Investment Spending in the Netherlands: Asymmetric Information or Managerial Discretion?

This paper examines the relation between cash-flow availability and investment spending in the Netherlands. In particular, we are interested whether managerial discretion and/or asymmetric information underpin the positive relation between cash-flow and investment spending. This relation is significantly positive for both firms with low and high investment opportunities. It is however significantly larger for firms with low investment opportunities suggesting that the managerial-discretion problem is most important in the Dutch setting. Effective corporate-governance may reduce this agency problem. Specific to the Netherlands, firms with low shareholder influence posit a higher cash-flow-investment sensitivity. The relevance of asymmetric information is confirmed as smaller firms and firms from information-sensitive industries show a larger cash-flow-investment sensitivity.

Investment spending in the Netherlands: Assymmetric information or managerial discretion?.

Information; Investment;

PEARL - THE NEW REGIONAL FORECASTING MODEL OF THE NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands has a rather long history of developing models in the field of regional forecasts. Among othter things, these forecasts are used as an instrument for planning of house-building. In 2004 Statistics Netherlands and the Spatial Planning Bureau started with the development of a new model, called PEARL (which stands for 'Population Extrapolations At Regional Level'). It is an integrated model for the forecast of the population (by ethnic group) and households. PEARL will be used to regionalize the official forecasts of population (by ethnic group) and households at the national level, which are compiled by Statistics Netherlands. The lowest level of the regional forecasts will be the municipal level, which permits the aggregation to larger NUTS regions, such as 'COROP' and 'province'. The forecast-horizon of the regional forecasts will be 15 to 20 years, although computations for a longer period are possible. An important objective of PEARL is to be considered as the official regional forecast, from 2007 onwards. Assumptions on demographic (growth) components (fertility, mortality, internal and external migration) and transition rates (with respect to the life course) will be formulated at the municipal level. These assumptions are used as input for PEARL. In this way transparency of the outcomes of the model is promoted. In order to achieve consistency between population and households, PEARL consists of both a macro- and a micro-layer. At the macro-layer (the municipal level) the assumptions are applied, while in the micro-layer (individual level) the resulting events are administrated. In this way the micro-layer consists of approximately 16 million persons and approximately 7 million households. In switching between the macro- and the micro-layer PEARL distinguishes itself from more conventional models. The primary goal is to use PEARL as a (robust) instrument for forecasting. However, it may also be used as a tool for compiling scenarios. This can be done at the macro level (by formulating alternative assumptions at the municipal level), but also at the micro level (by using alternative figures on risks). In the last application PEARL is used as a micro-simulation model. The software program PEARL is written in Delphi-5. The intention is to publish first outcomes (with a limited scope) in the second half of 2005

An Empirical Analysis of Legal Insider Trading in the Netherlands

In this paper, we employ a registry of legal insider trading for Dutch listed firms to investigate the information content of trades by corporate insiders. Using a standard event-study methodology, we examine short-term stock price behavior around trades. We find that purchases are followed by economically large abnormal returns. This result is strongest for purchases by top executives and for small market capitalization firms, which is consistent with the hypothesis that legal insider trading is an important channel through which information flows to the market. We analyze also the impact of the implementation of the Market Abuse Directive (European Union Directive 2003/6/EC), which strengthens the existing regulation in the Netherlands. We show that the new regulation reduced the information content of sales by top executives.insider trading, financial market regulation

The effects of screen captures in manuals: A textual and two visual manuals compared.

The study examines the use of screen captures in manuals. Three designs of manuals were compared, one textual and two visual manuals. The two visual manuals differed in the type of screen capture that was used. One had screen captures that showed only the relevant part of the screen, whereas the other consisted of captures of the full screen. All manuals contained exactly the same textual information. We examined the time used on carrying out procedures (manual used as a job aid) and the results on retention tests (manual used for learning). We expected to find a trade-off between gain in time and learning effects. That is, we expected that higher scores on the retention tests involved an increase in time used and, vice versa, that gains in time would lead to lower retention test scores. We also explored the influence of manual design on user motivation. For job-aid purposes, there were no differences between manuals. For learning, the full-screen captures manual and the textual manual were significantly better than the partial-screen captures manual. There was no proof for the expected trade-off. More learning was not caused by an increase in time used. We found no effects on user motivation. This study does not yield convincing evidence to support the presence of screen captures in manuals. However, if one wants to include screen captures, this study gives clarity for the type of screen capture to choose. The use of full-screen captures is preferable to partial ones. Finally, we conclude that documentation designed to expedite the execution of tasks does not necessarily hamper the learning that may resul

"Do screen captures in manuals make a difference?": a comparison between textual and visual manuals

Examines the use of screen captures in manuals. Three types of manuals were compared: one textual and two visual. The two visual manuals differed in the type of screen capture that was used. One had screen captures that showed only the relevant part of the screen, whereas the other consisted of captures of the full screen. All manuals contained exactly the same textual information. We examined immediate use on time (use as a job aid) and on learning (use as a teacher). For job-aid purposes, there was no difference between the manuals. The visual manual with full-screen captures and the textual manual were both better for learning than the visual manual with partial screen captures. We found no effect on user motivation. The tentative conclusion of this study is that screen captures seem not to be vital for learning or immediate use. If one opts for including screen captures, then the conclusion is that full-screen captures are better than partial one

Optimisation Of Expansion Valve Control In Refrigeration Appliances Under Cyclic Operation

The result of an analytical and experimental study in developing a control strategy for expansion devices in small commercial refrigeration systems has been presented. The objective of the study was to improve system efficiency by optimization of the control of the expansion device. For this product type, typically capillary tubes are applied as the expansion device and compressor cycling is used to control product temperature. It is shown that for products with short operating periods (i.e. more than 4 cycles per hour), large energy saving potential exists by improvement of the evaporator filling during the first minutes after compressor activation and avoiding refrigerant migration during the compressor off cycle. A validated control strategy, based on the use of an electronic expansion device with closing valve functionality, is presented and the impact on cooling system design is discussed. Experimental validations using a dedicated test set-up, showed a reduction in cooling system energy consumption of 12 and 20% for respectively, a R-744 and a R-404A based cooling system of a vending machine in comparison to the benchmark capillary based system. Analyses showed that approximately 50-70% of this gain can be contributed to improving the cyclic average evaporator filling and that the remaining gain is resulting from avoiding refrigerant migration using closing valve functionality

Reducing Display Bottle Cooler Energy Consumption Using PCM As Active Thermal Storage

The final results of an analytical and experimental study in reducing the energy consumption of a display bottle cooler using Phase Change Material (PCM) as an active thermal storage are presented. The objective of the study was to design and built a 350 dm3 glass door bottle cooler having an appliance energy consumption reduction of over 75% compared to state of the art bottle coolers (2010 figures). Calculation results show that active thermal storage using PCM can be effectively applied to store and release cold on demand in small cooling appliances subjected to high peak loading. It is shown that by using the thermal storage much smaller cooling systems can be applied, resulting in system operation at reduced temperature lift. A validated control solution, including a sensor which detects the state of the PCM, is presented. It is shown that for a bottle cooler, optimum performance results for a dual forced air evaporator system, with one evaporator embedded in the PCM and the other in direct contact with the air stream. To obtain minimum product cooling times a different refrigerant flow path through the evaporators is required between the main modes of operation (i.e. peak loading or recovery). The optimum position of the PCM embedded evaporator is upstream of the main evaporator with respect to the airflow. A design of a display bottle cooler applying standard heat load reduction measures in combination with PCM as active thermal storage is presented. The design is based on using a 5.19 cm3 R-600a compressor in combination with forced air heat exchangers. The integration of the PCM in the appliance cooling system and the control aspects resulting are discussed in detail. Experimental test results of a demonstrator cabinet at an ambient of 25 °C and 60 %RH show that a 350 dm3 glass door bottle cooler having a total appliance energy consumption (including half reload recovery) of \u3c 1 kWh/24 h can be built while achieving a half reload recovery within 16 h at an ambient of 32 °C and 65 %RH