The determinants of the price impact of block trades: further evidence

This article extends previous literature which examines the determinants of the price impact of block trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. As previous literature suggests that liquidity exhibits intraday patterns, we introduce time of day dummy variables to explore time dependencies in price impact. Following theoretical developments in previous literature, the explanatory power of the bid–ask spread, a lagged cumulative stock return variable and a refined measure of market returns are also examined. The model estimated explains approximately 29 per cent of the variation in price impact. Block trades executed in the first hour of trading experience the greatest price impact, while market conditions, lagged stock returns and bid–ask spreads are positively related to price impact. The bid–ask spread provides most of the explanatory power. This suggests that liquidity is the main driver of price impact.     

Enablers for end‐user entrepreneurship: An investigation on Italian food bloggers

This article examines unconventional entrepreneurship (accidental or end‐user entrepreneurs) to determine whether the decision‐making phase of the entrepreneurial process is collective. The analysis identified a virtuous circle that links knowledge, innovation, judgment, and decision making to collective interactions built on passion, experience, and sharing. To study food bloggers as unconventional user entrepreneurs, data were collected and analyzed using netnographic analysis. A supplementary online survey of food bloggers and their followers was also performed. Three groups of food bloggers are identified: amusing, functional, and fervent. Only fervent food bloggers, thanks to the virtuous circle built on passion, experience, and sharing as enablers, can be considered accidental or end‐user entrepreneurs.     

ESTIMATING THE EFFECTS OF BROWNFIELDS AND BROWNFIELD REMEDIATION ON PROPERTY VALUES IN A NEW SOUTH CITY

Using data from Charlotte, NC, a New South city without a legacy of heavily contaminated properties, we find the distance from unremediated brownfields—typically former industrial properties believed to have modest contamination—to have no effect on residential sales values, but proposed cleanup and actual remediation have positive, substantial, and significant effects especially within 0.5 miles of the brownfield. Our results are consistent whether we examine all property values within a given distance, such as 0.5 miles, or examine discrete distances, such as 0.3–0.5 miles. An estimate of the benefits is on the order of $4 million. (JEL Q51, Q24, Q28, R52)     

The impact of auctions on residential property prices

This study assesses whether the sale method in residential real estate markets – auction versus private treaty – is a determinant of sale price. Utilising a larger and richer dataset than previous research, we test for a price effect in auction sales in Sydney and Christchurch. When self‐selection biases are corrected for, using two‐stage hedonic regression analysis and a matched sampling procedure, we find no significant difference between prices of properties sold at auction to those sold by private treaty. This conflicts with the conclusions of previous research in the Australian and New Zealand housing markets, which have documented a price premium associated with auction sales.     

Activity in futures: does underlying market size relate to futures trading volume?

This study investigates the determinants of trading volume in the futures markets and focuses on underlying market characteristics as an explanation for futures trading volume. Four major futures contracts traded on the Sydney Futures Exchange are investigated: the stock price index (SPI); the 90-day bank accepted bill (BAB); the 3-year bond; and the 10-year bond. An important outcome of this study is an identification of the fundamental drivers of trading volume in the futures markets, which have largely gone undocumented in prior research. We find evidence that futures trading volume is related to underlying market characteristics: the size of the Australian superannuation fund investments in equities (for the SPI), short term treasury notes (for the BAB), non-government bonds on issue (for the 3-year contract) and government bonds on issue (for the 10-year contract).     

Political feasibility of structural adjustment in africa: an application of SAM mixed multipliers

The implementation of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) has often been undermined by opposition from politically powerful groups who are favored by existing policies. To assess the political sustainability of SAPs this paper uses social accounting matrices for three African countries to model the income effects of stylized SAPs on different socioeconomic groups. The analysis reveals wide variation in the likelihood for typical SAPs to be acceptable to political elites while generating growth in the rest of the economy. The presence of a rural elite or strong farm-nonfarm linkages can enhance the political sustainability of SAPs.     

Prejudice, exclusion, and compensating transfers: the economics of ethnic segregation

Prejudiced groups self-segregate and exclude others. This is observed in South African apartheid, in the exclusion of Eastern European or Muslim immigrants from Western Europe and in ghettos formed by immigrants in many countries. In the United States, minorities (mostly African Americans) are segregated in central cities and wealthier European Americans reside predominantly in the suburbs. A fully closed general equilibrium model of the last case is presented. The model treats land, labor and product markets. Most whites flee the inner city for white-dominated suburbs. This benefits blacks by lowering inner city rents relative to wages. When whites are weakly prejudiced, exclusion from the suburbs hurts whites as well as blacks. But when whites are strongly prejudiced, a lump sum endowment transfer from whites to blacks can split the gains-from-trade: whites can pay transfers to blacks in exchange for blacks accepting exclusion. The transfer needed to compensate blacks is large if blacks are strongly hurt by exclusion and small if they are only slightly hurt. How much transfers to US central cities and to the poor compensate American blacks for the effects of exclusion is an open question.     

A Markov switching analysis of contagion in the EMS

This paper applies the multivariate version of the Forbes and Rigobon (2002) contagion test, as proposed by Dungey et al. (2005a), to detect contagion effects in the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the European Monetary System (EMS). Crisis and non-crisis observations are determined endogenously via a Markov-switching vector autoregression (MSVAR). We show that the MSVAR is suitable for this purpose, as it does particularly well in identifying the 11 realignments of the ERM. We examine whether Denmark’s rejection of the Maastricht Treaty and Italy’s competitiveness problems affected other EMS participants and find evidence for contagion.     

Does delaying service-failure resolution ever make sense?

Conventional wisdom suggests that service providers should respond to their failures as quickly as possible. Some research, however, points out that delaying resolutions may produce highly desirable results. The study here investigates these competing views by examining under which conditions an immediate or a delaying resolution produces more positive consumer responses in term of re-patronage and negative word-of-mouth intentions. Based on the concept of service separation, this research identifies an interaction effect between service separation (separated service, non-separated service) and response timing (immediate response, delaying response) on consumers' post-consumption intention. This research also finds that the relationship between service separation-response timing interaction and consumer response is mediated by consumers' negative emotions. This study contributes to refining our understanding of consumer psychology in service recovery. Practically, the studies also enable service providers to better allocate their resources to recover different types of services' failure.