Timely Industry Information as an Assurance Service: Evidence on the Information Content of the Book-to-Bill Ratio

Assurance services include independent professional services that improve the quality of information. Once such service is the collection of confidential information from participating firms on behalf of an industry association and the release of summarized information to investors. An example of this type of service is the collection of industry-wide information for the Semiconductor Industry Association. The primary output from this process is the monthly release of a ratio of new orders received to chips shipped, known as the book-to-bill ratio. We evaluate the association between book-to-bill disclosures and common stock prices. Statements in the financial press suggest that the book-to-bill index is an important indicator of future demand in the semiconductor industry. Because changes in the book-to-bill ratio signal impending changes in sales, the index may be relevant information for firm valuation. Our results suggest that investors in semiconductor firms utilize the book-to-bill ratio in revising their expectations of future cash flows. Specifically, we find (1) that eight of the 36 monthly book-to-bill announcements occurring during 1994 through 1996 produced share price reactions significant at the 10 percent level, and (2) that the price response across the subset of good news disclosures is positively related to the change in the book-to-bill ratio

Use of a health information exchange system in the emergency care of children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Children may benefit greatly in terms of safety and care coordination from the information sharing promised by health information exchange (HIE). While information exchange capability is a required feature of the certified electronic health record, we known little regarding how this technology is used in general and for pediatric patients specifically.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using data from an operational HIE effort in central Texas, we examined the factors associated with actual system usage. The clinical and demographic characteristics of pediatric ED encounters (n = 179,445) were linked to the HIE system user logs. Based on the patterns of HIE system screens accessed by users, we classified each encounter as: no system usage, basic system usage, or novel system usage. Using crossed random effects logistic regression, we modeled the factors associated with basic and novel system usage.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Users accessed the system for 8.7% of encounters. Increasing patient comorbidity was associated with a 5% higher odds of basic usage and 15% higher odds for novel usage. The odds of basic system usage were lower in the face of time constraints and for patients who had not been to that location in the previous 12 months.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HIE systems may be a source to fulfill users' information needs about complex patients. However, time constraints may be a barrier to usage. In addition, results suggest HIE is more likely to be useful to pediatric patients visiting ED repeatedly. This study helps fill an existing gap in the study of technological applications in the care of children and improves knowledge about how HIE systems are utilized.</p

Domestic versus international portfolio selection: a statistical examination of the home bias

The observed international home bias has traditionally been viewed as an anomaly. This paper provides statistical evidence contrary to this view within a mean-variance framework. Two methods of estimating the expected return and covariance parameters are investigated: (i) the traditional Markowitz approach, and (ii) the Bayes-Stein "shrinkage" algorithm. In-sample tests reveal that neither the Markowitz tangency allocation vectors nor the Bayes-Stein tangency allocation vectors are significantly different than a 100% domestic allocation (i.e. extreme home bias). These results are robust to the shorting of equity and across foreign exchange hedge strategies. The paper also reports out-of-sample tests with a view toward investment performance. Typically, a 100% domestic allocation outperforms both the Bayes-Stein and Markowitz tangency portfolios. Overall, the theorized gains to international diversification appear difficult to capture in practice and, hence, investors exhibiting a strong home bias are not necessarily acting irrationally

Tick Sizes, Stock Prices, and Share Turnover: International Evidence

We examine tick sizes, stock prices, and share turnover in eighteen stock markets in developed countries and find that differences in mandatory tick sizes explain a significant proportion of the variation in stock prices among markets, and that lower percentage tick sizes are not associated with higher turnover. We consider the implications of these findings for the recent decimalization of stock trading in the United States, and conclude that decimal trading is likely to result in lower stock prices (due to stock splits) with no substantial change in dollar trading volume