The relevance of a beta-book for Irish equities

This paper investigates the role of Beta coefficients in determining rates of return on equities traded in the Irish stock market. It concludes that a `Beta Book? would be inappropriate in this case due to institutional factors and related market inefficiencies. It suggests, however, that further research is needed to explore the relationship between rate of return and unique risk

Testing for Wage Overpayment in UK Financial Services: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

The past ten years have witnessed a sharp rise in competition in UK financial services. This has been due to factors such as liberalisation, increases in technology and advancing globalisation. As a result of these pressures there has been an increasing emphasis placed on cost management and overall efficiency in the financial services firm. This article examines the impact of these developments on the degree of wage overpayment in the UK financial services sector between 1991 and 1999. By utilising stochastic frontier methodology, we surprisingly find that overpayment levels are large at around 30 per cent and that there is no evidence of a decline in overpayment levels over the testable period

Thomson orogen

[Extract] The Thomson Orogen was originally named 'Thomson Fold Belt' by Kirkegaard (1974) on the basis of early Paleozoic rocks found in the subsurface under the Eromanga Basin in central and southern Queensland (Figure 3.1), Kirkegaard's reasoning is clear:\ud \ud Because the geological data available for this area are meagre, and because the structural trend appears to be northeast, this belt of early Paleozoic rocks is referred to as the Thomson Fold Belt. The name is taken from the Thomson River that flows within the Mesozoic cover parallel to the indicated structural trend of the belt. It is considered that the introduction of this term, rather than extending the use of the Lachlan Fold Belt, allows a more objective study to be made of the northern part of the [Tasman] Geosyncline (Kirkegaard 1974, p. 48)