Reviews

Regions. ERA 1998: 21st CENTURY REGIONS. London: Economic & regional analysis, 23. Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB, £30 + £1 p&p paper.

Environmental management standards. Krut, R. and Gleckman, H. 1998: ISO 14001: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd, £14.95 paper.

Environmental jobs. Hale, M. and Lachowicz, M. 1998: THE ENVIRONMENT, EMPLOYMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. London: Routledge, £17.99 paper.

Sustainability and regeneration. Carley, M. and Kirk, K. 1998: SUSTAINABLE BY 2020? A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO URBAN REGENERATION FOR BRITAIN'S CITIES. Bristol: The Policy Press, £11.95 paper.

Gambling. Frey, J.H. (ed) 1998: GAMBLING: SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS AND PUBLIC POLICY. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. London: Sage Publications, £14.99 paper.

Informal employment. Williams, C. C. and Windebank, J. 1998: INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT IN THE ADVANCED ECONOMIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR WORK AND WELFARE. London: Routledge, £15.99 paper.

TECS. Jones, M. 1999: NEW INSTITUTIONAL SPACES: TECS AND THE REMAKING OF ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE. London: Regional Studies Association, £27.50 paper.

The New Regional Agenda. Dungey, J. and Newman, I. 1999: THE NEW REGIONAL AGENDA. London: Local Government Information Unit, £15.00 paper.

Mutual aid and self-help. Burne, Danny and Taylor, Marilyn, 1998: MUTUAL AID AND SELF-HELP: COPING STRATEGIES FOR EXCLUDED COMMUNITIES. Bristol: The Policy Press, £10.95.     

The factor content of north-south trade in manufactures reconsidered

Zusammen fassung Nochmals zum Faktorgehalt des Nord-Süd-Handels mit Industrieprodukten. — In den konventionellen Berechnungen des Faktorgehalts der international gehandelten Güter werden die Wirkungen, die der Nord-Süd-Handel mit Industriegütern auf die Struktur der Nachfrage nach heimischen Produktionsfaktoren ausübt, erheblich untersch?tzt. In diesem Artikel wird eine modifizierte Methode entwickelt, die mehr als sonst üblich nicht-konkurrierende Importe einbezieht. Danach ist die positive Ansto\wirkung des Handels auf die relative Nachfrage nach ungelernten Arbeitskr?ften im Süden ungef?hr sechsmal, die negative Ansto\wirkung im Norden ungef?hr zehnmal gr?\er, als konventionelle Berechnungen ergeben. Dieser Befund k?nnte bedeutende Folgerungen für andere ?konomische Forschungsgebiete und für die Wirtschaftspolitik haben.

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Résumé Le facteur-contenu du commerce Nord-Sud des produits industriels — une reconsidération. — Les calculations conventionnelles du facteur-contenu du commerce international sous-estiment largement les effets du commerce Nord-Sud des produits industriels sur la demande de facteurs intérieurs de la production. Pour le facteur-contenu, on a développé une méthode modifiée qui se concentre aux importations non-compétitives. Cette méthode propose que l'effet sur la demande relative de main-d'∄uvre non-qualifiée est au Sud environ six fois, au Nord environ dix fois plus grand que les calculations conventionnelles indiquent. De ce résultat on peut tirer des conclusions importantes pour d'autres recherches économiques et pour la politique.

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Resumen Una reconsideration del contenido de factores del comercio en manufacturas Norte-Sur. — Las calculaciones convencionales del contenido de factores del comercio subestiman bastante los efectos del comercio Norte-Sur en manufacturas sobre la composición de la demanda de factores de producción domésticos. Se desarrolla un método modificado que se concentra en las importaciones no competitivas. Este método sugiere que el impacto sobre la demanda relativa de la mano de obra no calificada es seis veces más grande en el Sur que lo que las calculaciones convencionales indican y alrededor de diez veces más grande en el Norte. Este resultado podria tener importantes implicaciones para otros campos de la ciencia económica y para la política.

     

Assessing the predictive performance of artifIcial neural network‐based classifiers based on different data preprocessing methods,distributions and training mechanisms

We analyse the implications of three different factors (preprocessing method, data distribution and training mechanism) on the classification performance of artificial neural networks (ANNs). We use three preprocessing approaches: no preprocessing, division by the maximum absolute values and normalization. We study the implications of input data distributions by using five datasets with different distributions: the real data, uniform, normal, logistic and Laplace distributions. We test two training mechanisms: one belonging to the gradient‐descent techniques, improved by a retraining procedure, and the other is a genetic algorithm (GA), which is based on the principles of natural evolution. The results show statistically significant influences of all individual and combined factors on both training and testing performances. A major difference with other related studies is the fact that for both training mechanisms we train the network using as starting solution the one obtained when constructing the network architecture. In other words we use a hybrid approach by refining a previously obtained solution. We found that when the starting solution has relatively low accuracy rates (80–90%) the GA clearly outperformed the retraining procedure, whereas the difference was smaller to non‐existent when the starting solution had relatively high accuracy rates (95–98%). As reported in other studies, we found little to no evidence of crossover operator influence on the GA performance. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trading behaviour and the performance of daily institutional trades

Using a unique database of daily trading activity, the present study examines the ability of active Australian equity managers to earn superior risk‐adjusted returns. We find evidence of superior trade performance, where performance is a function of stock size. Our findings indicate that active equity managers are able to successfully exploit private information more readily in stocks ranked 101–150 by market‐cap, where the degree of analyst coverage, information flows and market efficiency are lower than for large‐cap stocks. We also find evidence of manager specialization. Our evidence provides further support of the value of active investment management in Australian equities.     

The final gift: targeting the potential charity legator

• Although legacy income is of enormous importance to many of the UK's fundraising charities, little reliable information exists to assist practitioners in targeting potential legators with appropriate messages. In particular, the motives for making a legacy gift and the differences between those doing so and the general supporter base are unknown. This makes segmentation and the subsequent development of strategy problematic.
• This exploratory study seeks to address these issues and compare the motives of individuals who support charities during their lifetime with the motives of individuals who, in addition, pledge a legacy. The authors conclude that fundraisers looking to increase legacy income should target their older supporters, particularly those in their mid to late 60s', as well as users of their services. The findings also suggest that communications to these groups should stress organizational performance and service quality commitments.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Endogenous credit-card acceptance in a model of precautionary demand for money

A credit-card acceptance decision by retailers is embedded intoa simple model of precautionary demand for money. The modelgives a new explanation for how the use of credit-cards candiffer so widely across countries. Retailers’ propensityto accept cards reduces the need for buyers to hold cash asthe chance of a stock-out (of cash) is reduced. When retailersmake their decision with respect to credit-card acceptance theydo not take into account the effect that decision has on othersellers. This externality generates multiple equilibria oversome portions of the parameter space.     

An unobserved component model of asset pricing across financial markets

Our research focuses on multifactor asset pricing models that investigate the importance of economic factors in the pricing of assets beyond the scope of the stock market. We present a Bayesian learning model of asset pricing across financial markets in which unobserved components are estimated using a Kalman filter (KF). Economic factors serve to drive the pricing of risk in the market, and agents update expectations recursively, as new information becomes available. We generally find that the Kalman filter provides superior performance and that economic factors like industrial production and unanticipated inflation provide consistent implications across financial markets.     

The effect of exchange trading of gold options on the volatility of the underlying asset

On April 2, 1981 the European Options Exchange introduced options on gold. Data for the period immediately before and after is consistent with the effect being to reduce the daily price volatility of the underlying asset.     

On education,screening and human capital

The paper tests the hypothesis that educational attainment acts, inter alia, as a screening device for worker selection by comparing the average educational level of pairs of screened and non-screened groups within similar occupational categories. The results, based on Israeli data, support the view that strong screening effects are at work.