What If Immigrants Had Not Migrated?

A bstract .   Despite strong theoretical arguments and models about international migration, very few empirical studies rigorously test these arguments and models. The purpose of the present study is to analyze determinants and consequences for international migration, focusing particularly on the returns to post-hoc international migration. The present study compares residential well-being of Korean international migrants in the United States with that of their hypothetical well-being if they had not migrated. Our suggested models of the selectivity corrected returns to various characteristics for immigrants and nonimmigrants enable us to estimate the "opportunity well-being" of individuals and households; that is, the well-being of immigrants-had-they-stayed and of nonimmigrants-if-they-had-immigrated. The data for our analyses are drawn from the 1990 Korea Census Data and the Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) of the 1990 U.S. Census. In either case of migrants-had-they-stayed or of nonimmigrants-had-they-migrated, international migration to the United States has a significant and positive effect on the probability of homeownership, especially for women. The results show that the predicted probability of homeownership attainment increases as a result of migration by 15 percent to 16 percent for women and by 8 percent for men. The study concludes that migrating to the United States offers better opportunities for homeownership than staying in Korea does, particularly for women.     

Short-sale constraints and informational efficiency to private information: A natural experiment

Exploiting a regulatory change in short-sale constraints (Regulation SHO) as a natural experiment, this paper examines the effect of short-sale constraints on informational efficiency of stock prices to private information. I find that short-sellers act as informed traders prior to forthcoming analyst news and trade on negative private information. When short-sale constraints are relaxed for pilot stocks (treatment group), both trading volume and stock price sensitivity increase prior to the analyst announcement for bad news but not for good news, relative to that of nonpilot stocks (control group). The findings are consistent with the Diamond and Verrecchia model that predicts that short-selling increases the speed of adjustment of stock prices to private negative information. In the cross-section, the effect of Reg SHO is stronger in stocks of firms with weak and uncertain information environments (i.e., small firms and firms with high analyst forecast dispersion).     

Sales associate's appearance: Links to consumers’ emotions, store image, and purchases

Within the context of S–O–R framework, we examined whether consumers linked aspects of sales associate's appearance to their emotions, to the store's image, and to their purchases. Data was collected from undergraduates (n=65). Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire immediately after completing a shopping trip for apparel, shoes, or accessories in a specialty or department store. Participants noted being influenced by associate's appearance as reflected in their appearance-oriented comments and their evaluative comments. Associate appearance cues referenced by participants varied depending on whether participants were asked about their emotions, store image, or their purchases.     

The effect of airport atmospherics on satisfaction and behavioral intentions: testing the moderating role of perceived safety

International airports have been notable spaces due to their reinforced roles and the increase in the number of users. Nevertheless, there are not many studies on the relationships among the physical environment of the airport, perception of airport safety, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. To fill this gap, this study has attempted to (1) examine the relationships among the physical environment of the airport, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions; (2) discover which element of physical circumstances has an influence on satisfaction; and (3) ascertain perceived airport safety as a moderator between satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The data were collected through wireless channels, using the snowball method. The findings disclosed that facility aesthetics is the strongest component of the physical surroundings of the airport in eliciting satisfaction, and satisfaction has a major impact on behavioral intentions. Despite the invalid moderation effect of perceived airport safety, safety was clarified as a direct driver of satisfaction through additional analysis.     

Processing Difficulty Increases Perceived Competence of Brand Acronyms

Unlike previous work that shows that processing fluency leads to positive evaluations, the present research demonstrates that processing difficulty can lead to positive inferences of a brand. In three experiments, we show that when a brand acronym is difficult to pronounce, it is evaluated favourably with respect to competence relative to warmth. In contrast, easy‐to‐pronounce acronyms are perceived as similarly warm and competent. We find that individuals perceive a difficult‐to‐pronounce acronym to be more psychologically distant than an easy‐to‐pronounce one. Furthermore, they perceive competence as a more fitting characteristic of a distant brand than warmth is. We find that this relative fit of competence over warmth results in higher competence evaluations. Theoretical and applied contributions of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does XBRL Adoption Constrain Earnings Management? Early Evidence from Mandated U.S. Filers

We examine whether the use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for financial reporting (i.e., interactive data submissions) reduces earnings management during the period of XBRL implementation by the SEC. Using a sample of mandated XBRL filers, we compare the magnitude of absolute discretionary accruals in the XBRL adoption quarters with that in the non‐adopting quarters. We also take advantage of staggered (three‐stage phase‐in) XBRL implementations to perform difference‐in‐differences analyses. Our results show that absolute discretionary accruals decrease significantly from the pre‐ to the post‐XBRL period, suggesting that XBRL adoption constrains earnings management via discretionary accrual choices. Our analyses further reveal that the use of standardized official XBRL elements significantly reduces the levels of discretionary accruals, while the use of customized extension elements does not, suggesting that the former discourages accrual‐based earnings management, while the latter does not. Our results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks.     

The fashion‐conscious behaviours of mature female consumers

Under‐appreciation of mature consumers as a numerous and comparatively wealthy market segment has resulted in not only lost revenues for business, but also lost consumption and service opportunities for the elderly. In response to expressed needs for more research into actual and desired consumption by older consumers, this study examined the apparel and shopping preferences of mature women in America. Independent living residents were surveyed concerning fashion consciousness, fashion information sources and shopping behaviours. Young and mature consumers’ reactions to female apparel ensembles were compared. Mature subjects purchased apparel for pleasure or need, but less for conformity. Decisions were influenced more by fit and comfort than by fashion, despite suggestions that dressing stylishly was important. New fashions were encountered via catalogue illustrations, social gatherings and window displays. Subjects high in fashion consciousness had greater financial and social involvement with fashion, greater chronological‐to‐cognitive age differences and larger clothing budgets. Young and mature consumers’ responses to apparel illustrations differed significantly. As the mature market expands, attention to age‐divergent definitions of fashion (such as those based upon admiration of comfort) will determine the success of apparel businesses. Assessment of cognitive age will facilitate identification of those mature consumers most predisposed toward fashion consumption.     

Analyst Optimism and Incentives under Market Uncertainty

We examine how analysts’ changing incentives driven by changes in market uncertainty affect their forecast optimism. Analysts issue more optimistically biased earnings forecasts and buy recommendations under high market uncertainty (VIX). The lower reputational costs and larger benefits of optimistic output explain the increased optimistic output: Analysts are less likely to be penalized for inaccuracy and can stimulate more trading activity from optimistically biased output when market uncertainty is high. We find that the likelihood of analysts’ turnover decreases, while the trading volume associated with optimistic output increases, with VIX. No evidence suggests that analysts’ self‐selection affects our findings on optimism and market uncertainty.