Wealth effects of the Securities and Exchange Commission's ‘terror tool’

In summer 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission published an online tool with information on firms doing business in State Sponsor of Terrorism countries. We take sides with those arguing that for moral reasons, investors will have traded on the information provided in the tool by selling stocks of mentioned firms. Contrary to our expectation, we find no evidence of a negative stock price reaction during the time the tool was posted online but do find such reaction subsequent to the tool's publication. Additionally, we provide evidence for the notion that stigmatisation is not transitory.     

Purchasing power parity and real factors

It is acknowledged that purchasing power parity (PPP) fails in empirical tests. The position adopted is that real factors are an omitted variable from the PPP relationship and are the cause of divergences from PPP. The real exchange rate as being determined by supply and demand shift factors (as in Stockman, 1987 and Neary, 1988) is modelled. We then empirically estimate a real exchange rate equation and use the fitted value as a generated regressor in tests of PPP. It is demonstrated that when changes in the real exchange rate are incorporated into the PPP relationship, PPP improves.     

Green technology foresight on automobile technology in China

This paper develops a framework for green technology foresight based on the idea of sustainability and takes the Chinese automobile industry as an example for the analysis of its implementation. First, it applies scenario techniques to identify technology requirements, considering six different visions of the future, especially the ‘circulation society’, the ‘environment-friendly society’ and the ‘equity society’. Delphi techniques are used to complete the green technology foresight with an improved questionnaire and statistical model, compared with the traditional one. It is argued that green technology foresight is the evolution and extension of traditional technology foresight, and the basic idea of foresight-guided efforts to achieve sustainability should be considered not only in China, but also in other countries and in other industries.     

Buying a pig when both buyer and seller are in pokes

This paper considers the situation of a foreign company buying an enterprise in an Eastern European country. Since the enterprise has no record in a market economy, neither buyer or seller knows what value should be placed on it. In addition, very often the physical assets of the enterprise have little value, so the purchasing firm is actually buying a license to engage in a particular line of business and expects some subsidy or protection while the enterprise is being renovated and is entering the market. Bargaining postulates are developed and a simple bargaining model is evolved which show conditions under which bargaining will succeed. The role of the proportion of equity purchased and the effect of subsidies are considered.     

Formal and informal tourism sectors: A case study in Pattaya,Thailand

In view of increasing disparities in socioeconomic development, the importance of enterprises of smaller scales of operation is increasingly emphasized by recent development theories. The ILO has proposed strategies to promote the informal sector which is composed of self-employed businessmen and enterprises of a petty scale of operation. The dichotomy of formal and informal sectors and its implications are examined in a study of the tourism sector in Pattaya, Thailand. Findings on the informal tourist sector disprove major hypotheses regarding the development potential of the informal sector.     

The Long-Terra Credit Agency Perspective

Agriculture is at a crossroads in terms of how it will be financed. Debt capital as a source of capital to establish farmers will become less important as lenders become more conservative and base their ioan decisions more on real repayment capacity. Very serious questions have to be asked about the relevance of many provincial and federal lending programs for the coming years. A rethinking of the role of government in farm credit is now under way and will continue in the future.
New programs must be developed for the farmers of the future which will allow them to become and remain established in a low or deflationary environment.