Joseph D. Haley and Kevin J. Sigler
During the spring and early summer of 1991 the life insurance industry experienced an unprecedented series of major life insurer insolvencies. The objective of this paper is to…
Abstract
During the spring and early summer of 1991 the life insurance industry experienced an unprecedented series of major life insurer insolvencies. The objective of this paper is to determine whether or not policyholder panic resulted from these failures. The analysis shows that each of the failed companies which are evaluated had unique financial problems which caused their demise. And through the use of an event study methodology it is concluded that industry‐wide policyholder panic did not occur as a result of the life insurer failures.
Zahid Iqbal, Shekar Shetty, Joseph Haley and Maliyakkal Jayakumar
Terminations of overfunded pension plans may strengthen a financially‐weak firm. When manager's interests are aligned with shareholder's, either through high levels of stock…
Abstract
Terminations of overfunded pension plans may strengthen a financially‐weak firm. When manager's interests are aligned with shareholder's, either through high levels of stock ownership, or through labor and takeover market discipline at low levels of ownership, termination strengthens the firm and the stock price should react positively. In contrast, managers at middle levels of ownership hold enough stock to be entrenched, but not enough to be aligned with shareholder interests. Terminations may then be for reasons other than strengthening a financially‐weak firm and may not generate a positive stock price reaction. We find that the financial incentives for terminations differ significantly between terminators and nonterminators at high and low levels of managerial ownership, but not at intermediate levels. Our stock return analysis indicates that terminations by high and low ownership firms are consistent with shareholder welfare. Concern has been expressed that terminations of defined benefit pension plans transfer wealth from plan participants to plan sponsors. Plan terminations can have a value‐maximizing motive when the reversions are used as a source of financing, thereby helping firms avoid bankruptcy and liquidation. The empirical evidence (e.g., Alderson and VanDerhei (1992), VanDerhei (1987), and Hsieh, Ferris, and Chen (1990)) showing favorable stock price reactions to terminations by financially‐weak firms are consistent with the value‐maximizing justification for plan terminations. Prior studies (e.g., Agrawal and Mandelker (1987), Kim and Sorensen (1986), Sicherman and Pettway (1987), Hill and Snell (1989), Benston (1985), Morck, Shleifer, and Vishny (1988), Carter and Stover (1991) and Hermalin and Weisbach (1991)) have also documented that management's ownership interest in the firm has an important effect on the incentive to maximize firm value. This paper examines the effect of managerial ownership on financial termination. Specifically, we address whether or not financial motivation to terminate plans exists at all levels of managerial ownership. Our results suggest that the terminating firms, when compared to the nonterminating firms, are financially weak at high and low levels of managerial ownership. In contrast, there is no significant difference in financial weakness between the terminators and the nonterminators at the middle ownership levels. Also, stockholders reactions to terminations are higher at high and low levels of managerial ownership.
Kevin J. Sigler and Joseph P. Haley
This paper examines the link between CEO cash compensation and company performance. We test for the influence of CEO pay on firm performance over a cross section of companies…
Abstract
This paper examines the link between CEO cash compensation and company performance. We test for the influence of CEO pay on firm performance over a cross section of companies applying the same approach that is used by Lewellen, Loderer, Martin and Blum [1992]. In our study we account for the degree of common stock ownership by the CEO of each company as well. We find a positive and significant connection between the pay of CEOs and the performance of their respective firms. From our results it appears that CEO pay is used to align the interests of shareholders with company CEOs, reducing agency costs within the firm.
William Saunders and Joseph D. Haley
Identifies three “pillars” of US retirement benefits policy (savings, redistribution and insurance) and outlines the legislative development of private pensions since the 1920s…
Abstract
Identifies three “pillars” of US retirement benefits policy (savings, redistribution and insurance) and outlines the legislative development of private pensions since the 1920s. Supports reform of the social security system and proposes that employee contributions should be held in privately managed, government qualified accounts while employer contributions should continue to be used by the federal government to help low earners. Calculates the final values arising from three different levels of contribution for buying a qualified minimum benefit retirement annuity. Discusses some features of this idea in greater detail, shows how it relates to the three “pillars” and believes it could reduce the burden of social security on employers.
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This issue of Managerial Finance brings together five papers that explore the manifold dimensions of pension issues. The papers document and explain the dynamic changes occurring…
Abstract
This issue of Managerial Finance brings together five papers that explore the manifold dimensions of pension issues. The papers document and explain the dynamic changes occurring in the management and functioning of private pension plans within an evolving institutional and regulatory framework. Although the papers predominantly focus on the U.S. pension system, the issues addressed and the attendant implications are relevant to economies in the throes of developing or reforming pension security arrangements for market participants.
Carolin Bode, Clare Hindley and Willy Legrand
This paper analyses how regenerative tourism practices can advance the environmental resilience of island destinations by minimizing tourism's negative impact and moving towards…
Abstract
This paper analyses how regenerative tourism practices can advance the environmental resilience of island destinations by minimizing tourism's negative impact and moving towards net-positive outcomes. The urgency of the research study is evident in the natural and anthropogenic dangers and disasters already faced by most destinations and the increasing need for environmental resilience. The economic dependence of many island destinations on the tourism industry means ways to mitigate climate change without threatening the tourism industry are vital. This explorative study argues the concept of regenerative tourism with its focus on co-creation is an effective and implementable strategy to give more back than taken and renew and regenerate the destination. The example of New Zealand (NZ) with a thematic analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews with expert stakeholders in the NZ tourism landscape focuses on environmental pressures impacting environmental resilience and the role of regenerative tourism practices. The data show a move from a mainly short-term economic focus to a concentration on and awareness of the need to develop long-term environmental resilience through stakeholder collaboration and regenerative policies. These findings although specific to NZ provide insights for other island destinations through the clear benefit to both visitors and residents of an increased focus on the aim of net-positive rather than net-zero in improving the environment.
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Stephen Ogheneruro Okpadah and Damilare Ogunmekan
In 2002, the organization, Jamat Al Asunnah Lid-Da’wa’l-Jihad popularly known as Boko Haram was created in North Eastern Nigeria. This organization which was founded by Mohammed…
Abstract
In 2002, the organization, Jamat Al Asunnah Lid-Da’wa’l-Jihad popularly known as Boko Haram was created in North Eastern Nigeria. This organization which was founded by Mohammed Yusuf was to later adopt the ideology that Western Education was Forbidden. The decolonial stance of Boko Haram later degenerated into its campaign of violence, leading to the killing of its founder by the Nigerian state. Interestingly, the role of children in the advancement of the Boko Haram insurgency and how this impacts their psychological lives seems to have been overlooked in scholarship on terrorism. There remains a dearth of critical underpinning on how all of the above is represented in Nigerian film. To this end, this study examines child participation in terrorism in Nigeria and its effect on the psychological well-being of the child. Using the Boko Haram terrorist group as a paradigm, the authors argue that children, especially the girl child play a major role in the advancement of terrorism in Nigeria. The study engages in a content analysis of Uche Aguh’s film, Sambisa (2016) to interrogate the challenges the child encounters in the face of terrorism in Nigeria and examines children as major actors in the enterprise of terrorism in Nigeria.
The extra-low minimum wage for US restaurant workers has remained unchanged for over 30 years. Periodic campaigns have brought this wage, and its connection to the perpetuation of…
Abstract
The extra-low minimum wage for US restaurant workers has remained unchanged for over 30 years. Periodic campaigns have brought this wage, and its connection to the perpetuation of inequality and exploitative work, to public attention, but these campaigns have met resistance from both employers and restaurant workers. This article draws on a workplace ethnography in a restaurant front-of-house, and in-depth interviews with tipped food service workers, to examine the tipped labour process and begin to answer a central question: why would any workers oppose a wage increase? It argues that the constituting of tips as a formal wage created for workers a two-employer problem, wherein customers assume the role of secondary, unregulated, employers in the workplace. Ultimately, the tipped wage poses a longer-term strategic obstacle for workers in their position relative to management and ability to organize to shape the terms and conditions of their work.
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The aim of this chapter is to argue that charisma is a collective representation, and that charismatic authority is a social status that derives more from the “recognition” of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this chapter is to argue that charisma is a collective representation, and that charismatic authority is a social status that derives more from the “recognition” of the followers than from the “magnetism” of the leaders. I contend further that a close reading of Max Weber shows that he, too, saw charisma in this light.
Approach
I develop my argument by a close reading of many of the most relevant texts on the subject. This includes not only the renowned texts on this subject by Max Weber, but also many books and articles that interpret or criticize Weber’s views.
Findings
I pay exceptionally close attention to key arguments and texts, several of which have been overlooked in the past.
Implications
Writers for whom charisma is personal magnetism tend to assume that charismatic rule is natural and that the full realization of democratic norms is unlikely. Authority, in this view, emanates from rulers unbound by popular constraint. I argue that, in fact, authority draws both its mandate and its energy from the public, and that rulers depend on the loyalty of their subjects, which is never assured. So charismatic claimants are dependent on popular choice, not vice versa.
Originality
I advocate a “culturalist” interpretation of Weber, which runs counter to the dominant “personalist” account. Conventional interpreters, under the sway of theology or mass psychology, misread Weber as a romantic, for whom charisma is primal and undemocratic rule is destiny. This essay offers a counter-reading.