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The purpose of this paper is to measure the effect of superstar gig workers, defined as independent contractors who are the most successful in their field, on shareholder value. Gig workers comprise as much as 33% of the workforce and are projected to exceed 50% by 2028. Thus, understanding their impact on shareholder value is important.

This paper uses OLS regression analysis. To establish causality regarding wealth effects, the sudden deaths of superstar gig workers are used. To facilitate the uncontaminated measurement of wealth effects, sudden deaths that coincide with a significant event on a [−3, 3] window about the death event are not used.

The sudden death of a superstar gig worker causes shareholder wealth to increase significantly by 0.35% or almost $1.5m. Rational and behavioral explanations are offered for this result.

Generalizability is limited because data on superstar gig workers in traditional corporations are unavailable. For this reason, this paper uses the only available data, namely, data on superstar wrestlers, who are contracted to perform in matches (i.e. “gigs”) in a lucrative promotion (e.g. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)). Future research could examine the effect of corporate gig workers on shareholder value if the data become available at some point.

This paper is the first to document the effects of any type of gig worker, whether superstar or regular, on shareholder value.

This paper analyses how the employment histories of cohorts born after World War II in Germany have changed. A specific focus is on the role of atypical employment in this context.

This paper uses data from the adult cohort of the National Educational Panel Study and presents descriptive evidence on employment patterns for different cohorts. In addition, a sequence analysis of employment trajectories illustrates key aspects related to the opportunities and risks of atypical employment.

Younger cohorts are characterised by acquiring more education, by entering into employment at a higher age and by experiencing atypical employment more often. The latter is associated with much higher employment of women for younger cohorts. The sequence analysis reveals that the proportion of individuals whose entry into the labour market is almost exclusively characterised by atypical employment rises significantly across the cohorts. Moreover, a substantial part of the increase in atypical employment is due to the increased participation of women, with part-time jobs or mini-jobs playing an important role in re-entering the labour market after career breaks.

The most important contribution of this article to the existing literature lies in the life course perspective taken for different birth cohorts. The findings are of great interest to the general debate about the success of the German labour market in recent decades and its implications for individual labour-market histories, but also about rising income inequality at about the same time.

Much evidence exists that rational investors factor rational information into their valuation of shares. This paper aims to examine whether sentimental investors do the same.

To investigate this issue, the author measures sentimental investors’ reaction to the surprise player transactions of the Boston Celtics, which traded on the New York Stock Exchange for 18 years. The team’s shares were bought mainly as souvenirs by sports fans, whose largely unwavering support makes them perhaps the least likely investors to be influenced by rational information. Thus, if the team’s share price changes because of the arrival of rational information, evidence that sentimental traders price rational information into their valuation of a stock will exist.

An acquired player’s salary, education and firm-specific experience with the Boston Celtics cause higher returns. This result provides evidence that sentimental traders factor rational information into their valuations of shares. On a broader scale, the findings underscore the importance of rational information to the valuation process, as even sentimental investors price rational information into a stock that is held for sentimental reasons. Moreover, the results are consistent with the nudge theory, in that the arrival of rational information encourages (i.e. nudges) sentimental investors to price the rational information as a rational investor world.

This study is the first to show that sentimental traders also factor rational information into the valuation process – an idea that was likely assumed prior to this study, but was never substantiated.

Some recent empirical studies have found that developing countries are more prone to external terms-of-trade shocks compared to developed nations. With this background, the purpose of this paper is to the question of whether developing countries possess any built-in mechanism that can cope with external terms-of-trade (TOT) shocks both theoretically and empirically.

This paper uses a two-sector, full-employment general equilibrium model with endogenous labour market distortion to conduct its theoretical analysis and then uses an annual panel dataset of 13 small developing countries over the recent time period of 2000-2012 to substantiate its theoretical findings.

Theoretically, this study finds that developing countries possess an inherent shock-absorbing mechanism that stems from their peculiar institutional characteristics and can lessen the gravity of detrimental welfare consequence of exogenous TOT movements. This analytical result has been found to be empirically valid based on a panel dataset of 13 countries from 2000-2012.

The authors’ analyses suggest that that the developing countries should take utmost caution before adopting the policy of labour market reform because these might impair the effectiveness of their in-built shock-absorbing mechanism against adverse international price movements.

This study explores the benefits of business financial inclusion from the Islamic perspective in Nigeria by selecting Kano state as a case study.

Primary data were generated through semi-structured interviews with experts who comprised professional accountants/consultants and experienced traders. Thematic analysis was applied to examine the data collected. In addition, observations were made in some selected stores and shops to complement the interview results.

The study finds that the benefits of business financial inclusion include recordkeeping improvement, reduction of the risks of bad debts, reduction of the risks associated with cash, enhancing business zakāh for poverty alleviation, sales improvement and business growth, getting supports from government and other development organizations and the provision of employment opportunities.

This study is purely qualitative, and, as such, it has some limitations in terms of generalization.

The practical implication of this study is that the use of electronic payment methods, especially point of sales, enhances the business financial inclusion, which consequently maximizes their wealth and contributes to the reduction of poverty to the barest minimum in the society.

The social implication of the findings is that businesses that are financially included are in a better position to discharge religious, philanthropic and other benevolent activities, such as zakāh, qard hasan, waqf and sadaqah, for the welfare of the ummah.

The study points out the benefits of financial inclusion not only to businesses but also to other members of the society at large.

This paper analyzes the productivity effects of structural capital such as research and development (R&D) and organizational capital (OC). Innovation work also produces innovation-labor-biased technical change (IBTC) and knowledge spillovers. Analyses use full register-based dataset of Finnish firms for the period 1994–2014 from Statistics Finland.

Intangibles are derived from the labor costs of innovation-type occupations using linked employer-employee data. The approach is consistent with National Accounting and offered as one method in OECD (2010) and applied in statistical offices, e.g. in measuring software. The EU 7th framework Innodrive project 2008–2011 extended this method to cover R&D and OC.

Methodology is implementable at firm-level and offers way to link personnel reporting to intangible assets. The OC-IBTC as well as total resources allocated to OC are relevant for productivity growth. The R&D stock is relatively higher but R&D-IBTC is smaller than OC-IBTC. Public policy should, besides technology policy, account for OC and OC-IBTC and related knowledge spillovers in the industries that are most important among the SMEs (low market-share-firms).

The data are based on remote access to Statistics Finland; the data cannot be disseminated.

Intangible assets are measured from innovation work that encompasses not only R&D work. IBTC is proxied in production function estimation by relative compensations on IA work. The non-competing nature of IAs is captured by IA knowledge spillovers. The sample sizes are much higher than in earlier studies on horizontal knowledge spillovers (such as for SMEs,) thus bringing additional generality to the results.

A model of reputation is developed to show how firms operating in concentrated sectors can use the sponsorship of general human capital investments to specifically trained workers as a device of commitment with prospective employees. Employees of firms that operate in concentrated sectors learn skills that are valuable only for a limited number of alternative employers. This gives monopsonistic power to the training firm over the trained workers. Anticipating it, potential employees will be reluctant to work for the firm unless the employer is able to commit oneself’ must be turned back to ‘herself. I argue that human resource policies including the provision of general human capital to workers reduce employers’ commitment costs. Evidence from two representative samples of workers from Spain and the United Kingdom show that, consistent with the predictions of the model, firms from more concentrated sectors are more likely to sponsor their employees’ education.

Describes the increasing need for simple and efficient antennas and looks at the performance of quarter wavelength and helical antennas. Concludes the optimum performances from both antennas are ruled by the choice of a suitable ground plane. The helical antenna is capable of producing a circularly polarized field, whereas the quarter wavelength antenna produces only linearly polarized fields. Both types exhibit low efficiency, with the helical antenna being less efficient owing to its short structure.

THE aircraft gas turbine is intriguing in that there were early attempts at its development not only by the established aero engine companies and research establishments in many countries, but also by manufacturers of marine and industrial turbines and — most successfully — by individuals. The aero engine companies failed because in virtually every instance they attempted to produce a power unit of comparable or lower specific fuel consumption to the traditional piston engine. This led to unduly complex designs involving unattainably high component efficiencies and turbine temperatures at far too early a stage in the development of the new prime mover.