Patrick Burke and Daniel L. Junk
In light of the current investigations related to possible conflicts of interest involving Wall Street stock analysts, no general counsel at a securities firm needs to be reminded…
Abstract
In light of the current investigations related to possible conflicts of interest involving Wall Street stock analysts, no general counsel at a securities firm needs to be reminded of e‐mail’s growing importance in litigation and regulatory investigations. Merrill Lynch paid a $100 million settlement to the State of New York based, in significant part, on damaging evidence culled from the e‐mail of its analysts, including its renowned Internet stock analyst Henry Blodget. New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer issued additional subpoenas to most of the major Wall Street firms, and parallel investigations are underway by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the joint dynamics of volatility–volume relation in the high-yield (junk) corporate bond market during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the joint dynamics of volatility–volume relation in the high-yield (junk) corporate bond market during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
The author proposes a new empirical model of three-stage equations to better estimate the volume–volatility relation that helps in alleviating three econometrical problems. In Stage 1, the author estimates the fitted values of trading volume using a censored regression model, to alleviate the truncation problems of using Transaction Reporting and Compliance Engine data. In Stage 2, the author calculates the fitted values of bond return volatility using asymmetric Sign-GARCH model, to control for the asymmetric volatility in return series. In Stage 3, the author uses the fitted values of trading volume from the censored regression model (Stage 1) and the fitted values of return volatility from the GARCH model (Stage 2), to better alleviate the endogeneity problems between both variables.
Findings
The central finding is that conclusions about the statistical significance and the direction of the volume–volatility relationship in the junk bond market are dependent on the econometric methodology used.
Originality/value
From a practitioner perspective, it is important for professional traders holding positions in fixed income securities in their trading accounts to be aware of their asymmetric time-varying volume–volatility shifting trends. Such knowledge helps traders diversify their positions and manage their portfolios more appropriately.
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Melanie Babooram, Barbara Ann Mullan and Louise Sharpe
The aim of this paper is to qualitatively examine the ways in which primary school children, aged between 7 and 12, perceive various facets of obesity as defined by the common…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to qualitatively examine the ways in which primary school children, aged between 7 and 12, perceive various facets of obesity as defined by the common sense model of illness representation (CCM).
Design/methodology/approach
The study was qualitative in nature. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 33 children on all dimensions of the CSM. Twenty four children were normal weight and nine were overweight. A drawing task formed the methodology for the “identity” section of the interview.
Findings
Although children identified food intake as a main cause of obesity, almost half did not name sedentary behaviours as a cause of obesity. Duration (timeline) of obesity was regarded by most children as reliant on a person's undertaking of positive health behaviours. Normal weight children were found to list more severe consequences of obesity than the overweight group. It was found that experience contributed to the detailed knowledge of overweight children's perceptions of cures of obesity. Overweight children also spoke of personal incidents of barriers to cures.
Practical imlications
The findings suggest that the CSMs can be used to classify children's perceptions of obesity. Future childhood obesity interventions can utilise these findings to create campaigns and strategies that are more consistent with children's understandings of this condition.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, no previous study has examined children's perceptions of obesity beyond perceived causes.
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The film approach to history in this paper I want to consider the film as source material for history in the sense that palimpsest and parchment, hieroglyph and rune, clay tablet…
Abstract
The film approach to history in this paper I want to consider the film as source material for history in the sense that palimpsest and parchment, hieroglyph and rune, clay tablet and manorial roll are source materials—fragments, sometimes fragments of fragments, often defaced by time, and applied to purposes of historical reconstruction rarely contemplated by the original authors. For the most part I shall not be particularly concerned with the various philosophies of history—whether it is the job of the historian to lay material dispassionately before the student so that he can make up his own mind about what happened in the past, or to digest source material in order to arrive at the truth—that is, what the historian may hope is the whole incontrovertible real truth, or to digest source material, as Macaulay and Carlyle digested it, in order to justify something in contemporary life or thought. All that need be said here for the moment is that films can be used, as other historical source material can be used, for various and different historical purposes.
Steve Fan, Linda Yu, Deborah Beyer and Scott Beyer
This paper jointly examines how firm size and idiosyncratic risk impact momentum returns.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper jointly examines how firm size and idiosyncratic risk impact momentum returns.
Design/methodology/approach
Using regression analysis, the authors investigate how firm size and idiosyncratic risk impact price momentum. The authors review firm price data in 25 country markets in the Thomson Financial Datastream database from 1979 to 2009.
Findings
This study’s findings suggest price momentum is more significant among stocks with smaller size and higher idiosyncratic risk. The authors find that winner and loser portfolios have significantly smaller size and higher idiosyncratic risk than portfolios in the middle quintiles.
Research limitations/implications
This study’s results are consistent with the notion that firm size matters in price momentum and mispricing is greatest for small firms because of the greater risk potential to arbitrageurs. In addition, this finding that firms with higher idiosyncratic risk have greater price momentum supports the idea that investors underreact to firm-specific information.
Practical implications
This work finds evidence that investors underreact to firm-specific information. As such, these findings are of particular interest for investors looking to exploit opportunities for abnormal returns through price momentum trading.
Originality/value
This paper jointly examines the effects of firm size and idiosyncratic risk on momentum returns. This investigation considers these effects in the global markets. This work adds to the research base by illustrating that both winner and loser portfolios have significantly smaller size and higher idiosyncratic risk than portfolios in the middle quintiles. Also unique to this study, the authors capture the time-variation of expected IdioRisk and the asymmetric effects of volatility by using an exponential general autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic (EGARCH) model to calculate conditional idiosyncratic risk.
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Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
Escalation in the number of online food ordering platforms, along with extensive junk food marketing, lucrative offers and discounts, innovation in food flavors, and doorstep…
Abstract
Escalation in the number of online food ordering platforms, along with extensive junk food marketing, lucrative offers and discounts, innovation in food flavors, and doorstep delivery of food, have triggered the consumption of high-calorie and unhealthy food products which pose serious threats to the health and future well-being of individuals by making them more obese. To date, several public policy frameworks have been developed to confront obesity; however, their efficacy seems debatable. Directionally, the objective of this study is to highlight the potential influence of “digital nudging” which aims at steering individuals in desired directions, at the same time delimiting their freedom of choice. The study also establishes the effectiveness of digital nudges promoting a healthy lifestyle by steering individuals toward healthier food choices. The author strongly believes that this conceptual perusal will offer immense inputs to healthy food marketers and researchers alike in addressing the matters of obesity. Addressing the menace of obesity calls for joint efforts of the government, the public, researchers, and more specifically food product manufacturers/marketers who should incorporate healthier food options into their portfolios. E-tailers are also urged to adopt such practices in virtual markets and promote healthier food options to effectively tackle obesity.
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Gozde Aydin, Claire Margerison, Anthony Worsley and Alison Booth
Schools have long been perceived as an ideal setting to support the healthy eating behaviours of children. The aim of the study was to examine the views of Australian primary…
Abstract
Purpose
Schools have long been perceived as an ideal setting to support the healthy eating behaviours of children. The aim of the study was to examine the views of Australian primary school parents regarding school food and nutrition, including education, practices and policy.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was conducted among 787 parents in March 2021, which included closed and open-ended questions.
Findings
The results indicated the inconsistent implementation of policies and/or varying practices among different schools. Parents’ views were slightly associated with some demographic and personal measures including their SES levels, education, age, the main language spoken at home and universalism values. Parents viewed healthy food provision through canteens, policies and informing parents, fruit and vegetable breaks and kitchen and garden programs as the main contributors to the promotion of healthy eating. They believed unhealthy options in canteens, school fairs, events and birthdays are the major contributors to the formation of unhealthy eating habits among children at schools. Results revealed the efforts to establish health promoting school food environments in Australian primary schools; however, inconsistencies and discrepancies among schools should be addressed to ensure equity among all children.
Practical implications
The findings may provide directions for policymakers and school managers and can inform future reforms and initiatives in Australian primary schools and elsewhere.
Originality/value
This is the first study that has examined Australian parents’ views of school food policy, practices and environments using a mixed-methods design.
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Rodolfo Rodrigues Rocha, Daniel Faria Chaim, Andres Rodriguez Veloso, Murilo Lima Araújo Costa and Roberto Flores Falcão
Food socialization is the process of influences that forms children's eating habits and preferences, affecting their well-being for life. The authors' study explores what children…
Abstract
Purpose
Food socialization is the process of influences that forms children's eating habits and preferences, affecting their well-being for life. The authors' study explores what children and adolescents eat and how they obtain food at school, aiming to describe the deleterious food socialization phenomenon. The authors focused on understanding how deleterious food socialization influences children's food well-being within the school environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a mixed methodology using structured questionnaires with open and closed questions. The authors also took pictures of the schools' canteens, which allowed deepening the understanding of the school environment. The data collection occurred in two Brazilian private schools. The schools' teachers were responsible for collecting 388 useful questionnaires from students between 10 and 14 years old.
Findings
The authors found statistically significant differences between food originating at home and school. The amount of ultra-processed foods and beverages consumed at home and taken by children and adolescents from home to school is smaller than what they buy in the school canteen or get from their colleagues. Thus, the authors suggest that the school environment tends to be more harmful to infant feeding than the domestic one.
Originality/value
This study coins the concept of deleterious food socialization: situations or environments in which the food socialization process negatively impacts one's well-being. The authors' results illustrate the deleterious food socialization phenomenon in the school environment.
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Mohammed M. Elgammal, Fatma Ehab Ahmed and David G. McMillan
The purpose of this paper is to consider the economic information content within several popular stock market factors and to the extent to which their movements are both explained…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the economic information content within several popular stock market factors and to the extent to which their movements are both explained by economic variables and can explain future output growth.
Design/methodology/approach
Using US stock portfolios from 1964 to 2019, the authors undertake three related exercises: whether a set of common factors contain independent predictive ability for stock returns, what economic and market variables explain movements in the factors and whether stock market factors have predictive power for future output growth.
Findings
The results show that several of the considered factors do not contain independent information for stock returns. Further, most of these factors are neither explained by economic conditions nor they provide any predictive power for future output growth. Thus, they appear to contain very little economic content. However, the results suggest that the impact of these factors is more prominent with higher macroeconomic risk (contractionary regime).
Research limitations/implications
The stock market factors are more likely to reflect existing market conditions and exhibit a weaker relation with economic conditions and do not act as a window on future behavior.
Practical implications
Fama and French three-factor model still have better explanations for stock returns and economic information more than any other models.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by examining whether a selection of factors provides unique information when modelling stock returns data. It also investigates what variables can predict movements in the stock market factors. Third, it examines whether the factors exhibit a link with subsequent economic output. This should establish whether the stock market factors contain useful information for stock returns and the macroeconomy or whether the significance of the factor is a result of chance. The results in this paper should advance our understanding of asset price movement and the links between the macroeconomy and financial markets and, thus, be of interest to academics, investors and policy-makers.