The convergence process of Argentina with Australia and Canada: 1875-2000

This paper uses time series techniques to estimate the points in time when Argentina started to lose ground with Australia, Canada and the OECD. Based on my estimates Argentina started to fall behind Australia in 1899 and behind Canada in 1896, earlier than the dates maintained by previous scholars.     

Price informativeness and institutional ownership: evidence from Japan

Using extensive intraday transaction and institutional ownership data of Japan, this study investigates the question of whether institutional ownership increases the extent to which equity prices reflect information about the firms’ fundamentals (the degree of price informativeness) and the roles played by various types of institutional investors. The results indicate that the presence of institutional investors, especially foreign institutions, increase the amount of information aggregated in the stock prices. Such relation is robust to various liquidity measures, possible presence of endogeneity in the ownership structure, and alternative measures of price informativeness.     

The heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance estimator in accounting

The main purpose of this paper is to compare the White (1980) heteroskedasticity-consistent (HC) covariance matrix estimator with alternative estimators. Many regression packages compute the White (1980) heteroskedasticity-consistent (HC) covariance matrix estimator. The common procedure in Accounting and Finance research to deal with the heteroskedasticity problem is based on this estimator, despite its worse finite-samples properties when compared with other consistent estimators. In this paper we compare several HC covariance matrix estimators based on a sample of 3706 European listed companies from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. We conclude that HC standard errors increase when finite-samples more appropriate estimators are considered and in the most part of countries the Ohlson (1995) model coefficients estimates became statistically insignificant. This can be explained by the high leverage points in the design matrix. To the best of our knowledge it is the first time that these alternative estimators are compared with the one of White (1980) in accounting research.     

Credit risk transfer and bank competition

We present a banking model with imperfect competition in which borrowers’ access to credit is improved when banks are able to transfer credit risks. However, the market for credit risk transfer (CRT) works smoothly only if the quality of loans is public information. If the quality of loans is private information, banks have an incentive to grant unprofitable loans that are then transferred to other parties, leading to an increase in aggregate risk. Higher competition increases welfare in the presence of CRT with public information. In contrast, welfare eventually decreases for high levels of competition in the presence CRT with private information due to the expansion of unprofitable loans. This finding coincides with the decrease in credit quality observed during the late years of the credit boom preceding the subprime crisis.     

¿Han sido el IBEX35 y el IPC definiciones financieramente eficientes del portafolio de mercado?

The present paper questions the financial efficiency of the most used market portfolio proxies in Spain and Mexico (IBEX35 and IPC) in order to determine if these can be considered a proper market portfolio proxy. The paper questions if they can be used as “neutrals”, according to Black & Litterman (1992) proposals in portfolio management. For this purpose, two discrete event simulations that use the Markowtiz-Tobin-Sharpe-Linter model (Markowitz, 1987, p.5) are performed with monthly data of the stock members of these indices in a February 2001 to December 2010 time window. The results are compared by using the Sharpe ratio (Sharpe, 1966) and show that the equilibrium assumptions in the market do not hold, leading to conclude that these market portfolio proxies are inefficient.     

Trip Cultural Activities and Tourism Expenditure in Emerging Urban‐cultural Destinations

Although tourism expenditure is determined by different factors, the literature has not analysed the extent to which trip cultural activities affect tourism expenditure in the destination. The focus of this paper is a microeconomic analysis performed in 14 emerging urban‐cultural destinations in Andalusia (Spain). The results confirm that there are activities related to cultural visits, attendance at events or gastronomic activities that determine tourism expenditure. These results guide the implementation of specific actions by the policy‐makers in these destinations aimed at increasing the economic impact of tourism, based on the creation of high value‐added tourism products to overcome their mere dependence on built heritage. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Motivations of educational tourists in non-English-speaking countries: the role of languages

ABSTRACT

Learning a language or improving one’s foreign language skills may be a key motivator for students to decide to participate in an exchange program as well as choose the destination for their studies. Nevertheless, studies on educational tourism are limited, and there is no research on the motivations of students visiting non-English-speaking countries. To fill this gap, this paper aims to examine the motivations of university students in non-English-speaking destinations by using the push-and-pull framework. Primary data were collected through an online survey from 190 and 205 students who participated in mobility programs in a Spanish university and in a German university respectively. Empirical findings reveal that languages are a key motivating factor for either growing personally through cultural enrichment, or growing professionally. Furthermore, these data allow generic recommendations so that the destinations can attract a larger number of international students.     

International migration and universal healthcare access: evidence from Mexico’s ‘Seguro Popular’

Although ‘Seguro Popular’ (SP), a healthcare programme for the uninsured, has been in place in Mexico for more than a decade, its consequences for international migration both to and from the country have received little scholarly attention. Using the spatial variation in the programme’s coverage generated through the rollout over time, this paper examines the effects of SP on the number of emigrants and return migrants per household. Based on data from Mexico’s National Survey on Demographic Dynamics for 1997–2014, the analysis confirms that being affiliated to SP does not reduce the number of emigrants per household, but such affiliation is, however, positively related to the number of returnees per household. These results are valid across different subsamples of the population and time periods and are robust to omitted variable bias. Our findings have important implications for understanding the effects of social protection policies on international migration patterns.     

Revenue sharing in network utility maximization problems

Alliances arise in a wide variety of domains, when a group of countries, political parties, people or other entities agree to work together because of shared interests or aims. They make sense, if the output obtained is somehow better than the outcome of acting individually. Revenue or cost sharing is key when determining if individuals are better off by contributing to an alliance or not. In our alliance each member owns a unique resource –or set of resources–, which is given to the alliance. The alliance sells services, which are supported thanks to one or a set of these resources. We focus on alliances that sell services in such a way that the total revenue of the alliance is maximized. We show that this kind of problems can be modeled through a Network Utility Maximization problem. We subsequently explore the problem of revenue sharing among the members of the alliance. Such a problem is a complex one since the interests of all participants must be ensured and correct incentives must be provided. We formally formulate the members’ interests through a set of properties the revenue sharing method should verify. We then discuss the existing methods for revenue sharing and conclude that none of them verifies the needed properties for the case of a revenue maximizing alliance. We finally propose a revenue sharing method based on projecting the contributions of each member of the alliance into an economic stable set. Through an exhaustive simulative study we conclude that our method provides, in addition to economic stability, fairness among members and the right incentives to them. Through our analysis Network Service Provider alliances, which sell quality-assured data transport services, are considered as an application example.     

Sustainability assurance and cost of capital: Does assurance impact on credibility of corporate social responsibility information?

This paper aims to examine the credibility value of sustainability assurance and the type of assurance provider on cost of capital. A large sample of international companies from the period 2007–2014 was used to develop our models of analysis. We find a greater decrease in cost of capital for companies that publish and assure their social and environmental reports. Thus, voluntary sustainability disclosures decrease the cost of capital. However, companies also have the opportunity to reinforce this decrease by providing an assurance statement, so increasing the credibility of corporate social responsibility information. In addition, the decrease in the cost of capital is significantly higher when such assurance is provided by a top‐tier accountancy firm instead of by engineering or consultancy firms; this result supports also the reputational capital of accountancy firms.