The Small World of Investing: Board Connections and Mutual Fund Returns

This paper uses social networks to identify information transfer in security markets. We focus on connections between mutual fund managers and corporate board members via shared education networks. We find that portfolio managers place larger bets on firms they are connected to through their network, and perform significantly better on these holdings relative to their non-connected holdings. A replicating portfolio of connected stocks outperforms a replicating portfolio of non-connected stocks by up to 8.4% per year. Returns are concentrated around corporate news announcements, consistent with mutual fund managers gaining an informational advantage through the education networks. Our results suggest that social networks may be an important mechanism for information flow into asset prices.

Warner Robins and the Buy Purchase Request Process

Throughout the United States Air Force, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center (ALC) has a reputation of being ahead of the game when it comes to lean implementation. Efforts on the shop floor have contributed vastly to that reputation. In addition, administrative accomplishments need to be recognized as a significant contribution to the lean effort at Warner Robins. At the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center (ALC), the ultimate goal of every employee is to serve the warfighter effectively and efficiently through the maintenance and repair of aircraft. The ALC’s main work is in Program Depot Maintenance (PDM) which supports aircraft sustainment operations for seven Product Directorates. Within Product Directorates are the System Program Offices (SPOs), such as C-5 or C-130, of Air Force weapon systems. Sustainment is a dauntingly complex process for the Air Force involving the Depot and PDM efforts, movement and storage of parts, and the base repair process. In 2002, Warner Robins embarked upon a lean journey to improve the reliability, timeliness and costs associated with its repair operations. Within the context of that improvement attempt, this case study examines the efforts to maximize purchase request efficiency, (i.e., shorten the time needed to acquire parts)

Legislating Stock Prices

In this paper we demonstrate that legislation has a simple, yet previously undetected impact on firm stock prices. While it is understood that the government and firms have an important relationship, it remains difficult to determine which firms any given piece of legislation will affect, and how it will affect them. By observing the actions of legislators whose constituents are the affected firms, we can gather insights into the likely impact of government legislation on firms. Specifically, focusing attention on “interested” legislators’ behavior captures important information seemingly ignored by the market. A long-short portfolio based on these legislators’ views earns abnormal returns of over 90 basis points per month following the passage of legislation. Further, the more complex the legislation, the more difficulty the market has in assessing the impact of these bills. Consistent with the legislator incentive mechanism, the more concentrated the legislator’s interest in the industry, the more informative are her votes for future returns

Second language pragmatic ability: Individual differences according to environment

The aims of this paper are to review research literature on the role that the second language (L2) and foreign language (FL) environments actually play in the development of learners’ target language (TL) pragmatic ability, and also to speculate as to the extent to which individual factors can offset the advantages that learners may have by being in the L2 context while they are learning. The paper starts by defining pragmatics and by problematizing this definition. Then, attention is given to research literature dealing with the learning of pragmatics in an L2 context compared to an FL context. Next, studies on the role of pragmatic transfer are considered, with subsequent attention given to the literature on the incidence of pragmatic transfer in FL as opposed to L2 contexts. Finally, selected studies on the role of motivation in the development of pragmatic ability are examined. In the discussion section, a number of pedagogical suggestions are offered: the inclusion of pragmatics in teacher development, the use of authentic pragmatics materials, motivating learners to be more savvy about pragmatics, and supporting learners in accepting or challenging native-speaker norms. Suggestions as to further research in the field are also offered

Three-dimensional Autostereoscopic Display for Neurosurgery Application

poster abstractThree-dimensional (3D) imaging technology has recently been successfully used in Neurosurgery. These new experiments with several types of brain surgeries performed in 3D show promising results in improving the training of clinicians in new techniques. In the surgical theater, the image data is captured by two separate imagers attached to the microscope, corresponding to a left view and a right view. These images are then displayed on a 3D television. Recent experiments performed in the operating theater use glasses in sync with the view of the left and right microscope image outputs to show apparent 3D to the clinicians. A well-known concern with 3D technology is eye-strain and fatigue of the viewer over hours of viewing. We report initial results of 3D research for the surgery application using an autostereoscopic (no-glasses) display, which reduces 3D fatigue. The left-right view of the surgical task was captured, processed, and is shown successfully on an autostereoscopic display. Initial subjective evaluation by the surgeon indicates that the images are substantially similar to viewing through the microscope directly. Our next steps will be to provide real-time autostereoscopic (no-glasses) viewing in the operating theater for evaluation and assessment. The 3D display with surgical highlights will be shown in the poster session

Friends in High Places

We demonstrate that personal connections amongst politicians have a significant impact on the voting behavior of U.S. politicians. Networks based on alumni connections between politicians, as well as common seat locations on the chamber floor, are consistent predictors of voting behavior. For the former, we estimate sharp measures that control for common characteristics of the network, as well as heterogeneous impacts of a common network characteristic across votes. For common seat locations, we identify a set of plausibly exogenously assigned seats (Freshman Senators), and find a strong impact of seat location networks on voting. We find that the effect of alumni networks is close to 60% of the size of the effect of state-level considerations. The network effects we identify are stronger for more tightly linked networks, and at times when votes are most valuable.

Friends in High Places

We demonstrate that personal connections amongst U.S. politicians have a significant impact on Senate voting behavior. Networks based on alumni connections between politicians are consistent predictors of voting behavior. We estimate sharp measures that control for common characteristics of the network, as well as heterogeneous impacts of a common network characteristic across votes. We find that the effect of alumni networks is close to 60% as large as the effect of state-level considerations. The network effects we identify are stronger for more tightly linked networks, and at times when votes are most valuable. We show that politicians use school ties as a mechanism to engage in vote trading ("logrolling"), and that alumni networks help facilitate the procurement of discretionary earmarks

Teaching and learning online for the first time: Student and coordinator perspectives

In recent years the higher education sector has moved towards the flexible delivery of individual units and entire courses. As a result, online delivery methods are becoming increasingly common. In this paper we describe students’ and unit-coordinators’ views concerning teaching and learning online for the first time in an introductory psychology unit. Using an action learning approach, views were ascertained through a focus group, messages posted on the online discussion boards, a survey, and coordinator reflections. The results indicate that the current online design of the unit does little to actively engage students in the learning process. We argue that transformation rather than adaptation of unit material to better suit the online environment is required. Facilitating the transformation of unit materials requires greater institutional support and ongoing professional development for teaching staff. In addition, it is recommended that a combined approach (online and face-to-face learning) may be more beneficial than online delivery only, especially for large undergraduate classes and during the transition year

Casting conference calls

We explore a subtle but important mechanism through which firms can control information flow to the markets. We find that firms that “cast” their conference calls by disproportionately calling on bullish analysts tend to underperform in the future. Firms that call on more favorable analysts experience more negative future earnings surprises and more future earnings restatements. A long–short portfolio that exploits this differential firm behavior earns abnormal returns of up to 149 basis points per month or almost 18% per year. We find similar evidence in an international sample of earnings call transcripts from the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Japan. Firms with higher discretionary accruals, firms that barely meet/exceed earnings expectations, and firms (and their executives) that are about to issue equity, sell shares, and exercise options are all significantly more likely to cast their earnings calls