Does employee welfare affect corporate debt maturity?

This study examines the effect of employee well-being on the corporate debt maturity structure of U.S. firms. It hypothesizes that a firm's degree of commitment to employee welfare affects its debt maturity structure. Using a sample of 19,347 firm-year observations over the period 1991–2014, we find evidence that firms with higher employee welfare scores prefer long-term debt over short-term debt. This relationship is more pronounced for firms operating in human-capital-intensive industries and firms with lower labor union-membership rate. Our findings are robust to endogeneity concerns and insensitive to the use of alternative regression methods, variable measurements, and sample compositions. This paper provides novel evidence on the role of employment policies and practices in explaining variations in debt maturity.     

An agency approach to debt maturity of unlisted and listed firms in the European setting

This study analyses the debt maturity of two groups of companies – unlisted and listed – throughout the period 2005–2013. The research takes an agency costs approach to explore the determinants of firms' debt maturity structure for a set of five countries, chosen for being representative of the European Union (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). Agency costs, as well as institutional and macroeconomic factors, turn out to be decisive in explaining firms’ financial policies regarding debt maturity, during the economic crisis that started in 2007–2008. Our findings indicate that contracting costs had a greater impact on unlisted firms during the post-crisis subperiod than on their listed counterparts. Additionally, the economic effect of this has been estimated, corroborating the overall findings of the study.     

Policy regimes and the shape of the Phillips curve in Australia

We document an evolving pattern in the slope of the Phillips curve in Australia at different frequencies under different monetary policy regimes and labor market regulations. Our estimation strategy relies on the spectral analysis that includes the gain and phase spectrum but is also complemented by the time domain estimation. We document an upward sloping medium-run Phillips curve in the pre-1977 period, a downward sloping long-run Phillips curve from 1977 to 1993, and a flattened Phillips curve from 1993 onwards. Lag and lead relationship between inflation and unemployment varies across periods and frequencies. The Phillips curve at business-cycle frequencies is downward sloping in all periods. We explain our results in terms of the monetary targeting in 1976 and the inflation targeting in 1993 by the RBA, respectively, and important changes in labor relations from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.     

Investigating the use of information technology in managing innovation: A case study from a university technology transfer office

This study investigates the use of information technology to manage innovation. It is based on a case study on the adoption of an innovation application, which provides an interface between R&D, marketing and administration functions of innovation development. Drawing on qualitative evidence including a focus group and 16 in-depth interviews, this study contributes by integrating technology acceptance constructs to innovation process performance and marketing literature, as well as by investigating technology acceptance in an innovation context. Implications are discussed for organizations engaged with R&D or innovation process management and suggestions for research directions are offered.     

STOCHASTIC GROWTH IN THE UNITED STATES AND EURO AREA

This paper estimates, using data from the United States and the Euro Area, a two‐country stochastic growth model in which both neutral and investment‐specific technology shocks are nonstationary but cointegrated across economies. The results point to large and persistent swings in productivity, both favorable and adverse, originating in the United States but not transmitted to the Euro Area. More specifically, the results suggest that while the Euro Area missed out on the period of rapid investment‐specific technological change enjoyed in the United States during the 1990s, it also escaped the stagnation in neutral technological progress that plagued the United States in the 1970s.     

高校化学实验室对环境的污染及其治理

高校化学实验室排放的大量液体、气体、固体废弃物对环境污染严重。认识不到位,投资不足是其产生的主要原因。加强实验室管理,大力推广微型化学实验,推广连续合成实验和回收再利用,分类收集,区别处理是解决问题的主要途径。     

入兴贵闲——关于审美创造心态的一个重要命题

“入兴贵闲”是在中国古代文论领域中并不为人所注意 ,但却有丰富理论价值的一个重要命题 ,它所揭橥的内涵是在闲逸充盈的心态下触发创作主体的审美感兴。它与“虚静”说有密切联系 ,但又有着不同的意味。与中国古代的气论哲学有深刻联系 ,但却在刘勰的文论体系中纳入了美学心理学的轨道。唐宋一些诗人在“闲”的心态下创造的篇什有着独特的意境与风格。     

Accounting for the role of habit in regular saving

The present study combines insights from social psychology and economics by examining the role of savings habits in regular saving. As frequently practiced, automatic, and goal-facilitated behaviors, savings habits play a critical role in everyday financial decisions. Using the Self-Report Habit Index developed by Verplanken and Orbell (2003), we collected and analyzed survey data to (1) validate the role of habit in regular saving; (2) test whether participation in a savings program, the Individual Development Account program, facilitates habit formation; and (3) examine the role of habit in individual’s perception of financial strain. The results showed that habit mattered for regular saving. It influenced savings amounts above and beyond Theory of Planned Behavior and deposit frequency measures. Habit strength increased over time during program participation and savings habits reduced the stress of financially difficult situations.     

Exact rational expectations,cointegration, and reduced rank regression

We interpret the linear relations from exact rational expectations models as restrictions on the parameters of the statistical model called the cointegrated vector autoregressive model for non-stationary variables. We then show how reduced rank regression [Anderson, T.W., 1951. Estimating linear restrictions on regression coefficients for multivariate normal distributions. Ann. Math. Statist. 22, 327–351] plays an important role in the calculation of maximum likelihood estimators of the restricted parameters.     

Reduced-rank regression: A useful determinant identity

We formulate an identity for the determinant of a product involving rectangular matrices. The identity can be used to derive the maximum likelihood estimator in reduced-rank regressions with Gaussian innovations. Furthermore, the identity sheds light on the structure of the estimation problem that arises when the reduced-rank parameters are subject to additional constraints.