Availability of Credit and Loan Default: A Look at the Commercial Mortgage Supply Cycle

This study uses a structural equation approach to assess the presence of a credit supply effect in the commercial mortgage market and the lenders' ability to incorporate expectations about this effect into their lending policies. A credit supply effect is defined as the effect of mortgage supply on the level of loan defaults. The empirical analysis shows two important results. First, changes in loan defaults appear to be followed by changes in commercial mortgage supply with a lag of approximately four to five years. Second, lenders tend to behave myopically, failing to incorporate expectations about the credit supply effect into their lending policies. Additionally, a simulation suggests that adequate timing of the mortgage supply cycle is crucial in limiting the incidence of mortgage default.

Strategic use of CSR as a signal for good management

More than thirty years of research exploring the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) could not provide a satisfying resolution to the tension exists between economic and social objectives. In this paper, we have contributed to the existing CSR literature both theoretically and empirically. On the theoretical side, we challenged the assumption that managers consider all stakeholders equally important and we contend that managers prioritize stakeholders instead. We also extend agency theory by suggesting that CSR may actually reduce monitoring costs since it has informative value about the quality of management.

Inter-Center Retail Externalities

This paper empirically examines inter-center externalities in regional shopping centers. Specifically, we use a non-linear retail share model to measure the impact that department store size and image in subject and competitive centers have on subject center in-line retail sales. Our findings reveal that department store size and image attributes have a significant and non-linear impact on subject center sales. More importantly, the results show that the effect of department store fashion image dominates that of department store size

Gainsharing: A Critical Review and a Future Research Agenda

This paper provides a critical review of the extensive literature on gainsharing. It examines the reasons for the fast growth in these programs in recent years and the major prototypes used in the past. Different theoretical formulations making predictions about the behavioral consequences and conditions mediating the success of these programs are discussed and the supporting empirical evidence is examined. The large number of a theoretical case studies and practitioner reports or gainsharing are also summarized and integrated. The article concludes with a suggested research agenda for the future

Do CEOs Ever Lose? Fairness Perspective on the Allocation of Residuals Between CEOs and Shareholders

In this study we introduce a justice perspective to examining the result of bargaining between CEOs and boards over the allocation of firm residuals that ultimately determines CEO compensation. Framing CEO pay as the result of bargaining between CEOs and boards focuses attention on the power of CEOs to increase their share of firm residuals in the form of increased compensation, and the diligence of boards of directors to constrain CEO opportunism. Framing this negotiation through a theory of justice offers an alternative perspective to the search for pay-performance sensitivity. We predict and find that as board diligence in controlling opportunism declines and CEO power increases, CEOs are increasingly able to capture a larger portion of firm residuals relative to shareholders. This finding supports critics who charge that CEO pay violates norms of distributive and procedural justice

Gainsharing and Mutual Monitoring: A Combined Agency-Procedural Justice Interpretation

This study examines the behavioral consequences of gainsharing using a combined theoretical framework that includes elements of agency and procedural justice theory. The hypothesis tested is that gainsharing as a collective form of incentive alignment results in increased mutual monitoring among agents (employees) when the plan is perceived to be procedurally fair. The hypothesis was supported in two separate firms using a quasi-experimental field study. The implications of the study for future extensions of agency theory to examine intraorganizational phenomena are discussed

On the Empirics of Sudden Stops: The Relevance of Balance-Sheet Effects

Using a sample of 32 developed and developing countries we analyze the empirical characteristics of sudden stops in capital flows and the relevance of balance sheet effects in the likelihood of their materialization. We find that large real exchange rate (RER) fluctuations coming hand in hand with Sudden Stops are basically an emerging market (EM) phenomenon. Sudden Stops seem to come in bunches, grouping together countries that are different in many respects. However, countries are similar in that they remain vulnerable to large RER fluctuations – be it because they could be forced to large adjustments in the absorption of tradable goods, and/or because the size of dollar liabilities in the banking system (i.e., domestic liability dollarization, or DLD) is high. Openness, understood as a large supply of tradable goods that reduces leverage over the current account deficit, coupled with DLD, are key determinants of the probability of Sudden Stops. The relationship between Openness and DLD in the determination of the probability of Sudden Stops is highly non-linear, implying that the interaction of high current account leverage and high dollarization may be a dangerous cocktail.

Situación de los derechos humanos en Honduras; caso Berta Cáceres

Màster en Diplomàcia i Funció Pública Internacional, Centre d'Estudis Internacionals, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2016-2017, Tutor: David BondiaEl objetivo de este trabajo final de Máster de Diplomacia y Función Pública Internacional es abordar la situación de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras y ofrecer recomendaciones con el objetivo de asistir al Estado en el fortalecimiento de sus esfuerzos por proteger y garantizar los derechos humanos en el país. La violencia y la inseguridad son los problemas centrales que se ven reflejados y son los riesgos grandes a los que la sociedad hondureña se enfrenta trayendo consecuencias aún más grandes para cumplir efectivamente el goce de los derechos humanos. Esta situación deja ver cómo es de vulnerable el sistema judicial del país de Honduras, en un estado en donde hay una clara falla en la seguridad jurídica

Can institutional forces create competitive advantage? An empirical examination of environmental innovation

We examine institutional pressures as antecedents of environmental innovation. Drawing on institutional theory and a resource-based view of the firm, we argue that regulatory and normative forces influence companies' propensity to innovate in environment-related projects. Furthermore, we suggest that this relationship is contingent on the availability and specificity of the companies' resources. These relationships were tested using environmental patents and citations of 340 publicly-traded companies from polluting industries in the U.S. Results suggest that institutional pressures can be a source of competitive advantage, and regulatory forces are becoming more strongly associated with environmental innovations as the intensity of companies' R&D activities increase.environmental innovation; institutional theory; resource-based view;