Race and employment dislocation in California’s aerospace industry

This article finds that African American and Latino workers have borne a disproportionate share of employment costs associated with defense cuts in California’s aerospace industry. The data for this analysis come from administrative files, which contain demographic and employment-related information for everyone who collects unemployment-insurance benefits. The analysis shows that African Americans suffered higher displacement rates, longer unemployment spells, and poorer outcomes in new jobs than whites. Latinos were disadvantaged in several ways, but not consistently in all categories. Asian Americans, on the other hand, generally fared better than whites. These results show that economic dislocation, in the form of defense cuts, reinforces racial inequality in the labor market.     

‘The capital market is dead’: the difficult birth of index-linked gilts in the UK

This article describes how and why the Thatcher government introduced index-linked gilts in 1981. It outlines the earlier deliberations by the monetary authorities during the 1950s and 1960s on how an indexed government security might help or hinder the fight against inflation. Although these discussions came to nothing, rising inflation and increasing difficulties with managing the gilt-edged market during the 1970s revived interest in the indexation of government securities. Both the Page Commission in 1974 and the Wilson Report in 1980 recommended the introduction of inflation-indexed securities, but the election of the Conservative government in 1979 gave real momentum to their possible issuance. Although Margaret Thatcher was initially opposed to indexation, Nigel Lawson galvanized the Treasury and the Bank of England to work on a scheme to issue index-linked gilts as a means of improving economic performance. The article traces the contentious series of discussions surrounding the possible effects of index-linked gilts on government debt interest costs, on monetary policy and monetary targets, and on the possible ‘crowding out’ of corporate bonds and equities which could not offer a guaranteed real return. Despite teething problems, the introduction of inflation-linked bonds in the UK was deemed a success.     

Individual investors and local bias in the UK, 1870–1935

This article examines the long‐run evolution of local bias by UK investors between the 1870s and the 1930s. It uses a large sample of nearly 30,000 shareholders based on 197 sets of share records, a large and representative database of the investor population across sectors and time. It investigates the structure and the evolution of local investment preference between shareholders and the companies in which they invested, as measured by the distance between where they lived and corporate headquarters. The study offers evidence of strong initial local investment preference, which declined over time for non‐Londoners, but remained strong for Londoners until the 1930s. Local investment preference of security holders was related to the size of the board of directors and, for wealthy investors, was related to the age of the firm. For large firms, local networks between investors and directors appear stronger when director shareholdings and voting rights were important. This study supports the analytical hypothesis of local informal trust networks between investors and directors as a means to overcome informational asymmetries and weak legal protection, and provides evidence that local preference was a means to curb insider opportunism and private benefits of control.     

The merchant banker, the broker and the company chairman: A new issue case study

This paper explores the roles of a merchant banker, Everard Hambro, and the chairmen of two companies, Thames Iron and Trollope, Colls & Co., in the restructuring of their companies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Their correspondence provides evidence that the choice of corporate capital structure had little to do with company needs or risk characteristics. Instead, Hambro, in concert with stockbrokers, concentrated on ensuring that the securities issued conformed in amount, type and price to market norms, including the avoidance of stock watering. The company chairmen concentrated on ensuring that they retained control and that the new issues were deemed a success.     

Exploring city branding strategies and their impacts on local tourism success,the case study of Kumamoto Prefecture,Japan

City branding is a managerial procedure which offers any given city a distinct identity; providing cities with a chance to present as different, positive and distinguishable from other competitors. In Japan, the use of mascots for city branding is often part of urban planning strategy. Kumamon is the most successful regional mascot in Japan and offers an opportunity to explore the nature of mascot city branding strategies. Employing a large number of promotional strategies, the local prefecture created a unique Kumamon city brand and enhanced the local image, resulting in significant economic benefits. The paper argues that five main factors contributed to the success of Kumamon: government support, power of emotional attachment and anthropomorphism, efficient public transport and tourism services, the mascot branding, and social media. Understanding how Kumamon mascot branding succeeded can assist makers to decide whether to replicate the use of mascot branding in other cities and regions.