Corruption and market attractiveness influences on different types of FDI

Previous studies have proposed that a compensatory model predicts the level of foreign direct investment (FDI) in a country; FDI levels are a result of ‘trade‐offs’ between the positive effect of market attractiveness and the negative influence of corruption. In contrast, we hypothesize and find that the compensatory relationship only holds for market‐seeking investment; for resource‐seeking FDI the model appears to be noncompensatory. Greater market attractiveness mitigates the negative impact of corruption on market‐seeking investment, but the ability of market attractiveness to mitigate the negative impact of corruption on resource‐seeking FDI quickly disappears as corruption levels increase. Implications and future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Canadian city housing prices and urban market segmentation

Abstract .  This paper provides a detailed empirical analysis of Canadian city housing prices. We examine the long-run relationship between city house prices in Canada from 1985 to 2005 as well as idiosyncratic relations between city prices and city-specific variables. The results suggest that city house prices are only weakly correlated in the long run and that there is a disconnect between house prices and interest rates. City-specific variables such as union wage levels and the issuance of building permits tend to be positively related to existing city house prices. Surprisingly, there is mixed evidence with respect to standard measures of economic activity such as per capita GDP and interest rates.     

A Model of Bargaining over Hazardous Waste Cleanup

We put forward a formal model of a bargaining problem in which two parties suspected of contaminating the environment are responsible for clean-up costs. If the parties do not negotiate an agreement on a cost allocation, one will be imposed by the government. This process is commonly used in environmental cleanups performed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). Passed by the US Congress in 1980 and administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CERCLA provides the U.S. government with authority to manage releases (or threatened releases) of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. We conclude that potentially responsible parties will be induced to settle only in the face of specific allocations of clean-up and explicit threats. For example, at the Middlefield–Ellis–Whisman Superfund site in Mountain View, California, the responsibilities of the different parties for soil and groundwater contamination are understood by all, yet our negotiation model predicts that without the threat that additional costs will be imposed, agreement on the allocation of clean up costs will never be reached.     

Advances in Drama Theory for Managing Global Hazards and Disasters. Part II: Coping with Global Climate Change and Environmental Catastrophe

We explore issues of group decision making for reducing global environmental risk, with particular reference to the political dynamics surrounding international agreements on tackling climate change. Continuing political delays in deciding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may make it necessary to resort to high risk and controversial geo-engineering solutions, such as injecting large amounts of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, despite the unforeseen, potentially catastrophic consequences that these entail. Advances in drama theory (dt.2) are used to analyze the prospects for agreement on reducing or stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions, following the Bali agreement of December 2007. It is concluded that Western nations and emerging economies are behaving like players in a game of “chicken”, each expecting the other to take on the main burden of emissions reduction. We judge it unlikely that either will play a full part until it is too late for emissions reduction alone to avert environmental catastrophe. At that point, parties will resort to geo-engineering “fixes”, despite the risks. However, all such forecasts are conditional on decisions made and attitudes taken by political leaders and the public. Our analysis serves to pinpoint the relevant decisions and attitudes.     

The effects of demographics and maternal behavior on the distribution of birth outcomes

This paper utilizes quantile-regression techniques in order to estimate the effects of demographics and maternal behavior during pregnancy at various quantiles of the birthweight distribution. Due to the high costs and long-term effects (both medical and economic) associated with low-birthweight babies, there is a great deal of interest in quantifying these effects, particularly at the lower end of the birthweight distribution. Using large samples of 1992 and 1996 births in the United States, the quantile-regression estimates indicate that several factors (including race, education, and prenatal care) have a significantly higher impact at lower quantiles and lower impact at higher quantiles. These effects at lower quantiles are underestimated by least-squares regression estimates. The inequality in birthweights implied by these results is quite significant, and there is little indication that the inequality has changed much in recent years.     

The Accuracy of Price-Earnings and Discounted Cash Flow Methods of IPO Equity Valuation

This paper compares estimates of value derived from conventional discounted cash flow and price earnings valuation methods to the market price. For a sample of 45 firms newly listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange our results suggest that the best discounted cash flow method and the best price earnings comparable have similar accuracy. The median absolute pricing error is around 20% and the models explain around 70% of the cross-sectional variation in market price scaled by book value. The results serve to corroborate the findings of Kaplan and Ruback (1995).     

Effects of Motor Carriers’ Growth or Contraction on Safety: A Multiyear Panel Analysis

Motor carrier safety remains a highly relevant issue for supply chain managers and scholars because carriers’ safety affects supply chains as well as the welfare of the motoring public. This article enriches understanding regarding this topic by investigating how motor carriers’ growth or contraction since the start of the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) program in 2010 affects their safety performance. Drawing on core principles from theories regarding internal adjustment costs from economics and nonscale free capabilities from management, we explain why carriers’ growth or contraction should differentially affect various safety metrics tracked by the CSA program. To test our theory, we assemble a multiyear panel data set for over 1,000 of the largest for‐hire motor carriers operating in the United States by melding together several different governmental data sources. We fit a series of multivariate seemingly unrelated regression models to test our hypothesized effects. Our results corroborate our theorized predictions and are robust to alternative model specifications. We conclude by detailing how this work contributes to extant theory, summarizing managerial and policy implications, highlighting limitations, and suggesting directions for further pursuit.     

Co‐evolved genetic programs for stock market trading

The profitability of trading rules evolved by three different optimised genetic programs, namely a single population genetic program (GP), a co‐operative co‐evolved GP, and a competitive co‐evolved GP is compared. Profitability is determined by trading thirteen listed shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) over a period of April 2003 to June 2008. An empirical study presented here shows that GPs can generate profitable trading rules across a variety of industries and market conditions. The results show that the co‐operative co‐evolved GP generates trading rules perform significantly worse than a single population GP and a competitively co‐evolved GP. The results also show that a competitive co‐evolved GP and the single population GP produce similar trading rules. The profits returned by the evolved trading rules are compared to the profit returned by the buy‐and‐hold trading strategy. The evolved trading rules significantly outperform the buy‐and‐hold strategy when the market trends downwards. No significant difference is identified among the buy‐and‐hold strategy, the competitive co‐evolved GP, and single population GP when the market trends upwards.     

Reoperations in intramedullary fixation of pertrochanteric hip fractures

Objective: This study evaluated the frequency of reoperation within 1 year of initial intramedullary fixation for patients with pertrochanteric hip fracture and compared 1-year healthcare resource utilization and cost burden for patients with and without reoperation.

Methods: This is a retrospective evaluation of medical claims from the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Standard Analytic File. Patients aged ≥65?years who underwent fixation with an intramedullary implant for a pertrochanteric fracture between 2013 and 2015 were included. Healthcare resources that were evaluated included skilled nursing facility (SNF), inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF), readmissions, and outpatient hospital visits. All-cause payments for these services comprised overall cost burden. Generalized Linear Models were used to evaluate healthcare resources and cost burden over 1-year post-surgery and to adjust for confounding between patients with and without a reoperation.

Results: A total of 6,423 Medicare patients were included in the analysis. Mean (SD) age was 82.4 (7.8) years, 76.0% were female, and 93.3% were white. A second hip surgery within 1 year after the index fixation procedure was performed in 414 patients (6.4%): 121 (29.2%) contralateral, 115 (27.8%) ipsilateral, and 178 (43.0%) without specified laterality. After adjusting for confounding factors, Medicare patients with ipsilateral reoperations had statistically significantly higher readmissions (100% vs 32.5%, p?p?=?0.018), admissions to a SNF (88.5% vs 80.4%, p?=?0.024), and admissions to an IRF (38.8% vs 22.0%, p?p?Conclusions: Patients who require a second hip surgery after initial fixation with an intramedullary implant for pertrochanteric hip fractures have significantly higher 1-year healthcare resource utilization and 63.5% higher costs than patients without reoperation.