Sources of liquidity commonality, asymmetric information and ownership structure in emerging markets : evidence from the Chinese stock market

Xinwei Zheng examines if common factors of liquidity can be determined by ownership structure measured by asymmetric information in an emerging market that has adopted an order-driven trading system. Using China as a case for the study, I select a broad sample of stocks from two separate Chinese stock exchanges to measure and
analyse the relationship. My empirical evidence seems significant and pervasive. These findings about the Chinese stock market provide useful pointers for understanding commonality in emerging economies and shed critical light
on a new dimension of the working of emerging markets.

Describing individual incidents of sexual abuse: a review of research on the effects of multiple sources of information on children's reports

Objective: For successful prosecution of child sexual abuse, children are often required to provide reports about individual, alleged incidents. Although verbally or mentally rehearsing memory of an incident can strengthen memories, children’s report of individual incidents can also be contaminated when they experience other events related to the individual incidents (e.g., informal interviews, dreams of the incident) and/or when they have similar, repeated experiences of an incident, as in cases of multiple abuse.

Method: Research is reviewed on the positive and negative effects of these related experiences on the length, accuracy, and structure of children’s reports of a particular incident.

Results: Children’s memories of a particular incident can be strengthened when exposed to information that does not contradict what they have experienced, thus promoting accurate recall and resistance to false, suggestive influences. When the encountered information differs from children’s experiences of the target incident, however, children can become confused between their experiences—they may remember the content but not the source of their experiences.

Conclusions: We discuss the implications of this research for interviewing children in sexual abuse investigations and provide a set of research-based recommendations for investigative interviewers.

The before and after effect of the Olympic games on the host city's property market : the Sydney experience

This research evaluated the impact of the Olympic Games on the host city's residential property market, both before and after the Games. Using a time  series approach between 1990 and 2003, this paper examines various indicators to measure the effect of the 2000 Olympics on the Sydney property market. The research shows that although the Olympics were held for only ten days, its influence on the surrounding market in a direct and indirect manner was substantial. It appears that the lasting effect of the Games on the property market remained strongest in the general vicinity of the Olympic Village, and then gradually weakened over time in areas located further away from this precinct. It emphasised the role of urban planning both before and after the event, and how to use a major sporting event to gentrify a suburb.

The pricing of property trust IPOs in Australia

Following Brounen and Eichholtz (2002) this paper adds to the international literature investigating the underpricing of REIT initial public offerings (IPOs), with a study into Australian property trusts. This study finds that initial day returns can in part be explained by forecast profit distributions (or dividends) and the market sentiment towards property trusts from the date of the prospectus to the date of listing. There is some support for the “winners curse” explanation of underpricing with evidence that large investor or institutional involvement at the outset of the IPO also has some explanatory power.

B2B electronic markets: a conceptual model for analyzing the sources of business value

This paper describes research supporting the development of a conceptual model for understanding the sources of business value of Business-to-Business (B2B) Electronic Markets. Based on six case studies and an analysis of current literature, Aggregation, Matching, and Integration emerged as the three key sources of business value. The framework provides a structured and systematic approach for understanding various B2B Electronic Market models, and helps develop strategies to leverage these sources of business value.

Management of the market research function in client firms

Companies vary in the way they structure their market research function. This was hypothesized to affect the perceived value of their research. A survey of 241 marketing managers in major Australian firms showed that structure positively affected the perceived value of market research information while bolstering the internal client’s position.

Sources of well-being and commitment of staff in the Australian Disability Employment Services

This study examined the role of working conditions in predicting the psychological health, job satisfaction and organisational commitment of personnel responsible for helping people with disabilities gain employment in the mainstream Australian labour market. The working conditions were assessed using two theories: the Job Strain Model (job demand, social support and job control) and Psychological Contract Theory (unwritten reciprocal obligations between employers and employees). In the case of the Job Strain Model, the generic dimensions had been augmented by industry-specific sources of stress. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in June and July 2005 with 514 staff returning completed questionnaires (representing a response rate of 30%). Comparisons between respondents and non-respondents revealed that on the basis of age, gender and tenure, the sample was broadly representative of employees working in the Australian disability employment sector at that time. The results of regression analyses indicate that social support was predictive of all of the outcome measures. Job control and the honouring of psychological contracts were both predictive of job satisfaction and commitment, while the more situation-specific stressors - treatment and workload stressors - were inversely related to psychological health (i.e. as concern regarding the treatment and workload stressors increased, psychological health decreased). Collectively, these findings suggest that strategies aimed at combating the negative effects of large-scale organisational change could be enhanced by addressing several variables represented in the models - particularly social support, job control, psychological contracts and sector-specific stressors.

Higher education services exports : sources of growth of Asian students in US and UK

The paper reviews the recent trends and current developments in the global higher education market with a particular focus on growth of Asian students studying in US and UK. Using pool cross section-time series data over the 1985–2003 period, it is found that different factors affect students from different countries differently. This suggests that the marketing strategies of offshore higher education providers need to be tailored to the specific needs of different markets in order to be successful. The emergence of a number of new players in the higher education export market is also rapidly becoming a major threat to the traditional higher education service exporters.

Identifying linkages between generations and the property market : the effect on residential and retail property

In the analysis of property markets, especially the retail and residential sectors, increasing importance is being given to the role of demography. The impact of economic influences such as interest rate movements, inflation and changes in the labour market are well documented and although these variables are clearly important. they do not incorporate the changing characteristics of the local inhabitants who actually generate the demand. However, demography can provide an invaluable insight into retail and residential property trends, especially over the long term, and are assisted by reliable population datasets with a relatively high level of detail. For example, the emergence of the 'baby boom' generation and the trend towards geographical relocation had a substantial effect on demand for retail and housing products, although little consideration has been given to the effect from the subsequent cohorts, namely generations X,Y and Z. This paper examines the role of demography when researching property markets, with the focus placed on demographic shifts. It discusses trends in arange of demographic variables that have been observed in society. In addition, it highlights linkages with property markets, especially residential and retail property, and draws inferences for long term trends.The study concludes that when conducting research into property markets. it is essential to have a thorough understanding of various demographic variables to predict how they affect demand. An appreciation of the drivers behind generations will assist property researchers to identify future needs, and the subsequent effect this will have on community development involving retail and residential property.

The Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games : what does it mean for the local property market?

In 2006 Melbourne will host the 18th Commonwealth Games with Brisbane being the last Australian city to host this event over two decades ago in 1982. Melbourne has not held a major global sporting event since the 1956 Olympic Games, although the 2006 Commonwealth Games follows on from the successful 2000 Sydney Olympics. These sporting events have continued to grow from strength to strength, and have been assisted by Australia's close affiliation with sport and the widespread global media coverage. In a similar manner to other sporting events that Melbourne hosts, including the Australian Tennis Open, Formula One Grand Prix, Motorcycle Grand Prix, Melbourne Cup and Australian Football League, the city and its inhabitants are consumed by these events. The 2006 Commonwealth Games is certain to follow this trend.
The task of hosting the Commonwealth Games is enormous, although actively pursued in a fierce bidding process by competing cities. The benefits are undisputed and include an influx of visitors to the host city, an opportunity to enhance or rebuild infrastructure such as transport, plus the worldwide focus on the host city before and during the event. A high level of planning is undertaken for years well in advance of the event, and this may have an effect on the surrounding property market. Through the media both buyers and sellers are constantly reminded of the upcoming Games, the venues and the increased demand that will occur. Accordingly, this research investigates the task of hosting a major global sporting event such as the Commonwealth Games, and importantly how affects infrastructure in a host city. Attention is placed on the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the Melbourne property market. Whilst every host city differs in characteristics such as size, location and timing of the event, the findings of this study will assist a future host city to plan for the highly irregular circumstances that accompany a high profile one-off major sporting event.

Sources of variation in fibre diameter attributes of Australian alpacas and implications for fleece evaluation and animal selection

Sources of variation in fibre diameter attributes of Australian alpacas and implications for fleece evaluation and animal selection were investigated using data collected in the years 1994–97, from 6 properties in southern Australia. Data were analysed using REML (multiple regression analysis) to determine the effect on mean fibre diameter (MFD) and coefficient of variation of MFD (CV(FD)) of age, origin (property), sex (entire male, female), breed (Huacaya, Suri), liveweight, fibre colour, individual, and interactions of these effects. The mean (n = 100) age (range) was 4.2 years (0.1–11.9), liveweight 72.0 kg (12.0–134 kg), MFD 29.1 μm (17.7–46.6 μm), CV(FD) 24.33% (15.0–36.7%).

A number of variables affected MFD and CV(FD). MFD increased to 7.5 years of age, and correlations between MFD at 1.5 and 2 years of age with the MFD at older ages were much higher than correlations at younger ages. Fibre diameter 'blowout' (increase with age) was positively correlated with the actual MFD at ages 2 years and older. There were important effects of farm, and these effects differed with year and shearing age. Suris were coarser than Huacayas with the effect reducing with increased liveweight; there was no effect of sex. Fleeces of light shade were 1 μm finer than dark fleeces. CV(FD) declined rapidly between birth and 2 years of age, reaching a minimum at about 4 years of age and then increasing; however, CV(FD) measurements on young animals were very poor predictors of CV(FD) at older ages, and the response of CV(FD) to age differed with farm and year. Suris had a higher CV(FD) than Huacayas on most properties, and MFD, liveweight, and sex did not affect CV(FD). Fleeces of dark shade had higher CV(FD) than fleeces of light shade in 2 of the years. It is concluded that there are large opportunities to improve the MFD and CV(FD) of alpaca fibre through selection and breeding. The potential benefit is greatest from reducing the MFD and CV(FD) of fibre from older alpacas, through reducing the between-animal variation in MFD and CV(FD). Sampling alpacas at ages <2 years is likely to substantially decrease selection efficiency for lifetime fibre diameter attributes.

The decomposition of housing market variations : a panel data approach

Purpose – This paper develops a new decomposition method of the housing market variations to analyse the housing dynamics of the Australian eight capital cities.
Design/methodology/approach – This study reviews the prior research on analysing the housing market variations and classifies the previous methods into four main models. Based on this, the study develops a new decomposition of the variations, which is made up of regional information, homemarket information and time information. The panel data regression method, unit root test and F test are adopted to construct the model and interpret the housing market variations of the Australian capital cities.
Findings – This paper suggests that the Australian home-market information has the same elasticity to the housing market variations across cities and time. In contrast, the elasticities of the regional information are distinguished. However, similarities exit in the west and north of Australia or the south and east of Australia. The time information contributes differently along the observing period, although the similarities are found in certain periods.
Originality/value – This paper introduces the housing market variation decomposition into the research of housing market variations and develops a model based on the new method of the housing market variation decomposition.