Biases in the IPO Pricing Process

By investigating the entire IPO pricing process, beginning when the offering is filed, the paper contributes to the existing literature along four dimensions. First, price updates during the registration period are predictable based on firm and offer-specific characteristics known at the time the offer is filed. Second, price updates reflect market movements prior to the initial filing date as well as during the registration period. Third, positive and negative information learned during the registration period affect the offer price asymmetrically. Finally, public and private information learned during the registration period have different effects on the offer price. While a number of the biases that we uncover are consistent with one or more theories regarding IPOs, many remain a puzzle.

IPO Market Cycles: Bubbles or Sequential Learning?

We examine the strong cycles in the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) and in the average initial returns realized by investors who participated in the IPOs. At the aggregate level, initial returns are predictably related to past initial returns and also to future IPO volume from 1960-1997. To understand these patterns, we use firm-level data from 1985-97 to model the initial return. Our results show that aggregate IPO cycles occur because of the time it takes to complete an IPO, the clustering of similar types of IPOs in time, and information spillovers among IPOs.

Jet aircraft configuration Patent

Upper surface, external flow, jet-augmented flap configuration for high wing jet aircraft for noise reductio

Plume mapping and isotopic characterisation of anthropogenic methane sources

Methane stable isotope analysis, coupled with mole fraction measurement, has been used to link isotopic signature to methane emissions from landfill sites, coal mines and gas leaks in the United Kingdom. A mobile Picarro G2301 CRDS (Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy) analyser was installed on a vehicle, together with an anemometer and GPS receiver, to measure atmospheric methane mole fractions and their relative location while driving at speeds up to 80 kph. In targeted areas, when the methane plume was intercepted, air samples were collected in Tedlar bags, for delta C-13-CH4 isotopic analysis by CF-GC-IRMS (Continuous Flow Gas Chromatography-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry). This method provides high precision isotopic values, determining delta C-13-CH4 to +/- 0.05 per mil. The bulk signature of the methane plume into the atmosphere from the whole source area was obtained by Keeling plot analysis, and a delta C-13 -CH4 signature, with the relative uncertainty, allocated to each methane source investigated. Both landfill and natural gas emissions in SE England have tightly constrained isotopic signatures. The averaged delta C-13-CH4 for landfill sites is -58 +/- 3%o. The delta C-13-CH4 signature for gas leaks is also fairly constant around -36 +/- 2 parts per thousand, a value characteristic of homogenised North Sea supply. In contrast, signatures for coal mines in N. England and Wales fall in a range of -51.2 +/- 0.3 parts per thousand to 30.9 +/- 1.4 parts per thousand, but can be tightly constrained by region. The study demonstrates that CRDS-based mobile methane measurement coupled with off-line high precision isotopic analysis of plume samples is an efficient way of characterising methane sources. It shows that iiotopic measurements allow type identification, and possible location of previously unknown methane sources. In modelling studies this measurement provides an independent constraint to determine the contributions of different sources to the regional methane budget and in the verification of inventory source distribution. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The Variability of IPO Initial Returns

The monthly volatility of IPO initial returns is substantial, fluctuates dramatically over time, and is considerably larger during "hot" IPO markets. Consistent with IPO theory, the volatility of initial returns is higher among firms whose value is more difficult to estimate, i.e., among firms with higher information asymmetry. Our findings highlight underwriters' difficulty in valuing companies characterized by high uncertainty, and, as a result, raise serious questions about the efficacy of the traditional firm commitment underwritten IPO process. One implication of our results is that alternate mechanisms, such as auctions, may be beneficial, particularly for firms that value price discovery over the auxiliary services provided by underwriters.

The Relationship of Mercantile Credit Ratings to Delinquent Accounts in Albuquerque, New Mexico 1951-1953

How useful are the ratings of a mercantile credit agency to the businessmen of a given metropolitan area, as judged by the delinquent accounts referred for collection to that agency

Evaluating State Land Use Control: Perspectives and Hawaii Case Study

This Article will identify five general approaches for evaluating the effects of a comprehensive state land use control program. The vehicle for this analysis will be the Hawaii land use program. The study will focus on the implementation of the Hawaii program as opposed to the conditions that led to its enactment with particular attention to the development of concepts and analytical approaches from which hypotheses can be generated and tested comparatively

Wind-tunnel investigation of an NACA 23012 airfoil with several arrangements of slotted flaps with extended lips

An investigation was made in the NACA 7- by 10-foot wind tunnel to determine the effect of slot-lip location on the aerodynamic section characteristics of an NACA 23012 airfoil with a 30-percent-chord slotted flap. Tests were made with slot lips located at 90 and 100 percent of the airfoil chord and with two different flap shapes. The results are compared with a slotted flap previously developed by the National advisory Committee for Aeronautics with a slot lip located at 83 percent of the airfoil chord. The extension of the slot lip to the rear increased the section lift and pitching-moment coefficients. Comparisons made on a basis of pitching moment for a given tail length show that the Fowler type flap, lip extended to trailing edge of the airfoil, has the greatest section lift coefficient. For moderate tail lengths, 2 to 3 chord lengths, there was only a slight difference between the previously developed slotted flap and the slotted flap with slot lip extended to 90 percent of the airfoil chord. Of the three flaps tested, the Fowler flap had the lowest drag coefficient at high lift coefficients. The extension of the lower surface at the leading edge of the slot had a negligible effect on the profile drag of the airfoil-flap arrangement with the flap deflected when the lip terminated at 90 percent of the airfoil chord