EARNINGS MANAGEMENT AS AN EXPLANATION OF THE EQUITY ISSUE PUZZLE

The poor stock price performance of firms that raise capital through seasoned equity offerings is one of the recent puzzles in financial literature. In this study we investigate whether pre-issue earnings management can explain these results for rights issues in Spain. Consistent with this explanation, we notice that firms¿ issuing rights make use of discretionary accruals to report higher earnings prior to the offering. Most interestingly, the decrease in discretionary accruals the years following the offering explains the underperformance in stock returns.Corporate Finance, Seasoned Equity Offerings, Earnings Management, Accounting Accruals

On the inconsistency of the Malmquist-Luenberger index

Apart from the well-known weaknesses of the standard Malmquist productivity index related to infeasibility and not accounting for slacks, already addressed in the literature, we identify a new and significant drawback of the Malmquist-Luenberger index decomposition that questions its validity as an empirical tool for environmental productivity measurement associated with the production of bad outputs. In particular, we show that the usual interpretation of the technical change component in terms of production frontier shifts can be inconsistent with its numerical value, thereby resulting in an erroneous interpretation of this component that passes on to the index itself. We illustrate this issue with a simple numerical example. Finally, we propose a solution for this inconsistency issue based on incorporating a new postulate for the technology related to the production of bad output

Efficiency of European banking systems: A correction by environment variables

In this paper we extend the efficiency cross-country comparisons to ten European countries in order to know how different or similar current banking performances are. We start with two types of comparisons. First of all, we evaluate the average technical efficiency of each country by means of a DEA model called "basic" model. This model includes only banking variables. Our second model, called "complete", does consider environmental variables together with the banking variables of the basic model. The empirical results recommended us to substitute the original environmental variables with new codified variables. Finally, the non homogeneity of the country-samples, observed after performing an individual DEA analysis for each country, was decisive for considering two new models, based on a modified sample. The comparisons between the last two models show that the country specific environmental conditions exercise a strong influence over the average efficiency score of each country. El objetivo de este trabajo es comparar la eficiencia de diez países europeos. Para ello, el trabajo comienza con dos tipos de modelos. El primero analiza la eficiencia técnica media de cada país por medio de un modelo DEA que denominamos “modelo básico” y que incluye sólo variables bancarias. El segundo, llamado “modelo completo” incluye variables ambientales junto con las variables bancarias del modelo básico. Los resultados obtenidos en este segundo modelo recomendaron sustituir las variables ambientales originales por unas nuevas variables codificadas. Finalmente, la heterogeneidad de las muestras por países, observada después de realizar un análisis individual por país, lleva a considerar dos nuevos modelos, basados ambos en el modelo codificado. Las comparaciones entre estos dos modelos muestran que las condiciones ambientales de cada país ejercen una influencia muy fuerte en la eficiencia media de cada país.Eficiencia, DEA, condiciones ambientales, banca europea Efficiency, DEA, environmental conditions, European banking

The Directional Profit Efficiency Measure: On Why Profit Inefficiency is either Technical or Allocative

The directional distance function has been introduced in the efficiency literature with the intention of relaxing the fixed orientations represented by its classical input and output counterparts. However, the criteria underlying the choice of its associated directional vector are numerous. When market prices are observed and firms have a profit maximizing behavior, it seems natural to choose as directional vector that projecting inefficient firms towards profit maximizing benchmarks. Based on that choice of directional vector, we introduce the profit efficiency measure and show that, in this general setting, profit inefficiency can be categorized as either technical -for firms situating in the interior of the technology- or allocative -for firms lying on the frontier. We implement and illustrate the analytical model by way of Data Envelopment Analysis techniques, where the profit maximizing benchmark may not be unique, and introduce the necessary optimizing program for profit inefficiency measurement.Directional Distance Function; Profit Efficiency; Technical Efficiency; Allocative Efficiency; Data Envelopment Analysis.

IS THE MARKET OVER-OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE PROSPECTS OF FIRMS THAT ISSUE EQUITY? EVIDENCE FOR THE SPANISH MARKET

Previous evidence has documented that equity issuers underperform in the long-run. One possible explanation is that investors have overoptimistic expectations regarding future earnings and the underperformance occurs as these expectations are corrected over time. Our central focus is to test this hypothesis for Spanish rights issuing firms, for that, firstly we examine analysts? predictions about future earnings of these companies. We observe that forecasts are unusually favourable and, moreover, the post-offering underperformance is most pronounced when analyst predictions have higher optimistic bias. Secondly, we study the market response to issuing firms? earnings announcements in the post-offering period observing a significant negative reaction. So the evidence in this paper is consistent with the excessive optimism hypothesis about issuing firms. Evidencia previa ha documentado que las empresas que amplían capital experimentanrentabilidades anormales negativas en el largo plazo. Una posible explicación es que losinversores tienen expectativas excesivamente optimistas sobre los beneficios futuros de estascompañías y la evolución observada se debe a la corrección gradual de este exceso deoptimismo. El principal objeto de este trabajo es contrastar esta hipótesis para las emisionescon derechos en el mercado español. Para ello, en primer lugar se examinan los pronósticos delos analistas sobre los beneficios futuros de las empresas emisoras. Se observa que laspredicciones para estas compañías son inusualmente favorables y, además, la peor evolución alargo plazo es más pronunciada cuando las predicciones son más optimistas. En segundolugar, se estudia la reacción del mercado a los anuncios de beneficios de las compañíasemisoras los años siguientes a la oferta, observando una reacción significativamente negativa.Por tanto, la evidencia aportada en este trabajo es consistente con la hipótesis de expectativasexcesivamente optimistas sobre las empresas que deciden ampliar capital.Finanzas corporativas, ampliaciones de capital, predicciones de beneficios Corporate Finance, Seasoned Equity Offerings, Earnings Forecasting.

Monitorización de tres antiguos vertederos: Variaciones de características químicas relevantes en suelos y aguas después de dos décadas de clausurados

11 páginas y 10 tablasWe have realize a comparative study of soil and water affected by the three landfills sealed in Community of Madrid, representative of the actual scenarios in its territory: location substrates arkosic and limestone, their waste from urban and industrial and closed 20 years ago. Shows the variations of 16 chemical parameters in the surface soil layer in their download areas, such as leachate, groundwater and surface water of their environment (nutrients, heavy metals, salts and conductivity). The results show that behavior of the landfill its characteristics urban and industrial is reflected in the chemical variables analyzed.Agradecimientos: Al Programa EIADES (CAM) y al Proyecto CTM2008-04827/TECNO (MCI)Peer reviewe

Pastizales del Occidente de la Comunidad de Madrid: su importancia como referentes para acciones de recuperación de sistemas degradados

8 páginas, ilustraciones y tablas estadísticas.El trabajo se sitúa en un territorio sobre sustratos arcósicos y gneisíco-graníticos del centro oeste peninsular madrileño, cuyo paisaje presenta una vegetación clímax de las asociaciones terminales de la serie mesomediterránea de Quercus ilex ssp. ballota (Desf.) Samp. En los pastizales, enmarcados en un retamar-encinar, se han estudiado 87 parcelas de 1m2, distribuidas al azar, en un territorio comprendido entre Brunete, Villamanta, Chapinería, Navas del Rey, Navalagamella y Villanueva del Pardillo. En ellas se realizaron inventarios fitoecológicos y se analizaron variables físicoquímicas de la capa superficial del suelo. Los resultados obtenidos muestran un mosaico de pastizales con diferente fisonomía; aunque se hallan constituidos en su mayoría por terófitos, se pueden caracterizar diferentes situaciones en las comunidades herbáceas. El ser esta zona de Madrid un área menos alterada, avala el mantener unos reductos, siempre amenazado por actuaciones urbanísticas, para que puedan ser considerados como sistemas de referencia para estudios de revegetación y remediación de suelos erosionados después del abandono del cultivo, recuperación de vertederos de residuos mixtos y emplazamientos de antiguas minas abandonadas.Peer reviewe

From Scale-free to Erdos-Renyi Networks

We analyze a model that interpolates between scale-free and Erdos-Renyi networks. The model introduced generates a one-parameter family of networks and allows to analyze the role of structural heterogeneity. Analytical calculations are compared with extensive numerical simulations in order to describe the transition between these two important classes of networks. Finally, an application of the proposed model to the study of the percolation transition is presented.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Segovia, 1936-1937. La publicidad en los tiempos de la Guerra Civil

This study tries to analyze several rare advertisements published in the Segovia's local newspaper El Adelantado de Segovia during Spanish Civil War. Apparently, both the place and the historical moment would not be favorable for advertising. All of them were widespread in a nowadays unusual advertising genre which was popular in the 1930's: advertising poems. This paper is structured in three parts: in the first one is a general overview of the topic. In the second, specific sections of the texts are analyzed, and finally all the poems cited are included as an anthology.El presente estudio intenta analizar un caso concreto de unos atípicos textos publicitarios publicados en un lugar y un momento aparentemente poco propicios para la publicidad: en Segovia, durante la guerra civil española y en el periódico local, El Adelantado de Segovia. La forma adoptada para su difusión fue el poema publicitario, un género un tanto inusual, pero que tuvo su vigencia en los años 30. El trabajo se inicia con una exposición general, para concretar a continuación con algunas precisiones concretas extraídas de los propios textos. Finalmente, se incluyen, a modo de breve antología, los poemas completos a los que hacemos referencia en el trabajo