Part-time work in the public health service of Denmark,France and the UK

The aim of this paper is to consider the extent to which and the ways in which part-time work is used in the health services of Denmark, France and the UK. The reasons for and the implications of introducing part-time work in the three EU countries are also analysed and compared. Data were collected using questionnaires and interviews from hospitals in Denmark, France and the UK. Questionnaires were completed by heads of department and by part-time employees. Interviews (for the UK sample only) were held with the managers responsible for the introduction of flexible working practices. The findings show that part-time employment is the most common flexible working practice in the health services of all three countries but that the purpose of its introduction differs from one country to another. Part-time work seemed to have satisfied the desire of those who run the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK for cost reduction and for flexibility of working practices. In the French health service it was aimed at creating jobs, whereas in Denmark it was a response to increasing employee demand for flexible working. It was also found that, contrary to the Danish case with its established tradition of flexible working and equality in employment, the full-time working traditions and the male-dominated cultures of the health services in France and in the UK have often undermined the importance and benefits of part-time employment.     

The Effectiveness of Regulatory Capital Requirements Prior to the Onset of the Financial Crisis

We extend the literature on the role of capital requirements as a regulatory tool by developing a continuous measure of the degree of regulatory pressure and by examining data on US commercial banks during the economic upturn that preceded the 2007–2009 financial crisis. Our findings indicate the inability of regulatory pressure to force banks to build capital buffers during the economic upturn that preceded the crisis. These findings are consistent with the view that banks entered the crisis with inadequate levels of capital. Our findings support the endeavors of regulators in explicitly demanding capital buffers in their new regulatory framework.     

Financial Development Impact on Firm Dynamic Creation: Panel Data Evidence on MENA Countries

Using a panel of 14 MENA countries, this paper investigates and examines whether financial development trains a substantial effect on entrepreneurship development by facilitating the rise of new firms. Generalized Two-Stage Least Squares estimate results with instrumental variables highlight the relevance of developed financial systems for the creation of new firms. In overall, financial development and its component explained by the institutional quality exert a positive and significant effect on new entry density in oil MENA countries compared to non-oil ones.     

Analyzing Heterogeneous Stock Price Comovements Through Hybrid Approaches

This paper studies the hypothesis of stock price comovements between the US market and four different regions (the G6, the BRICS, the MENA (Middle East North Africa) during calm and crisis periods. Using different econometric approaches (BEKK-GARCH model, cointegration tests, and panel cointegration tests), we checked the interdependence of these markets in the short and the long term. Our findings point to the importance of heterogeneity linked to the stock price adjustment process, inviting individual analysis to be carried out according to market specificities in the aim of identifying countries that are sources of investment opportunities. We also highlighted the presence of time-varying stock price comovements that significantly increased after the subprime crisis. This enabled us to specify periods and regions that can still provide promising diversification benefits. Investigation of this issue is of interest for investors and bankers in order to improve their portfolio choices, diversification strategies as well as risk management.     

PUBLIC EDUCATION EXPENDITURES, HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT AND INTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITY: A TWO-STAGE EDUCATION MODEL

We show in this paper that, depending on the initial distribution of material wealth and that of individuals' abilities, economies converge in the long run towards different proportions of the skilled workforce and different levels of average wealth. We also show that the growth process raises net economic mobility, the long-run proportion of the skilled population and the long-run levels of wealth held by both rich and poor dynasties. Unless the income tax rate is too high, the increase in total public funds is associated, in the long run, with higher net mobility, a larger fraction of the skilled workers and higher levels of wealth of all the dynasties. In addition, the reallocation of public expenditures from basic to advanced education can result in lower mobility, a lower long-run size of the skilled workforce, and a lower long-run level of wealth held by rich dynasties, if the transfer of resources comes at the expense of excessively lowering the quality of education at the basic schooling level.     

Fixed-income fund performance: Role of luck and ability in tail membership

The risk-adjusted performance (alphas) of a comprehensive and survivorship-free sample of Canadian bond funds after (before) management-related costs is negative (positive) and is weakly sensitive to the choice of the return-generating process. A conditional multi-factor model that captures maturity differences and default risk best describes the return-generating process of these funds. Examination of funds in the tails of the performance distribution using the block-bootstrap method suggests that “bad luck” causes the before costs underperformance of extreme left-tail funds and no fund possesses truly superior management skills.     

To tell the truth: A discussion of issues concerning truth and ethics in accounting

Such major scandals as the savings and loan failures in the late 1980s and 1990s, the Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom and Tyco corporate scandals, Arthur Andersen’s demise, and the current crisis of the financial system have all been linked directly or indirectly to false, misleading, or untruthful accounting. Thus, in a pragmatic sense the question of the veracity of accounting or what it could mean for accounting to be true seems to exist. The assertion of a false or misleading financial report implies some belief that there could exist a true or not-misleading report. Accounting-standard setters have finessed this issue by agreeing that “decision usefulness,” not truth, is financial reporting’s ultimate objective. Over time they have gravitated to a coherence notion of truth to provide rationales for accounting policy. The result has been a serious conflict between the content of financial accounting and the auditing of that content. In this paper we describe this conflict and its consequences and, relying on John McCumber’s work, provide an argument about how accounting scholars and practitioners might begin to think more cogently about what a truthful type of corporate reporting might be. We suggest that accounting-standard setters have too narrowly construed what accounting’s role in democratic society is and how the contradictions of current standard-setting jeopardize the essential professional franchise of accountants, the audit function.     

Market crises and Basel capital requirements: Could Basel III have been different? Evidence from Portugal,Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIGS)

Basel III represents a crucial step in strengthening the capital rules underlying banking operations, aimed at reducing the probability and severity of a systemic crisis. Alongside two supplementary capital buffers, the Basel Committee of Banking Supervision imposed severe pressure on the Value-at-Risk based Internal Models Approach in order to increase. This is to increase the capital base by adding the stressed Value-at-Risk component in an effort to reduce reliance on internal models while keeping the Standardized Approach avenue open. However, even though those measures might appear theoretically correct, evidence gathered for long and short exposures in Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain highlights several defects in Basel III. We emphasize that leptokurtic models, primarily those derived from Extreme Value Theory, should be enforced in the regulations given their superior performance in market crises, and that Basel II could have shielded against 2008 mayhem provided that heavy-tailed techniques had been employed.     

Demand Analysis of Meat in Malaysia

One distinct change in Malaysians' food consumption behavior has been the preference toward meat products. Thus it is meaningful to gain insight of meat consumption patterns. As the market becomes increasingly market-led, information on current meat consumption patterns is required to assess how they are likely to change as prices and incomes change. This study attempts to provide a better understanding of demand for meat products in Malaysia. By utilizing data from Household Expenditure Survey 2004/2005, Engel curve analysis was conducted to derive income elasticities of meat products from QUAIDS model. The estimated income elasticities show that current food consumption patterns are showing signs of convergence toward a Western diet, exhibiting tendency for preference toward red meats (mutton and beef) over white meats (poultry and pork). The estimated elastic own-price elasticities indicate that Malaysian consumers are sensitive to the change in prices of the meat products, with other things remain constant.