Decomposing Gender Wage Differentials Using Quantile Regression: Evidence from the Lebanese Banking Sector

This paper investigates gender pay inequality in the labor market of a developing country. Our empirical investigation uses data derived from a sample of employees in the Lebanese banking sector for the years 2008 and 2014. Using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, the results reveal that the unexplained component of the gender wage gap, attributed to discrimination, represents a substantial share of the total gap. A surprising result is that the contribution of human capital to the gender wage gap is negative, suggesting that wage discrimination is the main explanation for the gap. Utilizing the Machado-Mata methodology to decompose the wage gap across the entire wage distribution, our findings indicate that the unexplained component of the raw gender wage gap is more pronounced at the low and middle ranges of the distribution. However, the explained component dominates at the top of the distribution, suggesting that earnings gaps are fully explained by observed characteristics.     

THE EFFECT OF CROSS‐LISTING ON TRADING VOLUME: REDUCING SEGMENTATION VERSUS SIGNALING INVESTOR PROTECTION

We examine the relation between cross‐listing on the U.S. and UK regulated and unregulated exchanges and trading volume for a sample of 500 foreign firms from 34 countries. We find that the increase in trading volume is a function of both reducing segmentation and signaling investor protection. In addition, we find that home market trading volume, firm size, firm returns, and analyst forecast accuracy are the major determinants of a firm's trading volume. We also show that U.S. and UK investors trade foreign securities that originate from low‐investor‐protection countries more than they trade those from high‐investor‐protection countries, which is consistent with the bonding hypothesis.     

Promoting knowledge sharing in Tunisian KIFs through HRM Practices. The mediating role of human capital and learning climate

Abstract

Although human capital and learning climate have been considered in the SHRM Literature as two critical predictors of organizational success, little efforts have been made to examining their role in knowledge sharing. Our research aims at filling this gap. Using data from 203 knowledge workers in seven Tunisian KIFs, our study provides evidence, on a first level, for a direct link between the five HR practices and knowledge sharing. On a second level, we report a mediating role of human capital. In congruence with prior SHRM research, this result implies that the knowledge-based HR practices influence the value and uniqueness of the employees’ KSAOs, which in turn will improve their knowledge sharing behavior. On a third and final level, our results suggest that learning climate plays a mediation role as well. Such a result echoes recent research findings that confirmed the importance of learning climates in shaping employees’ behaviors toward achieving specific organizational objectives. Our findings provide important insights on the intermediary mechanisms between HRM practices and knowledge sharing behavior in KIFs and offer interesting research perspectives on the under-theorized role of human capital in a knowledge sharing context.     

Do UK firms manage earnings to meet dividend thresholds?

This paper examines earnings management by dividend-paying firms in cases where pre-managed earnings would fall below the expected dividend, and by non-dividend paying firms aiming to avoid reporting losses. We find that within the UK market the likelihood of upward earnings management is significantly greater in the former case than the latter, though both are drivers for earnings management. Large firms are less likely to upwardly manage earnings to reach dividend thresholds, consistent with prior UK evidence on the ability of the largest firms to avoid restrictive debt covenants. We also find that earnings management is more clearly observable through examining working capital discretionary accruals than through examining total discretionary accruals.     

Why do firms cross-list? International evidence from the US market

Using a modified international asset-pricing model we find strong evidence that publicly quoted firms cross-list when exhibiting strong performance in their domestic market and wish to take advantage of this situation. After cross-listing, this advantage disappears. Our sample consists of daily data for 1165 firms from 47 countries that have cross-listed on the US equity markets over the period 1976–2007. Within the context of this model we provide tests of the validity of the main hypotheses of capital market segmentation and investor protection, which provide explanations for equity cross-listing and investigate whether the nature of the market (regulated or unregulated) and the accompanying legal framework (common or civil law) can account for the impact of cross-listing on returns. Supporting the segmentation hypothesis, we report a decrease in local market risk after cross-listing. However, we find that the magnitude of such a decrease is diminishing over time as international markets become more integrated. On the other hand, we do not find any change in the global market risk after cross-listing, except for firms that cross-listed between 2001 and 2007, where their exposure to international market risk decreases. Furthermore, we find no evidence to support the investor protection hypothesis.     

Remittances and child labour in Ghana: Does the gender of the household head matter?

This study investigates the effect of remittance income on child labour and the role of gender in Ghana. Data were sourced from the Ghana Living Standards Survey Round 6. In order to solve the issue of endogeneity, we adopt the instrumental variable approach. The study finds evidence that, irrespective of whoever is the head of the household, the total effect of remittances on child labour is negative. However, the negative effect is much higher for female-headed households. It is recommended that more mobile money transfer outlets be established and the cost of transferring money be reduced to the barest minimum so as to enable households to maximise the benefits of the remittances they receive. Furthermore, financial transfers should be given to female household heads upon the condition of school attendance by their children so as to reduce child labour.     

Time is money: An empirical investigation of delivery behavior in the U.S. T‐Bond futures market

This paper analyzes the delivery behavior observed in the CBOT T‐Bond futures market over the period spanning 1985–2016 in order to assess how timing decisions were made, and whether these decisions were optimal. During that period, delivery was generally deferred to the last possible moment, but early delivery episodes were also observed regularly. A regression model identifying the determinants of early exercise over the last three decades is proposed, along with a case‐by‐case analysis of specific delivery patterns. Finally, the optimality of the observed delivery strategies is assessed a posteriori.     

Race,competition, and institutional change in J.R. Commons

This article examines the contribution of J.R. Commons to race relations, competition, and institutional change. One result of our study is that, in his analysis of institutional dynamics in the United States, Commons’ rejection of laissez-faire is derived from a racist analytical framework: the “superior races” should be protected from the “inferior races”. Another result is that Commons adopts a neo-Lamarckian framework which takes education as the basis for the assimilation of “inferior races”. This article then shows that policies often defended as progressives, as education policies, may be derived from racist foundations. The final remarks single out the ambiguous connection between race and culture revealed by Commons’ approach.     

Strategic partnerships,social capital and innovation: accounting for social alliance innovation

This paper focuses on innovation in the context of business–non‐governmental organization (NGO) partnerships for corporate social responsibility (CSR). While different aspects of business–NGO partnerships have been studied, the role of innovation and its potential implications for partnership outcomes have so far not been systematically explored. The paper defines innovation in simple and concrete terms and synthesizes from the literature what can be considered as critical ingredients to foster social alliance innovation. The paper posits in turn that these ingredients correspond closely to the conception of social capital and offers a consolidated framework that helps in probing around these ingredients and social capital in accounting for innovative partnership outcomes. The empirical part consists of a comparative analysis of six case studies of business–NGO collaboration in the context of CSR in the United Kingdom. The evidence presented makes it clear that strategic partnerships are more readily capable of innovation and that social capital as an umbrella concept is very promising in explaining the differential success and performance of social alliances and central to understanding the dynamics of social alliance innovation and value creation.     

SHIFTING SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF METRO AREAS

This paper reviews traditional theoretic arguments for metro size distribution as an outcome of technical characteristics of production and the nature of demand for commodities and compares theoretical expectations with actual population growth experience in metro areas. Rigorous comparisons of actual with expected growth, however, are very difficult due to problems in making operational definitions of "place", "intermediate size" and "metropolitan". Despite these practical difficulties the actual record of growth by size class is reviewed for the U.S. since 1900 and for the countries of the European Community since 1950. The theoretical distribution is computed from the frequency distribution deduced by Losch which is calibrated to discrete size intervals according to Zipf and compared with actual distributions for U.S. counties, U.S. Standard Metropolitan Areas and EEC Functional Urban Regions. On the basis of these multiple comparisons it is concluded that somewhere perhaps as early as the 1940s and certainly by 1970 there was a strong shift in favor of intermediate size areas, but that by the early 1980s that this shift was weakening with indications of a lag in the adjustment in Europe compared with the U.S.