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Higher education accreditation has spread internationally as a vehicle for quality assurance and improvement but is strongly influenced by accreditation practices in the United States. The organisational structure and processes of seven United States health professions accreditors were analysed to identify common characteristics that reflect general fitness for purpose and infrequent features that show potential to enhance the effectiveness of accreditation processes, increase engagement of and support by accredited institutions and programmes and provide greater transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education is often framed as a means to social mobility and increased earnings. However, the value of university education in the United States is coming under scrutiny in regard to its costs. This article examines a university education's return on investment (ROI) from attending different types of universities in the United States. Unlike previous research, this study focuses on the variation of university institutional characteristics and their impact on ROI. This study analysed data from the US Department of Education College Scorecard, focusing on institutional factors, such as public/private, student body characteristics, research intensity, student diversity and selectivity. The results confirm that highly selective universities have a greater ROI, public universities overall have a better ROI, Research 1 universities have the higher ROI and private Research 1 institutions have the highest ROI. Implications for educational administration and university selection criteria are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin America faces a shortage in radiation therapy (RT) units and qualified personnel for timely and high-quality treatment of patients with cancer. Investing in equitable and inclusive access to RT over the next decade would prevent thousands of deaths. Measuring the investment gap and payoff is necessary for stakeholder discussions and capacity planning efforts. Data were collected from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Directory of Radiotherapy Centers, industry stakeholders, and individual surveys sent to national scientific societies. Nationwide data on available devices and personnel were compiled. The 10 most common cancers in 2020 with RT indication and their respective incidence rates were considered for gap calculations. The gross 2-year financial return on investment was calculated based on an average monthly salary across Latin America. A 10-year cost projection was calculated according to the estimated population dynamics for the period until 2030. Eleven countries were included in the study, accounting for 557,213,447 people in 2020 and 561 RT facilities. Approximately 1,065,684 new cancer cases were diagnosed, and a mean density of 768,469 (standard deviation ±392,778) people per available unit was found. By projecting the currently available treatment fractions to determine those required in 2030, it was found that 62.3% and 130.8% increases in external beam RT and brachytherapy units are needed from the baseline, respectively. An overall regional investment of approximately United States (US) $349,650,480 in 2020 would have covered the existing demand. An investment of US $872,889,949 will be necessary by 2030, with the expectation of a 2-year posttreatment gross return on investment of more than US $2.1 billion from patients treated in 2030 only. Investment in RT services is lagging in Latin America in terms of the population's needs. An accelerated outlay could save additional lives during the next decade, create a self-sustaining system, and reduce region-wide inequities in cancer care access. Cash flow analyses are warranted to tailor precise national-level intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The United States (US) sugar program protects domestic sugar farmers from unrestricted imports of heavily-subsidized global sugar. Sugar-using firms (SUFs) criticize that program for causing US sugar prices to be higher than world sugar prices. This study examines the financial performance of publicly traded SUFs to determine if they are performing at an economic disadvantage in terms of accounting profitability, risk and economic profitability compared to other industries. Design/methodology/approach: Firm-level financial accounting and market data from 2010 to 2019 were utilized to construct financial metrics for publicly traded SUFs, agribusinesses and general US firms. These financial metrics were analyzed to determine how SUFs compare to their agribusiness peer group and general US companies. The comprehensive financial analysis in this study covers: (1) accounting profit rates, (2) drivers of profitability, (3) economic profit rates, (4) trend analysis and (5) peer comparisons. Quantile regression analysis and Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney statistics are employed for statistical comparisons. Findings: Regarding various profitability and risk measures, SUFs outperform their agribusiness peers and the general benchmark of all US firms in terms of accounting profit rates, risk levels and economic profit rates. Furthermore, compared to other US industries using the 17 French and Fama classifications, SUFs have the highest return on investment and economic profit rate―measured by the Economic Value Added® margin―and the second-lowest opportunity cost of capital, measured by the weighted average cost of capital. Originality/value: This study finds nothing to suggest that the US sugar program hinders the financial success of SUFs, contrary to recent claims by sugar-using firms. Notably in this analysis is the evaluation of economic profit rates and a series of robustness techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores student perceptions of the financial and nonfinancial return on investment (ROI) of a liberal arts (LA) degree through surveys and interviews. Four prominent returns emerged through qualitative analysis of data: financial security, a credential, personal growth, and the promise of meaningful work. Results demonstrated the influence of anticipatory socialization on conceptions of meaningful work and the ROI of the LA degree. These findings detail a contemporary view of the value of a LA degree in the United States and are important for educators and administrators who seek to transition students from college to career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate how land tenure correlates with measures of profitability among young farmers and ranchers in the United States. The authors hypothesize that young producers who own a larger proportion of their operation face different incentives between short- and long-run returns than young producers who primarily rent their land. The authors analyze whether these differing incentives result in observable differences in various measures of profitability. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use state-level data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) from 2003 to 2018 to estimate fixed-effects panel models correlating land tenure with the value of farm production, expenditures on repairs and maintenance, net farm income, total operator household income from farming, rate of return on assets (ROA) and rate of return on equity (ROE). Findings: The authors find different correlations for crop farms and livestock farms, as well as different correlations for farms with the lowest and highest gross sales. For crop farms, renting land is associated with higher production, higher income, higher ROA and higher ROE. For livestock farms, renting land is associated with lower production. Originality/value: This study rigorously investigates the role of land tenure specifically among young farmers and ranchers in the United States. By better understanding how land ownership affects profitability among beginning farmers and ranchers, policymakers will be able to better target public resources to support the next generation of producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Retrospective, observational -study.Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of the Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS), Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), and North America Spine Society (NASS) grants as quantified by the number of publications generated and federal grants obtained (National Institute of Health [NIH], Department of Defense [DOD]).Summary Of Background Data: The CSR, SRS, and NASS, have awarded numerous research grants over the past three decades.Methods: Through publicly available data we identified grants awarded by the Spine Societies. We collected the type of grant awarded, the Principal Investigator information, dollar amount of the grant, number of publications in PubMed from each grant, number of citations, and the publication journal. The NIH and DOD website were queried to determine which grantees subsequently received either NIH or DoD funding.Results: From 1989 to 2016: 81 (CSRS), 126 (SRS), and 93 (NASS) grants were awarded. From these grants 206 publications acknowledged receiving financial support from the spine societies. The SRS funded 100 papers, NASS 62 papers, and CSRS 44 papers. A total of 32 NIH grants and four DOD grants were subsequently awarded. The conversion rate to NIH grants was 15% (n = 12 CSRS), 7.9% (n = 10 SRS), and 11% (n = 10 NASS). The conversion rate to DOD grants was 3.7% (n = 3 CSRS), 0.8% (n = 1 SRS), and 0% (n = 0 NASS). ROI of spine society grant dollars per future NIH and DoD grants were the lowest for CSRS (Dollars Per NIH Grant: $207,434; Dollars Per DoD Grant: $829,734). Male investigators received 85% of CSRS grants, 75% of SRS grants, and 83% of NASS grants.Conclusion: CSRS grants appear to have the highest ROI of all spine society grants when evaluating subsequent NIH and DOD funding. However, the overall conversion rate to NIH and DOD grants remains low.Level of Evidence: 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health disparities are pervasive and are linked to economic losses in the United States of up to $135 billion per year. The Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions (FCHES) is a Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for health disparities research funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic impact of the 5-year investment in FCHES in Genesee County, Michigan.Methods: The estimated impacts of FCHES were calculated using a U.S.-specific input/output (I/O) model, IMPLAN, from IMPLAN Group, LLC., which provides a software system to access geographic specific data regarding economic sector interactions from a variety of sources. This allowed us to model the cross-sector economic activity that occurred throughout Genesee County, Michigan, as a result of the FCHES investment. The overall economic impacts were estimated as the sum of three impact types: 1. Direct (the specific expenditures impact of FCHES and the Scientific Research and Development Services sector); 2. Indirect (the impact on suppliers to FCHES and the Scientific Research and Development Services sector); and 3. Induced (the additional economic impact of the spending of these suppliers and employees in the county economy).Results: The total FCHES investment amounted to approximately $11 million between 2016 and 2020. Overall, combined direct, indirect, and induced impacts of the total FCHES federal investment in Genesee County included over 161 job-years, over $7.6 million in personal income, and more than $19.2 million in economic output. In addition, this combined economic activity generated close to $2.3 million in state/local and federal tax revenue. The impact multipliers show the ripple effect of the FCHES investment. For example, the overall output of over $19.2 million led to an impact multiplier of 1.75 - every $1 of federal FCHES investment led to an additional $.75 of economic output in Genesee County.Conclusions: The FCHES research funding yields significant direct economic impacts above and beyond the direct NIH investment of $11 million. The economic impact estimation method may be relevant and generalizable to other large research centers such as FCHES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. cities transform public housing. Black municipal leadership (BML) may influence the scale and character of public housing removal and redevelopment. Informed by the "Black urban regime" literature, this study assesses whether presence and duration of BML, coupled with other factors, explains variation in public housing transformation for a sample of large cities. Its findings suggest that, controlling for other factors, BML is associated with moderately greater scales of public housing removal in the 1990s and 2000s, but BML is not associated with the "rate of return" by former public housing residents or new residence by public housing eligible households in Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI) communities as of 2016. The findings invite further research on the intraracial dynamics and policy consequences of BML. They build, too, on public housing transformation scholarship, raising new questions about how municipal politics shape public housing and other sites of subsidized residence for low-income denizens of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pecan scab, caused by Venturia effusa, is the most economically damaging disease of pecan in the southeastern United States, and annual epidemics are most effectively managed through multiple fungicide applications. The fungicide applications can be the single greatest operating cost for commercial growers and the return on that investment is impacted by fungicide resistance. V. effusa produces multiple generations of conidia per season, exhibits substantial genetic diversity, overwinters as stromata in the tree, and is under immense selection from the applied fungicides, all of which lead to a high risk for developing fungicide resistance. Since the mid-1970s, resistance or reduced sensitivity has been observed in isolates of V effusa to the methyl benzimidazole carbamates, demethylation inhibitors, quinone outside inhibitors, organotin compounds, and the guanidines. Over the last 10 years, several studies have been conducted that have improved both scab management and fungicide resistance management in V. effusa. The aim of this review is to summarize recent developments in our understanding of fungicide resistance in V. effusa in the context of scab management in southeastern pecan orchards. The history, modes of action, general use of the labeled fungicides, and mechanisms and stability of fungicide resistance in V. effusa are discussed; conclusions and future research priorities are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Th e United States incarcerates a large proportion of the citizenry. • Re cidivism rates remain high among incarcerated populations. • AD HD/ADHD symptomology is disproportionately high in these populations. • St imulant medications may supplement existing recidivism prevention efforts. • Re search is lacking, however, and more research is needed. Incarceration rates in the U.S. rank among the highest in the developed world. Large representative studies have revealed that approximately one third of individuals report having been arrested, or in some other way contacted by the justice system, at some point in their life. A natural outgrowth of this is the need to consider strategies aimed at preventing further CJ contact. Complicating the situation further is that incarcerated populations also report disproportionately high levels of both psychiatric disturbances in general, and ADHD symptomology in particular. Thus, much debate remains around the topic of preventing recidivism. We discuss the possibility of incorporating pharmacological interventions as adjuvant therapies directed toward preventing re-offending. In particular, we explore whether stimulant medications might provide additional return on investment on top of therapies already known to be effective. Given the virtual absence of evidence on this topic, we also endeavor to provide specific recommendations for designing studies that could yield convincing evidence either for, or against, the inclusion of stimulant medications in the recidivism prevention toolkit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to contribute to the existing critical debates on money and debt by advancing three main arguments. First, largely due to such debates' tendency for description, the article argues that in in the heterodox literature on money and debt there is no convincing critical theory of money creation. For this reason the authors introduce the theory of capital as power and how it can help us theorize the consequences of present money creation. Second, the authors demonstrate how the capitalization of money creation by a minority of investors not only leads to the political chase for unsustainable economic growth, but also how there is a differential distribution of interest upwards that helps generate greater economic inequality in the United States. Third, they argue that in an era of declining growth, dominant owners of capital seek to recapture their expected return on investments by extracting a greater share of the national income from the vast majority of citizens through a fiscal politics of austerity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To perform a cost-utility analysis of 2018 United States real dollars for cataract surgery. Center for Value-Based Medicine, Hilton Head, South Carolina, USA. Cost-utility analysis. A base-case 14-year cost-utility model using the ophthalmic cost perspective was used. Third-party insurer and societal cost perspectives were also analyzed. Patient outcomes and costs were discounted with net present value analysis at 3% a year. First-eye cataract surgery resulted in a 2.523 quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gain, a 33.3% patient value gain, and 25.5% quality-of-life gain. Bilateral surgery yielded a 44.1% patient value gain, while second-eye cataract surgery alone conferred an 8.1% value gain. First-eye cataract surgery resulted in a gain of 2.52 QALYs, while second-eye surgery added an incremental gain of 0.81 QALYs. The ophthalmic-cost-perspective average cost-utility ratio was $2526/2.523 = $1001/QALY for first-eye cataract surgery. The societal-cost-perspective average cost-utility ratio was −$370 018/2.523 = −$146 629/QALY. The second-eye ophthalmic-cost-perspective cost-utility ratio was $2526/0.814 = $3101/QALY, while the ophthalmic-cost-perspective cost-utility ratio for bilateral cataract surgery was $5052/3.338 = $1514/QALY. The 14-year U.S. 2018 real-dollar societal-cost-perspective net return on investment for first-eye cataract surgery was $370 018 above the $2526 cost expended for cataract surgery. Cataract surgery in both the first eye and second eye, when analyzed by standard health economic methodologies, is highly cost-effective. Cataract surgery in 2018 was 73.7% more cost-effective than in 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify financial stress and the causes of financial stress for agricultural cooperatives and provide management recommendations to stakeholders including cooperatives' managers, boards of directors and lenders.Design/methodology/approach This research used the geometric mean of the real rate of return on equity to identify financially stressed agricultural cooperatives. The real rate of return on equity allows the allocation of total financial stress among the return on assets, leverage and interest rate issues.Findings This study found that financially non-stressed agricultural cooperatives had a higher rate of return on equity and rate of return on assets, but lower leverage ratios and interest rates than stressed agricultural cooperatives. Further, non-stressed cooperatives had higher total assets and sales compared to stressed cooperatives. This suggests that smaller cooperatives are more likely to face financial stress than larger cooperatives. The decomposition of the financial problem showed that a substantial percentage of financial stress was correlated with a low return on assets or profitability. A smaller percentage of financial stress was due to financing decisions.Originality/value This study provides value by measuring the impact of profitability, leverage and interest rate on the financial performance of agricultural cooperatives. Results showed that a substantial proportion of financial stress was associated with a low return on assets. This indicates that profitability is a problem for agricultural cooperatives. This study also examines profitability during a period of volatile returns in production agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The children of high-income parents often become high-income adults, while their low-income peers often become low-income adults. Education plays a central role in this intergenerational income persistence. Because education-based inequalities grew in recent decades, many scholars predicted that intergenerational income persistence would increase. However, previous research suggests that it remained stable across recent cohorts. We address this puzzle. Analyzing National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth data, we find that growing educational inequality by parental income, along with rising economic returns to education, increased intergenerational persistence, as scholars expected. However, two countervailing trends offset this increase. The expansion of higher education reduced persistence, because completing college helps low-income children become high-income adults. Yet, this reduction in persistence was far from enough to offset the increase in persistence associated with growing educational inequality and rising educational returns. Intergenerational persistence would have increased if not for another change: within educational groups, parental income became less predictive of adult income. New methodological tools underlie these findings, tools that quantify, for the first time, education's full force in intergenerational income persistence. These findings suggest that to reduce intergenerational persistence, educational policies should focus less on how many people complete college and more on who completes college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unsupervised machine learning can provide an objective and comprehensive broad-level sector decomposition of stocks [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between turnover and performance in institutional investment management. For a sample of US equity mutual funds during the period January 1999-December 2014, we show that high-turnover funds do not beat low-turnover funds, since their performances are no different, or even significantly lower. Moreover, we show that investing in past high-turnover mutual funds provides investors with significantly worse results than investing in previously low-turnover funds. Investors aiming to enhance their riskadjusted returns should therefore consider the turnover ratio level in their fund investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research on economic returns to higher education in the United States suggests that those with the highest wage returns to a college degree are least likely to obtain one. We extend the study of heterogeneous returns to tertiary education across multiple institutional contexts, investigating how the relationship between wage returns and the propensity to complete a degree varies by the level of expansion, differentiation, and cost of higher education. Drawing on panel data and matching techniques, we compare findings from the US with selection into degree completion in Germany and the UK. Contrary to previous studies, we find little evidence for population level heterogeneity in economic returns to higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To estimate the association of 1 activity of the Prevention and Public Health Fund with hospital bloodstream infections and calculate the return on investment (ROI). Methods. The activity was funded for 1 year (2013). A difference-in-differences specification evaluated hospital standardized infection ratios (SIRs) before funding allocation (years 2011 and 2012) and after funding allocation (years 2013 and 2014) in the 15 US states that received the funding compared with hospital SIRs in states that did not receive the funding. We estimated the association of the funded public health activity with SIRs for bloodstream infections. We calculated the ROI by dividing cost offsets from infections averted by the amount invested. Results. The funding was associated with a 33% (P < .05) reduction in SIRs and an ROI of $1.10 to $11.20 per $1 invested in the year of funding allocation (2013). In 2014, after the funding stopped, significant reductions were no longer evident. Conclusions. This activitywas associatedwitha reductioninbloodstreaminfections large enough to recoup the investment. Public health funding of carefully targeted areas may improve health and reduce health care costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the long range cross covariances among the stock price returns for the United States, Japan, and the Europe. Empirical results suggest that the stock price returns of these regions have cross covariances of slow moving fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of service quality on US airlines’ economic performance. In order to cover this goal, four quality indexes related to the airline industry, and two economic performance indicators, revenues and return on investment (ROI), have been considered. Data from American airline companies from 2006 to 2013 have been used to determine if airlines’ profitability increases when service quality improves. Considering the effects on airlines’ profitability, the results confirm the positive and significant influence of service quality on the ROI of the US airline companies. A non-significant effect was found for airline revenues in relation to quality. No previous research in this area has been done so these findings could encourage airline companies to invest in quality, since this policy can have a positive return on their profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While maps of solar irradiance are readily available, they do not represent the economic viability of a solar project in any particular location. This paper provides a financial analysis with different electricity tariffs and then maps the internal rate of return (IRR) of solar load displacement projects. We examine 25 locations in the southwestern USA and show that IRR maps differ substantially from irradiance maps. Our analysis includes 27 scenarios derived from the following combinations: three types of solar installations (concentrated photovoltaic (CPV), south-facing PV and PV oriented so as to optimize IRR); three project start dates (2016, 2018, 2020); and three price projections for grid-connected systems (optimistic, central, pessimistic). The variation of irradiance across these 25 locations is much lower than the variation of IRR. Direct normal irradiance is almost uncorrelated with the IRR from CPV projects, indicating that irradiance alone is a poor predictor of IRR. Tariff differences among the 25 locations, including time of use aspects, play a major role in determining economic viability and IRR varies considerably even within a single city. Orienting PV modules so as to optimize the IRR brings little benefit unless the optimized azimuth is greater than 20° west of south. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light-level geolocators, miniature devices used for tracking avian migration over the full annual cycle, are being widely deployed on small migratory passerines. However, the effects of carrying geolocators on the breeding biology of songbirds are unclear, and variable species- and guild-specific conclusions have been drawn regarding their effects on return rates (apparent annual survival). In particular, there is a lack of published information on the effects of geolocators on Nearctic-Neotropical migrant warblers and canopy-dwelling bird species, which limits our ability to determine whether this technology is appropriate for use on species within these groups. During 2014 and 2015, we deployed geolocators on 49 adult male Cerulean Warblers {Setophaga cerúlea) in Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Arkansas, USA. We monitored the effects of geolocators across the full annual cycle by comparing apparent within-breeding-season survival (within-season cji), nestling provisioning rates, nest survival, and return rates between geolocator-tagged adult males and color-banded controls. We found no negative effects of geolocators during the breeding season of geolocator deployment, but the return rate of geolocator-tagged birds was lower than that of control birds (16% ± 5% vs. 35% ± 7%). We found no strong evidence that the differential return rate between the 2 groups was influenced by breeding region, body mass, bird age, year of geolocator deployment, or method of attachment. Although finding no effect of geolocators during the breeding season is encouraging, the lower return rate of geolocator-tagged birds warrants further investigation in the field. If further improvements in the design or attachment methods of geolocators are not technologically possible, the potential for increased mortality (or dispersal) of geolocator-tagged birds should be weighed against the potential conservation gains that could be made by identification of critical stopover, wintering, and breeding habitats for populations of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses investments on public agricultural research and extension delivery in the U.S. Tackled are issues on agricultural productivity growth and social cost-benefit analysis on government-funded programs in the country. Explored is the rate of return to investments in research in the agricultural industry.

In this paper the conditional dependence of stock market in Mexico and the United States is studied. Symmetric Joe-Clayton copula is used and conditional probabilities of increases (decreases) in Mexico stock index when there are increases (decreases) in the U.S. stock index are estimated. For the marginal distributions, AR-TGARCH and AR-EGARCH models with a standardized Student's t distribution for innovations are proposed. Empirical results suggest that there is a high degree of conditional dependence in the tails, presenting higher volatility on the upper (right) tail throughout the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the relationship between public investments in agricultural R&D and the productivity enhancing benefits they produce is critical to informing the public funding of agricultural R&D and insuring future increases in agricultural productivity. This paper describes a method of estimating the relationship between research investments, productivity growth, and the resulting economic benefits generated. The data requirements include indexes of multi-factor productivity, investments in R&D, and the value of agricultural output. The real rate of return to public investments in agricultural R&D in the United States is estimated to be 10.5% per annum; however, a reduction in the growth of spending on public agricultural R&D in recent decades raises concerns about productivity growth in coming decades, which is required to insure an adequate supply of food to meet increasing demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of distressing trends, including a decline in the share of key research grants going to younger scientists, as well as a steady rise in the age at which investigators receive their first funding, are now a decades-long feature of the US biomedical research workforce.Working committees have proposed recommendations, policy makers have implemented reforms, and yet the trajectory of our funding regime away from young scientists has only worsened. An investigation of some of the major factors and their geneses at play in explaining the increasing average age to first RO1 is presented. Recommendations related to funding, peer review, career paths, and the university-government partnership are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the effect of individual and institutional sentiments on the US stock returns during a prolonged bull phase of ten years in the 1990s compared to shorter boom and bust cycles of the 2000s. The study is focussed on a set of stocks that are prone to sentiments and speculations. Design/methodology/approach -- To compare the dynamic interaction of individual and institutional sentiments and stock returns, the authors use the vector autoregression (VAR) approach. The VAR model has proven to be especially useful for describing the dynamic behavior of economic and financial time series because it does not impose a priori restriction on the structure of the system. Using impulse response function, the authors determine how stock returns respond over time to a shock in institutional and individual sentiments. Findings -- The authors find that sentiments of individual investors can affect returns mostly when there is a prolonged upward trend in stock prices, while sentiments of institutional investors can impact the returns when stock market is more volatile. Originality/value -- This paper compares the effect of noise traders and rational investors' sentiment on stock returns during the persistent period of positive abnormal returns of the 1990s and the more volatile stock returns of the 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the global increase in public funding for nanotechnology research and development, it is even more important to support projects with promising return on investment. A main return is the benefit to other researchers and to the entire field through knowledge diffusion, invention, and innovation. The social network of researchers is one of the channels through which this happens. This study considers the scientific publication network in the field of nanotechnology, and evaluates how knowledge diffusion through coauthorship and citations is affected in large institutions by the location and connectivity of individual researchers in the network. The relative position and connectivity of a researcher is measured by various social network metrics, including degree centrality, Bonacich Power centrality, structural holes, and betweenness centrality. Leveraging the Cox regression model, we analyzed the temporal relationships between knowledge diffusion and social network measures of researchers in five leading universities in the United States using papers published from 2000 to 2010. The results showed that the most significant effects on knowledge diffusion in the field of nanotechnology were from the structural holes of the network and the degree centrality of individual researchers. The data suggest that a researcher has potential to perform better in knowledge creation and diffusion on boundary-spanning positions between different communities and when he or she has a high level of connectivity in the knowledge network. These observations may lead to improved strategies in planning, conducting, and evaluating multidisciplinary nanotechnology research. The paper also identifies the researchers who made most significant contributions to nanotechnology knowledge diffusion in the networks of five leading U.S. universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose the asymmetric multiscale detrended cross-correlation analysis (MS-ADCCA) method and apply MS-ADCCA method to explore the existence of asymmetric cross-correlation for daily price returns in US and Chinese stock markets and to assess the properties of these asym-metric cross-correlations. The results all show the existences of asymmetric cross-correlations, while small asymmetries at small scales and larger asymmetries at larger scales are also displayed. There is a strong similarity between S&P500 and DJI, and we reveal that the asymmetries depend more on the cross-correlations of S&P500 vs. DJI, S&P500 vs. NQCI, DJI vs. NQCI, and ShangZheng vs. ShenCheng when the market is falling than rising, respectively. By comparing the spectra of S&P500 vs. NQCI and DJI vs. NQCI with uptrends and downtrends, we detect some new characteristics which lead to some new conclusions. Likewise, some new conclusions also can be drawn by the new characteristics displayed through the comparison between the spec-tra of ShangZheng vs. HSI and ShenCheng vs. HSI. Obviously, we conclude that although the overall spectra are similar and one market has the same effect when it is rising and falling in the study of asymmetric cross-correlations between it and different markets, the cross-correlations and asymmetries on the trends of the different markets are all different. MS-ADCCA method can detect the differences on the asymmetric cross-correlations by different trends of markets. Moreover, the uniqueness of cross-correlation between NQCI and HSI can be detected in the study of the asymmetric cross-correlations, which confirms that HSI is unique in the Chinese stock mar-kets and NQCI is unique in the US stock markets further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use the portfolio selection model presented in He and Zhou [Manage. Sci., 2011,57, 315–331] and the NYSE equity and US treasury bond returns for the period 1926–1990 to revisit Benartzi and Thaler’s myopic loss aversion theory. Through an extensive empirical study, we find that in addition to the agent’s loss aversion and evaluation period, his reference point also has a significant effect on optimal asset allocation. We demonstrate that the agent’s optimal allocation to equities is consistent with market observation when he has reasonable values of degree of loss aversion, evaluation period and reference point. We also find that the optimal allocation to equities is sensitive to these parameters. We then examine the implications of money illusion for asset allocation. Finally, we extend the model to a dynamic setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, proponents of a plan to refinance underwater mortgages using eminent domain published their argument in the Harvard Law & Policy Review. The plan mixes populist perspective with capitalistic problem solving: It offers both salvation for the disproportionately poor and minority communities hit hard during the financial crash and profits for funders of the operation. The plan is quickly becoming more than just a thought experiment: Richmond, California has formally adopted (but not yet executed) the plan, and ten other cities are currently considering it. This Article seeks to provide additional legal perspective and financial insight to the ensuing debate. Legally and culturally, the plan inverts the nasty legal heritage of eminent domain for economic redevelopment and doles a touch of symbolic retribution to Wall Street. Financially, proponents insist that the plan is not only profitable for funders, but also a fair deal for security holders. Using a simple financial model and information about the kinds of loans targeted, this Article charts the profitability of the plan and concludes that it could indeed offer substantial returns on investment without cheating Wall Street. However, pressure from banks and the federal government may keep the plan on the shelf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]