How many days equal a year? A note on the mean-variance model

In portfolio management, the means and variances of stock returns are usually estimated on a daily basis and then converted to longer periods of time. This paper examines the issue of how to convert 1-day means for longer periods and investigates the impacts of this conversion on capital allocation decisions and portfolio performance evaluations

Benchmarking the behaviour and characteristics of wine tourists in an emerging wine region

Exploratory research was undertaken to benchmark the profiles and preferences of regional wine tourists in Nova Scotia. This paper describes the consumer profiles of three wine tourist segments in the region: Wine Lovers; Wine Interested; and Curious Tourists. The data (n = 780) were collected over an eighteen-month period at wineries, winery events, farmers markets, and on the tour bus of a popular wine tour operator. Results provide evidence supporting the wine tourist typology found in the literature and give insights for tourism bodies as well as individual businesses

Analyse des enjeux fiscaux

Les gouvernements fédéral et provinciaux font face à des dettes accumulées et des déficits importants et doivent tenter de rééquilibrer leurs budgets soit par une augmentation des revenus ou une diminution des dépenses. Dans ce travail, nous avons fais l’analyse de l’assiette fiscale de la province du Nouveau-Brunswick pour identifier les enjeux fiscaux et mieux comprendre les contraintes au redressement des finances publiques

Modelling the effect of transactions costs on options-related trading frequency

In this paper we examine the relationship between transactions costs and options-related trading fre-quency. We develop a model which enables us to examine option hedging behaviour through any set of asset price and time paths, including large price changes in small time intervals, within a Black-Scholes numerical solution set. This approach allows for a type of completeness that is not possible with a binomial tree or Monte Carlo simulation. Our model suggests a linear relationship between transactions costs and trading frequency

Taxation through time: an intertemporal assessment of the taxation of human capital in Atlantic Canada

We examine the (dis)incentive effects created by the respective tax systems to invest in human capital in Atlantic Canada and compare this to a select group of provinces from the rest of Canada. While findings show a steady decline in effective tax rates through the years, thereby creating an incentive effect to invest in post-secondary education, disproportionately higher rate gap differentials in the Atlantic Provinces, on average, combined with negative comparative statics reveal a somewhat different undertone. The counterproductive nature of the competing policies effectively nullifies any status quo argument for education or tax policy in the Atlantic Provinces, when compared to their brethren. The graduate retention rebate provides some solace to the narrative in helping to alleviate early tax burdens and equalize returns, but is difficult to claim effectiveness in assuaging any monetary windfall associated with migration

A novel adaptive boundary search algorithm for solving facility layout problems

An highly effective algorithm is presented to solve open space facilities layout planning problems involving modules with constant aspect ratios. This algorithmm is a novel combination of steepest descent and corner search. Layout solutions produced by the proposed algorithm for well-known test problems were found superior to the published layouts as well as the best layouts produced by commercial layout design software VIPPLANOPT

New Brunswick model of shared risk pension plan: human resource implications in an academic setting

The province of New Brunswick has introduced changes to the Pension Benefit Act that facilitates the conversion of Defined Benefit Plans to a shared Risk Plan. This paper highlights the implications of one of the key provisions, career average pension, for recruitment retention and other aspects of human resource management in a university setting

Financial constraints, R&D investment, and the value of cash

This paper investigates whether the relationship between financial constraints and the marginal value of corporate cash holdings varies across firms with and without R&D investment. We find that among firms with positive R&D investment the marginal value of cash is higher in financially constrained firms than unconstrained ones, whereas this difference is not significant among firms without R&D investment

Fifty shades of play: Monopoly[supercript TM] and the spirit of capitalism

While the recent trend towards the ‘gamification’ of business and organization is forging a new intersectionality between play and games with work and organization, play and games as a subject of research within the MOS literature is limited. While games, as a sub-domain of play, have been an area of study it is normatively approached from a narrow and instrumental perspective. This paper takes an historical look at the intersectionality of games and work from a historical and socio-cultural perspective. ANTi-History is first used to re-assemble a history of the board game Monopoly™. A mediological analysis is then used to investigate the material, ideational, and ideological elements of board games in general and to surface the relationship of Monopoly™ and its direct antecedents with work and organization in particular