Does Institutional Linkage of Bank‐MFI Foster Inclusive Financial Development Even in the Presence of MFI Frauds?

Growing reports indicate the presence of frauds in microfinance institutions (MFIs), as it can occur in any organization in countries where there are weak institutions, weak rule of law, and fraudulent behavior of MFI officers for personal gain. While there are increasing calls to launch financial governance of these NGO MFIs, there are concerns as to whether frauds of this nature can damage MFIs’ contributions to the credit market, particularly in the bank‐linkage program where the NGO MFIs act as third party intermediary. The purpose of this study was to analyze the collusion decisions faced by MFIs and their impact on the bank‐linkage program, which has been offered as a solution to help overcome adverse selection and moral hazard problems in the credit market by harnessing local information via MFIs. Our results show that even when there is a chance of collusion between MFI and the borrower, the linkage between MFI and bank can still increase the probability that the borrower puts in full effort, and therefore decreases the probabilities of both credit rationing and strategic default. Such linkage in financing viable projects can make micro‐financing more effective in achieving inclusive financial development and thereby poverty reduction in rural areas.     

Quality Consciousness in Japanese and U.S. electronics manufacturers: an examination of the impact of quality strategy and management control systems on perceptions of the importance of quality to expected management rewards

This study examines the implementation of quality strategies through management control and reward systems in Japan and the U.S. It focuses on electronics manufacturing, an industry in which the Japanese have successfully gained global competitive dominance. The study applies causal modelling methodology and incorporates the effects of company size and management level on quality strategies and the related management control systems for quality. In turn, the impact of these quality strategies and control systems on managers' perceptions of the importance of quality to promotion is explored. Data were gathered from 698 Japanese manufacturing managers in 50 Japanese electronics firms and 789 manufacturing managers in 64 U.S. electronics firms. The results evidence a consistency between quality strategy, management controls and reward systems, especially in the U.S., that support the normative model for strategic control systems.     

Gender and race as factors in health care utilization

The National Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure Survey of 1980 was employed to investigate gender and racial differences in the utilization of physicians and hospitals. Regression results indicate more physician contact for women in the post-childbearing years (45–65) than for comparable men. Caucasian, but not African-American, women were found to have lower probabilities of hospitalization than comparable men. Caucasian women over 65 years of age were also found to have significantly fewer nights in hospital than comparable men. A life-cycle hypothesis about gender differences in behavior was tested, using physician contact as a proxy variable for investment in health and number of nights in hospital as a proxy for morbidity. The use of hospitalization as a proxy variable for ill health was called into question by the findings that poverty and lack of health insurance were associated with fewer nights in hospital. College education, known to be correlated with better health, was positively associated with nights in hospital.     

Why Do Fund Families Release Underperforming Incubated Mutual Funds?

Although the average incubated mutual fund outperforms nonincubated funds by up to 3.41% annually, a large number of released funds underperform during incubation. We find that launching underperforming incubated mutual funds is associated with objectives that attract large inflows and lower relative risk. These findings are consistent with the use of incubation to maximize fee revenue through means other than the flow‐to‐performance relationship. We also find that underperforming incubated funds are incubated longer suggesting that families release funds opportunistically to take advantage of outperformance when it is observed.     

Strategic planning–financial performance relationships in banks: a causal examination

An integrative model of relationships among managerial, environmental, and organizational factors, strategic planning intensity, and financial performance was developed and tested using data from 112 banks. The results suggested that the intensity with which banks engage in the strategic planning process has a direct, positive effect on banks’ financial performance, and mediates the effects of managerial and organizational factors on banks’ performance. Results also indicated a reciprocal relationship between strategic planning intensity and performance. That is, strategic planning intensity causes better performance and, in turn, better performance causes greater strategic planning intensity. Finally, the results hold implications for other financial services institutions subject to similar conditions that banks must operate under. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Twitter activity,investor attention,and the diffusion of information

We examine the impact of Twitter attention on stock prices by examining over 21 million company‐specific tweets over a 5‐year period. Through a quasi‐natural experiment identifying official Twitter outages, we find that Twitter influences stock trading, especially among small, less visible securities primarily traded by retail investors. In addition, we determine that Twitter activity is associated with positive abnormal returns and when tweets occur in conjunction with traditional news events, more information is spread to investors. Finally, we show that retail investor activity drives the Twitter effect as institutional investors less actively trade the affected stocks.     

Slave prices from succession and bankruptcy sales in Mauritius, 1825–1827

We construct a unique data set from succession and bankruptcy sales in Mauritius to investigate the determinants of slave prices between 1825 and 1827. We find that males, females sold with children, skilled slaves and slaves sold during the peak sugar cane harvest season all fetched higher prices. In comparison, handicapped and non-native slaves were sold at a discount. Moreover, the young child premium increased over the period. This may indicate that slave owners did not anticipate that slavery would be abolished in the near future or thought that they would be compensated in such an event.     

Consumer voices: adoption of residential energy‐efficient practices

The purpose of this research is to identify constraining variables that may impinge on adopting energy‐efficient practices, materials, equipment and technology in households. The intent is to uncover relationships of attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and other resource constraints to: (1) existing housing adaptations and adjustments for energy efficiency; and (2) more efficient use of energy in homes. A second objective is to identify existing practices used to reduce energy use and the adaptations made to the existing structure, materials, equipment and technology for energy efficiency as well as their intentions to make future adaptations. Constraint variables include knowledge of existing energy‐efficient practices and technology; economic constraints (household income, cost as a problem, financial need and existing energy costs); obstacles to making changes (lack of information, assistance, time, cooperation, trained persons and the condition of home); and demographic variables (age, education level and urban/rural). Attitude and belief constraints include measures of felt responsibility for energy use‐related actions that impact the natural resources and environment, and measures of concern. These constraints may impinge on or contribute to making energy‐efficient changes in residential households. Questionnaires were mailed to a random stratified sample of 800 households in Nebraska (US state) in April and May of 2008, resulting in a 29% return rate. The analysis indicates that the research produced information about constraining factors that impact the existing energy‐efficiency levels of households. The use of energy‐efficient equipment and technology, and behaviour practices that reduce energy use are related to those barriers. However, residential energy use and behaviour change result from a range of psychological and contextual influences on behaviour. Behaviour is often inconsistent with attitudes because of the presence of various constraining factors that preclude consistency with behaviour. Educational programmes have a challenging task if they are to alter attitudes and norms to overcome situational constraints. It may be more fruitful to educate and to remove the constraints impinging on those who already have a positive attitude about the need to increase energy efficiency for whatever reason.     

Analysis of an integrated maximum covering and patrol routing problem

In this paper, we address the problem of determining the patrol routes of state troopers for maximum coverage of highway spots with high frequencies of crashes (hot spots). We develop a specific mixed integer linear programming model for this problem under time feasibility and budget limitation. We solve this model using local and tabu-search based heuristics. Via extensive computational experiments using randomly generated data, we test the validity of our solution approaches. Furthermore, using real data from the state of Alabama, we provide recommendations for (i) critical levels of coverage; (ii) factors influencing the service measures; and (iii) dynamic changes in routes.