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The authors examine if opportunistic insider trading profits decrease after the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) in 2010. The DFA expands legal prohibitions on insider trading in the USA.

The authors identify opportunistic insider trades following a method that is outlined in Cohen et al. (2012). The authors examine univariate statistics and perform multivariate regression tests to examine opportunistic trading profits before and after the DFA. Similar multivariate regression tests have been used widely in the literature to examine the profitability of insider trades.

The authors find that opportunistic insider purchases were highly profitable before the DFA. Profits after opportunistic purchases were significantly lower after the DFA. Opportunistic insider sales were contrarian trades both before and after the DFA. However, share prices kept increasing after insiders sold their shares.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is the first study that compares the profitability of opportunistic insider trades, as identified by Cohen et al., before and after the DFA. The study contributes to the literature that finds that insiders change their strategic trading behavior when the potential costs of the illegal trading increase due to regulatory action.

This paper aims to investigate the consequences of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on information asymmetry in the banking sector. Specifically, the authors look at whether specific firm or deal characteristic influence information asymmetry levels between insiders and investors, as well as the impact of recent regulation such as the Dodd–Frank Act.

The authors decompose the M&A process into three periods (pre-announcement, negotiation and post-completion period) and document changes in the information asymmetry levels between insiders and investors through the M&A process. The authors capture changes in information asymmetry using six different spread-based information asymmetry measures.

The authors find evidence that information asymmetry increases following M&A announcement and decreases following deal completion. These findings are more pronounced for acquisitions involving a private target, all-cash deals and for mergers, as opposed to acquisition of assets. We find that overall, successful mergers improve the quality of the information environment, while failed deals degrade it. Additionally, the enactment of Dodd–Frank reduced the magnitude of the changes in information asymmetry during the M&A process. The results are important to regulators, policy makers and investors.

To authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that looks at the effect of bank M&As on information asymmetry as well as the effect of regulations on information asymmetry.

CHAUCER HOUSE was opened with due ceremony on May 25th. But not by Mr. Stanley Baldwin; the decision of the Prime Minister the day before that he liked Lossiemouth more than London made Mr. Baldwin's presence at the House of Commons essential. He attended the luncheon at University College, where, we are told, he smoked his famous pipe and made a brief and delightful speech to a company limited to the officers, council and some distinguished guests, including Mrs. Carnegie herself, representatives of the Carnegie United Trust in Lord Elgin, Miss Haldane and Sir Donald MacAlister, as well as Lord Balniel (who, however, is an officer, being Chairman of the Council) and our fine old friend Lawrence Inkster; but lack of space confined the lunch and Mr. Baldwin to that distinguished but very small assembly.

THE Programme of the Library Association Conference which reached us on April 22nd is one of much interest. Every year increases the difficulty of providing matter which has such appeal that members can say at the close that the time has been spent profitably. The pre‐print of the papers—a rather incomplete affair—raises the thought that Conference time could be better used than in discussions on such “Research Committee” matters as library vans and temporary buildings, excellent as we admit the enquiries and results of them to be. Yet this reflection is accompanied by the certainty that there have been few conferences which have not contributed something of material use to every participator and we still hold the view that more is learned in “a week at one than in months of hermit‐like seclusion.” That last quotation was written in the first edition of Brown's Manual and is valid to this day. Our representatives will write impressions after the event, not by way of detailed report, but as endeavouring to sum up what, if anything, material has been achieved. The report published by the Association usually gives the papers in extenso, but we wish its issue could be delayed long enough to provide more informative records of the discussions. As the best contributions occasionally come from the floor, the bare‐bones notes of the names of speakers and almost telegram‐like utterances they are supposed to have made, which have been the customary report, could be greatly improved.

TO operate effectively in his environment a man should seek to appreciate the sources which created it. There are few better ways for the work study man, or others concerned with the efficient running of the industrial machine, to do so than by digesting Management Thinkers, published at 40p in the Pelican Library of Business and Management.

While some libraries have done their best over the years to inform the public as to what they are doing and can do as regards helping readers, others seem to move along without making any special effort to publicise their facilities. In the old days modesty was a virtue, but now it is its own reward. Government departments, which used to shun the limelight, now employ public relations officers in large numbers, and professional bodies and big business houses constantly seek publicity. Times have changed, and the battle is to the strong; and it is unfortunately generally felt that the institution or service that does not speak for itself has little to speak about. It may frankly be said that if a service is in a position to enlarge its sphere of influence and esteem it should do so to the utmost of its endeavour. But it will be granted that if its publicity is not justified by performance, there will likely be an unhappy reaction.

ELEVEN years ago a small group, of whom the writer was one, met in Oud Poelgeest Castle in Holland to consider forming a European body concerned with Work Study. They share a sense of pride that the Federation which emerged will celebrate its decennary next month. Sadly, of the four British members of that group only two survive to greet the event.

The Milk and Dairies (Scotland) Order, 1925.—This Order, framed under Section 12 of the Act, and applying to Scotland as a whole, was issued along with the model dairy byelaws. It prescribed the form of register of dairies and dairymen, and contained provisions for the ascertainment of infectious disease at dairies, for the prevention of contamination of milk at railway stations, on the street, by means of unsuitable conveyances or unsuitable surroundings, or through insulticient protection from dust or exposure. The colouring or thickening of cream was prohibited by the Order; me use of wooden vessels, except for buttermilk, was prohibited; milk vessels for transit were required to nave marked on them the name and address of the owner, to have a proper lid, and to be locked or sealed. The Order also filled a gap in the administrative provisions of the Act by requiring every person about a dairy, if he became aware that any person in his household was suffering from an infectious disease, to notify the dairyman immediately. The dairyman must then notify the medical officer of health.

The use of computers on the shop floor has been slight compared with their widespread acceptance at higher levels in the manufacturing environment. Today, there is an urgency to redress this imbalance by investing in modern production facilities, but progress is being restricted by the void between the operational requirements of the upper and lower levels. The Discrete Cell Controller (DCC) is considered to be capable of satisfying this role. This article considers the measures taken by a consortium of industrial and academic partners to determine the specification of a DCC and, in particular, identify the generic content.

Cracked screw heads have, as this paper describes, been automatically detected by a solid state electronic linescanning camera. The equipment which includes an automatic feeding system and fibre optic component illumination is controlled by a microprocessor.