Advertising, earnings prediction and market value: An analysis of persistent UK advertisers

YesThis paper examines whether major media advertising expenditures help in predicting future earnings. We consider the role of media advertising in firms’ marketing efforts and posit that persistent advertisers are more likely to benefit from advertising activities in creating long‐lived intangible assets. Employing a sample of persistent UK advertisers over the period 1997–2013, we find that advertising expenditures are significantly positively associated with firms’ future earnings and market value. We also report size and sector‐based differences in the association between advertising and firms’ future earnings. Our additional analysis provides support for the arguments that despite the recent rise in digital advertising budgets, traditional advertising media are still effective in positively influencing firms’ performance. Overall, the results of this study are consistent with the view that advertising expenditures produce intangible assets, at least for firms in certain sectors. These findings have implications for marketers in providing evidence of the value generated by firms’ advertising budgets, for investors in validating the relevance of advertising information in influencing future earnings, and for accounting regulators in relation to the provision of useful insights for any future deliberations on financial reporting policies for advertising expenditures

Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Childhood Maltreatment Exposure: Implications for Fetal Brain Development

ObjectiveGrowing evidence suggests the deleterious consequences of exposure to childhood maltreatment (CM) not only might endure over the exposed individual's lifespan but also might be transmitted across generations. The time windows, mechanisms, and targets of such intergenerational transmission are poorly understood. The prevailing paradigm posits that mother-to-child transmission of the effects of maternal CM likely occurs after her child's birth. The authors seek to extend this paradigm and advance a transdisciplinary framework that integrates the concepts of biological embedding of life experiences and fetal origins of health and disease risk.MethodThe authors posit that the period of embryonic and fetal life represents a particularly sensitive time for intergenerational transmission; that the developing brain represents a target of particular interest; and that stress-sensitive maternal-placental-fetal biological (endocrine, immune) pathways represent leading candidate mechanisms of interest.ResultsThe plausibility of this model is supported by theoretical considerations and empirical findings in humans and animals. The authors synthesize several research areas and identify important knowledge gaps that might warrant further study.ConclusionThe scientific and public health relevance of this effort relates to achieving a better understanding of the "when," "what," and "how" of intergenerational transmission of CM, with implications for early identification of risk, prevention, and intervention