Hecrth, Public Investment' and the People of Consett

Edward Heath continues intermittently to call for increased state spending to relieve unemployment and stimulate economic growth. Rodney Atkinson examines the history of the steel town, Consett (Mr Heath's example), to reveal that government intervention is the cause of its problems, not its potential saviour.     

Small business responsibility in developing countries: a threat or an opportunity?

Many developing country small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that are exporters see themselves facing a dilemma. They do not know how to respond to the rising social and environmental requirements of global buyers and supply chains and fear that were they to do so they would lose their competitive edge. However, they are aware that if they do not meet these requirements, they will not be able to access new foreign markets and may lose the contracts they already have. To investigate whether practical methods exist for resolving this dilemma, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) carried out a one year project with 22 SMEs in four Asian countries. The results suggest that well targeted, enterprise‐specific efforts to meet corporate social responsibility (CSR) requirements can make a positive contribution to both short‐term profitability and longer‐term competitiveness. The ‘business case’ for CSR appears strongest in the environmental area, but measures in that area can act as a ‘starter motor’ for tackling more systemic ‘social’ problems. Furthermore, tackling social issues at the workplace can feed back positively to improve the sustainability of the environmental improvement measures. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Recent Developments of Statistical Approaches in Aspects of Accounting: a Review

We review and simultaneously introduce a convenient statistical concept for the mathematical representation of the Statistical Activity Cost Theory (SACT) introduced by Willett (1987, 1988). Further, we discuss, and present a critique of a variety of statistical models with respect to long debated accounting problems, such as the allocation of joint costs and depreciation. We finally propose that taking the effort to combine those models results in a novel statistical accounting system and this is discussed by means of the so-called virtual firm. Our approach is methodological rather than empirical. We endeavour to demonstrate that the statistical models presented herein have a more natural interpretation and applicability than their deterministic analogues: hence, this review presents promising outcomes and useful perspectives for the accounting profession.     

Bayesian Model Selection with an Uninformative Prior*

Bayesian model selection with posterior probabilities and no subjective prior information is generally not possible because of the Bayes factors being ill‐defined. Using careful consideration of the parameter of interest in cointegration analysis and a re‐specification of the triangular model of Phillips (Econometrica, Vol. 59, pp. 283–306, 1991), this paper presents an approach that allows for Bayesian comparison of models of cointegration with ‘ignorance’ priors. Using the concept of Stiefel and Grassman manifolds, diffuse priors are specified on the dimension and direction of the cointegrating space. The approach is illustrated using a simple term structure of the interest rates model.     

The middle east and the EEC: An analysis of trade flows

The Middle East has become the largest external supplier of imports to the European Community, and is also the EC's largest export market. Rising oll prices have not only affected the value of EC imports from the Middle East, but have also ultimately determined the ability of the Middle Eastern states to pay for Community exports. What are the prospects for the continuing growth of trade between the Community and the Middle East? What would be the effect of a fall in oil prices or of a decline in the EC's dependence on Middle Eastern oil?     

Variations in NHL Attendance

A BSTRACT . In recent years the National Hockey League (NHL) has put policies in place to boost attendance. Specifically, these changes have been to curb violence, increase scoring, and move to an unbalanced schedule featuring more games against regional rivals. This research looks at variations in game-to-game attendance in the NHL, focusing on these policy changes. It is found that violence, specifically fighting, tends to attract fans in large numbers across the United States and Canada. Surprisingly, increases in scoring, ceteris paribus , tend to depress attendance. The change in scheduling by the NHL, however, has been a success, with divisional rivals increasing attendance in U.S. cities and additional contests against other Canadian teams increasing attendance in Canada.     

Automatic adjustment clauses and allocative efficiency in public utilities

This paper presents a formal analysis of the efficiency effects of automatic adjustment clauses (AACs) is regulated industries. Using a two-input model of ex ante/ex post input choice and a general putty-clay technology, we analyze the relative extent of allocative distortions due to each of three alternative regulatory policies—periodic rate review with and without an AAC, and an AAC without any rate review—for the case of a regulated firm that chooses an ex post technology to maximize the present value of future profits.Our results indicate that the economic rationale for using AACs in industries already subject to intermittent rate review is not unambiguous, even in the face of severe cost inflation, and is particularly sensitive to the magnitude of the price elasticity of demand for output and the rate and direction of input price changes. We are forced to conclude that the use of AACs in regulated industries such as electric power, while originally justified on the basis of financial viability, may well carry significant economic costs in the form of allocative inefficiency that may outweigh the benefits.