The Information Asymmetry Effects of Expanded Disclosures About Derivative and Hedging Activities

I study the information asymmetry effects of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Number 161 (SFAS 161), which requires changes to the content and format of derivative and hedging footnote disclosures. Using a difference-in-differences design, I investigate whether these mandatory disclosure changes affected bid-ask spreads. To capture the extent to which firms were likely impacted by SFAS 161, I employ two complementary measures: (1) actual changes in firms’ derivative and hedging disclosures, and (2) pre-SFAS 161 levels of firms’ derivative and hedging activities. Both measures provide consistent evidence that bid-ask spreads decreased more for firms whose disclosures were more likely affected by SFAS 161. I also find that increased qualitative information and more disaggregated quantitative data (i.e., disclosure content) matter more than disclosure grouping and tabular display (i.e., disclosure format) for the observed decrease in bid-ask spreads. Overall, my findings suggest that the disclosure changes required by SFAS 161 reduced information asymmetry among investors regarding the firm value effects of derivative and hedging activities. These results may prove useful to regulators and standard setters as they consider disclosure requirements in other contexts. This paper was accepted by Brian Bushee, accounting.

Task-domain and hemisphere-asymmetry effects in cisgender and transmale individuals

The present research examined the extent to which transmale individuals’ functional brain organization resembles that of their assigned sex or gender identity. Cisgender-female, cisgender-male, and transmale participants, who were assigned female sex but did not have a female gender identity, were compared in terms of effects that have been observed in cisgender individuals: task-domain effects, in which males perform better than females on spatial tasks and females perform better than males on verbal tasks; and hemisphere-asymmetry effects, in which males show larger differences between the left and right hemispheres than females. In addition, the present research measured participants’ intelligence in order to control for potential moderating effects. Participants performed spatial (mental rotation) and verbal (lexical decision) tasks presented to each hemisphere using a divided-visual field paradigm, and then completed an intelligence assessment. In the mental-rotation task, cismale and transmale participants performed better than cisfemale participants, however this group difference was explained by intelligence scores, with higher scores predicting better performance. In the lexical-decision task, cismale and transmale participants exhibited a greater left-hemisphere advantage than cisfemales, and this difference was not affected by intelligence scores. Taken together, results do not support task-domain effects when intelligence is accounted for; however, they do demonstrate a hemisphere-asymmetry effect in the verbal domain that is moderated by gender identity and not assigned sex.

Presupposition projection from disjunction is symmetric

The role of linear order for presupposition projection is a key theoretical question, but the empirical status of (a-)symmetries in projection from various connectives remains controversial. We present experimental evidence that presupposition projection from disjunction is symmetric. 'Bathroom disjunctions', where either disjunct seems able to support a presupposition in the other if its negation entails it, have been argued to be evidence for symmetric projection; but there are alternative theoretical options. Adapting the paradigm of Mandelkern et al. (2020) for projection from conjunction, our experimental data supports the view that we are dealing with genuinely symmetric projection from disjunction. This contrasts with Mandelkern et al.'s findings for asymmetric projection from conjunction, and thus provides evidence for variation in projection (a-)symmetry across connectives, contra accounts proposing general accounts predicting uniform asymmetry effects due to left-to-right processing (e.g. Schlenker 2009).

Asymmetry Effects in Optical Properties of a Gold Nanotube

Asymmetry effects in optical properties of an infinitely long gold nanotube is studied within the framework of the quasi-static approximation. In this way, incident, scattered and transmitted fields are represented with the appropriate electrostatic potentials in the cylindrical coordinates. The problem is investigated using a boundary-value approach. The expressions for the polarizability and dispersion of surface plasmons of the system are derived and numerical results, in the wavelength region 500 nm to 1000 nm, show that instead of the one well-known resonance peak of the nanotube, one pair of resonance peaks appear, as a result of the coupling between the dipole and quadrupole modes. Then, scattering, absorption and extinction widths of the system are formulated. Also, the effective dielectric function of a composite of aligned symmetry-broken gold nanotubes is presented.

Economic Policy Uncertainty and Financial Innovation: Is There Any Affiliation?

The study's motivation is to gauge the nexus between economic policy uncertainty and financial innovation for the period 2004M1 to 2018M12 in BRIC nations. For establishing a long-run cointegration study applied Autoregressive Distributed Lagged (ARDL) and asymmetry effects of economic policy uncertainty investigated following nonlinear framework known as NARDL. Furthermore, directional causality is established by performing a non-granger causality test. Cointegration test results of Fpss, Wpss, and tBDM confirmed the long-run association between EPU and financial innovation. On the other hand, the Wald test results proved asymmetry effects furring from EPU to financial innovation both in the long-run and short-run. Referring to asymmetry effects that positive and negative shocks in financial innovation, the study revealed that negative linkage between shocks in EPU and financial innovation in the long-run but short-run effects are insignificant. Furthermore, financial innovation measured by R&D investment exhibits positive linked with shocks in EPU, implying that uncertainty induces innovation in the economy. Refers to directional causality estimation, the study revealed evidence supporting the feedback hypothesis between EPU and financial innovation in all sample countries.