The 'Webbing' of British Local Government

The use of information and communication technologies by governments to facilitate the exchange of information with the public, and, increasingly, the electronic delivery of services, is a topic of much debate and development throughout the world. At the end of 1995, there were about 40 local authority World Wide Web sites, most of which fell below the standards of design and content associated with the majority of commercial and academic sites. Now there are over 300 local authority sites—some better than many commercial or academic ones in terms of design and features. Is this simply a case of jumping on the digital bandwagon or is it something more? This article discusses the main findings from a research project aimed at exploring the 'Webbing' of local government in Britain.     

A Markov analysis of social learning and adaptation

A number of recent contributions to the literature have modelled social learning and adaptation in an economic context. Understanding the processes driving these models is important in order to explain and predict the behaviour of the economy. In this paper, we analyze the economic applications for a class of adaptive learning models with bounded rational agents. The dynamics of these economies can be thought of as arising from discrete-time Markov chains. In particular, conditions for uniqueness of equilibria, convergence and stability in the economic systems follow from the accessibility and communication structures of these Markov chains. We establish a correspondence between absorbing states of the Markov chains and economic equilibria, whether stable or unstable, and develop theorems giving conditions for absorption and recurrence. Furthermore, we develop practical applications of these theorems using a cobweb model. We use a genetic algorithm, operating under election, as an example of a well known adaptive learning process.     

Female audit committee members and their influence on audit fees

We test the relationship between female representation on the audit committee and audit fees for 624 Australian companies in the year 2011. A positive relationship is found, leading to the conclusion that female presence on audit committees influences the quality of the external audit. Further, we find that gender is the significant audit committee characteristic in predicting audit quality and that women on the audit committee strengthen the positive relationship between firm size and audit fees, and between risk and audit fees. Conversely, we find that female representation dampens the positive relationship between complexity and audit fees.     

La OIT y el derecho de huelga

En junio de 2012, el Grupo de los Empleadores de la Conferencia Internacional del Trabajo cuestionó el principio, hasta entonces aceptado por todos, de que el derecho de huelga esté protegido en virtud del Convenio sobre la libertad sindical y la protección del derecho de sindicación, 1948 (núm. 87). La autora analiza los textos fundamentales de la OIT, los debates sobre el Convenio y sobre el establecimiento del sistema de control de la Organización y su contexto histórico, demostrando que desde la Conferencia de Paz de París los mandantes de la OIT reconocen un derecho positivo de huelga, indisoluble de la libertad sindical, de la cual es corolario.     

Perceptions of IMC and organisational change among agencies in South Africa

This paper reports on the development of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) in an emerging market, South Africa. It also deals with the organisation of advertising agencies in an IMC environment. A brief overview of IMC is given as well as a review of the organisation of agencies. The study consisted of in-depth interviews of 20 senior advertising agency executives. The results indicate that most agencies are developing their IMC strategies and that it is growing in importance in South Africa. Some recommendations are proposed to enable agencies to become more effective in future.     

Misleading Inferences from Panel Unit-Root Tests with an Illustration from Purchasing Power Parity

Simulations demonstrate that when unit-root behavior is rejected in a Levin and Lin panel test, it is incorrect to infer that all series are stationary. Recent tests proposed by Im, Pesaran and Shin, and by Sarno and Taylor, are also incapable of determining the mix of I (0) and I (1) series in a panel setting. This paper introduces a new unit-root test that allows the researcher to discern which series are I (0) and which ones are I (1). The test has double to triple the power of single-equation augmented Dickey–Fuller tests.     

Did the goodwill accounting standard impose material economic consequences on Australian acquirers?

This research explores the empirical association between takeover bid premium and acquired (purchased) goodwill, and tests whether the strength of the association changes after the passage of approved accounting standard AASB 1013 in Australia in 1988. AASB 1013 mandated capitalization and amortization of acquired goodwill to the income statement over a maximum period of 20 years. We use regressions to assess how the association between bid premium and acquired goodwill varies in the pre‐AASB and post‐AASB 1013 periods after controlling for confounding factors. Our results show that reducing the variety of accounting policy options available to bidder management after an acquisition results in a systematic reduction in the strength of the association between premium and goodwill.     

Misleading Inferences from Panel Unit Root Tests: a Reply*

Ford et al. (this issue) point out that the SURADF panel unit root test may be sensitive to panel composition. This reply shows that they overstate the case since they focus on a short time series of 44 observations. Type II errors are much more likely in this environment so that inconsistent conclusions may arise for individual panel members across differently composed panels. We demonstrate that this problem becomes much less likely when the number of time‐series observations increases.