Conflict of interest and certification in the U.S. IPO market

We examine the long-term return performance of U.S. IPOs underwritten by relationship banks. We show that, over one- to three-year horizons, IPOs managed by relationship banks experience buy-and-hold benchmark-adjusted returns that are similar to those observed for a matching sample of stocks managed by non-relationship underwriters. This result holds even when the returns' skewness and cross-sectional correlation is accounted for. Further, we examine the calendar-time returns on a portfolio that is long the stocks underwritten by relationship banks and short ex-ante similar stocks taken public by non-relationship institutions. Again, we conclude that the two groups of IPOs yield similar long-run returns. These findings support the certification role of relationship banks and suggest that, in this respect, the effect of the 1999 repeal of Sections 20 and 32 of the Glass–Steagall Act has not been negative.     

Foreign Shocks on Chilean Financial Markets: Spillovers and Comovements Between Bond and Equity Markets

Abstract:

The domestic impact of external shocks will depend on the degree of coupling of domestic assets to foreign markets, but also on the spillovers among assets. The covariance between different types of assets could be affected by new information. Changes in the covariance, for example, could come from a stronger rebalancing between stocks and bonds. Therefore, we will analyze four different assets-government bonds, corporate bonds, money market instruments, and equities-and study the conditional correlation between them. We find that the corporate bond market tends to increase coupling in turbulent times, while the money market decreases coupling. We propose to test international spillovers taking into account a methodology for estimating the conditional mean, variance, and covariance on domestic bond and equity markets, while considering that shocks may have asymmetric effects depending on whether the news is good or bad.     

Union Weakness and Post‐Communist Identities in Eastern Europe: Evidence From the Hungarian Clothing Industry

The literature on Eastern Europe usually points to the desperate economic situation and hostile employers as explanations for post‐communist union weakness. This paper examines an alternative explanation based on mobilisation theory. It argues that a major reason for labour quiescence is the incapability of unions to mobilise their membership which is partly hindered by unions' failure to modernise their communist role identity.     

Sustainable development in the craft brewing industry: A case study of Iowa brewers

The rapid expansion of the resource-intensive brewing industry has led to U.S. and state-level initiatives to encourage sustainable craft brewing practices. These efforts raise questions about brewers' current brewing practices and the conditions and factors that might influence a brewer's decision to adopt sustainable practices. We conducted an in-depth survey of Iowa craft brewers in 2019 to evaluate current sustainability practices within breweries. In addition, we elicited brewer perceptions regarding consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay for sustainably produced beer. We analyze these factors together with data on brewery production characteristics and the brewer's personal beliefs and demographics. While most breweries in our sample track key environmental metrics to some degree, many of them lack environmental plans. Further, we find significant variation in the degree to which brewers believe there is opportunity to leverage sustainable brewing practices to charge consumers a higher price. We also provide insight on relationships between environmental practices and potential resources provided to breweries. These findings improve our understanding of craft brewers' tradeoffs regarding sustainable brewing practices that could apply more generally to other resource-intensive sectors.     

Credit Fluctuations and Lodging Firms: An Investigation of the Differing Capital Structures in the U.S. Lodging Industry

In the area of corporate finance, decisions regarding the constituents of overall capital structure are the most critical. These financing decisions are even more critical to lodging firms because of the unique nature of the industry. This study empirically investigates the effect of credit availability on the leverage of the lodging industry in the U.S. using multivariate analysis of variance. Three time points of differing credit availability (low, high, and average) were identified using the Case-Shiller home price index. Leverage, net leverage, and short-to-long-term debt ratios of large and small U.S. lodging firms were analyzed at these differing credit availability time points to assess any significant differences. Significant effects of credit availability were found on the leverage and net leverage of lodging firms, but no significant effect was found on the short- to long-term debt ratio of U.S. lodging firms. Interestingly, the leverage levels were found to be highest at the average availability of credit than when compared to the high and low availability of credit.     

Varieties of Industrial Relations Research: Take‐over,Convergence or Divergence?

Industrial relations (IR) research faces various pressures of internationalization. Not only do global economic forces increasingly shape the subject of the discipline, employment relations, but also the academic community itself is becoming more international. The article discusses whether and in what ways IR research is affected by these trends. It is based on a comparative, longitudinal study of journal publications in the USA, Britain and Germany. The findings reveal significantly different patterns of IR research across the three countries. In particular, the strong variation between US and British research patterns challenges the common notion of a homogeneous Anglo‐Saxon style in conducting social science research. The analysis suggests that despite growing internationalization, IR research continues to be strongly embedded in nationally specific research cultures and traditions.     

Marketing Organic and Conventional Potatoes in Germany

We apply a bivariate probit model and cluster analysis to German household survey data to evaluate factors influencing consumption of conventional and organic potatoes. Results show there is a positive but insignificant correlation between the consumption of conventional and organic potatoes and consumers associate organic potatoes with healthy ingredients, trusted origin, and food safety. Furthermore, consumers' sociodemographics such as education and children in households affect their choice of potatoes. Cluster analysis results group potato consumers into the market segments “Industry trusting,” “Healthy diet oriented,” and “Price oriented.” These results suggest an adoption of different marketing strategies to promote fresh potatoes to the different market segments.     

Are Informed Citizens More Trusting? Transparency of Performance Data and Trust Towards a British Police Force

In Britain, substantial cuts in police budgets alongside controversial handling of incidents such as politically sensitive enquiries, public disorder and relations with the media have recently triggered much debate about public knowledge and trust in the police. To date, however, little academic research has investigated how knowledge of police performance impacts citizens’ trust. We address this long-standing lacuna by exploring citizens’ trust before and after exposure to real performance data in the context of a British police force. The results reveal that being informed of performance data affects citizens’ trust significantly. Furthermore, direction and degree of change in trust are related to variations across the different elements of the reported performance criteria. Interestingly, the volatility of citizens’ trust is related to initial performance perceptions (such that citizens with low initial perceptions of police performance react more significantly to evidence of both good and bad performance than citizens with high initial perceptions), and citizens’ intentions to support the police do not always correlate with their cognitive and affective trust towards the police. In discussing our findings, we explore the implications of how being transparent with performance data can both hinder and be helpful in developing citizens’ trust towards a public organisation such as the police. From our study, we pose a number of ethical challenges that practitioners face when deciding what data to highlight, to whom, and for what purpose.