. We examine the economic impact of the reporting standard shift by first developing company variables related to the alleged concealment of information under SFAS No. 14. These variables help us to explore why companies combine business segments under the line-of-business method and what costs companies are expected to incur when they are forced to implement the management method. Next we identify a series of dates that chronicle when the market received information about the content of SFAS No. 131. Results of the stock return tests suggest that SFAS No. 131 had a significant impact on firms that previously had the greatest incentives to conceal segment information, consistent with the conjecture that the standard imposed unanticipated costs on affected firms.     

Mortgagor Motivations in Prepayments for Adjustable Rate Mortgages

This paper provides the first rigorous analysis of residential adjustable mortgage prepayment using individual ARM mortgage data in Singapore. The prepayment rate for residential mortgages is low and is dominated more by macroeconomic factors than mortgage–specific factors. Specifically, the prepayment rate is increasing in residential property prices, but decreasing in income as proxied by GDP and volatility in mortgage rates. There is weak evidence to suggest that prepayment is increasing in the borrower's age, mortgage rate hikes, cash–availability variables and sentiments of the stock market, and decreasing in the price premium over valuation, payment–to–income ratio, loan–to–value ratio, loan term and floor level of the property.     

The Dynamic Relation Between Returns and Idiosyncratic Volatility

We claim that regressing excess returns on one-lagged volatility provides only a limited picture of the dynamic effect of idiosyncratic risk, which tends to be persistent over time. By correcting for the serial correlation in idiosyncratic volatility, we find that idiosyncratic volatility has a significant positive effect. This finding seems robusrt for various firm size portfolios, sample periods, and measures of idiosyncratic risk. Our findings suggest stock markets mis-price idiosyncratic risk. There may be some measurement problems with idiosyncratic risk. There may be some measurement problems with idiosyncratic risk that could be related to nondiversifiable risk.     

Contagion in financial markets after September 11: myth or reality?

Major global events can lead to a change in the cross‐country correlation of assets. Using stock prices from 25 economies, we test whether the terrorist attack in the United States on September 11, 2001, resulted in a contagion—an increase in correlation across global financial markets. Unlike prior works on contagion, we model the intrinsic heteroskedasticity. Our results indicate that international stock markets, particularly in Europe, responded more closely to U.S. stock market shocks in the three to six months after the crisis than before. Our evidence suggests that the benefits of international diversification in times of crisis are substantially diminished.