Exact inference for the difference of Laplace location parameters

We consider exact procedures for testing the equality of means (location parameters) of two Laplace populations with equal scale parameters based on corresponding independent random samples. The test statistics are based on either the maximum likelihood estimators or the best linear unbiased estimators of the Laplace parameters. By conditioning on certain quantities we manage to express their exact distributions as mixtures of ratios of linear combinations of standard exponential random variables. This allows us to find their exact quantiles and tabulate them for several sample sizes. The powers of the tests are compared either numerically or by simulation. Exact confidence intervals for the difference of the means corresponding to those tests are also constructed. The exact procedures are illustrated via a real data example.     

International entrepreneurial culture—Toward a comprehensive opportunity-based operationalization of international entrepreneurship

Despite the abundance of international entrepreneurship studies, there is a need to develop valid measures of the international entrepreneurship construct. Based on prior conceptual studies, we contribute to the literature by advancing a scale of the international entrepreneurial culture (IEC) that considers opportunity-based behavior; and, aims to capture the overarching context of international entrepreneurship. We followed established scale development practices and conducted a research on UK and US medium-sized firms. Our proposed six-dimensional operationalization of IEC, which sufficiently matches the initial conceptualization, consists of international entrepreneurial orientation; international market orientation; international motivation; international learning orientation; international networking orientation with competitors; and, international networking orientation with non-competitors. The main implication from this study is that international entrepreneurship scholars can use in future research these six dimensions of the encompassing IEC context rather than a confined international entrepreneurship construct.     

Regulatory impact assessment: a survey of selected developing and emerging economies

This paper reports on a survey of regulatory impact assessment (RIA) in 16 developing and emerging economies. RIA was playing an increasing role in these countries: eight had introduced RIA in the past 10 years; one had recently redesigned its existing RIA system; another had a long-standing RIA system in place. However, RIA was at an early stage of development in the majority of cases and six countries did not practise RIA.     

世行:中国房地产调控措施并未过度

正中国房地产市场调控措施并未过度,一度过热的房地产市场的趋势已经转变。世界银行中国首席经济学家韩伟森(Ardo Hansson)于四月上旬称,中国房地产市场调控措施并未过度,一度过热的房地产市场的趋势已经转变。韩伟森是在世界银行发布《中国经济季报》后发表简短讲话时做出上述表示的。他还称,3月份通货膨胀率反弹可能是暂时现象。在被问及中国是否应准备部分放     

Technical Progress, Price Adjustments, and Wages

Technical progress that takes place in one country is often soon transmitted to major trading partners, leading to adjustments in equilibrium commodity prices. This paper makes use of the twin concepts of differential industry effects and differential factor effects to ask about the role of each in determining how progress affects real wages. A simple diagram is utilized to illustrate in general settings the importance of factor bias in technology and the elasticity of substitution in demand in the analysis of real wage changes.     

Australian Financial Graphs: An Empirical Study

The use of graphs to disclose financial information in corporate annual reports represents a significant dimension of financial disclosure management. This study replicates and extends previous research into financial graphs by documenting the nature and extent of graph use and departures from representational neutrality among the 1991 corporate annual reports of the top one hundred companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Eighty-nine per cent of companies use graphs; the mean number is 9.4, with diversified companies using the most graphs. The most commonly graphed financial variables are sales, profit, EPS and DPS. Evidence is found that graph use is contingent upon favourable performance. In addition, material measurement distortion is found in 34 per cent of all key financial graphs. Eighty-six per cent of companies have slope parameters which depart more than 10° from the optimum, thus impairing communicative effectiveness. A range of design strategies are employed which are consistent with the adoption of an impression management schema. No persistent systematic differences between forms of distortion and industry group are found. Comparison with prior single-country studies reveals that graphs are used more extensively in Australia than in the U.S.A., the U.K. or Canada, but that there is less evidence of impression management. This latter finding is consistent with the view that there are fewer short-term and capital-market pressures in Australia.