A versenyképesség aktuális kérdései a pénzügyekben - Összefoglaló a pénzügyi kutatócsoport munkájáról = Current issues of competitiveness - Summary on the work of the Finance research team

A pénzügy kutatócsoport a TÁMOP-4.2.1.B-09/1/KMR-2010-0005 azonosítójú projektjében igen szerteágazó elemzési munkát végzett. Rámutattunk, hogy a különböző szintű gazdasági szereplők megnövekedett tőkeáttétele egyértelműen a rendszerkockázat növekedéséhez vezet, hiszen nő az egyes szereplők csődjének valószínűsége. Ha a tőkeáttételt eltérő mértékben és ütemben korlátozzák az egyes szektorokban, országokban akkor a korlátozást később bevezető szereplők egyértelműen versenyelőnyhöz jutnak. Az egyes pénzügyi intézmények tőkeallokációját vizsgálva kimutattuk, hogy a különféle divíziók közt mindig lehetséges a működés fedezetésül szolgáló tőkét (kockázatot) úgy felosztani, hogy a megállapodás felmondás egyik érintettnek se álljon érdekében. Ezt azonban nem lehet minden szempontból igazságosan megtenni, így egyes üzletágak versenyhátrányba kerülhetnek, ha a konkurens piaci szereplők az adott tevékenységet kevésbé igazságtalanul terhelték meg. Kimutattunk, hogy az egyes nyugdíjpénztárak befektetési tevékenységének eredményességére nagy hatással van a magánnyugdíjpénztárak tevékenységének szabályozása. Ezek a jogszabályok a társadalom hosszú távú versenyképességére vannak hatással. Rámutattunk arra is, hogy a gazdasági válság előtt a hazai bankok sem voltak képesek ügyfeleik kockázatviselő képességét helyesen megítélni, ráadásul jutalékrendszerük nem is tette ebben érdekelté azokat. Számos vizsgálatunk foglalkozott a magyar vállalatok versenyképességének alakulásával is. Megvizsgáltuk a különféle adónemek, árfolyamkockázatok és finanszírozási politikák versenyképességet befolyásoló hatását. Külön kutatás vizsgálta a kamatlábak ingadozásának és az hitelekhez kapcsolódó eszközfedezet meglétének vállalati értékre gyakorolt hatásait. Rámutattunk a nemfizetés növekvő kockázatára, és áttekintettük a lehetséges és a ténylegesen alkalmazott kezelési stratégiákat is. Megvizsgáltuk azt is, hogy a tőzsdei cégek tulajdonosai miként használják ki az osztalékfizetéshez kapcsolódó adóoptimalizálási lehetőségeket. Gyakorlati piaci tapasztalataik alapján az adóelkerülő kereskedést a befektetők a részvények egy jelentős részénél végrehajtják. Külön kutatás foglakozott a szellemi tőke hazai vállalatoknál játszott szerepéről. Ez alapján a cégek a problémát 2009-ben lényegesen magasabb szakértelemmel kezelték, mint öt esztendővel korábban. Rámutattunk arra is, hogy a tulajdonosi háttér lényeges hatást gyakorolhat arra, ahogyan a cégek célrendszerüket felépítik, illetve ahogy az intellektuális javakra tekintenek. _____ The Finance research team has covered a wide range of research fields while taking part at project TÁMOP-4.2.1.B-09/1/KMR-2010-0005. It has been shown that the increasing financial gearing at the different economic actors clearly leads to growth in systematic risk as the probability of bankruptcy climbs upwards. Once the leverage is limited at different levels and at different points in time for the different sectors, countries introducing the limitations later gain clearly a competitive advantage. When investigating the leverage at financial institutions we found that the capital requirement of the operation can always be divided among divisions so that none of them would be better of with cancelling the cooperation. But this cannot be always done fairly from all point of view meaning some of the divisions may face a competitive disadvantage if competitors charge their similar division less unfairly. Research has also shown that the regulation of private pension funds has vital effect on the profitability of the investment activity of the funds. These laws and regulations do not only affect the funds themselves but also the competitiveness of the whole society. We have also fund that Hungarian banks were unable to estimate correctly the risk taking ability of their clients before the economic crisis. On the top of that the bank were not even interested in that due to their commission based income model. We also carried out several research on the competitiveness of the Hungarian firms. The effect of taxes, currency rate risks, and financing policies on competitiveness has been analysed in detail. A separate research project was dedicated to the effect of the interest rate volatility and asset collaterals linked to debts on the value of the firm. The increasing risk of non-payment has been underlined and we also reviewed the adequate management strategies potentially available and used in real life. We also investigated how the shareholders of listed companies use the tax optimising possibilities linked to dividend payments. Based on our findings on the Hungarian markets the owners perform the tax evading trades in case of the most shares. A separate research has been carried out on the role played by intellectual capital. After that the Hungarian companies dealt with the problem in 2009 with far higher proficiency than five years earlier. We also pointed out that the ownership structure has a considerable influence on how firms structure their aims and view their intangible assets.

A beruházási projektek aggregált tőkeigénye = The Aggregate Capital Needs of Investment Projects

A tanulmány abból indul ki, hogy a beruházási projektek értékelése során egyidejűleg szükséges figyelembe venni a projektben lekötött tőkét és a lekötési időt mint jövedelemtermelési lehetőséget. Definiálja a projekt aggregált tőkeigényének fogalmát és megszerkeszti a vonatkozó mérőszámot. Az aggregált tőkeigény új vállalatgazdasági kategória, mely a beruházási projektek értékelésének egy új megközelítését teszi lehetővé. A projekt aggregált tőkeigénye azt a tőkeösszeget jelenti, mely a projekt működtetéséhez annak teljes élettartama alatt szükséges. A három meghatározó tényező: a kezdőtőke, a megtérülési idő (illetőleg az élettartam) és a megtérülés gyorsasága. A számszerűsítéshez minden évre vonatkozóan meg kell határozni az adott évben lekötött tőkét, ami az adott évig még meg nem térült tőkerészt jelenti, majd ezek összegzése révén adódik az aggregált tőkeigény. A mértékegység egységnyi tőke egyévi lekötése. A tanulmány az összefüggések modellszerű levezetése mellett gazdag példaanyagot is tartalmaz. Az elemzés bővíti a nettó jelenérték tartalmára vonatkozó ismereteket, rávilágít az aggregált tőkeigény ismeretének fontosságára mind a nettó jelenérték, mind a belső kamatláb esetében. _____ The starting point of this paper is that in the evaluation process of investment projects necessary to take into account simultaneously the tied-up capital and tiedup time as the income-generating potential. For this, it defines a special content of aggregate capital needs of investment projects, and elaborates an index. The aggregate capital needs is a new business economics category, which provides a new aspect to evaluate investment projects. This means the amount of capital needed for the operation of the project during its full duration. Three factors determine the aggregate capital needs for investments projects. These are the amount of initial investment, the payback period (or the duration) and the rapidity of capital payback. The solution is to sum up the yearly tied-up capital, that is, the notreturned parts of the capital for each year. The measurement unit is one unit tied-up capital for one year. The paper formulates the main relationships as models and by way of explanation presents some examples. The analysis highlights the importance of considering the aggregate capital needs furthermore widens knowledge regarding the net present value and internal rate of return.

EU-s források a vállalkozások tőkeellátottságának javítására - A JEREMIE Kockázati Tőkeprogram (EU funds to improve the capitalization of the companies – JEREMIE Venture Capital Program)

A hazai kis- és középvállalkozások (kkv-k) tőkeellátottságának javítása meghatározó szerepet játszik fejlődésük előmozdításában. Jelen tanulmány az Új Széchenyi Terv (ÚSZT) keretében a vállalkozások rendelkezésére álló pénzügyi eszközök közül a kockázati tőke működését mutatja be. A fejlődésük növekedési ciklusában járó cégek mellett a korai életszakaszukban járó, innovatív tevékenységet folytató, gyors növekedésre képes, de forráshiányos vállalkozások finanszírozásában nyújthat segítséget Magyarországon a 2010-ben elindult JEREMIE Kockázati Tőkeprogram. Az állami és a privát tulajdonban levő piaci szereplők hazánkban újnak mondható együttműködése révén megvalósuló program a magyar kockázatitőke-piac kínálati oldalának bővítését szolgálja, abban az alsó (döntően az 1-1,5 millió EUR/tranzakció alatti) szegmensben, ahol a tisztán piaci alapon működő befektetők korlátozottabb szerepvállalása figyelhető meg, és így a piacon hiány jelentkezik. Az EU-s támogatások ezen új típusú felhasználási formája színesíti és kibővíti a vállalkozások számára elérhető pénzügyi eszközök körét és volumenét, fokozottabb mértékben érvényesül a piaci szemlélet, hiszen verseny van a forrásokért, és verseny van a források kihelyezését végző pénzügyi közvetítő szervezetek között is, mindezek mellett további magánforrások bevonását biztosítja, ösztönzőleg hat a cégek működésére, és a visszaforgó rendszer biztosítja a fenntarthatóságot, a források későbbi újbóli felhasználását is. _______ To improve the capitalization of the domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has a decisive role in promoting development. This study presents the operation of venture capital from the available business financial instruments of the New Széchenyi Plan. In Hungary the JEREMIE Venture Capital Program, which launched in 2010, can help in financing of the rapidly growth, innovative, early life stage companies besides the development cycle of growth companies. This program with new cooperation between the stateowned and private companies enlarge the supply-side of the Hungarian venture capital market, at that the bottom (mostly in the 1 to 1.5 million EUR / transaction below) segment, where can be observed the limited role of the purely market-based investors, and thus there is a shortage in the market. These new type application form of the EU supports enriches and expands the scope and volume of the available financial instruments for the enterprises, the market orientation prevails more broadly, because there is a competition for resources and there is a competition between the resources allocation financial intermediaries,in addition ensures further private resources.

The role of death qualification in venirepersons' evaluations of aggravating and mitigating circumstances in capital trials

Death qualification is a part of voir dire that is unique to capital trials. Unlike all other litigation, capital jurors must affirm their willingness to impose both legal standards (either life in prison or the death penalty). Jurors who assert they are able to do so are deemed “death-qualified” and are eligible for capital jury service: jurors who assert that they are unable to do so are deemed “excludable” or “scrupled” and are barred from hearing a death penalty case. During the penalty phase in capital trials, death-qualified jurors weigh the aggravators (i.e., arguments for death) against the mitigators (i.e., arguments for life) in order to determine the sentence. If the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, then the jury is to recommend death; if the mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating circumstances, then the jury is to recommend life. The jury is free to weigh each aggravating and mitigating circumstance in any matter they see fit. Previous research has found that death qualification impacts jurors' receptiveness to aggravating and mitigating circumstances (e.g., Luginbuhl & Middendorf, 1988). However, these studies utilized the now-defunct Witherspoon rule and did not include a case scenario for participants to reference. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether death qualification affects jurors' endorsements of aggravating and mitigating circumstances when Witt, rather than Witherspoon, is the legal standard for death qualification. Four hundred and fifty venirepersons from the 11 th Judicial Circuit in Miami, Florida completed a booklet of stimulus materials that contained the following: two death qualification questions; a case scenario that included a summary of the guilt and penalty phases of a capital case; a 26-item measure that required participants to endorse aggravators, nonstatutory mitigators, and statutory mitigators on a 6-point Likert scale; and standard demographic questions. Results indicated that death-qualified venirepersons, when compared to excludables, were more likely to endorse aggravating circumstances. Excludable participants, when compared to death-qualified venirepersons, were more likely to endorse nonstatutory mitigators. There was no significant difference between death-qualified and excludable venirepersons with respect to their endorsement of 6 out of 7 statutory mitigators. It would appear that the Furman v. Georgia (1972) decision to declare the death penalty unconstitutional is frustrated by the Lockhart v. McCree (1986) affirmation of death qualification. ^

Estimation of global beta and tests of capital asset pricing models

With the rapid globalization and integration of world capital markets, more and more stocks are listed in multiple markets. With multi-listed stocks, the traditional measurement of systematic risk, the domestic beta, is not appropriate since it only contain information from one market. ^ Prakash et al. (1993) developed a technique, the global beta, to capture information from multiple markets wherein the stocks are listed. In this study, the global betas are obtained as well as domestic betas for 704 multi-listed stocks from 59 world equity markets. Welch tests show that domestic betas are not equal across markets, therefore, global beta is more appropriate in a global investment setting. ^ The traditional Capital Asset Pricing Models (CAPM) is also tested with regards to both domestic beta and global beta. The results generally support the positive relationship between stocks returns and global beta while tend to reject this relationship between stocks returns and domestic beta. Further tests of International CAPM with domestic beta and global beta strengthen the conclusion.^

The impact of institutional complexity and top management characteristics on executive compensation and firm performance

While most studies take a dyadic view when examining the environmental difference between the home country of a multinational enterprise (MNE) and a particular foreign country, they ignore that an MNE is managing a network of subsidiaries embedded in diverse environments. Additionally, neither the impacts of global environments on top executives nor the effects of top executives’ capabilities to handle institutional complexity are fully explored. Thus, using a three-essay format, this dissertation tried to fill these gaps by addressing the effects of institutional complexity and top management characteristics on top executive compensation and firm performance. ^ Essay 1 investigated the impact of an MNE’s institutional complexity, or the diversity of national institutions facing an MNE’s network of subsidiaries, on the top management team (TMT) compensation. This essay proposed that greater political and cultural complexity leads to not only greater TMT total compensation but also to a greater portion of TMT compensation linked with long-term performance. The arguments are supported in this essay by using an unbalanced panel dataset including 296 U.S. firms with 1,340 observations. ^ Essay 2 explored TMT social capital and its moderating role on value creation and appropriation by the chief executive officer (CEO). Using a sample with 548 U.S. firms and 2,010 observations, it found that greater TMT social capital does facilitate the effects of CEO intellectual capital and social capital on firm growth. Finally, essay 3 examined the performance implications for the fit between managerial information-processing capabilities and institutional complexity. It proposed that institutional complexity is associated with the needs of information-processing. On the other hand, smaller TMT turnover and larger TMT size reflect larger managerial information-processing capabilities. Consequently, superior performance is achieved by the match among institutional complexity, TMT turnover, and TMT size. All hypotheses in essay 3 are supported in a sample of 301 U.S. firms and 1,404 observations. ^ To conclude, this dissertation advances and extends our knowledge on the roles of institutional environments and top executives on firm performance and top executive compensation.^

What does board capital really bring to the table? Exploring the effect of directors' human and social capital on effective governance during international expansion

What constitutes effective corporate governance? Which director characteristics render boards effective at positively influencing firm-level performance outcomes? This dissertation examines these questions by taking a multilevel, multidisciplinary approach to corporate governance. I explore the individual-, team-, and firm- level factors that enable directors to serve effectively as strategic resources during international expansion. I argue that directors' international experience improves their ability to serve as effective strategic consultants and resource providers to firms during the complex internationalization process. However, unlike prior research, which tends to assume that directors with the potential to provide important resources uniformly do so, I acknowledge contextual factors (i.e. board cohesiveness, strategic relevance of directors' experience) that affect their propensity to actually influence outcomes. I explore these issues in three essays: one review essay and two empirical essays.^ In the first empirical essay, I integrate resource dependence theory with insights from social-psychological research to explore the influence of board capital on firms' cross-border M&A performance. Using a sample of cross-border M&As completed by S&P 500 firms from 2004-2009, I find evidence that directors' depth of international experience is associated with superior pre-deal outcomes. This suggests that boards' deep, market-specific knowledge is valuable during the target selection phase. I further find that directors' breadth of international experience is associated with superior post-deal performance, suggesting that these directors' global mindset helps firms in the post-M&A integration phase. I also find that these relationships are positively moderated by board cohesiveness, measured by boards' internal social ties.^ In the second empirical essay, I explore the boundary conditions of international board capital by examining how the characteristics of firms' internationalization strategy moderate the relationship between board capital and firm performance. Using a panel of 377 S&P 500 firms observed from 2004-2011, I find that boards' depth of international experience and social capital are more important during early stages of internationalization, when firms tend to lack market knowledge and legitimacy in the host markets. On the other hand, I find that breadth of international experience has a stronger relationship with performance when firms' have higher scope of internationalization, when information-processing demands are higher.^

What Does Board Capital Really Bring to the Table? Exploring the Effect of Directors’ Human and Social Capital on Effective Governance During International Expansion

What constitutes effective corporate governance? Which director characteristics render boards effective at positively influencing firm-level performance outcomes? This dissertation examines these questions by taking a multilevel, multidisciplinary approach to corporate governance. I explore the individual-, team-, and firm- level factors that enable directors to serve effectively as strategic resources during international expansion. I argue that directors’ international experience improves their ability to serve as effective strategic consultants and resource providers to firms during the complex internationalization process. However, unlike prior research, which tends to assume that directors with the potential to provide important resources uniformly do so, I acknowledge contextual factors (i.e. board cohesiveness, strategic relevance of directors’ experience) that affect their propensity to actually influence outcomes. I explore these issues in three essays: one review essay and two empirical essays. In the first empirical essay, I integrate resource dependence theory with insights from social-psychological research to explore the influence of board capital on firms’ cross-border M&A performance. Using a sample of cross-border M&As completed by S&P 500 firms from 2004-2009, I find evidence that directors’ depth of international experience is associated with superior pre-deal outcomes. This suggests that boards’ deep, market-specific knowledge is valuable during the target selection phase. I further find that directors’ breadth of international experience is associated with superior post-deal performance, suggesting that these directors’ global mindset helps firms in the post-M&A integration phase. I also find that these relationships are positively moderated by board cohesiveness, measured by boards’ internal social ties. In the second empirical essay, I explore the boundary conditions of international board capital by examining how the characteristics of firms’ internationalization strategy moderate the relationship between board capital and firm performance. Using a panel of 377 S&P 500 firms observed from 2004-2011, I find that boards’ depth of international experience and social capital are more important during early stages of internationalization, when firms tend to lack market knowledge and legitimacy in the host markets. On the other hand, I find that breadth of international experience has a stronger relationship with performance when firms’ have higher scope of internationalization, when information-processing demands are higher.

International Capital Flows and Monetary Policy Spillovers

This dissertation examines the drivers and implications of international capital flows. The overarching motivation is the observation that countries not at the centre of global financial markets are subject to considerable spillovers from centre countries, notably from their monetary policy. I present new empirical evidence on the determinants of the observed patterns of international capital flows and monetary policy spillovers, and study their effect on both financial markets and the real economy. In Chapter 2 I provide evidence on the determinants of a puzzling negative correlation observed between productivity growth and net capital inflows to developing and emerging market economies (EMEs) since 1980. By disaggregating net capital inflows into their gross components, I show that this negative correlation is explained by capital outflows related to purchases of very liquid assets from the fastest growing countries. My results suggest a desire for international portfolio diversification in liquid assets by fast growing countries is driving much of the original puzzle. In the reminder of my dissertation I pivot to study the foreign characteristics that drive international capital flows and monetary policy spillovers, with a particular focus on the role of unconventional monetary policy in the United States (U.S.). In Chapter 3 I show that a significant portion of the heterogeneity in EMEs' asset price adjustment following the quantitative easing operations by the Federal Reserve (the Fed) during 2008-2014 can be explained by the degree of bilateral capital market frictions between these countries and the U.S. This is true even after accounting for capital controls, exchange rate regimes, and domestic monetary policies. Chapter 4, co-authored with Michal Ksawery Popiel, studies unconventional monetary policy in a small open economy, looking specifically at the case of Canada since the global financial crisis. We quantify the effect Canadian unconventional monetary policy shocks had on the real economy, while carefully controlling for and quantifying spillovers from U.S. unconventional monetary policy. Our results indicate that the Bank of Canada's unconventional monetary policy increased Canadian output significantly from 2009-2010, but that spillovers from the Fed's policy were even more important for increasing Canadian output after 2008.

The Most Complete Photometric Analysis of 548 CALIFA Galaxies

We present an extensive photometric catalog for 548 CALIFA galaxies observed as of the summer of 2015. CALIFA is currently lacking photometry matching the scale and diversity of its spectroscopy; this work is intended to meet all photometric needs for CALIFA galaxies while also identifying best photometric practices for upcoming integral field spectroscopy surveys such as SAMI and MaNGA. This catalog comprises gri surface brightness profiles derived from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging, a variety of non-parametric quantities extracted from these pro files, and parametric models fitted to the i-band pro files (1D) and original galaxy images (2D). To compliment our photometric analysis, we contrast the relative performance of our 1D and 2D modelling approaches. The ability of each measurement to characterize the global properties of galaxies is quantitatively assessed, in the context of constructing the tightest scaling relations. Where possible, we compare our photometry with existing photometrically or spectroscopically obtained measurements from the literature. Close agreement is found with Walcher et al. (2014), the current source of basic photometry and classifications of CALIFA galaxies, while comparisons with spectroscopically derived quantities reveals the effect of CALIFA's limited field of view compared to broadband imaging surveys such as the SDSS. The colour-magnitude diagram, star formation main sequence, and Tully-Fisher relation of CALIFA galaxies are studied, to give a small example of the investigations possible with this rich catalog. We conclude with a discussion of points of concern for ongoing integral field spectroscopy surveys and directions for future expansion and exploitation of this work.

An Examination of Current Approaches to Integrative Indigenous and Western Knowledge System Implementation in Water Research and Management: A Case Study Encompassing the Colonized Geographies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States

The commodification of natural resources and the pursuit of continuous growth has resulted in environmental degradation, depletion, and disparity in access to these life-sustaining resources, including water. Utility-based objectification and exploitation of water in some societies has brought us to the brink of crisis through an apathetic disregard for present and future generations. The ongoing depletion and degradation of the world’s water sources, coupled with a reliance on Western knowledge and the continued omission of Indigenous knowledge to manage our relationship with water has unduly burdened many, but particularly so for Indigenous communities. The goal of my thesis research is to call attention to and advance the value and validity of using both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems (also known as Two-Eyed Seeing) in water research and management to better care for water. To achieve this goal, I used a combined systematic and realist review method to identify and synthesize the peer-reviewed, integrative water literature, followed by semi-structured interviews with first authors of the exemplars from the included literature to identify the challenges and insights that researchers have experienced in conducting integrative water research. Findings suggest that these authors recognize that many previous attempts to integrate Indigenous knowledges have been tokenistic rather than meaningful, and that new methods for knowledge implementation are needed. Community-based participatory research methods, and the associated tenets of balancing power, fostering trust, and community ownership over the research process, emerged as a pathway towards the meaningful implementation of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems. Data also indicate that engagement and collaborative governance structures developed from a position of mutual respect are integral to the realization of a given project. The recommendations generated from these findings offer support for future Indigenous-led research and partnerships through the identification and examination of approaches that facilitate the meaningful implementation of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems in water research and management. Asking Western science questions and seeking Indigenous science solutions does not appear to be working; instead, the co-design of research projects and asking questions directed at the problem rather than the solution better lends itself to the strengths of Indigenous science.

Rethinking Care Through Social Reproduction: Articulating Circuits of Migration

Care has come to dominate much feminist research on globalized migrations and the transfer of labor from the South to the North, while the older concept of reproduction had been pushed into the background but is now becoming the subject of debates on the commodification of care in the household and changes in welfare state policies. This article argues that we could achieve a better understanding of the different modalities and trajectories of care in the reproduction of individuals, families, and communities, both of migrant and nonmigrant populations by articulating the diverse circuits of migration, in particular that of labor and the family. In doing this, I go back to the earlier North American writing on racialized minorities and migrants and stratified social reproduction. I also explore insights from current Asian studies of gendered circuits of migration connecting labor and marriage migrations as well as the notion of global householding that highlights the gender politics of social reproduction operating within and beyond households in institutional and welfare architectures. In contrast to Asia, there has relatively been little exploration in European studies of the articulation of labor and family migrations through the lens of social reproduction. However, connecting the different types of migration enables us to achieve a more complex understanding of care trajectories and their contribution to social reproduction.

The influence of simulated exploitation onPatella vulgatapopulations: protandric sex change is size-dependent

Grazing mollusks are used as a food resource worldwide, and limpets are harvested commercially for both local consumption and export in several countries. This study describes a field experiment to assess the effects of simulated human exploitation of limpets Patella vulgata on their population ecology in terms of protandry (age-related sex change from male to female), growth, recruitment, migration, and density regulation. Limpet populations at two locations in southwest England were artificially exploited by systematic removal of the largest individuals for 18 months in plots assigned to three treatments at each site: no (control), low, and high exploitation. The shell size at sex change (L50: the size at which there is a 50:50 sex ratio) decreased in response to the exploitation treatments, as did the mean shell size of sexual stages. Size-dependent sex change was indicated by L50 occurring at smaller sizes in treatments than controls, suggesting an earlier switch to females. Mean shell size of P. vulgata neuters changed little under different levels of exploitation, while males and females both decreased markedly in size with exploitation. No differences were detected in the relative abundances of sexual stages, indicating some compensation for the removal of the bigger individuals via recruitment and sex change as no migratory patterns were detected between treatments. At the end of the experiment, 0–15 mm recruits were more abundant at one of the locations but no differences were detected between treatments. We conclude that sex change in P. vulgata can be induced at smaller sizes by reductions in density of the largest individuals reducing interage class competition. Knowledge of sex-change adaptation in exploited limpet populations should underpin strategies to counteract population decline and improve rocky shore conservation and resource management.

The influence of simulated exploitation onPatella vulgatapopulations: protandric sex change is size-dependent

Grazing mollusks are used as a food resource worldwide, and limpets are harvested commercially for both local consumption and export in several countries. This study describes a field experiment to assess the effects of simulated human exploitation of limpets Patella vulgata on their population ecology in terms of protandry (age-related sex change from male to female), growth, recruitment, migration, and density regulation. Limpet populations at two locations in southwest England were artificially exploited by systematic removal of the largest individuals for 18 months in plots assigned to three treatments at each site: no (control), low, and high exploitation. The shell size at sex change (L50: the size at which there is a 50:50 sex ratio) decreased in response to the exploitation treatments, as did the mean shell size of sexual stages. Size-dependent sex change was indicated by L50 occurring at smaller sizes in treatments than controls, suggesting an earlier switch to females. Mean shell size of P. vulgata neuters changed little under different levels of exploitation, while males and females both decreased markedly in size with exploitation. No differences were detected in the relative abundances of sexual stages, indicating some compensation for the removal of the bigger individuals via recruitment and sex change as no migratory patterns were detected between treatments. At the end of the experiment, 0–15 mm recruits were more abundant at one of the locations but no differences were detected between treatments. We conclude that sex change in P. vulgata can be induced at smaller sizes by reductions in density of the largest individuals reducing interage class competition. Knowledge of sex-change adaptation in exploited limpet populations should underpin strategies to counteract population decline and improve rocky shore conservation and resource management.

Women of an uncertain age: quantifying human capital accumulation in rural Ireland in the nineteenth century

Geary and Stark find that Ireland’s post-Famine per capita GDP converged with British levels, and that this convergence was largely due to total factor productivity growth rather than mass emigration. In this article, new long-run measurements of human capital accumulation in Ireland are devised in order to facilitate a better assessment of sources of this productivity growth, including the relative contribution of men and women. This is done by exploiting the frequency at which age data heap at round ages, widely interpreted as an indicator of a population’s basic numeracy skills. Because Földvári, van Leeuwen, and van Leeuwen-Li find that gender-specific trends in this measure derived from census returns are biased by who is reporting and recording the age information, any computed numeracy trends are corrected using data from prison and workhouse registers, sources in which women ostensibly self-reported their age. The findings show that rural Irish women born early in the nineteenth century had substantially lower levels of human capital than uncorrected census data would otherwise suggest. These results are large in magnitude and thus economically significant. The speed at which women converged is consistent with Geary and Stark’s interpretation of Irish economic history; Ireland probably graduated to Europe’s club of advanced economies thanks in part to rapid advances in female human capital.