Market Integration and Technological Change

This paper studies the incentives of firms to introduce new technologies in markets where network effects are sensitive to the identity of the adopter. We model this sensitivity by considering a market in which consumers are located in two economies and network effects across economies are weaker than intra-economy network effects. The strength of cross economy network effects is measured by the degree of market integration. We show that the incentives for technological change are decreasing with respect to the degree of integration and that they are in excess of what is socially desirable. We also show that different generation technologies can coexist only if the market is poorly integrated and that this coexistence is characterized by a form of technological leap-frogging across economies.     

Will digital technologies transform agriculture in developing countries?

Mobile phones and the internet have significantly affected practically all sectors of the economy and agriculture is no exception. Building on a recent World Bank flagship report, this article introduces a concise framework for describing the main benefits from new information and communication technologies. They promote greater inclusion in the broader economy, raise efficiency by complementing other production factors, and foster innovation by dramatically reducing transaction costs. The article reviews the recent literature on corresponding technology impacts in the rural sector in developing countries. Digital technologies overcome information problems that hinder market access for many small‐scale farmers, increase knowledge through new ways of providing extension services, and they provide novel ways for improving agricultural supply chain management. While there are many promising examples of positive impacts on rural livelihoods—or “digital dividends”—these have often not scaled up to the extent expected. The main reason is that technology can always only address some, but not all of the barriers faced by farmers in poorer countries.     

Publication trends in the Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting: A retrospective review

This study uses bibliometric analysis to assess Journal of International Financial Management & Accounting (JIFMA's) evolution between 1989 and 2021. In this retrospective review, we investigate the journal's performance, authorship trends, and intellectual structure. The journal's international focus is primarily on cross-country studies and the effects of country-level factors on various accounting and finance outcomes. The collaborative network of JIFMA's authors has also grown substantially consistent with rise in research collaboration in general across the world. We identify nine major themes making up JIFMA's knowledge structure: (1) value relevance of accounting information relating to the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, (2) voluntary corporate disclosure, (3) corporate use of financial derivatives, (4) corporate governance, (5) equity valuation, (6) stock return seasonalities, foreign equity ownership, and cost of capital, (7) earnings announcements and pecking order behavior, (8) triple-bottom-line disclosures, and (9) managerial ownership and earnings management. Our findings will likely benefit JIFMA's editorial board and other journal stakeholders including future researchers.     

Persistence of financial efficiency in indian hospitality and tourism industry: a dynamic panel Approach

This paper analyses the degree of persistence of financial efficiency for the hospitality and tourism industry in India. The paper deploys the Data Envelopment Analysis technique to generate overall technical efficiency scores as well as pure technical efficiency scores. Furthermore, a dynamic panel technique proposed by Arellano and Bond (1991), is employed to test the degree of persistence of financial efficiency and its key determinants. The results confirm positive and significant persistence of efficiency for the sample firms from the hospitality industry in India. The overall results indicate that hospitality firms in India can create entry and exit barriers to generate positive persistence of financial efficiency. The study suggests regulators specifically focus on policies that can enhance the competitive dynamics of the industry. Such measures may make it imperative for the management of the firms in the sector to streamline their financial management policies to control costs and devise methods for the enhancement of revenues.