Oil income shocks and economic growth in Iran

The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between oil revenue shocks and output growth in Iran by Adopting an SVAR model over the period 1959–2008. The results indicate that positive and negative oil revenue shocks significantly affect output growth positively and negatively respectively and these effects are asymmetric. While negative oil revenue shocks adversely affect the economic growth, the resource curse impedes the expected positive effects of positive oil shocks. In order to overcome the harmful effects of oil booms and busts, the establishment of oil stabilization and saving funds, diversifying economy, delinking government expenditure from oil revenues and introducing fiscal rules into the budget seems crucial for Iran economy.     

Managing Perceptions of Technical Competence: How Well Do Auditors Know How Others View Them?*

We investigate factors that influence an auditor's accuracy in knowing how subordinates, peers, and superiors view his or her own technical competence (metaperception). Extant literature on reputation management in auditing contexts depicts preparers of audit workpapers as strategic agents (subordinates) who stylize workpapers and engage in behaviors that enhance their reputations with reviewers (superiors). These superiors, in turn, are represented as strategically engaging in coping behaviors in response to such stylization attempts. One of the necessary conditions for auditors to enhance their reputations on a sustainable basis is accurate metaperception. We report the results of an experiment that investigates determinants of auditors' metaperception accuracy. Our participants comprise teams of audit partners, managers, and seniors who work together in the field. Each auditor performs two tasks of varying complexity and then predicts whether other team members can accurately perform the task and how other team members assess his or her performance on the tasks. Results show that accuracy in knowing what others think of one's technical proficiency (metaperception) is generally high, particularly when the predictor auditors are partners and managers; however, metaperception accuracy is asymmetric and varies depending on the predictor auditor, the target auditor being predicted, and task complexity. Implications are discussed.     

Viewpoint: An extended class of instrumental variables for the estimation of causal effects

Abstract We examine how structural systems can yield observed variables instrumental in identifying and estimating causal effects. We provide an exhaustive characterization of potentially identifying conditional exogeneity relationships and demonstrate how structural relations determine exogeneity and exclusion restrictions that yield moment conditions supporting identification. This provides a comprehensive framework for constructing instruments and covariates. We introduce notions of conditioning and conditional extended instrumental variables (XIVs). These permit identification but need not be traditional instruments, as they may be endogenous. We distinguish between observed XIVs and proxies for unobserved XIVs. A main message is the importance of sufficiently specifying causal relations governing the unobservables.     

The inoperability extended multisectoral model and the Role of Income Distribution: A U.K. Case Study

In this paper, an effort is made to enrich the current input–output (I–O) methodologies employed for studying disruptive events, by extending the I–O framework and including all the phases of the circular flow of income into the overall disaster impact. In this respect, the Inoperability Extended Multisectoral Model is created and implemented in order to estimate the higher‐order effects in terms of value added and disposable income. The social accounting matrix, referred to the United Kingdom, is constructed and proposed as a starting point for assessing the effects of a system perturbation related to the eruption of the Volcano Eyjafjallajökull, in mid‐April 2010, which affected air transport services due to the full closure of the U.K.'s airspace for several days. Finally, the ranking of those commodities and institutional sectors which are badly affected can provide guidance to policymakers in order to minimize the overall impact on the economy.     

Output volatility,composition of trade,and transmission of economic shocks across countries

In this paper we investigate how supply and demand shocks in one country affect output volatility in other countries. While the evidence for cross‐country transmission of demand shocks is mixed, we find that volatile supply in one country leads to larger imports and output volatility in other countries. As a result, the effect of trade openness on output volatility is highly heterogeneous across countries and depends on the composition of their trade. Those countries whose imports originate in economies with volatile supply experience a greater impact of trade on output volatility.     

Determinants of audit fees in Bangladesh

This paper reports the results of an analysis of the determinants of audit fees of both financial and non-financial companies in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi audit services market is unusual in that there is no direct involvement of international audit firms in it. The results of the regressions show that the size of the auditee has the greatest influence on audit fees. Whilst there was no international Big Six grouping, it was possible to construct a group of Bangladeshi audit firms which commanded a price premium, based on their size and whether they had a link with an international firm of auditors. Financial services companies were found to have higher audit fees relative to non-financial companies. Subsidiaries of multi-national holding companies also had higher audit fees. The surprising result was that auditees which employed at least one qualified accountant had higher audit fees.     

Exploring the Fit Perspective: An Ethnographic Approach

While strategic human resource management (SHRM) theory has largely supported the importance of “fit,” the empirical research evidence has been mixed. In this study, we employ an ethnographic, case‐study approach to provide a more comprehensive assessment of fit and consider key contextual factors influencing HRM in the organization. Our findings suggest that the misalignment of HR practices can produce conflicting signals for employees, leading to reduced motivation and commitment. Furthermore, our study suggests that attempts to adopt isolated best practices without sufficient consideration of fit can have negative consequences. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications.     

Unpacking functional alliance portfolios: How signals of viability affect young firms' outcomes

This article investigates how alliance portfolio composition affects young firms' outcomes. Drawing on signaling theory, we propose how alliance portfolio composition—number, functional domains (R&D, manufacturing, and marketing), and single‐purpose or multi‐purpose nature of alliances within the portfolio—may affect a firm's likelihood of achieving a liquidity event (IPO or acquisition). We study 8,600 U.S.‐based, VC‐backed firms during the period of 1990 to 2002 from 10 industry sectors. We find that alliance portfolios (to a certain extent) increase a firm's liquidity event likelihood. Further, firms with heterogeneous alliance portfolios, including portfolios emitting greater efficiency signals versus endorsement signals, are more likely to experience an IPO versus acquisition. Our findings lend support to the value of multi‐function alliances within portfolios. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monetary Policy and Sectoral Bank Lending in Malaysia

Abstract

Unlike most studies on the effect of monetary policy on bank lending, this article intends to answer the question whether the tightening of monetary policy in Malaysia before and after the financial crisis in 1997 affected differently the commercial bank lending to various sectors of the economy. To achieve the objective, Vector Autoregressive Regression (VAR) method was used to generate impulse response function and variance decomposition to trace the impact of a shock in monetary policy on bank lending in Malaysia. The results show that a monetary policy tightening in Malaysia gives a negative impact on all the sectors. Analyzing sectoral responses to monetary shocks, evidence is found that some sectors are more affected than the others. The manufacturing, agricultural, and mining sector seems to decline more than the aggregate bank lending in response to interest rate shock.     

La détection des effets de mise en scène dans les états financiers*

Résumé. Les auteurs s'intéressent ici à la nature des représentations cognitives qu'utilisent les vérificateurs en situation de fraude potentielle dans les états financiers. Ils divisent le problème de détection de la fraude en deux parties: la détection de la mise en scène élaborée par la direction pour masquer la fraude et la détection de la fraude. Ils examinent les deux méthodes de détection des mises en scène proposées par Kahneman et Tversky (1986): 1) l'utilisation de représentations multiples aboutissant à différentes interprétations possibles des données contenues dans les états financiers; et 2) l'utilisation d'une méthode permettant de transposer les données contenues dans les états financiers sous forme de représentation normalisée. Vingt-quatre associés de vérification ont participé à l'étude. Chacun d'eux devait procéder à la contre-révision d'un dossier de vérification. Tous les vérificateurs examinaient quatre cas dans lesquels la direction avait présenté une image trompeuse de l'entreprise (au moyen d'une mise en scène) et produit des états financiers frauduleux. Les résultats obtenus par les auteurs confirment la thèse de Kahneman et Tversky selon laquelle les mises en scène peuvent être décelées grâce à la transposition du problème sous forme de représentation normalisée. Les vérificateurs qui ont eu recours à une représentation normalisée sont parvenus à percer à jour la mise en scène de la direction, à totaliser les éléments correctement et à déceler la fraude dans tous les cas. Ils ont, pour cela, appliqué des procédés conformes aux normes de vérification généralement reconnues (Institut Canadien des Comptables Agréés, 1988; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1984) pour totaliser les éléments. Les vérificateurs qui ont eu recours à des représentations multiples ont aussi détecté la mise en scène élaborée par la direction dans les quatre cas. Ils n'ont cependant pas appliqué les procédés de totalisation recommandés dans les normes de vérification et ne sont parvenus à détecter la fraude dans aucun des quatre cas.