College grade point averages in the United States rose substantially between the 1960s and the 2000s. Over the same period, study time declined by almost a half. This paper uses a 12‐quarter panel of ...course evaluations from the University of California, San Diego to discern whether a link between grades and effort investment holds up in a micro setting. Results indicate that average study time would be about 50% lower in a class in which the average expected grade was an “A” than in the same course taught by the same instructor in which students expected a “C.” Simultaneity suggests estimates are biased toward 0. Findings do not appear to be driven primarily by the individual student's expected grade, but by the average expected grade of others in the class. Class‐specific characteristics that generate low expected grades appear to produce higher effort choices—evidence that nominal changes in grades may lead to real changes in effort investment. (JEL I21, J22, J24)
This paper analyzes productivity growth, technical progress, and efficiency change in a sample of 34 Spanish university libraries between 2003 and 2007. Data envelopment analysis and a Malmquist ...index are combined with a bootstrap method to provide statistical inference estimators of individual productivity, technical progress, pure efficiency, and scale efficiency scores. To calculate productivity, a three-stage service model has been developed, examining productivity changes in the relationships between the libraries' basic inputs, intermediate outputs, and final outputs. The results indicate a growth in the productivity of the libraries (relationship between basic inputs and intermediate outputs) and in the productivity of the service (relationship between basic inputs and final outputs). The growth in productivity in both relationships is due to technical progress. If the variable representing the use of electronic information resources is removed from the final output, the result is a significant reduction in productivity.
► University library productivity is analyzed using a three-stage service model. ► Productivity growth occurs in the first and second stage of production model. ► Productivity increase is due to technical progress. ► Variable representing use of electronic information causes changes in productivity.
Poor performance of government managed irrigation systems persists globally despite numerous policies over the last four decades to address the problem. I argue that policy efforts to improve ...irrigation performance in developing countries fail in part because they are often formulated in isolation from the existing agrarian reality. This article uses the example of Indonesia to show the link between irrigation outcomes and the wider agrarian context and highlights how the interface between farmers and irrigation bureaucracies is shaped by the existing agrarian structure.
A two-stage procedure is used to estimate the technical efficiency of Argentina's airports from 2003 to 2007, a period of intense economic crisis, during which the traffic fell by 50%. In the first ...stage, the airports' relative technical efficiency is estimated using data envelopment analysis to establish which airports perform most efficiently. In the second stage, the Simar and Wilson procedure is used to bootstrap the data envelopment analysis scores with a truncated regression.
Farmland provides agricultural products and natural amenities, as well as residential sites. The emergence of exurbanization appears to be changing the demand for natural amenities and their role in ...determining land values. To better understand how appraised value and sale price capture the determinants of farmland value in a region facing exurbanization, this study applies the hedonic method to land transaction data in southwestern Michigan during 2003-2007. Results suggest that appraised values are a poor substitute for sale prices if the research goal is to understand dynamically evolving determinants of land value in exurbanizing regions, especially the value of natural amenities.
In this paper, we test for, and find evidence of, referee bias in favor of home teams in European football using minute‐by‐minute analysis to control for within‐game events. The context for the ...analysis is Spain's Primera Liga and the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League. We find that the award of sanctions by Spanish referees in the Champions League are not significantly different to those of the referees from other countries and as such are subject to the same sources of bias. In Primera Liga matches where the crowd is separated from the pitch by running tracks, we find that the probability of the award of a yellow card to the home team is higher and that of the away team is lower compared to matches played at stadia without running tracks. Similar results are found in the Champions League, where efforts are made to hire “neutral” referees. Referee behavior is also influenced by the size of the crowd in attendance. (JEL D8, J2)
Policy reforms in the Columbia Basin spurred water rights reallocation for ecological recovery. Transaction costs have caused implementation to lag. This paper examines transaction costs and ...institutional performance in environmental water allocation. It evaluates spatial and temporal performance trends in watershed cases along three dimensions of adaptive efficiency: water recovery, transaction costs, and program budgets. Performance trends demonstrate intrastate variability and volatility over time due to the importance of local institutional capacity, which is uneven within states. Higher levels of water recovery may coincide with moderate to high transaction costs and program budgets, particularly during initial implementation efforts. This finding reflects investments in multilevel policy reform to strengthen enabling conditions and adapt to unintended consequences.
Determinants of capital structure Ahmed Sheikh, Nadeem; Wang, Zongjun
Managerial finance,
01/2011, Letnik:
37, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Purpose
The aim of this empirical study is to explore the factors that affect the capital structure of manufacturing firms and to investigate whether the capital structure models derived from Western ...settings provide convincing explanations for capital structure decisions of the Pakistani firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Different conditional theories of capital structure are reviewed (the trade‐off theory, pecking order theory, agency theory, and theory of free cash flow) in order to formulate testable propositions concerning the determinants of capital structure of the manufacturing firms. The investigation is performed using panel data procedures for a sample of 160 firms listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange during 2003‐2007.
Findings
The results suggest that profitability, liquidity, earnings volatility, and tangibility (asset structure) are related negatively to the debt ratio, whereas firm size is positively linked to the debt ratio. Non‐debt tax shields and growth opportunities do not appear to be significantly related to the debt ratio. The findings of this study are consistent with the predictions of the trade‐off theory, pecking order theory, and agency theory which shows that capital structure models derived from Western settings does provide some help in understanding the financing behavior of firms in Pakistan.
Practical implications
This study has laid some groundwork to explore the determinants of capital structure of Pakistani firms upon which a more detailed evaluation could be based. Furthermore, empirical findings should help corporate managers to make optimal capital structure decisions.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that explores the determinants of capital structure of manufacturing firms in Pakistan by employing the most recent data. Moreover, this study somehow goes to confirm that same factors affect the capital structure decisions of firms in developing countries as identified for firms in developed economies.
PDF
