Labour productivity measurement with variable returns to scale in Australia's construction industry

As an important productivity indicator, the change of labour productivity is one indispensable marker in determining the rise or fall of overall industrial performance. This study aims to address whether the labour productivity level of the Australian construction industry has, in fact, shown a huge improvement during the last few decades. This article constructs a measuring method estimating labour productivity changes based on the data envelopment analysis technique with variable returns to scale. By adopting a production frontier approach, the labour productivity index can be broken down into components attributable to efficiency change, technological progress and capital accumulation. The numerical results exemplified by a single-input and single-output system indicate that the average annual labour productivity levels of the construction industry are slowly growing in all the Australian states and territories. However, the year-on-year change in the overall labour productivity performance does not maintain a long-term increase over the period 1990–2008. The study forms the basis for further industrial productivity research. Proposals and recommendations are expected to be beneficial for making policy and strategic decisions to improve the performance of the construction industry.

Audit of the Douglas Hocking Research Institute bone bank : ten years of non-irradiated bone graft

Background:  An audit performed in the use of non-irradiated femoral head bone graft at the Geelong Hospital over a 10-year period. While it is thought the non-irradiated bone graft provides a better structural construct there is theoretical increased risk of infection transmission.

Methods:  We performed a retrospective review of prospectively collected data in the use of non-irradiated bone allograft used from the Geelong Hospital Douglas Hosking Research Institute bone bank over a 10-year period. The review was performed using data collected from the bone bank and correlating it with the patient’s medical record. All complications, including infections, related to the use of the allograft were recorded.

Results:  We found that over the 10 years to 2004 that 811 femoral heads were donated, with 555 being used over 362 procedures in 316 patients. We identified a total of nine deep infections, of which seven were in joint replacements. Overall this was a 2.5% deep infection rate, which was lowered to 1.4% if the previously infected joints that were operated on were excluded.

Conclusion:  The use of non-irradiated femoral head bone graft was safe in a regional setting.

A-REIT bidder returns : an evaluation of public and private targets and method of payment

This study examines the wealth effects of fifty-six Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts (A-REITS) acquirers around the announcement date of a merger and acquisition over the period of 1996 to 2010. This study extends Ratcliffe et al (2009) by examining mergers and acquisitions of private entity targets as well as public targets and confirms recent US REIT work in this field. Utilising event study methodology we find that bidding A-REITs earn positive and significant cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) of +0.966% around the three-day announcement period [-1, +1]. Analysis also indicates bidding firms earn higher CARs when the acquisition is financed by scrip and/or a combination of scrip and cash. Consistent with prior REIT research, event study results show that A-REIT acquirers earn higher excess returns when the target is private as compared to a public target, +2.834% and +0.457% respectively. Further investigation, employing regression analysis, shows book-to-market ratio has a negative impact on bidding firms CARs, suggesting that investors penalise high book-to-market A-REITs in an M&A due to their higher risk characteristics. We also find that both specialisation by property type and relative size of the bidder compared to the target has a positive and significant influence on bidder excess returns. Finally, our results show support for the method of payment findings in the event study, with method of payment returning a negative and significant impact on the bidder CARs.

Corporate governance and bank performance: evidence from Bangladesh

This study investigates the relationship between the corporate governance structure and performance of listed banks in Bangladesh. We find that board independence and board size have a significant positive impact on performance. However, female directors appear to have no impact on performance. Our evidence indicates that the extent of the managerial ownership level has a significant negative impact on bank performance. These results suggest that better corporate governance mechanisms are imperative for every banking company and should be encouraged for the interest of the investors and other stakeholders.

Investor heterogeneity and the cross-sectional stock returns in China

We examine the relationship between divergence of opinion and the cross-sectional stock returns in Chinese A share market where short-selling of stocks is prohibited by law. Using a proxy for divergence of opinion among the entire investor base, we document a positive relationship between divergent beliefs and future stock returns. This is in sharp contrast to Miller's (1977) prediction of a negative relationship between the two. The result is likely to be driven by the dominance of individual investors and their speculative trading behaviors in China. Miller's prediction is confirmed when divergence of opinion is measured using data on mutual fund holdings. Our results are robust to a number of common return predictors. We also find a significantly negative relationship between the fraction of tradable shares in listed Chinese companies and future stock returns. Increase in the fraction of tradable shares tends to reduce the predictability of stock returns using divergence of opinion.

“Giving Dracula the keys to the blood bank? Interrogating the Fifth Crown Casino Licensing Regulatory Review

Drawing on narrative analysis, this paper analyses the 2013 Fifth Regulatory Review of the license of an Australian casino as a case study focused on the framing and articulation of ‘responsible gambling’ (RG) in the Review. Part 1 sets out the policy and regulatory context for the licensing review of Melbourne’s Crown Casino. Part 2 overviews the structure/content of the Review; the key messages of the Reviewers’ narrative and its main recommendations. In reflecting on the Review in Part 3, analysis focuses on the investigation and recommendations regarding Responsible Gambling, which has gained recent policy priority. The analysis interrogates the Review’s findings, narratives, processes and evidentiary base in relation to how it presents and assesses casino performance on RG. In doing so, it focuses on the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation’s Review’s framing of RG; sources of evidence drawn on by the Review; an assessment of the casino’s loyalty club feature ‘Play Safe’, as an RG measure; the Review’s assessment of casino performance on RG and its Code of Conduct in particular; and the Review’s framing of RG recommendations. It concludes with reflections on governance issues raised by the Review, the need for more focus on the neglected area of regulatory licensing and enforcement (OECD, 2011; 2012; OECD & European Commission, 2009) and the need for independent regulatory reviews that address conflicts of interest on the part of both Government and the Regulator.

External policy influence and higher education reform in Ethiopia : understanding symbolic power of the World Bank

Increasingly national policy processes are intersected with and affected by global policy actors and ideas. In aid-recipient countries such as Ethiopia, donors use financial and non-financial means to influence national policy decisions and directions. This paper is about the non-financial influence of the World Bank (WB) in the Ethiopian higher education policy reform. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic power as a ‘thinking tool’, the paper aims to shed light on forms of symbolic capital that the Bank uses to generate a ‘misrecognisable’ form of power that regulates the HE policy process in Ethiopia. The findings show that the WB transforms its symbolic capital of recognition and legitimacy to establish a ‘shared misrecognition’ and thereby make its policy prescriptions implicit and hence acceptable to local policy agents. The Bank uses knowledge-based regulatory instruments to induce compliance to its neoliberal policy prescriptions. The paper therefore underscores the value of symbol power as an analytical framework to understand elusive but critical role of donors in policy processes of aid recipient countries.

Determinants of stock returns: Factors or systematic co-moments? Crisis versus non-crisis periods

In this paper we evaluate the intertemporal pricing performance of stock return determinants over the periods surrounding, and outside of, financial crises. The analysis focuses on the variables of size, book-to-market ratio, momentum, liquidity, and higher-order systematic co-moments. The evidence reveals that over non-crisis periods the market beta plays an important role in determining the cross-section of stock returns. Size, value, momentum, and liquidity also exhibit associations with the cross-section of stock returns. However, over crisis periods most of the variables we examined lose their explanatory power, suggesting that their usefulness is limited for investment purposes when financial markets experience crises. There is some evidence of coskewness pricing surrounding market crashes. Practitioners may consider coskewness over crisis periods.