An Analysis of the Key Factors Influencing Farmer’s Choice of Crop,Kibamba Ward,Tanzania

The need for further research into indigenous knowledge, in the context of agrarian development strategies, led to this investigation of one aspect of local knowedge; that of crop choice. Through the use of point score analysis, research was conducted in the Kibamba Ward located in the peri‐urban zone of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The main aims were to investigate the key factors underlying farmers’ choice of crop as well as to assess the differences in the decision‐making process between commercial and subsistence farmers. Vegetable cultivation was observed as the main practice, influenced particularly by the physical environment, the availability of machinery as well as certain economic factors. A significant difference in decision making among subsistence and commercial farmers was found. Subsistence farmers placed greater emphasis on the taste of the crop, whereas commercial farmers were predictably more influenced by the market. In addition, this study highlights several practical areas of concern regarding water resources, basic machinery and the lack of formal extension provision in the area. Although the complexity of crop choice is portrayed, a need for future research in different geographical contexts is noted.     

Comparative management accounting in Europe: an undergraduate education perspective

The article reports the results of a survey conducted in 86 undergraduate education institutions in 16 countries in Europe. The primary goals of the analysis are to provide information on management accounting courses in Europe and to investigate whether the most innovative topics in management accounting are taught. The survey targeted accounting professors across Europe, mainly members of the European Accounting Association. Data evidence similarities across countries inasmuch a very similar pool of topics is taught in different institutions in different countries. However, differences outweigh similarities when comparing the relative importance attributed to various topics within a course.     

Cross‐Border Mergers and Differences in Corporate Governance

We examine whether corporate governance differences affect firm valuation in cross‐border mergers. We find that takeover premiums are decreasing in the quality of the foreign acquirer's home country governance for deals completed with stock, suggesting that the acquirers compensate target shareholders for the resulting exposure to inferior corporate governance regimes. Correspondingly, we find that the acquiring firm stockholders' abnormal returns at the merger announcement are increasing in the quality of corporate governance for stock offers. Finally, we find that foreign acquirers from countries with better corporate governance are more likely to make stock offers.     

Equal Dreams: The One Child Policy and the Consumption of Education in Urban China

This study explores the effect that China's one child birth policy is having on gender equality in urban areas of China, as viewed through patterns of consumption. Specifically, differential access to education by gender is examined through an analysis of the investments of urban parents in their children's education. The results of the study show that there are few important differences in the aspirations of parents for daughters versus sons. In addition, educational expenditures, including tuition, private lessons, books, and other educational products, show no significant differences by gender. These results seem to indicate that, in an important departure from a long history of unequal access to education by females in China, urban children are receiving full and equitable investments in their futures by their families, regardless of their gender. The results have important implications for the effects that public policies can have on gender equality.     

Estimating Nonlinear Models with Multiple Fixed Effects: A Computational Note*

In this paper we consider estimation of nonlinear panel data models that include multiple individual fixed effects. Estimation of these models is complicated both by the difficulty of estimating models with possibly thousands of coefficients and also by the incidental parameters problem; that is, noisy estimates of the fixed effects when the time dimension is short contaminate the estimates of the common parameters due to the nonlinearity of the problem. We propose a simple variation of existing bias‐corrected estimators, which can exploit the additivity of the effects for numerical optimization. We exhibit the performance of the estimators in simulations.     

Investor and price response to patterns in earnings surprises

As part of their model to explain short-term positive and long-term negative auto-correlation in stock returns, Barberis, Shleifer, and Vishny [1998. A model of investor sentiment. Journal of Finance 49, 307–345] suggest that investors may extrapolate trends in earnings performance. I test this portion of their model by examining investor trading patterns in firms that experience consecutive same-sign earnings surprises. Consistent with their model, after controlling for regularities in trading activity, I find that the net buying of small investors increases with the number of consecutive positive earnings surprises. I further find that purchasing activity of small investors subsequent to consecutive positive surprises is significantly negatively correlated with returns throughout the remainder of the year. These results suggest that such investors are not simply rationally updating after public news announcements. My results are robust to controlling for auto-correlation in earnings surprises.