Evolution of a mutual fund market: Empirical analysis of simultaneous growth and decline by fund category in Indonesia

The mutual fund literature traditionally deals with the growth and decline of the funds management industry in a uni-dimensional, single equation framework. Numerous studies treat mutual fund starts, terminations, inflows, and outflows as independent phenomena. This paper investigates the role of the interdependence between mutual fund inflows and outflows and their determinants in the growth of the emerging Indonesian managed funds market. We find significant replacement and displacement effects between the outflows and inflows of fixed income, equity, and mixed funds. The evidence suggests studies of the development of mutual fund markets should take into account simultaneity between the expansion and declining of different fund categories.     

An Evaluation of a Developmental Economic Education Project Given Limited Data

The Joint Council on Economic Education's Developmental Economic Education Program (DEEP) has been subjected to evaluations, both on a nationwide basis and in terms of the effects of a given project in a local area. Usually, the results have been positive, but too few of the evaluations have employed rigorous statistical analysis. Furthermore, the lasting effects of the program have not been sufficiently considered. The authors of this article recognize important limitations in their study, but present interesting evidence of the possible impact of the DEEP project in one city (Minneapolis) and suggest the policy implications of their findings.     

Financing China’s unprecedented infrastructure boom: the evolution of capital structure from 1978 to 2015

ABSTRACT

The authors examine the sources of the funds that have financed China’s infrastructure development since 1978. They define the five periods in which this development has taken place in terms of predominant financing: fiscal funds, build-operate-transfer (BOT), treasury bonds, the land financing, and local bonds. The system is characterized by a heavy reliance on debt financing and one-off revenues. These approaches have raised widespread concerns about fiscal sustainability in China. The authors explain why a shift towards the more conventional approach of fiscal funds is necessary.     

The Information Content of Australian Managed Fund Ratings

Abstract:  We examine the information content of managed fund ratings for Australian retail investors. Because fund ratings, premised on a quantitative-qualitative model, are highly transitory, we question whether investors formulate their investment decisions with respect to changes in ratings and whether ratings, in turn, react to fund flows. We find that information regarding fund flows can be obtained from ratings, and that rating changes can have far-reaching effects. Investors flock to newly upgraded funds while they penalize those that have been downgraded by withdrawing funds. Investors are constantly anticipating ratings revisions, particularly downgrades, and we attribute this phenomenon to the role of qualitative factors in the ratings.     

The Routes of Moral Development and the Impact of Exposure to the Milgram Obedience Study

This article examines how business students route themselves through the process of cognitive moral development (CMD) to arrive at a more autonomous level of CMD when there is an impetus to do so. In this study, two groups were given Rest’s Defining Issues Test; half the test 1 week and half three weeks later. In between, one group viewed a film of Milgram’s obedience study as a stimulus towards a more autonomous level of CMD. The results of the analysis indicate that viewing the Milgram study produced a positive response regarding subjects’ level of autonomous CMD. However, the response was not uniform across the subject pool. Females showed a greater consistent significant positive response to viewing Milgram while male subjects varied their response contingent upon their functional area of study. While subjects’ functional area of study alone made little difference in the results, when taken in conjunction with gender, significant differences were found between groups. Thus, researchers should take care when investigating differences between subjects’ area of study since gender differences may be present even within an apparently homogenous population-like business students. Marnie Young is currently completing her Masters in Counselling Psychology at the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Vancouver, BC, Canada. This article was developed from Her Honours BA thesis from Laurentian University where she graduated Cum Laude in 2000. She has presented research papers at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada and the Academy of Management. Her paper presented to the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada in 2000 won Honourable Mention in the Business Education Division. Jerry Paul Sheppard is an Associate Professor Strategic Management at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. His research focuses primarily on organizational decline, turnaround, survival and failure. His PhD dissertation from the University of Washington in 1989 won the Strategic Management Society Best Dissertation Award. He has published Journal articles in the Journal of Management, Long Range Planning and Social Science Research. His most recent work includes Strategic Management: Competitiveness & Globalization, 2nd Canadian Edition, with Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, and Rowe.