Can company-fund manager meetings convey informational benefits? Exploring the rationalisation of equity investment decision making by UK fund managers

Conventional economic theory, applied to information released by listed companies, equates ‘useful’ with ‘price-sensitive’. Stock exchange rules accordingly prohibit the selec- tive, private communication of price-sensitive information. Yet, even in the absence of such communication, UK equity fund managers routinely meet privately with the senior execu- tives of the companies in which they invest. Moreover, they consider these brief, formal and formulaic meetings to be their most important sources of investment information. In this paper we ask how that can be. Drawing on interview and observation data with fund managers and CFOs, we find evidence for three, non-mutually exclusive explanations: that the characterisation of information in conventional economic theory is too restricted, that fund managers fail to act with the rationality that conventional economic theory assumes, and/or that the primary value of the meetings for fund managers is not related to their investment decision making but to the claims of superior knowledge made to clients in marketing their active fund management expertise. Our findings suggest a disconnect between economic theory and economic policy based on that theory, as well as a corre- sponding limitation in research studies that test information-usefulness by assuming it to be synonymous with price-sensitivity. We draw implications for further research into the role of tacit knowledge in equity investment decision-making, and also into the effects of the principal–agent relationship between fund managers and their clients.

Local spaces: open minds - inspirational ideas for managing lowland commons and other green spaces

The Chiltern commons are typical of those in the south east of England: small and numerous, but with the potential to provide important natural green space whilst contributing to environmental sustainability. In order to keep commons in good heart, they need to be managed. However, as activities such as grazing and coppicing become unviable on the commons, owners need to find sustainable roles beyond traditional agricultural and silvicultural practices. This paper examines ways of making management pay. It begins by exploring the economic, social and environmental challenges of sustainable management within the context of contemporary life. Section 2 identifies the different ways in which revenue contributions might be made towards the management of commons. Section 3 examines the relevant legal and other restrictions and Section 4 offers insights into where management proposals might offer multiple positive benefits, but also where there is the potential to cause conflict with environmental and social interests. Section 5 explores alternative funding streams for commons. Finally, Section 6 concludes with practical tips for the owners and managers of commons in the Chilterns and identifies areas for further research. Full references, links and resources are provided in the footnotes and appendix.

Normative-informational positions: a modal-logical approach

This paper is a preliminary investigation into the application of the formal-logical theory of normative positions to the characterisation of normative-informational positions, pertaining to rules that are meant to regulate the supply of information. First, we present the proposed framework. Next, we identify the kinds of nuances and distinctions that can be articulated in such a logical framework. Finally, we show how such nuances can arise in specific regulations. Reference is made to Data Protection Law and Contract Law, among others. The proposed approach is articulated around two essential steps. The first involves identifying the set of possible interpretations that can be given to a particular norm. This is done by using formal methods. The second involves picking out one of these interpretations as the most likely one. This second step can be resolved only by using further information (e.g., the context or other parts of the regulation).

From legal commons to social commons: Brazil and the cultural industry in the 21st century

This article describes some of the current transformations regarding the processes by which information and culture are generated, from the point of view of developing countries. In this brief analysis, the article discusses the role of projects such as Creative Commons for developing countries. It also discusses the idea of legal commons and social commons. While the idea of legal commons can be understood as the voluntary use of licenses such as Creative Commons in order to create a “commons”, the idea of social commons has to do with the tensions between legality and illegality in developing countries. These tensions appear prominently in the so-called global “peripheries”, and in many instances make the legal structure of intellectual property irrelevant, unfamiliar, or unenforceable, for various reasons. With the emergence of digital technology and the Internet, in many places and regions in developing countries (especially in the “peripheries”), technology ended up arriving earlier than the idea of intellectual property. Such a de facto situation propitiated the emergence of cultural industries that were not driven by intellectual property incentives. In these cultural businesses, the idea of “sharing” and of free dissemination of the content is intrinsic to the social circumstances taking place in these peripheries. Also, the appropriation of technology on the part of the “peripheries” ends up promoting autonomous forms of bridging the digital divide, such as the “LAN house” phenomenon discussed below. This paper proposes that many lessons can be learned from the business models emerging from social commons practices in developing countries. The tension between legality and illegality in “peripheral” areas in developing countries is not new. The work of Boaventura de Sousa Santos and others in the 1970s was paradigmatic for the discussion of legal pluralism regarding the occupation of land in Brazil. This paper aims to follow in that same pioneer tradition of studies about legal pluralism, and to apply those principles to the discussion of “intellectual property” rather than the ownership of land.

Copyleft , software livre e Creative Commons: a nova feição dos Direitos Autorais e as Obras Colaborativas Direitos Autorais e as obras colaborativas

Como se sabe, a lei brasileira de direitos autorais, Lei 9.610/98 (doravante designada LDA), é tida pelos especialistas no assunto como uma das mais restritivas de todo o mundo. Ao proibir a cópia integral de obra alheia, condutas que se afiguram corriqueiras no mundo contemporâneo são, a rigor, contrárias à lei. Por exemplo, diante dos termos estritos da LDA, quando uma pessoa adquire um CD numa loja, não pode copiar o conteúdo do CD para seu iPod, o que configura proibição incoerente com o mundo em que vivemos e com as facilidades da tecnologia digital. Dentro de um sistema jurídico que tem a Constituição Federal como filtro interpretativo (como é o nosso caso, no Brasil), é indispensável que as leis infraconstitucionais passem pelas lentes da Constituição. No entanto, nem sempre a reinterpretação das leis infraconstitucionais a partir do prisma constitucional será suficiente para aferir a legitimidade do uso de obras de terceiros, diante dos termos rígidos da LDA. É necessário buscar novos mecanismos para dar segurança jurídica a quem queira se valer de obras alheias. Como exemplo desses mecanismos, podemos mencionar as licenças públicas. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar soluções que, ainda que incipientes se comparadas à estrutura secular e insatisfatória dos princípios legais do direito autoral vigente, encontram-se já ao alcance de todos e abrangem todos os tipos de obras de arte, indistintamente.

Creative Commons, mídia e as transformações recentes do direito da propriedade intelectual

O presente artigo busca apresentar as licenças gerais públicas desenvolvidas no seio do projeto Creative Commons, contextualizando a razão de ser de regimes alternativos de licenciamento de direitos autorais, em razão das mudanças tecnológicas por que tem passado a comunidade internacional quanto ao tráfego, compartilhamento e utilização de informação.

O que é Creative Commons?: novos modelos de direito autoral em um mundo mais criativo

Os direitos autorais encontram-se no centro do mundo. Se antes interessavam apenas a quem publicava livros, gravava músicas ou produzia filmes, hoje os direitos autorais dizem respeito a todos os que acessam a internet. Afinal, o recente desenvolvimento tecnológico passou a permitir que obras culturais sejam produzidas e distribuídas diariamente no universo digital. Contudo, as leis de direitos autorais no Brasil não estão adequadas às práticas do tempo presente. Por isso, iniciativas inovadoras, que surgem em conformidade com a lei e que têm por objetivo aproximar o artista do público, vêm ganhando importância. Este livro é sobre uma dessas iniciativas - as licenças Creative Commons. Por meio das licenças Creative Commons o autor pode comunicar ao público o modo como ele permite que sua obra seja usada. A partir de uma variedade de seis licenças (que permitem desde a simples cópia até a exploração comercial da obra, conforme escolha do autor), as obras licenciadas podem fomentar a educação, incentivar a criação de obras derivadas ou permitir projetos colaborativos. Tudo de acordo com a vontade do autor e em favor de um mundo mais criativo.

Informational spillovers in the pre-1914 London sovereign debt market

We document a novel type of international financial contagion whose driving force is shared financial intermediation. In the London peripheral sovereign debt market during pre-1914 period financial intermediation played a major informational role to investors, most likely because of the absence of international monitoring agencies and the substantial agency costs. Using two events of financial distress – the Brazilian Funding Loan of 1898 and the Greek Funding Loan of 1893 – as quasi-natural experiments, we document that, following the crises, the bond prices of countries with no meaningful economic links to the distressed countries, but shared the same financial intermediary, suffered a reduction relative to the rest of the market. This result is true for the mean, median and the whole distribution of bond prices, and robust to an extensive sensitivity analysis. We interpret it as evidence that the identity of the financial intermediary was informative, i.e, investors extracted information about the soundness of a debtor based on the existence of financial relationships. This spillover, informational in essence, arises as the flip-side of the relational lending coin: contagion arises for the same reason why relational finance, in this case, underwriting, helps alleviate informational and incentive problems.

Informational synergies in consumer credit

Lenders can tap into multiple sources of private information to assess consumer credit risk but little is known about the informational synergies between these sources. Using unique panel data on checking accounts and credit card accounts from the same customers during 2007-2014, we find that activity measures from both account types contain information beyond credit scores and other controls. Checking accounts display warning indications earlier and more accurately than credit card accounts. We also investigate the consistency of information, the reasons for defaults, and selection effects. The evidence highlights sizeable informational synergies that lenders can use to manage credit relationships.

The informational turn in Philosophy: any novelty in the study of Mind?

The concept of information is analyzed starting from Adams' hypothesis in The Informational Turn in Philosophy, according to which there has been a far-reaching turn in Philosophy following the publication of Turing's article "Computing Machinery and Intelligence". Adams maintains that new guidelines are being indicated in philosophical research, having the concept of "information" as the basis for treatment of classical problems, such as the relationships between mind-body, perception-action, and the nature of knowledge, amongst others. Partially agreeing with Adams, we believe, however, that his hypothesis faces difficulties, the most fundamental of which concerns the different meanings given to the concept of information. We argue that even though the concept of information underlying the mechanicist proposal of Turing, according to which "to think is to compute", is indeed being employed in Philosophy, this is not because of its mechanistic nature, but mainly due to the representationist presupposition dominant in this area. From this point of view, the informational turn in philosophy would not provide any great novelty, given that since the earliest days philosophical approaches to the nature of mind have always been mainly representationist. The novelty would not lie specifically in the Turing thesis, but in reflections on the nature of information, especially ecological information, and its relation to action.