Understanding your capital options

When planning capital expenditures, hospitals and health systems should understand the following financing considerations: Traditional fixed-rate tax-exempt bonds; Variable-rate financing alternatives; Basel III Accord requirements; Direct tax-exempt bank loans; Total return swaps Taxable financings; Interest-rate swaps and collateral requirements     

From education to democracy: evidence from long-run time-varying estimates

This study reinvestigates the hypothesis that education is expected to have a positive and statistically significant effect on democracy for a panel of 169 countries over the period 1990–2014. Unlike previous studies, we employ the time-varying cointegration approach of Bierens and Martins (Econom Theory 26:1453–1490, 2010) to show the time-varying coefficient associated with education has a positive impact on democracy. Further examination of the countries by income classification reveals that education has a positive and increasing impact on democracy with the greatest impact in low-income countries.     

Financial determinants of market value: The case of investor favorites

This study identifies the risk-return characteristics of “America's Most Valuable” companies as listed byBusiness Week. The study determines those characteristics that separate the sample from firms selected at random from the same industries. Significant differences were found. The sample of investor favorites were found to have a higher degree of systematic risk. The results indicate that investors at the margin may be less sensitive to operating risk than financial risk.     

Matching Industries between Target and Acquirer in High-Tech Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been regarded as a highly viable option for fostering innovation, gaining new products or services, and gaining access to new markets in high technology firms. This study analyzes several alternative variables that impact M&A choices by analyzing their relationship to the industry of both the acquirer and target. Results support two hypotheses implying that (1) M&A transactions with the same acquirer and target industry are more likely to be acquisitions that delivers a greater final share of the target organization to the acquirer, and (2) acquirers are more likely to invest greater dollar amounts in targets that have the same primary industry.     

Magic bullets and the nutrition agenda

This article is a rejoinder to Berg and Austin's paper. The authors have no quarrel with Berg and Austin's conclusion that ‘progress’ has been unspectacular and patchy, or that there is much worthwhile work to be done. However, the authors argue that what Berg and Austin have described is not a ‘new paradigm’, but more of the same — more magic bullets.     

Analyst Following and Equity Offerings Subsequent to Initial Public Offerings

Analyst forecast information is collected for firms following their IPOs and is used in an examination of subsequent seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). Consistent with information asymmetry arguments, the analysis indicates that a larger percentage of firms conducting SEOs within three years of the IPO are covered by financial analysts than those without SEOs, and that analyst coverage is a significant predictor of subsequent SEOs. In addition, the results indicate that long-term earnings growth forecasts are larger for firms with subsequent SEOs, but growth forecasts decline significantly following the SEOs. Further, SEO abnormal returns exhibit a significant negative relationship with earnings growth forecasts. These results are consistent with windows of opportunity arguments since they suggest that SEOs are timed to coincide with the peak of earnings growth expectations, but that market participants compensate by reacting more negatively to offerings by firms with high growth forecasts.     

Forecasting Medical Net Discount Rates

Determining the present value of future medical costs is an important issue for a variety of public and private entities. This article examines the time‐series properties of medical net discount rates and considers the implications for forecasting. The article provides evidence that the standard autoregressive moving average forecasting model may be improved by modeling the time‐varying volatility characteristics of the medical net discount rates.     

Have Equity REITs Experienced Periodically Collapsing Bubbles?

This paper uses the momentum threshold autoregressive (MTAR) model and the residuals-augmented Dickey–Fuller (RADF) test to examine the possibility of Evans’ (1991) periodically collapsing bubbles in the equity REIT market. The results are mixed. The MTAR model indicates that overall real equity REIT prices and dividends are cointegrated with asymmetric adjustment towards the long-run equilibrium. However, the estimated coefficients of the MTAR model do not indicate the presence of periodically collapsing bubbles. Adjustment in the standard cointegration tests of bubbles for skewness and excess kurtosis via the RADF test fails to reject the null hypothesis of no cointegration, leaving the possibility of periodically collapsing bubbles. The MTAR and RADF results with respect to equity REIT sub-sectors are mixed. Lodging is the only sub-sector in which both the MTAR and RADF results support periodically collapsing bubbles. Moreover, market fundamentals proxied by two alternative measures of capacity utilization do not explain either real equity REIT prices or dividends.     

Towards a code of conduct for the tourism industry: An ethics model

There are four areas of concern in the ethical pursuit of tourism. Too often, tourism development is planned without consideration of the local environment's or community's needs and characteristics. An ethical treatment of the environment and community should involve consideration and participation in the planning and decision-making process, as well as implementing effective guidelines to assure fairness in employing both traditional and non-traditional employees. Finally, the industry must pay special attention to the target market: tourists. Dinah Payne is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of New Orleans. Her teaching and research interests include business ethics, the legal environment of business, international business and international management. She has published articles in the Journal of Business Ethics,the Labor Law Journal,the Journal of Managerial Issuesand Management Accounting.She is the current Vice President/Program Chair of the Southern Academy of Legal Studies in Business. Frédéric Dimanche is an Assistant Professor of the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism at the University of New Orleans. His teaching and research interests include tourist behavior and tourism marketing. He has published articles in the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing,the Journal of Leisure Research,and Leisure Sciences.He is the President of the Travel and Tourism Research Association, South Central Chapter.