Income Growth and Earnings Variations in New Zealand, 1998—2004

This work provides an update of changes in the income distribution over the period from 1998-2004, using data from the Household Labour Force Survey's annual Income Supplement (HLFS-IS). We focus on changes in working-age individuals' earnings and total income distribution and, to allow for resource sharing within households, their equivalised household total income distribution over the period. Our analysis shows that there have been broad gains in income to both individuals and households, suggesting the spoils of growth have been shared widely across the income distribution. Mean and median earnings increased 15 percent and 23 percent respectively, while mean and median individual income both increased 12-13 percent and equivalised household income by 11 percent. Inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, was more stable: individual earnings inequality fell 4 percent; individual income inequality was unchanged, while equivalised household income inequality increased 2-3 percent. The main contributors to the observed changes appear to be employment and real wage growth. We estimate that roughly one-half of the growth in average individual incomes is due to employment growth, and one-quarter each to demographic changes and wage growth. We also find that the relative employment and wage contributions have varied across the distribution: income gains at the lower end of the income distributions have been largely driven by employment, while changes at the higher end have been driven by wage gains.Income; earnings; employment; wages; inequality

Replication Study: Undergraduate Students Balancing Paid Semester Work and Study

The current study of student semester­time paid work uses the questionnaire from the earlier by Manthei & Gilmore. They gathered data from an Education Faculty, 83 undergraduates using a questionnaire asking about degree study and part­time paid work while studying. They note in their article that there is no similar data in New Zealand (2005, p. 202). While a number of Australian studies can be found in the literature, the aim of the present study is in replicating Manthei and Gilmore’s work to provide additional New Zealand data and also to see whether findings are consistent with the polytechnic sector. Further, two developments, first, the move to cap university places, and second, tighten quality assurance focus on student achievement and retention, will have consequences for all institutions in the tertiary system. Measuring students’ part­time paid work is an important aspect in assessing consequences for students’ academic work, and policy settings that might follow. Whether the results differ or are similar, this research process widens out the evidential base of the earlier study. Manthei & Gilmore were at pains in the conclusion of their article to caution about over­generalisation from their one study

An attempt to re-balance the balanced scorecard towards a sustainable performance measurement system / Noel Yahanpath and Syrus Islam.

Despite the use of new performance measurement systems (PMSs), such as Balanced Scorecard (BSC), organisations worldwide have collapsed, leaving few clues before their collapse. So, two questions arise: ‘Why does it happen?’ and ‘How can it be addressed and resolved?’ The motivation of this research paper is to address these two questions. The study is a ‘multi-case study’ comprise of four cases for which the ‘documentary review procedure’ has been used to analyse data. For the development of theproposed model, this study used ‘analytic generalisation’ where BSC is used as our initial template. This study found that strong business performance can quickly be negated if the associated risk factors in achieving KPIs are not taken into account explicitly. It is also found that ignoring or paying insufficient attention to all relevant stakeholders in designing PMS makes an organisation more vulnerable to collapse. The basic limitation of case study research is applicable to this study. Further research can be carried out to test empirically the validation of our proposed model in different geographical settings. The study uncovers the underlying weakness of existing PMSs which fall short of meeting the challenges of the 21st century. Based on the balanced scorecard, our proposed Performance-Risk Linkage Model (PRLM) will have the potential to demonstrate a revamped conduit in strategic performance measurement systems, which will enable practitioners to get a competitive edge in managing the performance of complex organisations. This is one of the very few studies that examine the scope of the integration of key risk factors and all relevant stakeholders with performance measurement systems and, to our knowledge, the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific Region

Capital Structure Determinants During the Sovereign Debt Crisis Period

This study investigates the speed of adjustment of capital structure of small and medium capitalised firms in Europe before and during the sovereign debt crisis period. The sample includes 306 firms from 10 European countries comprising 2,142 firm-year observations for the period 2006 to 2013. After controlling the influence of firm-level, industry-level, and macroeconomic factors on debt levels, we report that small and medium capitalised firms have adjusted their capital structure during the sovereign debt crisis period and the speed of adjustment was quicker in non-stressed countries compared to the firms in the stressed countries. Our findings also show that the quality of countries’ institutional factors has significantly influenced the speed of adjustment of leverage of small and medium capitalised firms during the crisis period. Our findings suggest that the firm-level determinants of leverage for small and medium capitalised firms in Europe are; size and asset tangibility. Furthermore, the industry-level determinant is industry median leverage and macroeconomic-level determinants are GDP growth rate and inflation rate. The policy implications of the findings indicate that improving the country’s institutional environment (such as governance, rule of law, and corruption) will ease small and medium capitalised firms’ financial difficulties, which in turn facilitate their economic performance and resilience

Replication Study: Undergraduate Students Balancing Paid Semester Work and Study

The current study of student semester­time paid work uses the questionnaire from the earlier by Manthei & Gilmore. They gathered data from an Education Faculty, 83 undergraduates using a questionnaire asking about degree study and part­time paid work while studying. They note in their article that there is no similar data in New Zealand (2005, p. 202). While a number of Australian studies can be found in the literature, the aim of the present study is in replicating Manthei and Gilmore’s work to provide additional New Zealand data and also to see whether findings are consistent with the polytechnic sector. Further, two developments, first, the move to cap university places, and second, tighten quality assurance focus on student achievement and retention, will have consequences for all institutions in the tertiary system. Measuring students’ part­time paid work is an important aspect in assessing consequences for students’ academic work, and policy settings that might follow. Whether the results differ or are similar, this research process widens out the evidential base of the earlier study. Manthei & Gilmore were at pains in the conclusion of their article to caution about over­generalisation from their one study

Strength of Bond Covenants and Bond Assessment Framework

We examine bond covenants of 29 New Zealand bond issues between 2001 and 2007.Results from the study indicate that protection provided for bondholders is weak and limited.On average, only 2-3 types of covenants are embedded with the issues and only 27% of thesecovenants provide full protection to the bondholders. However, bondholders are not compensated for taking the additional risk. We propose an alternative assessment framework that directly assesses the level of protection offered to bondholders. We calculate thecovenant quality score for the issues and classify them into four levels of protection: very high protection, moderate, low and very low. Recent legislative changes will go some way towards improving investor protection and confidence, but the effect is yet to be seen. This proposed scoring framework can be used by potential investors to complement the traditional credit ratings when making their investment decisions

A brief review of the role of shareholder wealth maximisation and other factors contributing to the global financial crisis

Purpose – In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC) governments lost confidence in market fundamentalism and realised the inadequacies of regulatory measures. The purpose of this paper is to outline the proximate causes of the financial crisis of 2007-2009 and to investigate the role of the shareholder wealth maximization (SWM) objective in the GFC. Design/methodology/approach – The methodological procedure used in this paper is based on the historical case-study approach. Case reviews of individuals and world-level role models of the financial crisis have been cited in this paper. From this aggregated material, the paper examines the side effects of the SWM objective in order to develop the argument that the SWM objective played a role in the present crisis. Findings – The case studies revealed that unethical behaviour, agency issues, CEO compensation, creative accounting and risk shifting are some of the side effects of SWM. These cases indicate that the assumptions on which SWM are based are questionable. Further, it can be argued that the root cause of the GFC is excessive greed and the single-minded pursuit of SWM. Originality/value – Though many studies have attempted to identify the proximate causes of the GFC, this paper is novel in highlighting the impact of the SWM objective function.Globalization, Recession, Shareholder analysis, Strategic objectives, Wealth