Exchange rate exposure, foreign currency derivatives and the introduction of the euro : French evidence

We investigate the impact of the introduction of the Euro on exchange rate exposures for French corporations and examine the corporate use of foreign currency derivatives to hedge exchange rate exposure post-Euro. Our findings indicate that the introduction of the Euro is associated with both a reduction in the number of firms that have significant exchange rate exposure and the absolute size of exposure. Consistent with these reduced exposures, French firms use foreign currency derivatives less intensively. Furthermore, the use of foreign currency derivatives is found to be associated with lower exchange rate exposure but there is insufficient evidence that these instruments are more effective in the post-Euro environment

Pursuing the planet-debris disk connection: Analysis of upper limits from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search

Solid material in protoplanetary discs will suffer one of two fates after the epoch of planet formation; either being bound up into planetary bodies, or remaining in smaller planetesimals to be ground into dust. These end states are identified through detection of sub-stellar companions by periodic radial velocity (or transit) variations of the star, and excess emission at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths, respectively. Since the material that goes into producing the observable outcomes of planet formation is the same, we might expect these components to be related both to each other and their host star. Heretofore, our knowledge of planetary systems around other stars has been strongly limited by instrumental sensitivity. In this work, we combine observations at far-infrared wavelengths by IRAS, Spitzer, and Herschel with limits on planetary companions derived from non-detections in the 16-year Anglo-Australian Planet Search to clarify the architectures of these (potential) planetary systems and search for evidence of correlations between their constituent parts. We find no convincing evidence of such correlations, possibly owing to the dynamical history of the disk systems, or the greater distance of the planet-search targets. Our results place robust limits on the presence of Jupiter analogs which, in concert with the debris disk observations, provides insights on the small-body dynamics of these nearby systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in A

Gender and the construction of identity within climate technology innovation in Kenya

This paper undertakes an analysis of the discursive construction of the entrepreneurial identity within media on climate technology(CT) innovation in Kenya. Using the STEPS pathways approach along side a post-structuralist feminist identity framework, it explores the way that the narrative of entrepreneur-led innovation may include or exclude the framings of particular actors. The paper draws on ideas of antagonism in identity construction, legitimacy, and access to resources, in order to identify those actors that may perceive themselves as, or be perceived as, more or less legitimate as CT entrepreneurs, thus being more or less likely to gain access to resources for CT innovation. Although the climate technology entrepreneur aligns in some ways with more normatively feminine notions of the caring social entrepreneur, overall the CT entrepreneur remains a masculine identity. Women are underrepresented in media portrayals of CT entrepreneurship.Further, portrayals of women CT entrepreneurs tend to question their legitimacy, depicting them as either requiring the support of men, or as taking up masculine characteristics in order to gain credibility. The paper demonstrates that this might translate into more favourable attitudes towards men CT entrepreneurs when seeking access to institutional support. It recommends further research into the capacity for CT entrepreneurship to effectively incorporate marginalised framings, and where entrepreneurship will fail to meet their needs, it calls for increased support for appropriate alternative processes of climate technology innovation

Bidder Collusion

Within the heterogeneous independent private values model, we analyze bidder collusion at first and second price single-object auctions, allowing for within-cartel transfers. Our primary focus is on (i) coalitions that contain a strict subset of all bidders and (ii) collusive mechanisms that do not rely on information from the auctioneer, such as the identity of the winner or the amount paid. To analyze collusion, a richer environment is required than that required to analyze non-cooperative behavior. We must account for the possibility of shill bidders as well as mechanism payment rules that may depend on the reports of cartel members or their bids at the auction. We show there are cases in which a coalition at a first price auction can produce no gain for the coalition members beyond what is attainable from non-cooperative play. In contrast, a coalition at a second price auction captures the entire collusive gain. For collusion to be effective at a first price auction we show that the coalition must submit two bids that are different but close to one another, a finding that has important empirical implicationsauctions, collusion, bidding rings, shill

Aggregation Issues in Integrating and Accelerating BEA's Accounts: Improved Methods for Calculating GDP by Industry

Aggregate measures of real GDP growth obtained from the GDP by Industry Accounts often differ from the featured measure of real GDP growth obtained from the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs). We find that differences in source data account for most of the difference in aggregate real output growth rates; very little is due to the treatment of the statistical discrepancy, differences in aggregation methods, or the contributions formula. Moreover, we demonstrate that with consistent data, use of BEA's Fisher-Ideal aggregation procedures to aggregate value added over industries yields the same estimate of real GDP as aggregation over final commodities. Thus, two major approaches to measuring real GDP -- "expenditures" approach used in the NIPAs and the "production" or "industry" approach used in the Industry Accounts -- give the same answer under certain conditions. This result enables us to show that the "exact contributions" formula that the NIPAs use to calculate commodity contributions to change in real GDP can also be used to calculate consistent industry contributions to change in real GDP. We also find that using some newly developed datasets would help to bring the aggregate real output measures into closer alignment.

Should Exact Index Numbers Have Standard Errors? Theory and Application to Asian Growth

In this paper we derive the standard error of a price index when both prices and tastes or technology are treated as stochastic. Changing tastes or technology are a reason for the weights in the price index to be treated as stochastic, which can interact with the stochastic prices themselves. We derive results for the constant elasticity of substitution expenditure function (with Sato-Vartia price index), and also the translog function (with T””rnqvist price index), which proves to be more general and easier to implement. In our application to Asian growth, we construct standard errors on the total factor productivity (TFP) estimates of Hsieh (2002) for Singapore. We find that TFP growth is insignificantly different from zero in any year, but cumulative TFP over fifteen years is indeed positive.

The Impact of Audit Risk, Materiality and Severity of Ethical Decision Making: An Analysis of the Perceptions of Tax Agents in Australia

This paper focuses on the role of the tax agent as a preparer of tax returns and provider of professional tax advice under a system based on self-assessment principles. In particular it recognises the competing pressures under which tax agents attempt to discharge their professional responsibilities, and the implications for potentially unethical behaviour. Empirical research into taxpayer attitudes suggests that the risk of audit, the severity of tax law and the materiality of dollar amounts involved, will all impact on the decision making process. This paper extends these principles from taxpayer to tax agent, by seeking their response to alternative client demands as represented in realistic tax return scenarios. The findings suggest that the severity of tax law violation is an important factor in ethical decision making, but that audit risk and the amounts involved are not. The lack of support for audit risk as an influential variable is an important outcome, because policy makers have traditionally proceeded on the basis that increases in audit probabilities will reduce the likelihood of taxpayers adopting aggressive tax reporting positions. The implications are that alternative enforcement and compliance strategies must be considered by tax administrators.

Ethical Issues Facing Tax Professionals: A Comparative Survey of Tax Agents and Big 5 Tax Practitioners in Australia

The move towards a full self-assessment tax regime in Australia has brought with it a greater representation of, and expanded role for tax practitioners. Given that the resolution of many tax issues present significant ethical dilemmas for tax practitioners in their role as the moral agent of their clients, and the close relationship of ethics and tax compliance, an evaluation of the nature and extent of ethical concerns as identified by tax practitioners themselves has important implications both for the tax profession and tax administration. There have, however, been few empirical studies reported in Australia as to the range of ethical issues encountered in tax practice. Further, there has been a tendency in the literature to treat the tax profession as a homogeneous group, notwithstanding that tax services are provided through a variety of organisational structures ranging from sole-practitioners to large international public accounting firms (Big 5 firms). To investigate whether such a view of the tax profession in Western Australia is accurate or inappropriate, tax professionals were partitioned into the broad body of tax practitioners in general practice (registered tax agents), in one group, and tax practitioners engaged by the Big 5 firms, in a second group. The aim of this research was to investigate whether there were significant differences in the ethical perceptions between tax agents and Big 5 tax practitioners. A mail - questionnaire was used to elicit data as to the frequency and importance of a range of ethical issues in tax practice. For analysis, the list was subsequently reduced to a ÌTop 10Ì inventory. Overall, the practical differences were not dramatic with significant percentages of both groups rating those issues which related primarily to the conduct of professional responsibilities e.g., ensuring reasonable enquiries are undertaken, maintaining an appropriate level of technical competence, continuing to act for a client when it is not appropriate, as of most concern to tax practitioners. One issue on which there was a significant difference between the two groups was the ranking of loophole seeking on the frequency dimension. A tentative explanation for this difference (ranked Ì1Ì and Ì11Ì for Big 5 and tax agent respondents respectively) is offered in terms of client expectations of a "tax exploiter" role for Big 5 practitioners in contrast to a "tax enforcer/compliance" role for their tax agent counterparts.