Corporate Payout Policy in Japan

This paper examines cash dividends and share repurchases in Japan - discerning between keiretsu and non-keiretsu groupings of firms - during the period 1990 to 2008, a period of extensive Japanese corporate governance reform. As in the United States, share repurchases in Japan have grown strikingly across firm groupings even relative to cash dividends which have also increased. Unlike in the United States, cash dividends remain the dominant form of payout across the groupings of firms in Japan. Despite extensive corporate governance reform, the keiretsu grouping of firms exhibits a comparative reticence to alter its corporate payout policy. In particular, it remains the case that keiretsu firms disburse relatively large amounts of cash, they rely relatively heavily on cash dividends rather than share repurchases, they exhibit a greater tendency to discontinue cash dividend payouts, their payouts are relatively sensitive to earnings and these payouts respond relatively rapidly with respect to earnings. In addition, the cash dividend payouts in keiretsu firms have been relatively concentrated, while these payouts from non-keiretsu firms concentrate increasingly over time. The findings also suggest that larger firms in Japan are more likely to payout and if they decide to do so they tend to payout more. As the level of concentration of ownership in Japanese firms increases the amount of cash dividends disbursed decreases. Privatized firms are more likely to pay cash dividends and if they decide to do so and they are not keiretsu affiliated they tend to payout more.Payout policy, dividends, share repurchases, corporate governance

An Analysis of the EU Emission Trading Scheme

The European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is the key policy instrument of the European Commission’s Climate Change Program aimed at reducing green- house gas emissions to eight percent below 1990 levels by 2012. A critically important element of the EU ETS is the establishment of a market determined price for EU allowances. This article examines the extent to which several theoretically founded factors including, energy price movements, economic growth, temperature and stock market activity determine the expected prices of the European Union CO2 allowances during the 2005 through to the 2009 period. The novel aspect of our study is that we examine the heavily traded futures instruments that have an expiry date in Phase 2 of the EU ETS. Our study adopts both static and recursive versions of the Johansen multivariate cointegration likelihood ratio test as well as a variation on this test with a view to controlling for time varying volatility effects. Our results are indicative of a new pricing regime emerging in Phase 2 of the market and point to a maturing market driven by the fundamentals. These results are valuable both for traders of EU allowances and for those policy makers seeking to improve the design of the European Union ETS.CO2 prices, EU ETS, Energy, Kyoto Protocol, Weather

On the decay of dispersive motions in the outer region of rough-wall boundary layers

In rough-wall boundary layers, wall-parallel non-homogeneous mean-flow solutions exist that lead to so-called dispersive velocity components and dispersive stresses. They play a significant role in the mean-flow momentum balance near the wall, but typically disappear in the outer layer. A theoretical framework is presented to study the decay of dispersive motions in the outer layer. To this end, the problem is formulated in Fourier space, and a set of governing ordinary differential equations per mode in wavenumber space is derived by linearizing the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations around a constant background velocity. With further simplifications, analytically tractable solutions are found consisting of linear combinations of $\exp(-kz)$ and $\exp(-Kz)$, with $z$ the wall distance, $k$ the magnitude of the horizontal wavevector $\mathbf{k}$, and where $K(\mathbf{k},\textit{Re})$ is a function of $\mathbf{k}$ and the Reynolds number $\textit{Re}$. Moreover, for $k\rightarrow \infty$ or $k_1\rightarrow 0$, $K\rightarrow k$ is found, in which case solutions consist of a linear combination of $\exp(-kz)$ and $z\exp(-kz)$, and are Reynolds number independent. These analytical relations are verified in the limit of $k_1=0$ using the rough boundary layer experiments by Vanderwel and Ganapathisubramani (J. Fluid Mech. 774, R2, 2015) and are in good agreement for $\ell_k/\delta \leq 0.5$, with $\delta$ the boundary-layer thickness and $\ell_k = 2\pi/k$

Physical/chemical closed-loop water-recycling

Water needs, water sources, and means for recycling water are examined in terms appropriate to the water quality requirements of a small crew and spacecraft intended for long duration exploration missions. Inorganic, organic, and biological hazards are estimated for waste water sources. Sensitivities to these hazards for human uses are estimated. The water recycling processes considered are humidity condensation, carbon dioxide reduction, waste oxidation, distillation, reverse osmosis, pervaporation, electrodialysis, ion exchange, carbon sorption, and electrochemical oxidation. Limitations and applications of these processes are evaluated in terms of water quality objectives. Computerized simulation of some of these chemical processes is examined. Recommendations are made for development of new water recycling technology and improvement of existing technology for near term application to life support systems for humans in space. The technological developments are equally applicable to water needs on Earth, in regions where extensive water recycling is needed or where advanced water treatment is essential to meet EPA health standards

The Jet Shape at NLL′'

The jet shape is the fraction of the jet energy within a cone $r$ centered on the jet axis. We calculate the jet shape distribution at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy plus next-to-leading order (NLL$'$), accounting for logarithms of both the jet radius $R$ and the ratio $r/R$. This is the first phenomenological study that takes the recoil of the jet axis due to soft radiation into account, which is needed to reach this accuracy, but complicates the calculation of collinear radiation and requires the treatment of rapidity logarithms and non-global logarithms. We present numerical results, finding good agreement with ATLAS and CMS measurements of the jet shape in an inclusive jet sample, $pp \to {\rm jet}+X$, for different kinematic bins. The effect of the underlying event and hadronization are included using a simple one-parameter model, since they are not part of our perturbative calculation.Comment: 36 pages, 14 figures, v2: extended discussion of non-global logarithms, journal versio

Building Domestic and Foreign Markets for Rural Prosperity

Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Dynamics of Equity Market Integration in Europe: Evidence of Changes over time and with events.

This paper examines the integration of European equity markets over the 1985-2002 period using a relatively new cointegrating technique that assesses how the level of integration in equity price levels changes over time. This procedure is supplemented by two other dynamic techniques that also measure the extent of time-varying integration from complementary perspectives. The three methods are in agreement that there has been an increased degree of integration among European equity markets especially during the 1997-98 period. This evidence seems to indicate that despite several years of demonstrating political willingness by European leaders to integrate their economies, it was not until the establishment of the EMU and the ECB during the 1997-98 period that the markets deemed that European integration would in fact occur. The evidence presented in this study also indicates that Frankfurt is the dominant market for equities in Europe.