The Black Box of Mutual Fund Fees

This paper re-examines the determinants of mutual fund fees paid by mutual fund shareholders for management costs and other expenses. There are two novelties with respect to previous studies. First, each type of fee is explained separately. Second, the paper employs a new dataset consisting of Spanish mutual funds, making it the second paper to study mutual fund fees outside the US market. Furthermore, the Spanish market has three interesting characteristics: (i) both distribution and management are highly dominated by banks and savings banks, which points towards potential conflicts of interest; (ii) Spanish mutual fund law imposes caps on all types of fees; and (iii) Spain ranks first in terms of average mutual fund fees among similar countries. We find significant differences in mutual fund fees not explained by the fund’s investment objective. For instance, management companies owned by banks and savings banks charge higher management fees and redemption fees to nonguaranteed funds. Also, investors in older non-guaranteed funds and non-guaranteed funds with a lower average investment are more likely to end up paying higher management fees. Moreover, there is clear evidence that some mutual funds enjoy better conditions from custodial institutions than others. In contrast to evidence from the US market, larger funds are not associated with lower fees, but with higher custody fees for guaranteed funds and higher redemption fees for both types of funds. Finally, fee-setting by mutual funds is not related to fund before-fee performance.

Black Holes, Cosmological Solutions, Future Singularities, and Their Thermodynamical Properties in Modified Gravity Theorie

54 p.

Análisis de los salarios de los profesores universitarios en USA (2005)

El trabajo tiene dos objetivos principales: en primer lugar,comparar los modelos universitarios de EEUU y Europa y describir las características del primero; en segundo lugar,analizar las diferencias existentes en los salarios medios en una muestra de 908 profesores universitarios en EEUU. Para la comparación de sistemas universitarios,se explican las diferencias en algunas características de todo sistema universitario,como la investigación universitaria,por ejemplo.Después, la contextualización se centra en las líneas principales del sistema universitario estadounidense,a saber, la investigación en la universidad,la financiación del sistema o la estructura del profesorado. Posteriormente, se procede a explicar los modelos del mercado de trabajo a través de teorías de la economía laboral y a realizar un análisis descriptivo de los datos en diferentes aspectos,como la categoría o la experiencia docente del profesorado. Después de estimar el modelo de regresión de los salarios medios,se obtiene que el profesorado de Research gana mayores salarios medios que el profesorado de College, por lo que el tipo de institución es relevante en las diferencias de los salarios medios. Además,el profesorado gana salarios mayores conforme adquiere más experiencia docente y mayor categoría,como se supone en la teoría del capital humano.

Análisis de los salarios de los profesores universitarios en USA (2005)

El trabajo tiene dos objetivos principales: en primer lugar,comparar los modelos universitarios de EEUU y Europa y describir las características del primero; en segundo lugar,analizar las diferencias existentes en los salarios medios en una muestra de 908 profesores universitarios en EEUU. Para la comparación de sistemas universitarios,se explican las diferencias en algunas características de todo sistema universitario,como la investigación universitaria,por ejemplo.Después, la contextualización se centra en las líneas principales del sistema universitario estadounidense,a saber, la investigación en la universidad,la financiación del sistema o la estructura del profesorado. Posteriormente, se procede a explicar los modelos del mercado de trabajo a través de teorías de la economía laboral y a realizar un análisis descriptivo de los datos en diferentes aspectos,como la categoría o la experiencia docente del profesorado. Después de estimar el modelo de regresión de los salarios medios,se obtiene que el profesorado de Research gana mayores salarios medios que el profesorado de College, por lo que el tipo de institución es relevante en las diferencias de los salarios medios. Además,el profesorado gana salarios mayores conforme adquiere más experiencia docente y mayor categoría,como se supone en la teoría del capital humano.

Shedding light on TQM: some research findings

Over the last decad , the paradigm of Total Quality Management (TQM) has been successfully forged in our business world. TQM may be defined as something that is both complex and ambiguous; nevertheless, some key elements or principles can be mentioned which are common to all of them: customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, commitment and leadership on the part of top management, involvement and support on the part of employees, teamwork, measurement via indicators and feedback. There are, in short, two main reasons for it having spread so widely: on the one hand, the successful diffusion of ISO 9000 standards for the implementation and certification of quality management systems, standards that have been associated to the TQM paradigm, and, on the other, the also successful diffusion of self evaluation models such as the EFQM promoted by the European Foundation for Quality Management and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the USA, promoted by the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. However, the quality movement is not without its problems as far as its mid and long term development is concerned. In this book some research findings related to these issues are presented.

Sylphella puccoon gen. n., sp n. and two additional new species of aquatic oligochaetes (Lumbriculidae, Clitellata) from poorly-known lotic habitats in North Carolina (USA)

Three new species of Lumbriculidae were collected from floodplain seeps and small streams in southeastern North America. Some of these habitats are naturally acidic. Sylphella puccoon gen. n., sp. n. has prosoporous male ducts in X-XI, and spermathecae in XII-XIII. Muscular, spherical atrial ampullae and acuminate penial sheaths distinguish this monotypic new genus from other lumbriculid genera having similar arrangements of reproductive organs. Cookidrilus pocosinus sp. n. resembles its two subterranean, Palearctic congeners in the arrangement of reproductive organs, but is easily distinguished by the position of the spermathecal pores in front of the chaetae in X-XIII. Stylodrilus coreyi sp. n. differs from congeners having simple-pointed chaetae and elongate atria primarily by the structure of the male duct and the large clusters of prostate cells. Streams and wetlands of Southeastern USA have a remarkably high diversity of endemic lumbriculids, and these poorly-known invertebrates should be considered in conservation efforts.

Cuando el miedo invade la ficción. Análisis de Perdidos (Lost) y de otros quality dramas de la era Post 11S.

521 p.