Accounting for the Rise and Fall in the Number of Economics Majors with the Discouraged-Business-Major Hypothesis

Between 1978 and 1994, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill experienced a cycle in the number of economics degrees it conferred that was more pronounced than that experienced nationally. A random sample of UNC economics majors between 1983 and 1994 showed that students screened out of the business curriculum made an economics major their second choice.     

Immediate trends in Internet reporting

The Internet is increasingly used by companies to disseminate financial information. However, the extent to which the use of this new medium will change corporate reporting practice has received surprisingly little debate in the published literature. To widen the participation in the debate, this paper posits that the future of Internet-based financial reporting is contingent on technological and non-technological factors. This proposition is evaluated using the opinions of the immediate trends in online reporting obtained from seventeen UK experts in accounting and/or the Internet who responded to an open-ended questionnaire. These experts were drawn from academics, auditors, regulators, reporting companies and users of corporate reports. While the experts concur on some issues, they provide a range of different views in other areas. Some views are technology-driven, whereas others pay more attention to non-technological factors such as resistance to technological change, users' reluctance to read financial reports and the slow reaction of regulators. Some experts foresee minimum changes in financial reporting over the short term, while others adopt a more progressive or even radical perspective. This paper has synthesized these views into nine major categories which provide information on the role of the Internet in financial reporting. The results have important implications for all parties involved in financial reporting and also indicate avenues for further research.     

Estimating global returns to scale with a cone-homogeneous production function: some cross-section results

This paper employs a cone-homogeneous production function to approximate, as closely as desired, a ray-homogeneous production function. Points in input space are projected by an output scaling function on to a fixed ray and a Cobb-Douglas cone function is used to obtain an estimate of global returns to scale. The empirical results indicate that we get a good approximation to a ray-homogeneous production function from the estimated cone-homogeneous function.     

An exploratory study of the impact of intervening variables on student performance in a Principles of Accounting course

The purpose of this paper is to provide some new empirical evidence on the determinants of student performance in a Principles of Accounting course at Birzeit University situated in the Occupied West Bank. It examines the impact of a number of new attitudinal variables on examination performance. The empirical results suggest that, in addition to a number of standard control variables, student perceptions of factors associated with class size, the attributes of the lecturer, student effort and the complexity of the course are associated with student performance in a first level principles of accounting course.     

BBC: Facing the future and financing it

Recent publicity on the single European market has concentrated our attention on the impact of Europe on the private sector. Potentially, however, the impact on the public sector will be equally significant. Public sector organisations will be drawn into the process of opening up markets, with consequences for their policy and management that few people yet appreciate.     

A diffusion approximation for the ruin function of a risk process with compounding assets

Abstract

The traditional theory of collective risk is concerned with fluctuations in the capital reserve {Y(t): t ?O} of an insurance company. The classical model represents {Y(t)} as a positive constant x (initial capital) plus a deterministic linear function (cumulative income) minus a compound Poisson process (cumulative claims). The central problem is to determine the ruin probability ψ(x) that capital ever falls to zero. It is known that, under reasonable assumptions, one can approximate {Y(t)} by an appropriate Wiener process and hence ψ(.) by the corresponding exponential function of (Brownian) first passage probabilities. This paper considers the classical model modified by the assumption that interest is earned continuously on current capital at rate β > O. It is argued that Y(t) can in this case be approximated by a diffusion process Y*(t) which is closely related to the classical Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. The diffusion {Y*(t)}, which we call compounding Brownian motion, reduces to the ordinary Wiener process when β = O. The first passage probabilities for Y*(t) are found to form a truncated normal distribution, which approximates the ruin function ψ(.) for the model with compounding assets. The approximate expression for ψ(.) is compared against the exact expression for a special case in which the latter is known. Assuming parameter values for which one would anticipate a good approximation, the two expressions are found to agree extremely well over a wide range of initial asset levels.     

Disability Reporting Choices by Married Couples: Evidence from Census Data

The purpose of this paper is to analyze determinants of the decision to self-report health impairments that limit or prevent work. Its particular focus is on joint reporting behavior by married couples, with a view toward potential interdependence of spouses' reporting decisions. The model is based on a large sample of married couples taken from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample of the U.S. Census. Empirical analysis is based on a simultaneous probit model of spouses' reports. Results of the analysis show evidence of an association between spouses' reports, after controlling for important background variables. The extent of association appears to be more pronounced among low earners and among older wives.     

Illicit Drug Use,Employment, and Labor Force Participation

Illicit drug use has declined among the U.S. adult population, but national surveys show the majority of illicit drug users are employed. Concern about workplace productivity, absenteeism, and safety has led many employers to establish employee assistance and drug testing programs. Given the sharp interest in workplace interventions, more information is needed about the relationships between drug use and labor market status. This study estimated the probability of employment and labor force participation for different types of drug users using nationally representative data from the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Results strongly indicated that chronic drug use was significantly related (negative) to employment for both genders and labor force participation for males. Furthermore, nonchronic drug use was not significantly related to employment or labor force participation. These findings suggest that workplace policies for illicit drug use should consider chronic or problem drug users apart from light or casual users.