Bank loan-loss provisions and the income-smoothing hypothesis: An empirical analysis, 1976–1984

This article tests an income-smoothing hypothesis for a sample of 106 large bank holding companies for the period 1976 to 1984. Our focus is on the behavior of the provision for loan losses as a function of bank income and alternative measures of business conditions likely to affect loan portfolio risk-taking or quality. Using an econometric model with pooled time-series, cross-sectional data, we find evidence of income-smoothing behavior over our test period. Our dummy-variable models indicate that regional banking companies tend to engage in income smoothing more than money-center banks. Alternative motivations for income-smoothing behavior, which include bank regulatory policy, risk management, agency theory, and compensation policy, are explored and their policy implications considered.     

Energy requirements and breakfast cereals

Although breakfast cereals which require cooking in the home generally have low energy inputs in processing and packing relative to those which do not, home cooking can take away this energy advantage. To conserve energy it is most important to avoid cereals with a high sugar content and those in single serving sized packet.     

Actinomycosis of the retroperitoneum and an extremity: CT features

A patient presenting with thigh and flank masses and back pain for 3 months proved to have actinomycosis involving the retroperitoneum and quadriceps muscle. Retroperitoneal involvement without intraperitoneal disease is rare. Computed tomography (CT), however, showed disease transgressing adjacent anatomic compartments with direct extension through the body wall and involvement of adjacent bony structures which is characteristic of actinomycosis.     

SHORT TERM IMPACT OF OPTION TRADING ON UNDERLYING SECURITIES

This paper examines the short-term impact of option listing before and after the moratorium. There is no clear evidence that option trading has an effect on volatility or variability of shares traded daily. However, when the results are evaluated by year of trading, two significant trends can be identified. A trend toward decreased price volatility and increased variability in the number of shares traded daily is shown in the underlying security shortly after option trading begins.     

Is all social exchange marketing?

The attempt of some marketers to define marketing as all social behavior broadens marketing to an extent that it is difficult if not impossible to operationalize. The marketing discipline is facing an identity crisis because it is expanding its boundaries to include all human exchange. The consequences of the blurred image of marketing will be confusion in research, teaching and the practice of marketing.