The effect of board‐manager agency conflicts on non‐profit organisations’ earnings and cost allocation manipulations

Taking into account agency problems between board and management within non‐profit organisations, for the first time a comprehensive formal model of earnings manipulations is developed. Both organisational earnings as well as disaggregated financial performance indicators are looked at, the last ones being affected by possible indirect cost allocation manipulations. The model takes into consideration the impact of disclosed earnings and performance indicators on externally raised funds, and assumes risk‐neutral managers. In the last section, it is generalised by introducing risk‐averse managers.

The conditions for optimal manipulation levels (from a managerial point of view) are derived. Depending on the (dis) utility parameters involved, different solutions emerge. As to the agency problems, it is shown that, at least for all interior solutions, a single mechanism is at work in all the situations analysed: more agency problems lead to more manipulations, both at the organisational level and the disaggregated level.     

Psychological Traits and Earnings Differentials among Men: A Study of Second‐generation Immigrants in Sweden*

The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of psychological traits on earnings differentials between second‐generation immigrants and individuals with native‐born parents. The study is based on a cohort of men born in 1973 and residing in Sweden in 1990. In this paper, we use an indicator of psychological ability measured in connection with the military enlistment test in Sweden. The results show that the measure of psychological traits is an important determinant of earnings at the age of 30. Using an Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, we find that earnings differentials between second‐generation immigrants and individuals with native‐born parents are explained, to a large degree, by differences in endowments of psychological traits.     

谈营造我国民营经济发展的外部环境问题

在民营企业的发展过程中,内在因素和外部环境同样重要,而我国民营企业所面临的外部环境是不尽人意的,这种现象已经严重阻碍了民营企业的发展。要改变这种局面,政府和有关部门应该做到:营造健全的法制环境,使其私人财产权益得到法律的有效保护;突破市场准入的壁垒,为民营企业全方位参与竞争扫清障碍;加大支持力度,营造良好的资本市场环境,解决民营企业筹资融资难的问题。     

数字调制通信信号载波频率估计算法

应用修正的ESPRIT算法估计6种数字调制通信信号的载波频率，并且和其他两种算法的性能作了比较。仿真表明，在中等信噪比条件下，ESPRIT算法对载波频率的估计具有均值精确、方差小的特点，表现出较好的实用性和较强的稳健性。     

创新精神——温州民营企业家的动力之源

该文通过对观念、制度、管理、产业等方面分析，得出温州民营企业成功的秘诀在于温州民营企业家的创新精神，它是温州民营企业家灵魂之所在。同时阐述了温州民营企业家的创新精神是温州独特历史文化沉淀的必然结果。     

Optimal Portfolio Allocation under Higher Moments

We evaluate how departure from normality may affect the allocation of assets. A Taylor series expansion of the expected utility allows to focus on certain moments and to compute the optimal portfolio allocation numerically. A decisive advantage of this approach is that it remains operational even for a large number of assets. While the mean‐variance criterion provides a good approximation of the expected utility maximisation under moderate non‐normality, it may be ineffective under large departure from normality. In such cases, the three‐moment or four‐moment optimisation strategies may provide a good approximation of the expected utility.     

建立高效资源产业市场结构的对策探讨

资源产业市场结构的低效化是我国资源产业当前发展面临的主要障碍，实现资源产业市场结构高效化对于促进资源产业的发展和升级，实现资源、环境、社会协调持续发展，有着深远的意义和影响。本文在分析资源产业市场结构低效表现及影响的基础上，探讨了建立高效资源产业市场结构的对策，并提出了相应的配套改革措施     

Do Non‐profit Organizations Manage Earnings toward Zero Profit and Does Governmental Financing Play a Role?

Prior research has documented earnings management in for‐profit settings. Non‐profit organizations are thought to pay less attention to the bottom line and earnings management research has therefore focused on the manipulation of expenses in order to improve efficiency ratios or taxable income, not reported earnings per se. Considering an institutional setting characterized by the absence of such ratios and the presence of important subsidies, management of the actual bottom line is analyzed in light of these subsidies. The results suggest that organizations drive their results toward zero profit, which is intensified by increased governmental funding when unmanaged results are positive. The relation between downward earnings management and the presence of subsidies is particularly evident for organizations whose accumulated reserves are high. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.