Quality Competition in Mobile Telecommunications: Evidence from Connecticut

SUMMARY We insert an automated high-quality (HQ) auditor into established experimental audit markets to test the impact of high-quality competition on other auditors' supply of and managers' demand for audit quality. Theory predicts that managers will demand high levels of audit quality to avoid investors' price-protecting behavior. This demand should result in the HQ auditor dominating the market and increase other auditors' audit quality provision to compete with the HQ auditor. However, we find that the HQ auditor does not dominate the market—despite holding audit costs constant and investors placing a premium on HQ auditor reports. We also find that adding an HQ auditor results in other auditors lowering audit quality. Additional analyses indicate some managers demand lower audit quality to avoid negative audit reports, consistent with loss aversion as a potential explanation. Our findings indicate a need to develop a more comprehensive theory of the demand for auditing. Data Availability: The laboratory market data used in this study are available from the authors upon request.

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Cryptographic Applications

10.1093/oso/9780198788003.003.0012 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Keith M. Martin

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Security Requirements ◽

The Internet ◽

Anonymous Communication ◽

Mobile Telecommunications ◽

Payment Card ◽

Video Broadcasting ◽

Digital Currency ◽

Identity Cards

This chapter considers eight applications of cryptography. These essentially act as case studies relating to all the previous material. For each application, we identify the security requirements, the application constraints, the choice of cryptography used, and the ways that the keys are managed. We begin with the SSL/TLS protocols used to secure Internet communications. We then examine the cryptography used in W-Fi networks, showing that early cryptographic design mistakes have subsequently been corrected. We then examine the evolving cryptography used to secure mobile telecommunications. This is followed by a discussion of the cryptography that underpins the security of payment card transactions. We look at the cryptography of video broadcasting and identity cards. We then examine the cryptography behind the Tor project, which use cryptography to support anonymous communication on the Internet. Finally, we examine the clever cryptographic design of Bitcoin, showing how use of cryptography can facilitate digital currency.

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