Moses—Henry George's Inspiration

Abstract . Henry George delivered his famous “Moses” lecture in 1878, just one year prior to the publication of his masterwork. Progress and Poverty. The many parallels in the thinking of both George and Moses suggest that George may have been greatly inspired by Moses. George appreciated Moses’concern with improving this world rather than the hereafter. Moses, like George, advocated a minimum role for government. Moses proposed a thoroughly equitable distribution of the land which would generate fair taxes and avoid the exploitation so denounced by George. Land accumulation by the few would be prevented by requiring the return of ownership to the original owners every fifty years. George, the humanitarian, is also sympathetic with Mosaic reforms restoring human dignity such as the cancellation of oppressive debt every seventh year, and relief from drudgery every sabbath day and sabbatical year.     

The two stages of an equity carve-out and the price response of parent and subsidiary stock

This paper provides evidence that an equity carve-out is usually the first stage of a two-stage process either to dispose of parent interest in a subsidiary or eventually re-acquire the subsidiary's publicly traded snares. Both the initial carve-out announcement and subsequent sell-off announcement yield, on average, significantly positive abnormal returns to parent shareholders. In contrast, the parent's price response to a re-acquisition of subsidiary shares is, on average, insignificantly positive. Both sell-off and re-acquisition announcements have a strong positive impact on subsidiary share prices. These gains, however, are offset by the subsidiaries' below-average return performance preceding the second event.     

Optimal bond refunding strategies

An extension of the conceptual framework for assessing the desirability of a bond refunding operation is presented. The analysis indicates an expanded set of opportunities for enhancing shareholder wealth that may involve actions other than an immediate call of existing debt, even though the latter appears worthwhile. Conditions that specify the optimal timing of a call are derived.     

The value of Care National Vocational Qualifications: what impact do NVQs have on Care organisations in Hertfordshire?

NVQs have been available in Britain since 1986, yet take-up by employers falls short of that aimed for in the Government’s National Training and Education Targets. This study explored the value of the Care NVQ to employers. Employers associated with The University of Hertfordshire Care NVQ assessment centre were approached to determine their perceptions of the impact of the Care NVQ on quality of care, recruitment and retention in their organisations. These employers reported a number of improvements to workers’ knowledge, awareness, performance and in the quality of care delivered which counter the view that NVQs just accredit existing competence.     

Rekommunalisierung: Renaissance öffentlicher Unternehmen?

The decision to provide services of general interest by public or private enterprises has to be based on the following key issue: should one refer to these services as public goods? This question cannot be answered generally but has to be addressed on a case-tocase basis. Although there are some tendencies for remunicipalisation, especially in the energy sector, empirical studies show a lack of evidence about actual remunicipalisation of public service provisions and its impacts. To explain why local governments in Germany are presently thinking about remunicipalising some services there are changing factors to be identified. However, a closer look at the changing determinants makes clear that there are other options apart from remunicipalisation. Local politicians may have many reasons for providing services by public entities. The most relevant reason is nevertheless the option to organise and govern these services which are relevant for the local community.     

Impression Management, Fairness, and the Employment Interview

This paper contends that impression management is not inherently a threat to fairness in employment interviews. Rather, regarding impression management as unfair is based on an outdated, narrow view of impression management as conscious, manipulative, and deceptive. A broader, expansive model of impression management is described which sees these behaviors as falling on a continuum from deceptive and manipulative on the one hand, to accurate, positive and beneficial on the other. While organizations may want to eliminate or discount the negative aspect of the impression management continuum, the ability to positively 'sell' oneself is often a desirable attribute both in the employment interview and in later on-the-job settings. This expansive view of impression management contends that organizations can make employment interviews more fair by: viewing impression management as a skill and not a deficit, training interviewers to be wary of manipulative and deceptive impression management, reducing the ambiguity and uncertainty of interview settings and increasing the verifiability of candidate responses by focusing the interview on a candidate's long-term identities and accomplishments rather than their short-term, spur-of-the-moment attempts to please the interviewer.     

THE IMPACT OF TARGETED SHARE REPURCHASES ON THE WEALTH OF NON-PARTICIPATING SHAREHOLDERS

This paper examines empirically whether management is acting in the best interests of non-participating shareholders when it engages in a targeted share repurchase. Over the full purchase-to-repurchase period, non-participating shareholders earn significantly positive abnormal returns, providing additional evidence that shareholders benefit from the initial investment that leads to the share repurchase. On the repurchase date, however, shareholders experience a significant decrease in their wealth position that cannot be attributed solely to a wealth transfer from the non-participating to the participating shareholders. Consequently, one cannot generalize about management's intentions for a targeted share repurchase.