Has SOX Enhanced Non–Big 4 Auditors' Ability to Deal with Client Pressure?

We investigate whether non–Big 4 auditors have enhanced their ability to resist client pressure over accrual reporting following the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX). Regressing abnormal accruals on proxies for economic bonding, we find that changes in the association, defined as (Post–Pre), are significantly negative, implying an improvement in auditor independence after SOX. Among non–Big 4 auditors, only Tier 3 auditors compromised reporting objectivity before SOX, but neither Tier 2 nor Tier 3 auditors yielded to client pressure after SOX. Evidence that these two groups of non–Big 4 auditors differ in the way they cope with client pressure in a loose regulatory regime highlights the importance of assessing the efficacy of SOX separately for subsets of auditors and contributes to an understanding of the underresearched, but inherently important, segment of the audit market served by non–Big 4 auditors. Further analysis indicates that the low pre‐SOX audit quality observed in the full sample is driven by non–PCAOB registrants.     

A Lagrange Multiplier test for cross-sectional dependence in a fixed effects panel data model

It is well known that the standard Breusch and Pagan (1980) LM test for cross-equation correlation in a SUR model is not appropriate for testing cross-sectional dependence in panel data models when the number of cross-sectional units (n)$\left(n\right)$ is large and the number of time periods (T)$\left(T\right)$ is small. In fact, a scaled version of this LM test was proposed by Pesaran (2004) and its finite sample bias was corrected by Pesaran et al. (2008). This was done in the context of a heterogeneous panel data model. This paper derives the asymptotic bias of this scaled version of the LM test in the context of a fixed effects homogeneous panel data model. This asymptotic bias is found to be a constant related to n$n$ and T$T$, which suggests a simple bias corrected LM test for the null hypothesis. Additionally, the paper carries out some Monte Carlo experiments to compare the finite sample properties of this proposed test with existing tests for cross-sectional dependence.     

The Reciprocal Relations of Pressure,Work/Family Interference,and Role Satisfaction: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study in Taiwan

The aim of this longitudinal study was to explore reciprocal relationships between work/family pressure, work/family interference, and work/family satisfaction among Taiwanese employees (N = 310). All study variables were assessed three times. We found that within the work domain, earlier work pressure caused later work‐to‐family conflict (WFC), while earlier WFC reduced later job satisfaction. We also found that earlier WFC caused later work pressure, while earlier job satisfaction reduced later WFC. Similarly, we found that within the family domain, earlier family pressure caused later family‐to‐work conflict (FWC), while earlier FWC reduced later family satisfaction. We also found that earlier FWC caused later family pressure. In addition, family pressure and family satisfaction had reciprocal relationships over time. Together these longitudinal and reciprocal relations strongly support our hypothesized feedback loops linking pressure, work and family conflict, and role satisfaction, within each of the work and family domains. We made specific suggestions on breaking these vicious cycles to effectively manage both the work and family roles.     

The relationships between IFRS,earnings losses threshold and earnings management

An increasing number of countries have adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Prior research indicates that IFRS increase the relevance of financial statements, but also increase opportunism in earnings management (EM). Despite this, no evidence is found in this study to demonstrate that the adoption of IFRS increases the use of EM by companies as a whole. Furthermore, the results indicate that the use of IFRS can enhance the neutrality of financial statements. However, these phenomena occur only in the case of firms with positive earnings. Therefore, if a firm faces earnings losses (ELOSS), the manager will often exhibit EM behaviour after implementing IFRS. Thus, when the firm has ELOSS and adopts IFRS, the situation that results will usually decrease the neutrality of financial statements. As for the management implications, these findings suggest that the government and regulator should implement more in-depth supervision to prevent the increased use of EM by managers following the adoption of IFRS.     

Evidence on the contrarian trading in foreign exchange markets

This paper investigates the existence and price impacts of contrarian behavior in the foreign exchange markets. By utilizing a nonlinear behavioral model where the chartists and fundamentalists coexist, evidence obtained from two sample periods significantly supports the existence of contrarian trading in the British pound, the Japanese yen and the German mark markets. The contrarian trading can only partially offset the price impacts of trend-followers, therefore the price impact of the chartists as a whole is destabilizing. The ability that the contrarians can counterbalance the extrapolation of the trend-followers differs across markets. Traders in the BP market have the highest tendency to contrarian strategy, which in turn contributes to the least deviations of the BP exchange rates departing from its PPP fundamentals. The fundamentalists' confidence in trade fades during large misalignments, which make the mean reversion function of the fundamentalists weak under the circumstances. We find the magnitudes of interventions will be affected by the price impacts of contrarians and their abilities on market stabilization.     

Diffusion of mobile telephony: An empirical study in Taiwan

Mobile telephony penetration is a major indicator of mobile telephony diffusion. Taiwan had a mobile telephony penetration of 108% in 2002, ranking first in the world. This study analyzes this accelerated diffusion in terms of growth model and determinants of the diffusion rate. To eliminate the inherent uncertainty associated with choosing the optimal growth model, this study compares the performance of three conventional models, namely Gompertz, Logistic and Bass, to identify the most appropriate model, and to distinguish the forces driving the diffusion rate. Empirical results indicate that the most appropriate model is the Logistic model. Network externalities, which this study shows to be the same as the imitation effect in the Bass model, explain the superiority of the Logistic model. Moreover, market competition, which markedly reduces service prices, is identified as a primary driver of the diffusion rate of mobile telephony in Taiwan. Economic conditions, technological innovation and number of operators are insignificant factors. Finally, mobile telephony is a substitute for fixed-line telephony in Taiwan.     

Momentum and reversals in Taiwan index futures returns during periods of extreme trading imbalance

The study analyzes the relation between a trading imbalance metric that captures data observable by investors, and future momentum and reversals in Taiwan index futures returns. Standard regression analyses do not show any significant dynamic relations between daily index futures returns and the trading imbalance, regardless of whether the trading imbalance metric is lagged, contemporaneous, or leads the index futures return. However, when the analyses are focused on periods with extreme trading imbalances I find that the daily index futures returns exhibit significant reversals following periods of extreme (low) trading imbalances and low returns. I also find some evidence of residual momentum in consecutive daily index futures returns following periods of extreme (high) trading imbalances and high returns. Trading simulation, directional accuracy, and market timing tests show these effects to be economically significant, even after accounting for transaction costs.     

贫困陷阱的微观机制与实证研究述评

近年来,一批发展经济学家在吸收早期贫困陷阱理论合理内核的基础上,借助现代经济学新的理论与方法,将贫困陷阱问题的研究从宏观层面推进到微观层次、从抽象的理论阐释推进到精细的实证分析,并在此过程中拓展了贫困陷阱问题的研究范围。本文以述论结合的方式梳理这一研究领域的新进展,并在发展经济学学科发展史的视野中审视贫困陷阱理论、展望进一步的研究方向。     

Cross‐cultural differences on work‐to‐family conflict and role satisfaction: A Taiwanese‐British comparison

The aim of this research was to explore relations between work and family demands and resources, work‐to‐family conflict (WFC), and work and family outcomes in a cross‐cultural comparative context involving Taiwanese and British employees. Two‐hundred and sixty‐four Taiwanese employees and 137 British employees were surveyed using structured questionnaires. For both Taiwanese and British employees, work and family demands were positively related to WFC, whereas work resources were negatively related to WFC. Furthermore, WFC was negatively related to family satisfaction. More importantly, we found that nation moderated relationships between work resources and WFC, WFC and work, and family satisfaction. Specifically, work resources had a stronger protective effect for Taiwanese than British in reducing WFC, whereas WFC had a stronger detrimental effect on role satisfaction for British than Taiwanese. It is recommended that both culture‐general and culture‐specific effects should be taken into consideration in designing future WFC research and familyfriendly managerial practices. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Testing the Stability of a Production Function with Urbanization as a Shift Factor

Urban economists have long sought to explain the relationship between urbanization levels and output. In this paper we revisit this question and test the long-run stability of a production function including urbanization using non-stationary panel data techniques. Our results show that a long-run relationship between urbanization, output per worker and capital per worker cannot be rejected for either our sample of 30 developing countries or our sample of 22 developed countries. We do find, however, that the sign and magnitude of the impact of urbanization varies considerably across the countries. In addition, we estimate the long-run average effects on GDPW of urbanization and capital. These results offer new insights and potential for dynamic urban models rather than the simple cross-section approach.