GROUP PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

Contemporary Accounting Research, 2004

Regulators argue that mandated compensation disclosure improves corporate governance by permitting shareholders to enjoin boards of directors to reward executives in ways that are consistent with shareholder value creation. We posit that mandated compensation disclosure, or the absence thereof, has a greater impact on the CEO compensation practices of widely-held firms than of closely-held firms. More specifically, we expect that, in the absence of mandated disclosure, CEO compensation is likely to be less performance-contingent among widely-held firms than among closely-held firms. Moreover, we also expect that the advent of mandated disclosure leads widely-held firms to increase the extent to which CEO compensation is performance-contingent, much more so than closely-held firms would. We use a unique database resulting from the Ontario Securities Commission amendment of Regulation 638 in October 1993. For the first time, this amendment required firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange to provide detailed executive compensation data similar to that required by the SEC, for current year as well as retroactively for the previous two years. We find that, in the absence of mandated disclosure, CEO cash compensation in widely-held firms is less performance-contingent than in closely-held firms. With the imposition of mandated disclosure, performance-contingent cash compensation increases more in widely-held firms than in closely-held firms. Results with respect to stock option grants are mixed, with both closely-held and widely-held firms reacting to the advent of mandated disclosure.

Energy Conversion and Management, 2014

The aim of the present paper is to evaluate the future consumption of natural gas in the Italian 8 residential sector. The historical pattern of the consumption is reported and analyzed in order to 9 identify the consumption drivers. It is found that natural gas consumption is influenced by gross 10 domestic product per capita (GDP per capita), gas price and heating degree days (HDD); therefore 11 an equation linking these parameters is estimated by means of a linear regression analysis. The GDP 12 per capita, gas price and HDD short and long run elasticities of consumption have been estimated, 13 showing that the larger influence is due to HDD (i.e. climatic factor). On the basis of the evolution 14 of the explaining variables, a "business as usual" (BAU) trend of consumption is estimated, 15 showing that, in 2030, natural gas consumption in the residential sector is expected to double that of 16 1990. Finally, the effect of energy saving measures in the sector of buildings heating is evaluated, 17 showing that consumption might be reduced of ~20% with respect to BAU consumption, if the 15% 18 of flats and 5% of single houses are properly insulated. 19 Q heating demand, kWh m -2 36 U thermal conductance, W m -2 K -1 37 WAC weather adjusting coefficient 38 Greek Letters 39 α regression coefficient 40 β 1 short run elasticity of consumption with respect to HDD 41 β 2 short run elasticity of consumption with respect to P res 42 β 3 short run elasticity of consumption with respect to GDP per capita 43 β 4-5 regression coefficients 44 γ ratio between area of heat exchange toward external environment of i-th elements and floor area 45 χ thermal dispersing surface ratio 46 p r e -p r i n t Subscripts 48 avg average 49 e estimated 50 h heating 51 i refers to the i-th heat exchange surface 52 pc per-capita 53 res residential 54 t refers to year "t" 55 56 1.0 Introduction 57 Italy is one of the main consumers of natural gas within European Union. With its total 58 consumption of ~69 bcm in 2012 [1], it is the largest European consumer of natural gas after UK 59

We test the relationship between the current account and fiscal policy for a group of small open developing economies with fixed exchange rates some of which are oil exporters. Specifically, we test the viewpoint of a Ricardian infinite-horizon representative agent model in which lower public savings are met by equal increases in private savings, and as a result the current account does not respond to the changes in government spending, against a Keynesian's conventional viewpoint in which a fall in public savings has an adverse effect on the current account balance. Unlike the evidence from flexible exchange rate economies provided by many authors such as Rosensweig and Tallman (evidence from a panel data analysis and Granger-causality test of these fixed exchange-based countries supports the conventional theory of positive relationship between fiscal and external balances, with causality running from the former to the latter, in oil countries, whereas it supports the Ricardian view for non-oil countries.

An instability analysis of the dual viscous layer was conducted to support that the Rayleigh-Taylor instability was responsible for the pattern formation observed in the experiments and in Siqueiros paintings.

Energy Economics, 2010

Several studies have considered the sustainability of corn-based ethanol as produced in the US as a major fuel source from a technical perspective. However, not much attention has been paid to the market-based aspects of corn-based ethanol as a sustainable fuel. We address this question by offering an econometric analysis of the E85 (apparently the most viable of the potential substitutes for gasoline) market using demand and supply analysis. Reduced form price equation estimates indicate that the cross elasticity of E85's price with respect to the price of gasoline does not differ significantly from unity, so that any rise in gasoline prices will be matched (in percentage terms) by a corresponding rise in the price of E85. Thus, given the current market, which includes significant government subsidy, the prospect that E85 will ever be price competitive with gasoline is indeed dim.

Advances in Applied Clifford Algebras, 2000

1 The matrix R can be related to the CP operation in the (1/2, 0) ⊕ (0, 1/2) representation.

2006

Linear and Multilinear Algebra

In this study, we extend the result on classification of a subclass of filiform Leibniz algebras in low dimensions to dimensions seven and eight based on the technique used by Rakhimov and Bekbaev for classification of subclasses which arise from naturally graded non-Lie filiform Leibniz algebras. The subclass considered here arises from naturally graded filiform Lie algebras. This subclass contains the class of filiform Lie algebras and consequently, by classifying this subclass, we again re-examine the classification of filiform Lie algebras. Our resulting list of filifom Lie algebras is compared with that given by Ancoch\'ea-Bermudez and Goze in 1988 and by G\'{o}mez, Jimenez-Merchan and Khakimdjanov in 1998.

The study investigates the relationship between private capital formation and savings in Nigeria between 1980-2012. It employs the ordinary least squares technique, cointegration and the error correction mechanism which minimizes the possibility of estimating spurious relations while at the same retaining long run information. Research findings show that capital expenditure and inflation rate exhibit negative and insignificant effects on gross fixed private capital formation with savings having a negative and significant effect. FDI, RGDP and Prime lending rate all revealed to have a positive and significant effect on gross fixed private capital formation with the previous value(s) of gross fixed private capital formation having a positive and significant effect on the present value(s). The study recommends, among other things, the encouragement of savings culture and creation of a conducive environment for investment to thrive.

2011

The valuation of real estates (e.g., house, land, among others) is of extreme importance for decision making. Their singular characteristics make valuation through hedonic pricing methods dificult since the theory does not specify the correct regression functional form nor which explanatory variables should be included in the hedonic equation. In this article we perform real estate appraisal using a class of regression models proposed by Rigby & Stasinopoulos (2005): generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS). Our empirical analysis shows that these models seem to be more appropriate for estimation of the hedonic prices function than the regression models currently used to that end.