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Commitment problems and information asymmetries represent key impediments to peacekeeping. We posit that mass media—more specifically, United Nations (UN) peacekeeping radio broadcasts—is a cost-effective, easily implemented method of addressing common roadblocks to conflict resolution. We analyze monthly battle-related deaths across 51 UN peacekeeping missions during the years 1992–2014. Using negative binomial models with two-way fixed effects, we find that peaceful UN radio broadcasts are associated with decreased conflict intensity. We argue that radio-based, mass communication is particularly effective owing to the socio-economic conditions within conflict zones; these properties include severe under-development and lack of access to modern technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Start-ups are essential contributors to economic development, but they often face several barriers to growth, including access to finance. We study their capital structure in their early years of operation through the lens of Pecking Order Theory, exploring how the pursuit of innovation influences firms' reliance on different types of finance. Panel analyses of 8273 German start-ups show that innovation activities are relevant predict start-ups' revealed preferences for finance. Effects on the type and order of financing sources depend on the degree of information asymmetries specific to research and development activities, human capital endowments, and the market introduction of new products and processes. New firms focused on research and development activities and with better human capital are less likely to receive informationally complex finance such as debt and will rely relatively more on owner and equity finance. Mixed evidence is found, instead, on the role of new products or processes. Our results suggest that the traditional pecking order theory does not hold for new firms, implying that owner and external equity play a much more prominent role for such firms. Then, managers and entrepreneurs should consider specific sources of finance and financial instruments in light of their innovative activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Pipeline hiring, repeatedly hiring individuals from the same external source organization, is a common recruiting practice. Yet, whether this pipeline approach improves incoming human capital quality or performance has limited empirical evidence. We argue that, in cooperative source‐hiring organization contexts, pipelines reduce the information asymmetries present in labor markets in a way that both attracts individuals with higher pre‐entry human capital and predicts postentry performance that surpasses pre‐entry expectations. In the context of particularly intense recruiting competition—American college football—we test and find support for these hypotheses. We also probe key boundary conditions, specifically discontinuity, geographic proximity, and factor market competition that highlight the limits of when the informational advantage is more or less salient. Managerial Summary: Organizations often recruit through pipelines ‐ repeatedly hiring new workers from the same sources, such as universities or supply partners. Despite how common pipeline hiring is, we have little evidence to suggest if this practice helps hire more capable workers. Using rich data from American college football, we find that players who are successfully recruited through a pipeline tend to be rated as higher potential before joining their college team and perform better, holding their potential constant, in their collegiate career than players who joined from a standalone source. We argue that these benefits come from information flows between recruiting organizations, alumni, and prospective workers. When conditions make these information flows less exclusive, more interrupted, or redundant, we find evidence that the typical pipeline recruiting benefits diminish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing urbanization is driving rapid growth in residential multi-owned properties (RMOPs) worldwide. Concerns about the quality of these buildings are also growing in many countries. Yet research into the quality of RMOPs (particularly apartments) remains scant and under-theorized. Addressing this knowledge gap, this paper reports the results of research which employed information asymmetry theory to provide new insights into the prevalence and risks of building defects in the Australian RMOP construction market. Using data about defects in 635 RMOPs built in Sydney between 2008 and 2017 and semi-structured interviews with sixty-six experienced practitioners, the results highlight the severity of the defects crisis. The research identified two types of information asymmetries which exacerbate the risk of buying into a defective building for RMOP customers: data fragmentation and data robustness. From a policy and practical perspective, this highlights the challenges faced by consumers in undertaking 'due diligence' and the need for reforms that address these information asymmetries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses financial stability related notions of risk, the issue of convergence and cross financial sector prudential intervention. It elucidates the Basel framework shortcomings and enunciates the requirement of setting a reinvigorated prudential framework before proceeding to its essentials in terms of engineering. It highlights an early warning approach dealing with the issue of time reaction mismatch of the prudential authority and the priority of setting a long run forwarded guided approach. The objective of this research is to provide a clue into enhancing prudential setting of instruments, the forwarded guided purview of surveillance as well as hedging and the Balanced Score Card. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowdfunding is an Internet-based fundraising method that relies on contributions from a large crowd of investors to fund innovative and risky projects. The aim of this paper is to analyse which combinations of signals commonly studied for crowdfunding success lead to overfunding. Based on the information asymmetries between fund-seeking entrepreneurs and the crowd, this paper draws on signalling theory to explore the elements of campaign design that contribute to overfunding (i.e. raising at least 10 % above the funding target). The paper focuses on the entrepreneur's identity as an individual or corporation, pitch video length, budget explanation length, number of images, project abstract length, and number of updates by the entrepreneur. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is performed using publicly available data sourced from 257 socially oriented projects from a reward-based crowdfunding platform. The results show the importance for entrepreneurs of using images and constantly communicating with the crowd. The results also reveal a series of configurations of design features that result in overfunding. These findings have practical implications for the design of reward-based crowdfunding campaigns and contribute to a better understanding of how economic agents interact within crowdfunding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question/Issue: Does broad‐based employee ownership limit accrual earnings management? Research Findings/Insights: I run a series of random effect and fixed effect models on a sample of S&P 1500 firms between 2008 and 2019 to show that managers at employee‐owned firms manipulate earnings less than managers at nonemployee‐owned firms. My findings suggest that employee ownership enhances financial transparency and limits the opportunities for managers to misrepresent firm performance. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This study develops and tests theory on employee ownership as a form of internal corporate governance. Equity incentives for executives are typically thought to reduce agency costs. The findings here suggest awarding equity incentives broadly, in which the majority of employees receive equity stakes, may be a more effective method of reducing agency costs. Practitioner/Policy Implications: Earnings management and intentional financial misreporting are often a result of siloed information within firms. Broad‐based employee ownership is generally associated with enhanced information flows through greater mutual monitoring and information sharing. Corporate governors interested in reducing managerial malfeasance may find that widely awarding equity to employees is more effective than financially incentivizing individual managers to act in the firm's interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory inconsistencies at different jurisdictional levels have contributed to the global expansion of the exotic pet trade, with resultant increases in the spread of invasive species and pathogens. Researchers have enumerated multiple limitations and environmental risks posed by international and national rules that govern the exotic pet trade, yet little attention has focused on the regulation of the exotic pet trade within national borders. We reviewed state‐level regulations that apply to the trade of vertebrate animal taxa in the United States. Definitions and classifications for regulating different vertebrate taxa varied greatly across states, and the terms pet and companion animal were poorly defined and inconsistent across states. States implemented regulations that permit trade in exotic vertebrate pets that are banned from import into the United States owing to public health and conservation concerns. Once species have been imported into the United States, inconsistent internal regulations facilitate the movement of animals that pose substantial invasion and disease risks. Violations of state laws were typically listed as misdemeanors, and the median fine for violating state wildlife trade laws was $1000. Inconsistent and incomplete regulation of exotic vertebrate pets across state borders, in conjunction with limited penalties for violating regulations, has facilitated continued possession of exotic pets in states where these animals are banned. Based on our review of regulatory weaknesses, we conclude that a transition to a federally enforced list of vertebrate species that may be traded as pets is needed, with all other vertebrate species banned from the exotic pet trade unless their potential invasion and disease risks have been assessed and demonstrated to be low or nonexistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wine industry is characterized by a monopolistic competition market structure, with high product differentiation. In this study, based on the predictions of microeconomic theory as applied to market equilibrium and market failure, the statistical data on production, trade and domestic consumption, as well as the governance model adopted, were analyzed. The main goal was to examine potential market failures in the Portuguese wine industry, concentrating mainly on those related to information asymmetry and transaction costs. The analysis shows that while Portugal constitutes a significant source of low-priced wines, both for its home consumers as well as for those abroad, most wines lack reputation and therefore have little potential to transfer value to upstream economic agents, and almost no possibility of increasing consumers’ willingness to pay. Though there is detailed information on production, exports and trade, limited information exists on domestic consumption. Given the small dimension of some wine regions, the governance model adopted does not benefit from scale economies and requires higher transaction costs.

Copyright of Journal of Viticulture & Enology / Ciência e Técnica Vitivinícola is the property of EDP Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Noteworthy contributions have highlighted that human contact is a considerable factor in bank-firm relationships. It allows the acquisition of soft information, which alleviates information asymmetries and increases the use of bank debt. The advent of digital technologies in the information collection process open new horizons and change the role of personal contacts in bank-firm interactions, as entrepreneurs visit bank branches less frequently. This study uses a large sample of Italian SMEs from 2011 to 2020 and finds that the rapid increase and use of digital instruments have reduced the positive influence of physical closeness between banks and SMEs on the indebtedness levels. Interestingly, our study has also found that the COVID-19 crisis did not amplify this moderating effect. Results support theories that human contact is an important factor in bank-firm relationships because it allows the acquisition of soft information, which alleviates information asymmetries and increases the use of bank debt. Our study suggests that close human ties are still extremely relevant and digitalization should be exploited to support the collection of the kind of qualitative soft information that is crucial in debt negotiations. Plain English Summary: The growing integration and digitalization of banks gives rise to a question: are local personal bank-entrepreneur relationships still important for small businesses? We interestingly find that human relationships between the bank and the firm occurring at the local level are important in the soft information collection procedures, positively influencing the amount of debt that SMEs use. In light of such relevance, governments' challenge consists on directing banks toward a system that strengthens the collection of soft information in a digitalized world. In a phygital future, digitalization should thus be exploited to provide banks not only quantitative data, but also qualitative information that support lending decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year low- and middle-income countries import goods worth more than $7 trillion, and in many states these shipments must first pass through the hands of corrupt customs officials. With such high stakes, policymakers require a deep understanding of both the causes and the effects of customs fraud. In addition, researchers have the opportunity to use trade corruption as a laboratory to discover new insights about corruption as a whole. One previously unexplored complexity is that bribe payers and bribe receivers often have repeated interactions; given corruption’s characteristic contracting frictions, counterparty risks, and information asymmetries, these long-running relationships likely matter for a wide variety of outcomes across a wide variety of contexts. To pursue these learning objectives, we overcome the data and identification challenges inherent to investigating bribery: we build an original dataset on Tunisian customs transactions using an audit study to directly observe bribes, and we leverage a natural experiment in which a computer algorithm randomly assigns customs officials to import shipments. There are three sets of results. First, we show that bribery and tax evasion are widespread, that bribery is collusive (not coercive), and that age (but not gender) predicts officials’ corruptibility. Second, in line with a straightforward Nash bargaining model, we show that the length of official/trader relationships increases tax evasion but decreases bribe amounts. Third, we zoom out to consider the larger macroeconomic implications and show that, in terms of lost tax revenue, bribery costs the Tunisian government 0.7% of GDP or $80 per citizen.

A bootstrap and a subsequent injected alpha analysis were conducted on 1,221 Chinese mutual funds that were active at some point between July 2001 and July 2021. The results show that most active managers achieve a positive risk-adjusted return. Additionally, we find that this phenomenon is primarily attributable to local (i.e., Chinese) fund managers. We argue that one explanation for the different levels of risk-adjusted returns observed is the information asymmetry between foreign and local fund managers. Additional results support this view, as fund managers primarily investing in small- to mid-cap and value stocks provide a superior performance, which inherently exhibit greater information asymmetry. The findings are contrary to those from similar studies in developed markets, where only a few active managers demonstrate actual skill in their performance.

AbstractInsolvency proceedings are strategic for the competitiveness of a national economy. The new law, but also new financial situation of organizations affect the new normal of insolvency framework. In Europe, standards aimed at creating an efficient framework for corporate insolvency resolution are constantly changing to enhance the efficiency of such mechanisms. This pursuit contrasts with the lack of specific efficiency data available to both legislators and researchers, there are no solid statistics to investigate the phenomenon from the perspective of its efficiency, which makes it impossible in practice to investigate its explanatory variables. Previous studies have led us to reflect on key information asymmetry and adverse selection problems resulting from a gap between the new challenges on insolvencies processes and options, because the lack of information. Based on this reflection, we have identified parallelisms between the lemon market, and current insolvency proceedings in Spain. Although, the legal system is modified, the insolvency process itself is a drag, for the achievement of the long-awaited efficiency of the process. It will be necessary to change, not only the legislation, but also the information provided, and create a new insolvency system because actual has “lemons signals”, this circumstance is producing negative effects on the efficiency and competence of a key figure in the process: the insolvency administrator.

A bootstrap and a subsequent injected alpha analysis were conducted on 1,221 Chinese mutual funds that were active at some point between July 2001 and July 2021. The results show that most active managers achieve a positive risk-adjusted return. Additionally, we find that this phenomenon is primarily attributable to local (i.e., Chinese) fund managers. We argue that one explanation for the different levels of risk-adjusted returns observed is the information asymmetry between foreign and local fund managers. Additional results support this view, as fund managers primarily investing in small- to mid-cap and value stocks provide a superior performance, which inherently exhibit greater information asymmetry. The findings are contrary to those from similar studies in developed markets, where only a few active managers demonstrate actual skill in their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional US rental housing data sources such as the American Community Survey and the American Housing Survey report on the transacted market—what existing renters pay each month. They do not explicitly tell us about the spot market—i.e., the asking rents that current homeseekers must pay to acquire housing—though they are routinely used as a proxy. This study compares governmental data to millions of contemporaneous rental listings and finds that asking rents diverge substantially from these most recent estimates. Conventional housing data understate current market conditions and affordability challenges, especially in cities with tight and expensive rental markets.

Copyright of Journal of Academic Finance is the property of Academic Finance Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Previous studies have investigated the factors that influence firms' decision engaging in government innovation programme, but some important horizontal factors have been largely ignored, such as the effect from industry peers. Based on signal theory and expectancy theory, this paper studies the role of industry peers who have obtained government R&D subsidies in raising awareness and motivation of other non-funded firms to engage in the same project. Using Chinese listed firms between 2008 and 2016 as the empirical sample, this paper introduces the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework and uses the Logit regression to examine the associations between peer effects and strategy choice. The empirical results indicate that the number of funded firms in an industry and their superior performance have positive impact on non-funded firms to obtain government R&D subsidies, and these relationships are further strengthened by non-funded firms' innovation ability and profitability. This study makes contributions to literature on government R&D subsidies and peer effect by providing a view of imitation behaviour in innovation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies school choice and information frictions in Haiti. Through a randomized control trial, we assess the impact of disclosing school-level test score information on learning outcomes, prices, and market shares. We find evidence that in markets where information was disclosed, students attending private schools increased test scores. The results also suggest private schools with higher baseline test scores increased their market share as well as their fees when the disclosure policy is implemented. While prices and test scores were not significantly correlated in the baseline survey, they exhibited a significant and positive correlation in treatment markets after information disclosure. These results underscore the potential of information provision to enhance market efficiency and improve children's welfare in context such as Haiti. • Survey data from parents in Haiti on school preferences reveal demand for quality schools but significant information asymmetries. • Results suggest disclosure policy increased correlation between test scores and prices. • RCT evidence indicates information provision can improve student outcomes in poor education markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vietnam is an interesting case to study firm behavior because it is an example of a successful transitional economy. In the last few years, the government is building a supportive environment to promote business activities. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate whether corporate managers utilize dividend payout policy as a corporate financial management tool to address information asymmetries in such an environment. However, in the context of emerging markets, this topic is still under-explored even though firms in emerging markets are of lower disclosure quality. This paper investigates how corporate dividend decision is associated with liquidity, a measure of information asymmetries using a data sample of listed firms in Vietnam, an emerging market. Specifically, we utilize a dataset of firms listed on the Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange (HOSE) from 2007 to 2015. We find a negative relation between stock market liquidity and dividend payout in Vietnamese firms. The finding confirms that corporate managers in Vietnam tend to compensate for less liquidity with more dividend payout. The paper also suggests that dividends could be a substitute for stock liquidity.

Using a sample of Spanish tourism small and medium-sized firms, we have tested the impact of family control, publicly-available information and tangibility on financial structure, providing a multi-theoretical model that incorporates contributions from the classical theory of finance, inspired by agency theory, the behavioural theory of the firm and strategic theory. The results point to the need to jointly consider the effects of information transmission practices, asset investment decisions and ownership structures on debt capacity. The results show how family control is associated with propensity to take on debt, so that the desire to maintain social control and socioemotional wealth prevails over risk aversion, being the relationship between family ownership and leverage more complex and contingent than has been assumed in financial and behavioural models. In addition, this study contributes further evidence on the importance of family reputational intangibles, showing a positive indirect effect on firms' leverage capacity and relating to the gap left by finance theory regarding the value of intangibles for debt, which has meant that their value in reducing information asymmetries in the capital market has been overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a real life process evolving over time, the relationship between its relevant variables may change. Therefore, it is advantageous to have different inference models for each state of the process. Asymmetric hidden Markov models fulfil this dynamical requirement and provide a framework where the trend of the process can be expressed as a latent variable. In this paper, we modify these recent asymmetric hidden Markov models to have an asymmetric autoregressive component in the case of continuous variables, allowing the model to choose the order of autoregression that maximizes its penalized likelihood for a given training set. Additionally, we show how inference, hidden states decoding and parameter learning must be adapted to fit the proposed model. Finally, we run experiments with synthetic and real data to show the capabilities of this new model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore how India's growing commercial health insurance (CHI) segment can be reformed to deliver adequate financial protection and good health outcomes. We lay out key issues in the demand- and supply-sides of the insurance market that need to be addressed for CHI to be more aligned toward universal health coverage (UHC). On the demand side, we identify a consumer who strays far from the rational actor paradigm and therefore one whose needs require a fundamentally different approach than the one that commercial health insurance in India has so far taken. We lay out precisely the different stages involved in bringing a consumer to the insurance market and the conditions under which that consumer is likely to purchase insurance. On the supply side, we describe the many concerns that a new entrant into the commercial health insurance market must grapple with. We conclude with a set of pathways that brings the two sides of the market together to shed light on possible pathways for reform in the commercial health insurance sector in India. Despite the many challenges that this sector faces in India, we believe that there is room for optimism, and with the right amount of regulatory foresight, even room for radical transformation.

Lending business crowdfunding (LBC) is an innovative financing tool for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and is especially useful in vulnerable and risky markets. To date, little is known about the information transparency and management dynamics of these new platforms, partly as a result of a lack of harmonization in the crowdfunding sector. This article draws on a qualitative multicase approach to map and classify the main characteristics of the credit supply provided by nine LBC platforms. The database is unique and makes this analysis particularly original. The study found some limitations to the information transparency on services offered to SMEs who could access LBC. Alongside this, some advantages emerged, such as the timeliness of the service, and some critical points, such as the high interest rates and the numerous fees applied to the crowd-borrowers. The study also has practical implications, allowing SMEs to carefully assess the costs and benefits of the LBC model.

Of all the resources and capabilities that have a well-established impact on decision-making, information stands out. With the advent of the digital economy, organizations have been making significant information and communication technology (ICT) investments, but the empirical evidence of the impact of these investments on business outcomes has been inconsistent. This article studies the conditions that disclosed information resources and ICT must fulfil in order to become a source of sustainable competitive advantage in tourism organizations. The results point to the need to identify distinct financial and non-financial information dimensions, distinguished according to their direct potential for creating and maintaining competitive advantages through the improvement in relations with various stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how ongoing relationships between lead underwriters and institutional investors affect initial public offering (IPO) pricing. By introducing a new approach, we find that stronger relationships reduce the partial adjustment of the offer price, leaving 'excess underpricing' that favors regular investors, especially in hot IPOs, while generating an agency cost for issuers. At the same time, stronger relationships lead to higher offer prices, since they reduce information asymmetries and uncertainty in the primary market. This 'excess price adjustment' creates value for issuers. Taken together, these two apparently contradictory results reveal a win‐win outcome for issuers and regular investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does intellectual capital positively affect the success of the equity crowdfunding campaigns? This paper answers this question using an original dataset of 191 equity crowdfunding campaigns, gathered from Italian platforms over the period 2014–2018; special attention is dedicated to patents effect, R&D and team's education level on funding success, as they may serve as signals of unobservable quality of equity crowdfunding campaigns. Then, following literature on success factors for crowdfunding, the paper analyzes the signaling role of equity share retained by founders and by their social network size. Results suggest that intellectual capital (i.e. patents, R&D, team's education level), amount of equity retained by projects' founders and size of their social network have a positive and significant impact on fundraising success and are perceived as quality signals of crowdfunding campaigns by external investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The often long-lasting process of intrafamily business succession involves contracts for management and ownership transfer that unfold in a complex series of stages. The older and larger a family business, the more heterogeneous the involved family members' interactions and interests can become. These differences become obvious in the succession process. Also, in entrepreneurial families, information is not easy to obtain and is neither perfect nor unlimited, for example, with regard to expectations regarding the duration or the type of business succession. Information asymmetries can arise. This article investigates the drivers of information asymmetries and provides insight into the current research by investigating information asymmetries and their impact during different phases of intrafamily business succession. Data from 215 German firms reveal the occurrence of specific information asymmetries during different phases of intrafamily business succession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promotion of a more stable European banking system has become a priority which, not doubt, will bring important benefits to firms. However, bank stability comes with stronger regulations that could harm the access to finance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are highly dependent on bank financing. We provide new evidence on the association between the stability of a country's banking system and SMEs access to finance through the study of borrower discouragement. We analyze 20,207 observations gathered among 16,382 firms operating in the EU-28 during the period 2011–2018. Applying multilevel methodology, our results show that SMEs operating in countries with more stable banking systems are less likely to be discouraged from applying for a loan. Working to achieve a more stable banking system does not seem to harm the access to finance of SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue Internationale PME is the property of Institue de Recherche sur les PME and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Economía is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)