Regulatory Changes and Productivity of the Banking Sector in the Indian Sub-Continent

This study seeks to measure changes in technical efficiency levels within the banking sectors of the Indian sub-continent: specifically India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, over the period 1993–2002. This study is done in the context of a number of sweeping deregulations across the sub-continent in the early 1990s, and the possible effect these may have had upon efficiency levels. A Malmquist Index of TFP change over the time-period in question is employed, along with a Tobit regression, in order to determine whether these significant measures of deregulation and financial modernisation have had the desired effect upon the Indian sub-continent in terms of technical efficiency levels. It is found that technical efficiency both increases and converges across the Indian sub-continent in response to deregulation. India and Bangladesh experienced immediate and sustained growth in technical efficiency, whereas Pakistan endured a reduction in efficiency during the middle years of the study, before rebounding to levels comparable to the rest of the sub-continent in the latter years of the study. These results indicate that the measures employed to modernise the financial sectors of these respective countries have had the desired effects upon levels of technical efficiency.

Impact of Regulatory Reforms on Labour Efficiency in the Indian and Pakistani Commercial Banks

Efficiency plays an important role in the operation of firms. If firms are pursing a policy of shareholder wealth maximisation, this implies that maximum efficiency is extracted from a firm’s resources during the production process, or that the minimum quantity of inputs are used to achieve a desired level of output. This is especially true in the case of labour demand and labour usage, as wage expenditure constitutes a significant portion of the average firm’s cost structure. Knowledge of relative inefficiencies in labour usage will therefore be of great interest to firm and, as such, academic studies on efficiency of labour demand in firms have been relatively forthcoming. These include work on the Indian farming industry [Kumbhakar (1996), Swedish social insurance offices [Kumbhakar and Hjalmarsson (1991)], Tunisian Manufacturing [Haouras, et al. (2003) and Kalimantanian rice production [Padoch (1985)]............

“I will survive”: online streaming and the chart survival of music tracks

Digital streaming has had a profound effect on the commercial music sector and now accounts for 80% of industry revenues in the United States. This study investigates the consumption of music on digital streaming platforms by analyzing the factors affecting the chart survival of individual music tracks. Our data are taken from the Spotify Global Top 200 between January 2017 and January 2020, containing observations on 3,007 unique tracks by 642 artists over 1,087 days. We identify a number of unique consumption traits applicable to online streaming services, which we use to explain variations in chart longevity. We find a positive association between the amount of time a track spends in the chart and the involvement of a major label. We also find that the level of competition from other chart entries, as well as some elements related to the pattern of diffusion, associates significantly with the likelihood of chart survival. The study highlights several important managerial implications for key industry stakeholders

For love or money? The effect of deadline proximity on completion contributions in online crowdfunding

Purpose: The authors investigate whether the individual “completion contributions” that enable online crowdfunding campaigns to meet or exceed their targets tend to be larger in relative terms when made nearer to the funding deadline. As these contributions are likely to have a disproportionate impact upon campaign outcomes, the authors assess whether the investment patterns they observe are consistent with the theory of impact philanthropy. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use campaign-level data incorporating observations on campaigns from reward (both all-or-nothing, AoN and keep-it-all, KiA), donation and equity-based platforms. To the knowledge of the authors, the coverage of the data is unparalleled elsewhere in the crowdfunding literature. Using these data, the authors analyze whether completion contributions tend to vary contingent upon both the proximity of the deadline and form of crowdfunding. Findings: The authors find that completion contributions tend to vary significantly and positively with proximity to funding deadlines. The authors also find that this relationship tends to be more pronounced among AoN than for KiA campaigns, as well as for donation-based platforms compared with equity-based platforms. Altogether, the patterns of behavior observed are consistent with the theory of impact philanthropy. Originality/value: The authors help develop a better understanding of the behaviors of contributors to online crowdfunding campaigns and whether those behaviors are consistent with altruistic motivations. The findings also have considerable value in understanding the non-financial factors associated with the informal financing of business startups

DO FARM BUSINESSES AND BIG BUSINESSES APPLY DIFFERENT CAPITAL BUDGETING PROCEDURES?

Recent studies of capital budgeting procedures used by business executives suggest increasing use of present value methods. This study compares Massachusetts greenhouse business managers use of capital budgeting procedures to those of Fortune 1000 firms. Results indicate that different capital budgeting procedures are used and that the payback criterion remains the most popular for the farm firms studied. Some implications for Extension finance educators are drawn.Agribusiness,