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The purpose of this paper is to determine a financial institution's optimal hedging degree under consideration of costly earnings volatility induced by fair value accounted derivatives. The discussion on the adoption of fair value accounting in the financial industry has been rather controversial in recent years. Under this accounting regime, the change in market values of specific assets must be considered as profit or loss. Critics argue that fair value accounting induces higher earnings volatility compared to historical cost accounting and, therefore, may initiate a downward spiral during recessions. Thus, increased earnings volatility induces costs, which can be explained by disappointed capital market expectations. Consequently, in general, a lowering of earnings volatility will be rewarded. Consistent with this theoretical finding, empirical research provides strong evidence that companies pursue income smoothing to reduce earnings volatility. In contrast to industrial corporations, financial institutions may easily reduce their earnings volatility by engaging in additional hedging activities. However, more intense hedging usually reduces expected profits.

Based on a research project initiated by a large German bank, this study quantitatively models the trade-off between the (utility of) costs of earnings volatility and the reduction of profit potential through additional hedging.

By conducting sensitivity analyses and simulations of the crucial factors of the trade-off, we examine relevant causal relationships to obtain first indications about the economic benefits of income smoothing.

To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to develop an optimization model that supports decision-making by attempting to determine an optimal (additional) hedging degree considering the costs induced by earnings volatility.

In race‐centered societies dominant racial populations create and maintain society through constructing collective representations of The Other Races. These collective representations of racial subordinates by the dominant are cultural commodities produced through typification and stereotypical processes and structures. They became powerful sources of socialization which institutionalize race‐centerness in societies through normalizing cultural interpretations of social and political stratification categories defined as races.

THE German Diehl Group has divisions producing: non‐ferrous metal products; clocks and watches; control systems; industrial machinery; ammunition; and track systems. It employs a total of more than 13,000 people.

THE Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luft‐fahrt—known for short as the D.V.L.—at Berlin‐Adlershof, is the central establishment for aeronautical research in Germany. Hitherto the D.V.L. had as its special prerogative the testing of aircraft and aero‐engines for certificates of airworthiness. Since April 1, 1933, the Inspection Department has passed under the authority of the “Reichsamt für Flugsicherung” (Air Security Board), but it has not actually been separated from the D.V.L., continuing to have its premises at the D.V.L. establishment. (Further details of the Inspection Department are given later.)

The study investigates whether there is an association between climate types and farm risk attitudes of principal operators.

The study exploits temperature variation in the diverse climate types across the US and defines hot- and cold-climate states. Ordered logit and generalized ordered logit models are used to model principal operators' farm risk attitudes, which are measured on a Likert scale. The study uses two datasets. The first dataset is a 2017 survey of US large commercial producers (LCPs). The second dataset provides a Köppen-Geiger climate classification of the US at a spatial resolution of 5 arcmin for a 25-year period (1986–2010).

The study finds that principal operators in hot-climate states are 4–5% more likely to have a higher willingness to take farm risk compared to principal operators in cold-climate states.

It is likely that farm risk mitigation decisions differ between hot- and cold-climate states. For instance, the authors show that corn acres' enrollment in federal crop insurance and computers' usage for farm business are pursued more intensely in cold-climate states than in hot-climate states. A differentiation of farm risk attitude by hot- and cold-climate states may help agribusiness, the government and economists in their farm product offerings, farm risk management programs and agricultural finance models, respectively.

Based on Köppen-Geiger climate classification, the study introduces hot- and cold-climate concepts to understand the relationship between climate types and principal operators' farm risk attitudes.

This paper aims to help executives understand how to interact with government in today’s chaotic political environment.

This paper is based upon voluminous research analyzing a unique data set downloaded from a number of sources, including the financial reports of public companies and the contribution reports filed by political action committees and candidates for Congress.

This study found that political decision-making is constrained by a set of institutions the authors call the political landscape. This framework includes three factors that businesses looking to influence government and the elected officials themselves must consider: the politicians’ ideology, the political trends of their constituency and their existing relationships. While these factors constrain the ability of politicians and business advocates to successfully pursue certain policy positions, businesses may be able to influence these factors through effective political activism, and in so doing, they may be able to push key government decision-makers to alter their positions.

This research will help executives understand how government operates in this new era of uncertainty. Being able to read the political landscape will enable business leaders to anticipate and perhaps even mitigate governmental threats to their business.

This research updates the market theory of politics which has received limited empirical support. It is especially valuable in the wake of Supreme Court’s decisions that have increased the potential for business to impact politics.

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the potential of the disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic to break the stagnation in the field of comparative and international education, detected on many fronts of the field by various scholars in the field. The chapter commences with a survey of the historical evolution of the field of comparative and international education, showing how the field has historically come to be defined by contextually induced discourse. At the same time, the historically trodden furrows have resulted in the field becoming trapped by historical forces, resulting in some stagnation in the field. It is argued that impediments to progress in the field of comparative and international education are the severance from practice, the “black box” syndrome of paying more attention to the societal context than to education, the tenacious attachment to the nation-state as the sole geographic level of analysis, the lack of an autochthonous theory, persistent Northern hegemony, and the regression of space and infrastructure at universities. Thereafter, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact thereof on education are discussed. In conclusion, the potential of the disruption brought about by the pandemic for the revisitation of comparative and international education is assessed.