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One Interpretation (one + interpretation)
Selected AbstractsExpression and functional analysis of Tgif during mouse midline developmentDEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 2 2006Jiu-Zhen Jin Abstract The Tgif gene encodes a homeodomain protein that functions as a transforming growth factor beta (TGF-,) repressor by binding to Smad2. Mutations in the TGIF gene are associated with human holoprosencephaly, a common birth defect caused by the failure of anterior ventral midline formation. However, Smad2-mediated TGF-, signaling in the axial mesendoderm has been demonstrated to be essential for ventral midline formation, and loss of a Smad2 antagonist should in principle promote rather than inhibit ventral midline formation. This suggests a more complex mechanism for the function of TGIF in controlling ventral midline formation. To explore the role of TGIF in ventral forebrain formation and patterning, we investigated Tgif expression and function during mouse development by in situ hybridization and gene targeting. We found that Tgif is highly expressed in the anterior neural plate, consistent with the proposed neural differentiation model in which TGF-, suppression is required for normal neural differentiation. This result suggests a possible role for Tgif in anterior neural differentiation and patterning. However, targeted disruption of the Tgif gene during mouse development does not cause any detectable defects in development and growth. Both histological examination and gene expression analysis showed that Tgif,/, embryos have a normal ventral specification in the central nervous system, including the forebrain region. One interpretation of these results is that the loss of TGIF function is compensated by other TGF-, antagonists such as c-Ski and SnoN during vertebrate anterior neural development. Developmental Dynamics 235:547,553, 2006. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Accruals Management, Investor Sophistication, and Equity Valuation: Evidence from 10,Q FilingsJOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 4 2002Steven Balsam The release of the full set of financial statements in Form 10,Q provides investors with the data necessary to estimate the discretionary portion of earnings, thereby allowing them to better assess the integrity of reported quarterly earnings. We thus expect a negative association between unexpected discretionary accruals estimated using 10,Q disclosures and stock returns around 10,Q filing dates. Consistent with our expectations, we document a negative association between unexpected discretionary accruals and cumulative abnormal returns over a short window around the 10,Q filing date. Furthermore, this association varies systematically with investor sophistication. Finally, results from portfolio tests indicate that this association is economically as well as statistically significant. One interpretation of our findings is that accruals management has substantial valuation consequences, which are quickly impounded into stock prices. [source] Glamour Acquirers, Method of Payment and Post-acquisition Performance: The UK EvidenceJOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 1-2 2003Sudi Sudarsanam We study the effect of different acquirer types, defined by financial status and their payment methods, on their short and long-term performance, in terms of abnormal returns using a variety of benchmark models. For a sample of 519 UK acquirers during 1983,95, we examine the abnormal return performance of acquirers based on their pre-bid financial status as either glamour or value acquirers using both the price to earnings (PE) ratio and market to book value ratio (MTBV). Value acquirers outperform glamour acquirers in the three-year post-acquisition period. One interpretation is that glamour firms have overvalued equity and tend to exploit their status and use it more often than cash to finance their acquisitions. As we move from glamour to value acquirers, there is a greater use of cash. Our results are broadly consistent with those for the US reported by Rau and Vermaelen (1998). However, in contrast to their study, we find stronger support for the method of payment hypothesis than for extrapolation hypothesis. Cash acquirers generate higher returns than equity acquirers, irrespective of their glamour/ value status. Our conclusions, based on four benchmark models for abnormal returns, suggest that stock markets in both the US and the UK may share a similar proclivity for over-extrapolation of past performance, at least in the bid period. They also tend to reassess acquirer performance in the post-acquisition period and correct this overextrapolation. These results have implications for the behavioural aspects of capital markets in both countries. [source] Common and Private Values of the Firm in Tax CompetitionJOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 4 2001David Scoones We develop a simple model of interregional tax competition to explore how the balance between common and region-specific aspects of a project's value affects the magnitudes of tax breaks offered by governments, when the firm possesses private information on the region-specific values. We examine cases in which the tax applies to both the common and private values and to each component separately. The model predicts that when the common and observable part of the value of a project increases relative to the variance of the region-specific private values, the stringency of competition reduces the equilibrium tax rate. Conversely, if the competing regions are sufficiently different, bidding is less aggressive. One interpretation of the results is that firms that are observed to be large get better tax breaks. The intuition is closely related to the Bertrand model of differentiated product market competition. [source] Adult children and elderly parents as mobility attractions in SwedenPOPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 4 2009Anna Pettersson Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which elderly parents and adult children move close (or very close) to each other and how this mobility is influenced by socioeconomic conditions, family situation, gender and age. The analyses are based on register data for the years 2001 and 2002 covering all elderly parents and their adult children residing in Sweden. For instance, our analyses show a positive relationship between, on the one hand, moving close to an adult child or an elderly parent and, on the other, the presence of other family members (e.g. siblings and grandchildren). We also found that moving very close to adult children was more common among the young-old and less common among the old-old. One interpretation is that young-old parents often move close to their adult children to have social contact or assist them, but as the parents grow older and their health weakens, care becomes increasingly important and, in the Swedish welfare state, it becomes more the responsibility of public institutions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Economic Returns to Communist Party Membership: Evidence From Urban Chinese Twins,THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 523 2007Hongbin Li This article estimates the returns to membership of the Chinese Communist Party using unique twins data we collected from China. Our OLS estimate shows a Party premium of 10%, but the within-twin-pair estimate becomes zero. One interpretation is that the OLS premium is due to omitted ability and family background. This interpretation suggests that Party members fare well not because of their political status but because of the superior ability that made them Party members. The estimates are also consistent with another interpretation that Party membership not only has its own effect but also has an external effect on siblings. [source] Do Anomalies Disappear in Repeated Markets?*THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 486 2003Graham Loomes There is some evidence that, as individuals participate in repeated markets, ,anomalies' tend to disappear. One interpretation is that individuals , particularly marginal traders , are learning to act on underlying preferences which satisfy standard assumptions. An alternative interpretation, the ,shaping' hypothesis, is that individuals' preferences are adjusting in response to cues given by market prices. The paper reports an experiment designed to discriminate between these hypotheses with particular reference to the disparity between willingness to pay and willingness to accept. [source] Consumption and Income Inequality in AustraliaTHE ECONOMIC RECORD, Issue 233 2000GARRY F. BARRETT Consumption may be a more appropriate measure of household well-being than income or earnings. Using four ABS Household Expenditures Surveys collected between 1975 and 1993, we compare trends in consumption and income inequality among Australian households. We find that consumption is much more equal than income. While there were significant increases in both income and consumption inequality, consumption inequality rose by much less. One interpretation of the results is that some income inequality in Australia reflects transitory fluctuations which households can smooth,,and that part of the growth in income inequality reflects an increase in these transitory fluctuations. [source] Publication bias in ecology and evolution: an empirical assessment using the ,trim and fill' methodBIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Issue 2 2002MICHAEL D. JENNIONS ABSTRACT Recent reviews of specific topics, such as the relationship between male attractiveness to females and fluctuating asymmetry or attractiveness and the expression of secondary sexual characters, suggest that publication bias might be a problem in ecology and evolution. In these cases, there is a significant negative correlation between the sample size of published studies and the magnitude or strength of the research findings (formally the ,effect size'). If all studies that are conducted are equally likely to be published, irrespective of their findings, there should not be a directional relationship between effect size and sample size; only a decrease in the variance in effect size as sample size increases due to a reduction in sampling error. One interpretation of these reports of negative correlations is that studies with small sample sizes and weaker findings (smaller effect sizes) are less likely to be published. If the biological literature is systematically biased this could undermine the attempts of reviewers to summarise actual biology relationships by inflating estimates of average effect sizes. But how common is this problem? And does it really effect the general conclusions of literature reviews? Here, we examine data sets of effect sizes extracted from 40 peer-reviewed, published meta-analyses. We estimate how many studies are missing using the newly developed ,trim and fill' method. This method uses asymmetry in plots of effect size against sample size (,funnel plots') to detect ,missing' studies. For random-effect models of meta-analysis 38% (15/40) of data sets had a significant number of ,missing' studies. After correcting for potential publication bias, 21% (8/38) of weighted mean effects were no longer significantly greater than zero, and 15% (5/34) were no longer statistically robust when we used random-effects models in a weighted meta-analysis. The mean correlation between sample size and the magnitude of standardised effect size was also significantly negative (rs=-0.20, P < 0-0001). Individual correlations were significantly negative (P < 0.10) in 35% (14/40) of cases. Publication bias may therefore effect the main conclusions of at least 15,21% of meta-analyses. We suggest that future literature reviews assess the robustness of their main conclusions by correcting for potential publication bias using the ,trim and fill' method. [source] Triangulation: Davidson, Realism and Natural KindsDIALECTICA, Issue 1 2001William Child Is there a plausible middle position in the debate between realists and constructivists about categories or kinds? Such a position may seem to be contained in the account of triangulation that Donald Davidson develops in recent writings. On this account, the kinds we pick out are determined by an interaction between our shared similarity responses and causal relations between us and things in our environment. So kinds and categories are neither imposed on us by the nature of the world, nor imposed by us on an intrinsically unstructured reality. But the picture derivable from Davidson's account of triangulation can be interpreted in either of two ways. On one interpretation, it collapses into constructivism. On the other, it turns out to be very close to the most plausible versions of realism. It is argued that Davidson's attempts to distinguish his view from Putnam's realism about natural kinds are unsuccessful. So Davidson's account of triangulation does indeed suggest a plausible view of kinds. But that view is a version of traditional realist views, not an alternative to them. [source] CLIMATE FORECASTS IN FLOOD PLANNING: PROMISE AND AMBIGUITY,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 6 2002Kris Wernstedt ABSTRACT: Recent technical and scientific advances have increased the potential use of long term, seasonal climate forecasts for improving water resource management. This paper examines the role that forecasts, in particular those based on the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, can play in flood planning in the Pacific Northwest. While strong evidence exists of an association between ENSO signals and flooding in the region, this association is open to more than one interpretation depending on: (a) the metric used to test the strength of the association; (b) the definition of critical flood events; (c) site specific features of watersheds; and (d) the decision environment of flood management institutions. A better understanding and appreciation of such ambiguities, both social and statistical, will help facilitate the use of climate forecast information for flood planning and response. [source] | ||||||||||||||||