Odd lot trading and earnings announcements

This study investigates odd lot trading, both trades and orders, around quarterly earnings announcements to determine whether odd lot traders are informed regarding the information contained in earnings announcements. We find pre-announcement odd lot order imbalances are not positively correlated with post-announcement returns and odd lot traders do not earn excess returns. Portfolios long stocks highly bought by odd lot traders in the pre-announcement period and short stocks highly sold by odd lot traders do not outperform the market. We conclude that odd lot traders are not in possession of earnings announcement information prior to its release to the public.     

Parental perception of lunch schemes in Danish kindergartens: A cross-sectional survey

Children’s daily consumption of food in childcare institutions has an impact on their public health nutritional status. The collaboration of parents and employees of kindergartens is important to ensure healthy eating habits among the next generation. Consequently, evaluations of lunch schemes are important to provide a good foundation for enhancing communication between home and institutional settings. The aim of this article is to assess parental satisfaction and identify themes related to parental perceptions of lunch schemes in Danish kindergartens. A survey was developed and distributed in four kindergartens with lunch schemes. A combination of closed and open questions were used to evaluate satisfaction and identify positive and negative aspects of the lunch schemes. Parents of 93 children participated in the study and the response rate was 55%. Eighty-nine percent expressed satisfaction with their children’s lunch scheme. According to parents, the most positive aspects were that lunch schemes serve a variety of food, their ability to prevent neophobia, that children learn that eating is a social occasion, and that the arrangements offer convenience to parents. The negative aspects identified were the lack of communication between the kindergarten childcare institutions and the parents regarding the food. Overall, parents are very satisfied with their children’s lunch schemes; however, the information between institutions and parents could be improved.     

Strategies for Retrenchment: Reconciling Individual and Organizational Needs

Résumé Le retranchement, c'est-à-dire la réduction des ressources humaines, mate*** rielles et financières est devenu un problème familier dans plusieurs pays. L*** taux de chǒmage a augmenté de façon dramtique en Europe comme en Amer*** que du Nord, indiquant des redondances dans les secteurs public et privé ain*** que chez les cols bleus, les cols blancs et les cadres à la suite de conditior*** économiques défavorables, de coupures gouvernementales et de changemen*** technologiques. Les statistiques stériles cachent cependant un problème tri*** humain: celui des employés qui doivent accepter la perte involontaire de lei*** emploi. Plusieurs études parues récemment accentuent l'importance des b*** soins des employés lors des coupures. Les demandes peuvent cependant ět*** ignorées dans un climat de coupures lorsque les besoins de l'entreprise o*** précédence dans un effort de réduction des coǔts.*** Pour sensibiliser les employeurs aux besoins des employés, ils doivent ěti*** informés des avantages commerciaux associés à cette approche, alors que 1*** chercheurs doivent reconnaǐtre l'importance des préoccupations de l'emloyei*** en période de coupures. Cet article explore certaines des raisons économique*** justifiant l'intérět pour les préoccupations individuelles et présente un cadi*** destiné à aider les cadres à concevoir des stratégies de retranchement qui tiei*** nent compte à la fois des besoins de l'entreprise et de l'employé. Une etude c*** huit entreprises qui ont adopté une variété de programmes de coupures impl*** quant des employés de divers niveaux est discutée, démontrant comment *** cadre peut ětre appliqué     

Black Female Earnings and Income Volatility

I provide new evidence on earnings and income volatility among Black women in the United States over the past four decades by using matched data from the March Current Population Survey. I use a measure of total volatility that encompasses both permanent and transitory instability, and that admits labor-force transitions. My results show that, for Black women, earnings volatility fell over the entire period and income volatility rose after the mid 1980s. I also find that changes over time in labor force transitions into and out of work along with an increasing share of Black women continuously employed coincide with shifts in volatility levels and trends. Among Black women, differences in volatility levels emerge across education groups and marital status, though the trends typically remain consistent both across and within racial groups.     

Mexico's development strategy for the 1980s

In examining the problems and prospects of the Mexican economy in the 1980s. the main concern of this paper is whether Mexico will use its new found wealth to correct some of the major deficiences of past policies or whether the development of the energy sector will further increase the dualism between the modern and traditional sectors. This paper surveys the major problems now facing the economy (poverty and unemployment, declining agricultural production, a weak industrial base, inflation) and then discusses the framework in which Mexico proposes to deal with these problems, in particular the priority allocated to development of oil and gas. The policies are then compared briefly with the experience of Japan and Iran. The conclusion takes a critical view of current Mexican policies and suggests that a more equity-oriented and efficient growth strategy is required.     

Impact of telephone and satellite earth station installations on GDP : A model for rural areas of LDCs

Presents a method for estimating the impact on national development of installation of telecommunication facilities in rural areas of developing countries. A methodology developed by Hardy is applied to three groups of developing countries and a hypothetical rural region to estimate the impact on GDP per thin route satellite earth station installed over a ten year period. A logarithmic relationship between telephone density and impact on GDP per earth station is found, so that the impact per earth station increases with lower telephone densities. The model can be used to estimate the impact on national GDP of telephone installations and/or thin route earth stations in regions of low telephone density.     

Does buffet choice architecture affect intake? The effect of relocating butter at a breakfast buffet on food intake

The aim of this study was to investigate if a changed default reduces the intake of butter among students at a breakfast buffet. Students were divided into two groups and served themselves from a breakfast buffet. The control group was offered a buffet where the butter was easily accessible, whereas the intervention group was offered a buffet where a request had to be made for butter. Single packed portions of butter taken from each part of the buffet, the number of students, and the number of habitual users in each group were recorded. At the regular buffet, 67 of 115 students were habitual butter users and 81 packs of butter were taken. At the buffet with the changed default, 16 of the 56 students were habitual butter users. Seventeen packs of butter were taken from the buffet. Slightly displacing butter at a breakfast buffet and forcing students to ask for that option significantly reduced uptake.     

A Regime-Switching Model of Long-Term Stock Returns

Abstract

In this paper I first define the regime-switching lognormal model. Monthly data from the Standard and Poor’s 500 and the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 indices are used to fit the model parameters, using maximum likelihood estimation. The fit of the regime-switching model to the data is compared with other common econometric models, including the generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic model. The distribution function of the regime-switching model is derived. Prices of European options using the regime-switching model are derived and implied volatilities explored. Finally, an example of the application of the model to maturity guarantees under equity-linked insurance is presented. Equations for quantile and conditional tail expectation (Tail-VaR) risk measures are derived, and a numerical example compares the regime-switching lognormal model results with those using the more traditional lognormal stock return model.     

Responses to industrial closure

From a high point in the early seventies resistance to plant closure, especially in the form of the occupation, progressively declined throughout the rest of the decade. This article attempts to explain this trend in terms of changing socioeconomic contexts and management strategies.