Rising Sun Shines on the Land of Carnival

Leon Hollerman, Japan's Economic Strategy in Brazil: Challenge for the United States (Lexington, Massachusetts, and Toronto: Lexington Books, D.C. Heath, 1988) 284 pp., US$41.00 and C$56.95.     

Purchasing Power Parity: Error Correction Models and Structural Breaks

This paper examines purchasing power parity (PPP) behavior using error correction models (ECM) and allowing for structural breaks. We distinguish four different objectives: first, this paper examines which variable or variables (the exchange rate and/or international relative prices) exhibit a significant error correction mechanism. Second, this paper presents empirical evidence about the adjustment velocity to the long-run equilibrium. Third, it examines the evidence regarding cointegration and the adjustment coefficients parameter instability, and finally, it analyzes whether traded and non-traded sectors exhibit different behavior. The most important results are: (1) the predominant adjustment is in the exchange rate with a larger velocity adjustment than in relative prices; (2) the evidence suggests that when there are strong depreciations or appreciations in the exchange rate, the international relative prices adjust (i.e., there is evidence of pass-through); (3) the dynamic adjustment to equilibrium is, in general, stable.     

Can sustainable investments outperform traditional benchmarks? Evidence from global stock markets

To contribute to overcoming global sustainability challenges, investors have been increasingly interested in making sustainable investments and incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into their portfolio selection decisions and managerial activities. However, these investors and other agents interested in sustainable investment need updated and robust information to support their decision making. We analyzed the performance of several Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSIs) and compared them with their respective market benchmarks from 2013 to 2018. The indices comprise the following regions and countries: the world, the Asia‐Pacific, Europe, emerging markets and the US. The analysis was conducted based on both classic and modern portfolio metrics. The results suggest that sustainable investment performance is still heterogeneous worldwide, but there is a promising opportunity for investors to obtain superior risk‐adjusted returns in certain regions while incorporating sustainable investment practices. The findings are of utmost importance to financial market practitioners, business managers, academics and other stakeholders interested in promoting investments, corporate practices and scientific knowledge to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).     

Economic Consequences of IFRS Adoption: The Role of Changes in Disclosure Quality*

This study adopts a two‐step approach to highlight the disclosure quality channel that drives economic consequences of IFRS adoption. This approach helps address the identification challenge noted by prior research and offers direct evidence on the role of disclosure quality. In the first step, we document the impact of the IFRS mandate on changes in disclosure quality proxied by the granularity of line item disclosure in financial statements. We find that IFRS‐adopting firms provide more disaggregated information upon IFRS adoption, such as more granular disclosure of intangible assets and long‐term investments on the balance sheet and greater disaggregation of depreciation, amortization, and nonoperating income items on the income statement. In the second step, we link the observed disclosure changes to the benefits and costs of IFRS adoption. We show that greater disaggregated information due to IFRS adoption enhances market liquidity and decreases information asymmetry, but does not affect audit fees differentially. Our evidence has implications for standard setters as they evaluate cost‐benefit trade‐offs when considering disclosure changes in the future.     

The Autoimmunity of the EU’s Deadly B/ordering Regime; Overcoming its Paradoxical Paper,Iron and Camp Borders

ABSTRACT

In this article we argue that the EU suffers from autoimmunity: a self-harming protection strategy. Drawing on Derrida’s political understanding of autoimmunity, we contend that the root of this malfunction lies in the EU’s own b/ordering and othering policies, which are intended to immunise the foundational ethos of the EU. For this purpose, we dissect the EU border regime into three linked b/ordering mechanisms: the pre-borders of paper documents that regulate from afar the mobility of the people from visa-obliged countries; the actual land borders often consisting of iron gates and fences regulating mobility on the spot; and the post-border in the form of waiting/detention camps that segregate and enclose the undocumented migrants after entry. We make clear how this discriminatory b/ordering and othering regime has led to a recurrent drawing of ever less porous, inhumane and deadlier borders. Such thanatopolitics finds itself at odds with the humanist values that the EU is supposed to uphold, particularly cross-border solidarity, openness, non-discrimination and human rights. We argue that the EU b/ordering regime has turned fear of the non-EUropean into an increasingly unquestioned – even ‘commonsensical’ – anxiety that has become politically profitable to exploit by extreme nationalistic and EUrosceptic parties. The core of the EU’s autoimmunity that we want to expose lies within this irony: in its attempt to protect what it considers meaningful, the EU has unleashed an autoimmune disorder that has turned the EU into its own most formidable threat.     

The need for new theoretical conceptualizations on National Systems of Innovation,based on the experience of Latin America

ABSTRACT

The peripheral condition of Latin America has changed but persists in spite of a long decade of favorable economic conditions and heterodox policies. A renewed conceptualization of underdevelopment and of Innovation Systems is needed. Here it is connected with Sustainable Human Development, with the dynamics of power and with the transformative change framework. The ‘triangle paper’ is a main guide. Special attention is given to innovation heuristics forged in the South. If combined with advanced knowledge and high qualifications, they may contribute worldwide to the urgent transitions to less inequality and higher sustainability. Some elements for a related research agenda are sketched.     

The Financialization of A Social Housing Provider

Why does a social housing provider bet on interest rate fluctuations? This article presents a case study of the financialization of both housing and the state. Social housing in the Netherlands is provided by non‐profit housing associations that have since 1989 been set apart from the state. Many associations started developing housing for profit, borrowing on global capital markets or buying derivatives. Whereas other semi‐public institutions moved into the world of finance due to financial constraints, housing associations did so to capitalize on the possibilities offered by their asset‐rich portfolios. Vestia, the largest of them all, is an extreme––but not exceptional––case of what can happen when public goals are left to be realized by inadequately supervised and poorly managed private organizations. As a result of gambling on derivatives, Vestia had to be bailed out to the tune of over 2 billion euros. To recoup the losses, housing was sold off and rents were raised. Almost half of Dutch housing associations used derivatives, although most refrained from using them purely speculatively. The changes in the housing sector that led to its financialization cannot be separated from the wider financialization of the state.     

Determinants of early internationalization of new firms: the case of Chile

The aim of this article is to analyze the factors related to the early internationalization of new firms in Chile. We grouped the internationalization driver factors into three categories: individual, organizational, and firm-environmental factors. Using a sample of 374 entrepreneurs from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data and performing a logistic regression model, we found that owner-manager’ high educational levels, opportunity-oriented motivation, new technology use, and activities related to extractive sectors (e.g., farming, forestry, fishing, and mining) contribute to a higher likelihood of early firm internationalizing. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Technological variables and absorptive capacity's influence on performance through corporate entrepreneurship

Technology and corporate entrepreneurship constitute an important source of competitive advantage for organizations, as they enable the development and exploitation of new opportunities. This study proposes a model to analyze the effects of top management support for technology on the promotion of technological skills, absorptive capacity, and technological distinctive competencies. The research also considers the impact of technological skills and absorptive capacity on the development of technological distinctive competencies, analyzing the influence of these variables on organizational performance through corporate entrepreneurship. The study tests these relationships empirically using 160 European technology firms. The paper ends with discussion of the findings and provides several theoretical and practical implications for future research.