Initiating coverage,broker reputation and management earnings forecasts in Australia

We examine more than 5000 recommendations made by Australian brokers in the period 1996–2001. We find evidence that initiating recommendations produce greater share price responses than continuing recommendations, particularly for hold, underperform and sell recommendations. We also find evidence that initiating recommendations made by higher‐reputation brokers and those made in the absence of a management earnings forecast attract different share price responses. Finally, we find that share price responses to initiating recommendations, conditional on the market consensus recommendation, are significantly different to continuing recommendations.     

Regression Sampling in Statistical Auditing: A Practical Survey and Evaluation

Several confidence intervals for the regression estimator are surveyed. A Monte Carlo experiment, based on the NETER and LOEBBECKE (1975) populations, gives estimated coverages and lengths of the different confidence intervals. One interval is exact under the assumption of multivariate normal distributions; it gives longer intervals (hence better coverages) than the interval based on a popular variance estimator. An interval due to ROBERTS (1970) is much too long. Jackknifing gives robust intervals. Rules of thumb for practitioners are given.     

Backup coverage models in nature reserve site selection with spatial spread risk heterogeneity

Set covering and maximal covering problems are well-known integer programming models in location analysis. Such models have also been used in reserve site selection modeling. They aim at selecting sites to conserve species, sometimes reflecting a desire to group protected sites together or to separate sites. This paper uses such models but considers the case of land heterogeneity in terms of the risk of large disturbances that threaten species even within a reserve, such as fires, diseases, pests or invasive species. It removes the classical assumption of homogeneous land sites and considers both adjacency in areas with a low risk of multi-parcel disturbance and distance between sites in areas with a high risk of a large destructive event. The models are explored in a stylized data set and applied to a portion of the state of Oregon with comparison between the standard covering models in homogeneous and heterogeneous risk settings.     

地理位置对公办养老机构与民办养老机构竞争关系影响研究

文章在考虑养老机构竞争受地理位置影响的基础上,建立了公办养老机构与民办养老机构的博弈模型。结果表明:老年人分布结构变化对公办及民办养老机构的利润带来相反方向的变化,且不完全市场覆盖下老年人分布结构变化对养老机构的影响程度更大;当政府对养老机构投入差距较小时,民办养老机构选址可以离公办养老机构更近,当投入差距较大时,选址应适当离公办养老机构更远;老年人对距离的厌恶程度越大,完全市场覆盖情形下养老机构的利润有所增加,不完全市场覆盖情形下的养老机构利润有所减少;养老机构周边老年人密度越大,服务成本系数差距及距离厌恶系数对其利润的影响越大。     

信息不对称、分析师关注度与增发折价

以2006—2010年间实施新股增发的我国沪深A股上市公司为样本,研究分析师关注度对增发折价的影响。研究发现:分析师关注度较高的上市公司具有较低的投资者间估值分歧和增发折价;分析师能力和盈余预测分歧对增发折价没有显著影响;分析师关注度的提高给分析师能力强的公司带来的增发折价降低幅度大于给分析师能力不强的公司带来的效果。     

Water disclosure and firm risk: Empirical evidence from highly water‐sensitive industries in China

In this paper, we examine the relationship between water disclosure and firm risk. Specifically, based upon a panel dataset of 334 Chinese listed firms operating in highly water‐sensitive industries during 2010–2015, we use regression models to analyze the relationships between water disclosure and three types of firm risk (i.e., total risk, systematic risk, and idiosyncratic risk) and the moderating effects of media coverage on these relationships. Our empirical results show that (a) although there are no significant relationships between water disclosure and total risk and idiosyncratic risk, there is a significant negative relationship between water disclosure and systematic risk; (b) negative media coverage weakens the negative relationship between water disclosure and systematic risk, whereas nonnegative media coverage reinforces this negative relationship. Our cornerstone study examines the effect of a specific type of environmental disclosure (i.e., water disclosure) on firm risk, and our empirical findings are different from previous studies, which examined the effects of overall corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on firm risk. We analyze the causes of the differences in detail. With this study, we make theoretical, empirical, and managerial contributions to CSR disclosure–firm risk research in business ethics literature.     

人口年龄结构、城乡居民基本养老保险对农村居民消费率的影响——基于2010-2017年中国省际面板数据的实证分析

利用世代交叠(OLG)模型和2010—2017年中国省际面板数据,实证分析人口年龄结构、城乡居民基本养老保险(简称“城乡居保”)对农村居民消费率的影响。研究发现:老年抚养比、预期寿命均与农村居民消费存在显著的负向关系,少儿抚养比与农村居民消费不存在显著性关系;城乡居保的缴费率、覆盖率与农村居民消费存在显著正向关系,但是城乡居保统一与农村居民消费不存在显著性关系,城乡居保缴费率与覆盖率对农村居民消费存在交互作用;农村居民的消费习惯较为平稳,农村居民收入增长会抑制农村居民消费支出。建议提高城乡居保待遇水平,巩固和完善缴费激励机制,明确政府财政补贴和个人缴费责任。     

Workforce environment and audit fees: International evidence

Using a dataset from 30 countries over the period from 2002 to 2017, we examine the effects of auditing clients’ workforce environment on audit fees as well as the role that national labor market flexibility plays in this relationship. We find evidence that audit fees are significantly lower for firms with a good workforce environment, suggesting that auditors perceive such clients as less risky; as a result, auditors expend less effort and/or charge a lower risk premium. Furthermore, we find this effect to be stronger for firms in countries with a more flexible labor market. Our mediation test results indicate that the relationship between the audit client workforce environment and audit fees is mediated by media coverage of workforce controversies. Our study contributes to the international audit fee literature by identifying employee welfare as a distinct audit pricing factor, above and beyond the effects of overall corporate social responsibility practices.     

Investigation of current perspectives for NHS Wales sustainable development through procurement policies

Public sector procurement has to operate under the pressure of policies and strict budgets. This paper examines the current perspectives of the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) on sustainable procurement policies. In particular, it investigates the adoption levels of the sustainable procurement policies of buyers (NHS Wales), examines the level of engagement of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with NHS Wales, and explores the support for the existing sustainable procurement function through order processing analysis of catalogue coverage.