Product Standards and the Economics of Time

It is increasingly common for policy makers to evaluate product standards in cost-benefit terms. However, such evaluations focus on the product itself rather than the product in use. The possible impact of the standard on consumers’ use of time is therefore overlooked. As a result, cost-benefit relationships could be systematically misrepresented.     

Middle-School Children's Sources and Uses of Money

Despite their growing economic power, children's acquisition and use of money rarely has been investigated in academic research, although it has been a frequent topic in the media. This study (1) describes sources and uses of money children (age 10–15) receive; and (2) investigates the association of children's uses of money with their age, gender, family structure, and sources of money. The sources of money are associated with children's uses of it, but age, gender, and family situation do not relate to the way they use money. Consumer education should focus on the sources of children's money in relation to the way they use it.     

Economic determinants of family development processes

Economic activities of families have important influences on processes of family development and family change over time. Knowledge of these special relations has expanded in recent years, as has the literature on the economics of family life as a general field. As a result, scholars and professionals in consumer studies and home economics need conceptual frameworks that organize areas of specific findings and identify specific issues for research. A conceptual framework which identifies four economic activities performed by families and six fundamental family development and family change processes is proposed. Then, a matrix of testable hypotheses is formulated, emphasizing economic activities as independent variables in family development and change. The matrix portrays the central roles economic influences play in contemporary family life, and suggests a complete, holistic understanding of these influences. The matrix also provides a conceptual guide to the design of empirical research and synthesis of findings on the economics–family development interface.     

THE EFFECTS OF CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING ON AGGREGATE INDUSTRY SPECIALIZATION

It has been widely argued that the purpose of corporate restructuring during the 1980s was to produce a population of more industry-specialized, competitive firms in response to intensifying global competition. A number of studies show that corporate restructuring resulted in increased corporate focus during the 1980s. However, no study has yet examined whether corporate restructuring resulted in increased specialization at the industry level during the 1980s. This study examines this issue. First, we examine whether or not aggregate industry specialization increased during the 1980s. That is, we ask: did the average firm in any given U.S. industry become more or less specialized to that industry during the 1980s? Second, we examine whether corporate restructuring was a significant determinant of change in aggregate industry specialization during the 1980s. Using a sample of 686 four-digit SIC industries and 64 two-digit industry groups, this study finds that aggregate industry specialization declined very slightly at both the four-digit and two-digit level between 1981 and 1989. This study also finds that sell-offs of establishments through corporate control transactions or interfirm asset sales had no significant effect on aggregate industry specialization.     

A Note on Unsuccessful Tender Offers and Stockholder Returns

Recent research shows that unsuccessful tender offers may affect target share returns for two years past the offer's announcement. This note examines target returns in the interim between the announcement and one year after the offer's withdrawal. Analyzing a recent sample of targets that did not get another bid in the year following a failed tender offer, this study reaches two conclusions. First, all of an offer's premium disappears by the time failure becomes public. Second, excess returns are zero in the post-failure year. An explanation that is based on the causes of the tender offers' failures is presented.     

Family variables,nutrient intakes and perceived health among Malawian women

This study emphasises the inter-relationships among family variables, nutrient intake and perceived health status among Malawian women. The sample consists of rural women residing in Zomba, Malawi, southern Africa. Data were collected from April to June 1993 on (1) family cohesion and adaptability, assessed by a modified version of Olson's FACES 11; (2) dietary intake using a modified food frequency questionnaire; and (3) a 24-item questionnaire on perceived health status, barriers to health and desired methods of communicating nutrition information in the village. The results indicated that Malawian rural women perceived their families as highly cohesive and adaptable. Diseases frequently identified as common in the family were not perceived as related to nutrition. Income significantly correlated with dietary adequacy. The study suggests that efforts to promote health and nutritional status should be directed at disease prevention and its ecological relationship with nutrition. Strategies for communicating nutrition information in rural Malawi are provided.     

CANADIAN FARM INCOME SAFETY NETS AND U.S. COUNTERVAIL LAW

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the factors explaining U.S. countervail action. Factors that indicate changes in the political economic environment are incorporated into a logit model to explain the propensity to initiate a countervail suit. These factors, augmented by variables representing foreign subsidy specificity, are used in a logit model to explain the propensity to levy a countervail duty, once a suit is initiated. Evidence indicates that factors that would lead to political lobbying are significant in the initiation of a countervail suit. However, these variables are not significant in explaining the propensity to actually levy a duty; rather, the analysis finds that subsidy specificity criteria are the significant variables.     

Detecting Accounting Fraud in Publicly Traded U.S. Firms Using a Machine Learning Approach

We develop a state-of-the-art fraud prediction model using a machine learning approach. We demonstrate the value of combining domain knowledge and machine learning methods in model building. We select our model input based on existing accounting theories, but we differ from prior accounting research by using raw accounting numbers rather than financial ratios. We employ one of the most powerful machine learning methods, ensemble learning, rather than the commonly used method of logistic regression. To assess the performance of fraud prediction models, we introduce a new performance evaluation metric commonly used in ranking problems that is more appropriate for the fraud prediction task. Starting with an identical set of theory-motivated raw accounting numbers, we show that our new fraud prediction model outperforms two benchmark models by a large margin: the Dechow et al. logistic regression model based on financial ratios, and the Cecchini et al. support-vector-machine model with a financial kernel that maps raw accounting numbers into a broader set of ratios.