Price and Probability: Decomposing the Takeover Effects of Anti-Takeover Provisions

We study the effects of anti-takeover provisions (ATPs) on the takeover probability, the takeover premium, and target selection. Voting to remove an ATP increases both the takeover probability and the takeover premium, that is, there is no evidence of a trade-off between premiums and takeover probabilities. We provide causal estimates based on shareholder proposals to remove ATPs and address the endogenous selection of targets through bounding techniques. The positive premium effect in less protected firms is driven by better bidder-target matching and merger synergies.     

Some empirical evidence on the stability of accounting error characteristics over time*

Abstract. This paper extends the analysis of previous research to provide evidence on the behavior of error characteristics over time. We find that while, in aggregate, accounting errors tend to be stable over time, the sources of these errors tend to be unstable. Thus, time series modeling of internal controls in external audits may be fruitful only at sufficiently high levels of aggregation. Résumé. Cet article élargit l'analyse contenue dans les recherches antérieures afin de fournir des preuves quant au comportement des caractéristiques des erreurs dans le temps. Nous constatons que bien qu'au total les erreurs comptables ont tendance à étre stables dans le temps, les sources de ces erreurs ont plutôt tendance à varier. Dès lors, la modélisation des séries chronologiques relatives aux contrôles internes dans le contexte de missions de vérification externe ne peut être profitable qu'à des niveaux d'agrégation suffisamment élevés.     

Clothing outshopping in a rural Western community

Statistics reveal that over half of all women are gainfully employed outside the home. Professional working women have a certain status to maintain and it is reasonable to assume that their clothing needs might differ from women who are employed in other occupations and who remain in the home. Recent research has shown that considerable shopping occurs out of the local retail trade area (termed outshopping). Product-specific outshopping research has revealed clothing to be a product consumers are willing to out-shop to obtain. Professionally employed women might have to resort to outshopping more often than the other women in order to meet their clothing needs. For this project outshopping was defined to be the percentage of shopping which occurred at least 50 miles from the test site. This research represents the combined efforts of a graduate class studying trends in fashion merchandising; a telephone survey was developed and conducted by the class and responses from 100 female consumers were analysed using multiple step-wise regression. It was predicted and found that clothing outshopping behaviour could be significantly predicted by the degree of satisfaction with local retailing and number of children remaining in the home. Including the two variables professional/non-professional working status, and the age of female respondent as predictors, did not significantly improve the ability to predict outshopping behaviour. The implications for retailers are discussed.     

The habit of eating rice in four countries: Japan,China, Spain and France

To determine differences in rice-eating habits in Japan, China (Shandong), Spain (Catalonia) and France (Alsace), the frequency of eating rice, the volume eaten per meal and the varieties of rice dishes were compared. A total of 486 housewives were surveyed: 125 Japanese, 99 Chinese, 141 Spanish and 121 French. Rice was eaten, on average, 12·1 and 8·2 times a week in Japan and China respectively, but only 0·9 times a week in Spain and France. In Japan, China and Spain, more than 50 g (raw rice) per meal was normally eaten. French subjects ate almost the same amount in only 30% of the total time for eating. In all four countries, rice cooked at home was predominant. In Japan, plain rice was an everyday dish, whereas ‘sushi’ was eaten only once every 2 weeks. Chinese everyday rice dishes were plain rice and rice porridge. In Spain, ‘paella’ and ‘boiled rice with tomato sauce’ were popular. Rice was used both as a main ingredient and as a supplementary ingredient in Spain. In France, boiled rice and ‘Creole-style rice’ were eaten as a supplement to main dishes. In these two countries, most rice dishes were seasoned with salt and flavoured with butter or olive oil. Interesting differences in the manner of eating rice and the culinary characteristics of each country are described in this study.     

Wage expectations in northern and southern Italian regions: An interpretation based on psychological and social factors

Individual wage expectations of Italian unemployed are studied. The analysis is carried out separately for the North‐Central and southern Italian regions using semiparametric additive models. Results show a marked difference in expectations formation across regions. We argue that as far as the labour market information in the South is less diffuse and more ambiguous than in the North, the divergence between the econometric model based on a utility‐maximisation mainstream theory and the actual wage expectation mechanism may be large. A tentative explanation based on psychological and social factors is offered.     

A survey of commercial laundry detergents - how effective are they?: Part III: powders,liquids and hard water

The effectiveness of 42 detergents, 11 non-phosphate containing powdered detergents, 12 phosphate containing powdered detergents, 11 unbuilt liquid detergents and eight built liquid detergents, of varying formulations, in cleaning a standard soiled fabric in water of varying hardness was evaluated. Powdered detergents were found to be significantly affected only at very high water hardness levels. There was no significant difference between washing in warm and hot water for the liquid detergents, except for a melaleucaoil based detergent which performed significantly better in hot water. Increasing water hardness had no significant effect on liquid detergents. Powdered detergents performed better than liquid detergents in cleaning the standard soiled fabric. While no one detergent was significantly better than the others, in general, washing with detergents that contained phosphates did give somewhat better results in warm water. Detergents that contained bleach as an additive did not result in whiter fabric.     

Evidence from Archival Data on the Relation Between Security Analysts' Forecast Errors and Prior Forecast Revisions*

Abstract. This paper examines the association between analysts' forecast errors at the earnings announcement date and the revisions to those forecasts during the preceding year. The study is an initial effort to use archival data from expert decision makers to test behavioral theories that have support in laboratory environments. Consistent with findings of conservatism in laboratory experiments, we find that analysts systematically underweight new information. This finding is most pronounced when the analysts are consistently revising their estimates downward throughout the year. Résumé. Les auteurs examinent le lien entre les erreurs prévisionnelles des analystes à la date de déclaration des bénéfices et les révisions dont ces prévisions ont fait l'objet au cours de l'exercice précédent. Il s'agit là d'une première tentative d'utilisation des données d'archives des experts en matière décisionnelle dans le but de tester les théories comportementales qui ont été démontrées en laboratoire. Conformément aux observations faites en laboratoire en ce qui a trait à la prudence, les auteurs constatent que les analystes accordent systématiquement trop peu de poids à l'information nouvelle/Cette constatation est très marquée lorsque les analystes révisent continuellement leurs estimations à la baisse au cours de l'année.