Estimation of Agricultural Production Functfons on a World-Wide Basis

Agricultural production is becoming increasingly capital and research intensive. Hayami and Ruttan, along with others, have developed and applied the metaproduction functional approach to the examination of this phenomenon on a worldwide basis. Limitations to the approach derive from a restrictive functional form chosen for estimation, and from a restrictive specification of agricultural capital and land. This study addresses those difficulties by use of the flexible translog functional form for estimation and by specifying an overall agricultural capital index and a land measure incorporating differences in the quality of land (agricultural natural resource) endowments. Estimation results indicate that agricultural comparative advantage in production is likely shifting to developed countries relative to LDC's due to capital constraints in the latter. Also agricultural potential (i.e., land endowments) do not serve to differentiate nations on the basis of agricultural production. Investment in agriculture, including land improvement, is key to the determination of comparative advantage. La production agricole fait appelle de plus en plus a beaucoup de re-cherches et de capitaux. Hayami et Ruttan, avec d'autres, ont developpe et appliqué l'approche fonctionnelle métaproduction pour examiner ce phénomena à l‘échelle du monde. Les limitations de cette approache provienneent de la forme fonctionnelle restrictive choisie pour l'estimation, et de la spécification restrictive de capitaux et terres agricoles. Cette étude traite ces difficultés en utilisant la formule “translog’ fonctionnelle adaptable pour l'estimation et en spécificant un indice du capital agricole global et une mesure de terre qui incorpore les différences du qualité des terres agricoles (ressources agricoles naturelles). Tous les résultats estimatifs indiquent que l'avantage comparatif agricole de production s'incline vers les pays développés parraport aux PMD dû aux constraintes de capitaux dans ces derniers. Aussi la capacité agricole (c'est à dire la richesse des sols) ne sert pas à différencier les nations sur le plan de production agricole. L'investissement dans l'agriculte, notamment l'amélioration de terre, est la cief pour déterminer l'avantage comparatif.     

Whose firm is it anyway? Analyzing ownership effects on IPO performance

This study revisits current practice that ownership holding at IPO has a homogeneous impact on IPO performance. Using signalling theory, we develop and test a conceptual model explaining the relationships between the aggregated ownership structure and IPO price premium. We argue that aggregated ownership has a direct effect on issue price premium, and offer specific hypotheses on the effect of the shares sold during the offering by each type of owner on IPO performance. We use archival data from a sample of US firms that issued IPOs between 1996 and 2000 and find a significant direct effect of ownership configuration, namely, heterogeneity in effect of each ownership type on IPO performance as well as interaction effects between different ownership types. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

La valeur économique de l’audit et son efficacité dans le fonctionnement de l’école publique

Les auteurs examinent l’incidence de l’audit sur le fonctionnement de l’école publique en poursuivant deux objectifs : déterminer si les audits procurent des avantages économiques aux parties prenantes et définir l’incidence de la complexité des règles à observer sur l’efficacité de l’audit. Utilisant des données relatives au temps consacréà l’audit et profitant de l’occasion unique offerte par la Quality Basic Education Act en Georgie, les auteurs estiment le rendement relatif des activités des arrondissements scolaires au moyen d’une méthode stochastique d’estimation des frontières. Ils constatent que l’audit produit de véritables avantages économiques pour les parties prenantes en atténuant le manque d’efficience de l’utilisation des ressources scolaires. Ils constatent également que la rigueur des règles à observer réduit l’efficacité de l’audit mais que l’expérience des auditeurs peut contribuer à surmonter ce problème. Le fait que les coûts d’audit ne soient pas communiqués entrave la réalisation d’une analyse coûts‐avantages des nouvelles exigences. L’analyse des auteurs vient confirmer la thèse selon laquelle l’audit est indispensable à l’établissement de mécanismes de gouvernance et la communication des coûts d’audit est importante dans l’évaluation adéquate d’une nouvelle politique. Les données pertinentes peuvent être obtenues auprès des sources publiques indiquées dans le texte.     

A ‘panoptical’ or ‘synoptical’ approach to monitoring performance? Local public services in England and the widening accountability gap

This article highlights how recent reforms to the auditing and assessment of local public services in England suggest there will be a shift from panoptical to ‘synoptical’ monitoring approaches. This is because the UK Government has abolished its centralised monitoring regime and instead required local authorities to publish a range of financial and performance datasets online, ostensibly so that citizens can hold organisations to account directly. However, the complexity and raw nature of these data, along with the sidelining of professional auditors, will result in most citizens being either unable or unwilling to undertake this task. As such, the proposed ‘synoptical’ approach will not materialise. Indeed, other legislative changes will mean that outsourcing firms effectively become the new, unaccountable observers of local public sector bodies within an enduring panoptical system. In many cases these companies will then assume responsibility for delivering the same services that they have assessed.     

Does Public Country-by-Country Reporting Deter Tax Avoidance and Income Shifting? Evidence from the European Banking Industry*

In this study, we examine the effect of increased tax transparency on the tax planning behavior of European banks. In 2014, the European Union introduced public country-by-country reporting requirements to the banking industry. Treating this new requirement as an exogenous shock, we find limited evidence consistent with a decline in income shifting by the banks' financial affiliates in the post-adoption period (starting from 2015). We do not, however, find robust evidence of a significant change in the consolidated book effective tax rates among the affected banks. Our findings suggest that increased transparency from public country-by-country reporting can deter tax-motivated income shifting but that it did not appear to materially influence the banks' overall tax avoidance. Our findings have policy implications for the ongoing debate between the European Parliament, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and accounting standard-setting bodies on whether to require multinationals to publish country-by-country reports.     

The measurement of spatial variations in tourist activity

This paper looks at the problems of using physical accommodation capacity figures to identify spatial variations in the level of tourist activity and considers the implications for the interpretation of Defert's tourist function index. An analysis of accomodation use patterns in New Brunswick, Canada, shows considerable differences in the intensity of use among the various forms of accommodation. A closer look at hotel and motel occupancy characteristics also reveals large spatial variations, but their combined effect on the relationship between physical accommdation capacity and yearly tourist use shows little variation over space. It is concluded that Defert's index is a most useful tool for examining tourist activity in areas where most accommodation is in the form of hotels and motels, but should be interpreted with caution where there are large spatial variations in the types of accommodation available.     

Transformation of the Information Technology Function in Organizations: A Case Study in the Manufacturing Sector

The main goal of this study is to better understand the nature of transformations of the Information Technology (IT) function in organizations. A conceptual framework combining a typology of the IT function and key elements of the theory of punctuated equilibrium was developed and applied in a case study of a manufacturing company. Our results suggest that IT functions are transformed in response to various pressures that push it toward change. However, these pressures need to be channelled through a catalyst consisting of three independent elements: (a) the vision of the enterprise concerning the potential value of IT tools, (b) the degree of Chief Information Officer's participation in strategic decision making, and (c) the level of IT knowledge among members of the executive team. Finally, our results challenge the notion that all IT functions tend towards the same optimal profile over time. Copyright © 2011 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generational Differences in the Importance,Availability, and Influence of Work Values: A Public Service Perspective

This study uses a sample of 832 Canadian public servants to test a theoretically derived framework which hypothesizes that generational cohort: (1) predicts the importance public servants place on intrinsic and extrinsic work values, (2) predicts the perceived availability of such rewards in public service workplaces, and (3) impacts the relationship between perceived availability of important rewards, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Our study adds to the limited body of research on generational cohort and work values in the public service. Generational cohort had little impact on the importance of work values, but did predict perceived availability of work‐rewards and the relationship between perceived availability of important rewards, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Findings could help public service organizations' recruitment and retention efforts. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reforming central government: An evaluation of an accounting innovation

This paper examines a significant accounting innovation in central government accounting – the introduction of Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) in the UK. This innovation is studied through the lens of Rogers diffusion theory. The study setting is the Scotland Parliament. This research shows that, in the terms of diffusion theory, RAB can be classified as an accounting innovation. However, the implementation of RAB is problematic. While the reform of the UK central government system was initially sought as a mechanism to enhance democratic accountability, this paper shows that RAB does not connect with parliamentarians. The introduction of RAB flows as much from a managerial agenda as it does from the aim of democratic accountability.     

The translation of accrual accounting and budgeting and the reconfiguration of public sector accountants’ identities

Under the umbrella of New Public Management (NPM) and managerialism, the last three decades have seen a widespread transformation of public sector accounting and budgeting from a cash to an accrual basis. Much of the ensuing research, however, has focused more on technical evaluations of these programmes and less on informing our knowledge of the interaction between such programmes and accountants. As public sector accountants (PSAs) are central entities in such programmes, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the reconfiguration of their identities. Using the theoretical lens of Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) and its concept of translation, this study seeks to explain how PSAs’ identities were transformed through the introduction of Accrual Output-Based Budgeting (AOBB) in two German states. Our analysis shows that the change of accounting regime was not a straightforward one, but rather involved that accountants faced particular challenges responding to several interessement devices that were used to enrol them into the new practices. We link this behaviour to a Weberian facet of the PSAs’ identity, which prevented serious project stagnancy and ‘strategies of total resistance’, but also precluded many accountants from enrolling easily into AOBB, or even developing enthusiasm. The paper suggests that several groups of accountants, rather than one, experienced different challenges in aligning with AOBB and that each assumed their compromises and investments in developing with accrual accounting.