Materiality Judgments and Disclosure of Retiree Health Care Costs Under SFAS No. 81

Generally, researchers have difficulty empirically examining materiality judgments because amounts designated as immaterial are not disclosed. However, reporting requirements under SFAS No. 106 provide a unique opportunity to evaluate expense amounts designated immaterial under SFAS No. 81. We use the cumulative effect associated with the adoption of SFAS No. 106 to evaluate prior management materiality judgments. Univariate and logistic regression results suggest that the decision to disclose SFAS No. 81 costs is positively related to our measures of plan materiality. However, our results also suggest that voluntary disclosure factors may have influenced the disclosure decision.     

农业地域功能的时空格局与演进特征 ——以106国道沿线典型样带区为例

研究目的：揭示不同时间段农业地域多功能的地域差异和演进特征,提出农业地域多功能协同发展的对策,为科学引导地区分工、强化主导功能、凸显地域价值、促进区域协调发展提供科学依据。研究方法：农业地域多功能性指数计算模型,农业地域多功能演变的时空差异诊断模型,Gi*指数模型。研究结果：（1）农产品供给功能提升幅度较大,其重心进一步向平原农区集中;京津冀都市区、邯郸经济区劳动力就业和社会保障功能大幅度提升;山地丘陵区生态保育功能进一步凸显;文化传承和休闲功能优势区向各市辖区及其周边县域集中。（2）京津冀都市区、邯郸市及其周边地区为多功能指数热点区,而京津冀都市区与邯郸经济区之间的县市以及样带河南段大部分县市为多功能指数冷点区。研究结论：106国道沿线典型区不同类型区农业地域主导功能定位不同,需借助财政转移支付、生态补偿、粮食补贴等政策手段引导地域功能与社会经济需求、地域资源禀赋相适应,促进主导功能区建设和区域协调发展。     

The end of a 400-year boom

The Great Discoveries, which began with Columbus, created a frontier that both eased European population pressures and poured enormous wealth into the Metropolis (Western Europe). A feudalistic, authoritarian society gradually gave way to a more open democratic set of nations. Familiar institutions were born: representative democracy and private-enterprise capitalism. Individualism flowered. During the twentieth century, that 400-year “boom” has come to an end. Population pressures on resources are now roughly similar, or worse, than those of pre-Columbian times. Humankind thus faces a “climacteric”—a coalescence of crises. The “ecological trap”, which imprisoned humans prior to the Great Discoveries, is once more closing. The questions this developed include: 1) is another frontier of comparable significance to the Great Discoveries in the offing? and 2) do the familiar politico-economic institutions of the era of the “400-year boom” require reexamination? The answers given are: 1) science and technology provide the only hope for a new frontier; but while advancing technology has brought many material benefits, it alone cannot do the necessary job; 2) the institutions of the American constitutional order should be reexamined to determine if they are suitable for the time of troubles that lies dead ahead. Several constitutional changes are suggested, to be brought about by a constitutional convention. In sum, a new social paradigm is required.     

Recognition and Disclosure Reliability: Evidence from SFAS No. 106*

This paper examines a fundamental question of interest to researchers and regulators: Does the market treat disclosed financial statement information as if it is less reliable than information recognized in the body of the financial statements? Specifically, we compare the perceived reliability of liabilities for retiree benefits other than pensions (PRBs) disclosed prior to adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 106 (SFAS No. 106) with the perceived reliability of PRB liabilities subsequently recognized under SFAS No. 106. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the market treating disclosed PRB liabilities as less reliable than recognized PRB liabilities and pension liabilities. However, once PRB liabilities are recognized, they do not appear to be any less reliable than pension liabilities. These findings are inconsistent with the Choi, Collins, and Johnson 1997 conclusion that PRB liabilities are inherently less reliable than pension liabilities. The paper also investigates factors that may have contributed to the lower perceived disclosure reliability. Our results suggest that the market perceived PRB liability disclosures to be less reliable when firms provided range disclosures, had higher probabilities of reducing plan benefits, or had lower ratios of retiree to total PRB obligations. These findings suggest that reliability may have been enhanced if more supporting details had been provided in Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 74 disclosures.     

Two generalized rational models for forecasting innovation diffusion

This article demonstrates the development and use of two Generalized Rational Models I and II (GRM I and II) representing innovation diffusion. Specifically, the GRM II covers the same area as the NSRL model, which includes the Coleman and the Blackman/Fisher-Pry models, while the GRM I covers the same area as a modified NSRL model (mod. NSRL), also introduced hereby, and including Floyd, Blackman/Fisher-Pry, Sharif-Kabir and Exponential models. Both the GRM I and the GRM II provide a form of differential equation which always has for a solution a fact which cannot be met when dealing with the NSRL and mod. NSRL models.Some applications are presented, first to illustrate the wide applicability and the usefulness of the models and second to demonstrate the alternate use of the GRM I and mod. NSRL, and GRM II and NSRL models, which usually approximate very well.     

Excessive availability for work: Good or bad? Charting underlying motivations and searching for game-changers

“Excessive availability for work” (hereafter EAW), or overwork is multi-faceted in nature, and encompasses behavioral manifestations such as long working hours (including overtime work), sickness presenteeism (SP), leavism, and teleworking (working on mobile devices outside the workplace and during off-time) as a few prevalent observations. To facilitate systematic research in the field, a broad framework needs to be formulated to explain, predict, and understand the phenomena. We thus introduce a motivational theoretical perspective on EAW to explain the underlying psychological process of such an act as a practice of human agency at work. This exercise of human agency sets motion the dynamic process actualizing both potential costs as well as benefits of EAW, over an extended period of time. We based our theoretical formulation on the proposition of the general model of values and work (Roe & Ester, 1999) and the basic tenet of the self-determination theory (SDT, Deci & Ryan, 1985). In particular, we adopted the autonomous-controlled orientation as an individual difference construct, linking it with intrinsic/extrinsic work values. These divergent work values then express themselves in the act of voluntary/involuntary EAW, motivated by the individual's strive to satisfy basic human needs of autonomy, competency, and relatedness. It is these distinct motivations that finally determine the good or bad outcomes, possibly varying in different frame of time. We further acknowledged that many environmental and personal factors could act as moderators in the self-motivational/regulatory process and alter the good or bad outcomes of EAW. We used psychological detachment as a moderator to serve as an illustration, and encouraged future concerted research applying our theoretical model.