Experimental analysis on the role of a large speculator in currency crises

Corsetti et al. (2004) demonstrate that the presence of a large speculator in the foreign exchange market makes the remaining traders more aggressive in their speculative attacks. We conduct an experiment designed to test their theoretical predictions and also use the experiment to analyze an additional aspect that has not been previously covered in the literature: namely, whether the entry of a large speculator and the exit of the same speculator have the same effect in magnitude on the probability of a successful speculative attack. We obtain two main findings. First, the results support the main conclusion of Corsetti et al. (2004) that the presence of a large speculator makes other small speculators more aggressive. Second, the results suggest that the effect of the entry of a large speculator on the probability of successful speculative attacks is larger than that of the exit of the same speculator.     

Aid,Aid Volatility and Sectoral Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does Finance Matter?

This article examines the impact of aid and its volatility on sectoral growth by relying on panel dataset of 37 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period 1983–2014. Findings from the system-generalized methods of moments show that, while foreign aid significantly drives sectoral growth, aid volatility deteriorates sectoral value additions impacting heavily on non-tradable sectors with no apparent effect on the agricultural sector. The deleterious effect of aid volatility on sectoral value additions in SSA is weakened by a well-developed financial system with significant impact on the tradable sector. Evidently, development of domestic financial markets enhances aid effectiveness.     

Price-Earnings Ratios in Japan: Recent Evidence and Further Results

We analyse the disparity between Japanese and US price-earnings ratios between 1975 and 1995 with a view to find if the accounting differences between two countries can explain this disparity. Our results indicate that the accounting differences can explain a significant part but not all differences between Japanese and US price-earnings ratios. We further investigate the effect of other possible economic factors on the behaviour of Japanese price-earnings ratios and find that changing expectations about growth opportunities, changes in the real returns and differing inflation also do not fully explain the behaviour of the price-earnings ratios. Therefore, the possibility of the existence of the speculative bubble needs to be explored to fully explain the behaviour of Japanese share price-earnings ratios during this period.     

Dual organizational identification among Japanese expatriates: the role of communication in cultivating subsidiary identification and outcomes

Dual organizational identification is significant for the success of multinational corporation (MNC) employees. This study has extended this research area by examining expatriates of Japan-based MNCs. In addition, this study has extended the existing identity-matching principle by incorporating a communication perspective. It investigated the antecedents and outcomes of subsidiary identification. Self-report survey data from 159 Japanese expatriates in the USA were analyzed. The results indicated the significance of local language proficiency in the development of identification with the subsidiary. In addition, local identification was the predictor of expatriates' adaptation to the subsidiary. Furthermore, the results showed that local organizational identification is related to their stress level in international assignments. These results also supported the growing view of situation-oriented identification. The follow-up interviews reinforced these results.