Wirtschafts- und Wirtschaftsjournal

This empirical study explores state-based, socio-economic dimensions of political polarization. The study
theorizes that, given their surroundings, residents of energy-producing states may be more sympathetic to
the energy industry – and/or have different perceptions on the durability or quality of their immediate natural
ecological environment or the cost/benefit of fossil fuel dependency – than residents in more densely populated states. The study provides new insights into the personal incentives and cognitive biases underlying political environmentalism, and shows emerging evidence of the mitigating effects of broad-based national initiatives to promote renewable energy.

The paper aimed at estimating a narrow money demand function of Nigeria from 1970 to 2010. The autoregressive distributed lag bounds test approach to cointegration was utilized more appropriately for estimation in small sample studies. To determine the characteristics of the time series used in the study, augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) and Philips–Perron (pp) unit root tests were adopted. The empirical results found cointegration relations among narrow money demand, real income, short term interest rate (STIR), real expected exchange rate (REER), expected inflation rate (EIR), and foreign real interest rate (FRIR) in the period under investigation Real income and interest rate are significant variables explaining the demand for narrow money in Nigeria, although real income is a more significant factor in both the short and long term. Evidences show that Nigeria was not immune from external shocks originating from capital flight due to changes in REER and FRIR.  

This case study offers an insider’s account of financial industry developments from 1999 to 2007 as emerging evidence of the global contagion of a mind-set and the effects of “reverse legitimacy”, or undue influence of powerful financial firms embracing this mind-set, upon societal institutions. The study seeks to explain why, despite clear indications that housing prices had inflated over the first decade of the millennium, that the expansion of credit had exploded, and that financial models on Wall Street – which are by definition, mathematical simplifications of real-world complexities that assume “normal” market conditions and thus do not factor for speculative bubbles or unexpected shocks to the system – financial and regulatory institutions remained confident that everything was basically under control. Loan data are provided as emerging evidence of conformity in industry behavior. Selected excerpts from letters to shareholders in the 2007 annual reports of six major banks are presented as partial evidence of cognitive impairment in organizational thinking in the years leading up to the banks’ financial collapse in 2008.
 

The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the relationship between the reduction in capital gains tax rates as a result of the 1997 U.S. Taxpayer Relief Act and the magnitude of IPO underpricing. Previous studies show that the tax law changes in 1986, 1993 and 1997 affected IPO underpricing significantly. In contrast to the study by Robinson and Robinson [1], this study uses a larger sample of 1,898 IPOs from the Securities Data Company (SDC) U.S. New Issues Database for the period from 1995 to 1999. Ordinary least squares regression analysis is applied to examine the effect of reducing the capital gains tax rate on the degree of IPO underpricing by controlling widely examined variables such as share overhang, partial price adjustment, ownership retention, venture capitalist certification, and industry effect. The results confirm that the reduction in capital gains tax rates increases the IPO underpricing significantly. Moreover, the relationship is robust in IPOs that are venture capitalist backed, non-venture capitalist backed, high technology, non-high technology, and Nasdaq-listed.
 

Global competition and rapid changes in industry structure are encouraging organizations to address needs for flexibility and real-time value creation and delivery. However, there is no standard means of identifying which strategy best meets the goals for an organization to create and deliver superior value in real-time. The purpose of this research is to investigate the generation of superior customer value within a business-to-business (B2B) virtual network organization (VNO) of Land and Property Information (LPI) division in the state of New South Wales (NSW) through the application of an Intelligent-Agent System (IAS) representing customer focus, customer orientation and market orientation. Implementation of intelligent-agents can facilitate workflows within the virtual network organization while consuming minimal resources. This conceptual model seeks to establish a superior customer-oriented network organization with the capability of designing and delivering superior customer value.
 

This paper looks at the impact of trade barriers and trade openness on economic growth in the presence
of export credits. A panel data analysis of 90 non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) countries, which are recipients of export credit is conducted and the impact of trade restrictions and
trade openness on economic growth over three decades is investigated. The results show no evidence of any
change in the impact of trade restriction on economic growth but a positive and significant impact of trade
openness on economic growth in the presence of export credits.
 

Most nonprofit drug treatment providers (DTPs) in the US rely on discretionary government funding (DGF) allocations in order to provide drug treatment services to uninsured clients. However, little is known about the factors associated with DGF funding of DTPs. Of particular interest is whether the use of evidence-based treatment practices (EBP) helps explain whether a DTP has DGF or not. EBP are treatment protocols that randomized, controlled research has indicated are more effective in reducing substance abuse disorders than standard treatment protocols. Although EBP are more effective than standard substance abuse treatment practices, many DTPs do not use EBP. This paper begins to fill this gap in research by examining whether DTPs that have DGF use EBP more often than DTPs without DGF. Using linear and hierarchical linear models, we analyze cross-sectional data on 6,062 private non-profit DTPs in 362 metropolitan areas participating in the 2009 National Survey on Substance Abuse Treatment Services (NSSATS). The results indicate that EBP use is positively and significantly associated with DGF in standard regression models, but the association is weakened and no significant when hierarchical linear models (HLM) are used. These results suggest that EBP are less solidly associated with DGF than may be optimal for the reinforcement of EBP adoption. Furthermore, the results suggest that other considerations compete with EBP in DGF allocations, weakening an already-fragile supply of EBP.