National and international financial reporting standard convergence and the relevance for non-participants in capital markets : a preparer perspective

This study presents some implications of recent policy moves to enhance the harmonization of financial reporting and disclosure by adopting international financial reporting standards. In particular the impact on small organizations that do not participate in capital markets is considered. The results of a survey of practitioners indicate a perception that the non-capital market sector is likely to be significantly affected by additional reporting burden that convergence with international financial reporting standards imposes. On the whole the results show there was concern that the traditional users of the financial reports of organizations who do not participate in capital markets, would have limited if any, use for financial reports that conformed to international financial reporting standards, The results of this study have implications for nations such as Malaysia and New Zealand, which are currently engaging in the differential reporting debate.

Testing the weak-form version of the efficient markets hypothesis

This thesis examines the weak-form efficiency of the Australian stock market using data from Australia's major banking stocks, the Banking Index and the All Ordinaries Index. Applying a combination of existing technical analysis indicators, coupled with a relatively new technique known as Sequential (TM) reveals that the Australian stock market is weak-form inefficient.

Measuring credit spreads of emerging markets

This study found, in the trading of bonds from emerging economies, the international market does not differentiate distinctions between international bonds that were issued by government or corporations. While domestic political and economic issues affect the trading of Malaysian bonds, over the longer term, international economic events leave more significant impact.

Benzodiazepine and pharmaceutical opioid misuse and their relationship to crime : an examination of illicit prescription drug markets in Melbourne, Hobart and Darwin : Victorian report

This report presents the findings of the major research project 'benzodiazepine and pharmaceutical opioid misuse and their relationship to crime', and is an examination of illicit prescription drug markets in Melbourne.

Futures for teachers? Unravelling global agencies development agendas in education and training and lifelong learning

This 20-page paper was presented in June 2001 at an invitational conference hosted by the Education Policy Research Group at Keele University. The theme of the conference was “travelling policy/local spaces: globalisation, identities and education policy in Europe“. Linked from the events page at http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/ed/events/conf papers.htm, this document is one of 22 papers from the conference that are presented in full text. The paper is organised in three sections, firstly examining the local impact of the application of a global development agenda on educational practices in Victoria, Australia, then analysing policy texts issued by the OECD, Unesco, and the Word Bank, and finally interpreting the data in the light of interagency politics and the authors‘ reading of the global-local dynamics of the educational restructuring in Victoria.

Exporting sports rights to overseas markets : the case of European football

In recent years major European clubs have become conscious of the need to develop a wider, more global approach to their existence in order to increase revenues. There have increasingly been developments involving clubs attempting to forge relationships with major Asian markets. The essay focuses on factors influencing the international trade of input (talent) and output (football TV programmes) – covering both the supply and the demand sides. It illustrates how the development in recent years has widened the revenue gaps between the ‘big five’ European nations and the rest of the world – and its consequences for the distribution of talent in the football world.

Rural markets and school choice

This thesis examines how families and schools in a rural Victorian setting engage with education markets and policies of school choice. Focusing on federal funding and state conveyancing policies, the study employs policy sociology and social geographies perspectives to examine policy effects on social relations and the implications for equity.

Building equitable literate futures : home and school computer-mediated literacy practices and disadvantage

This paper examines the complex connections between literacy practices, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and disadvantage. It reports the findings of a year-long study which investigated the ways in which four families use ICTs to engage with formal and informal literacy learning in home and school settings. The research set out to explore what it is about computer-mediated literacy practices at home and at school in disadvantaged communities that make a difference in school success. The findings demonstrate that the 'socialisation' of the technology - its appropriation into existing family norms, values and lifestyles - varied from family to family. Having access to ICTs at home was not sufficient for the young people and their families to overcome the so-called 'digital divide'. Clearly, we are seeing shifts in the meaning of 'disadvantage' in a globalised world mediated by the use of new technologies. New definitions of disadvantage that take account not only of access to the new technologies but also include calibrated understandings of what constitutes the access are required. The article concludes that old inequalities have not disappeared, but are playing out in new ways in the context of the networked society.

Building equitable literate futures : home and school computer-mediated literacy practices and disadvantage

This article examines the complex connections between literacy practices, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and disadvantage. It reports the findings of a year-long study which investigated the ways in which four families use ICTs to engage with formal and informal literacy learning in home and school settings. The research set out to explore what it is about computer-mediated literacy practices at home and at school in disadvantaged communities that makes a difference in school success. The findings demonstrate that the 'socialisation' of the technology--its appropriation into existing family norms, values and lifestyles--varied from family to family. Having access to ICTs at home was not sufficient for the young people and their families to overcome the so-called 'digital divide'. The article concludes that old inequalities have not disappeared, but are playing out in new ways in the context of the networked society.

Comparing different economic linkages among commodity futures

Gasoline (GA) and kerosene (KO) are extracted from crude oil (CO), such that the three fuel commodities share a chemical link. On the other hand, GA also shares an industrial link with natural rubber (NR) and palladium (PA) as complementary commodities that are heavily consumed by the automobile industry. We contrast the information content embedded in the two economic linkages. Focusing on TOCOM futures contracts written on the five commodities and centering on GA, we confirm that incremental information provided by either CO, KO or NR, PA over a buy-and-hold strategy and a naive forecast, are both statistically and economically significant. While the chemical link forecast is more profitable, a double-link forecast generated from a VECM with two cointegrating vectors (KO-GA and GANR prices) outperforms both single-link forecasts based on risk-adjusted profit net of transaction costs. Further comparisons against the profitability of commodity-based momentum strategies documented in Erb and Harvey (2006) and Miffre and Rallis (2007) show that the double-link forecast holds its own against the most profitable of the 75 momentum strategies considered. This strongly suggests that not only are there incremental profits to be gained from harnessing and combining economic links among commodity futures, the resultant incremental profits are economically significant against other proven commodity-based trading strategies in the existing literature.