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Showing papers on "Proxy (statistics) published in 2018"


Proceedings Article
03 Dec 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, a gradient-based meta-learning algorithm is proposed to adapt the nature of the return, online, whilst interacting and learning from the environment, achieving state-of-the-art performance on 57 games on the Atari 2600 environment.
Abstract: The goal of reinforcement learning algorithms is to estimate and/or optimise the value function. However, unlike supervised learning, no teacher or oracle is available to provide the true value function. Instead, the majority of reinforcement learning algorithms estimate and/or optimise a proxy for the value function. This proxy is typically based on a sampled and bootstrapped approximation to the true value function, known as a return. The particular choice of return is one of the chief components determining the nature of the algorithm: the rate at which future rewards are discounted; when and how values should be bootstrapped; or even the nature of the rewards themselves. It is well-known that these decisions are crucial to the overall success of RL algorithms. We discuss a gradient-based meta-learning algorithm that is able to adapt the nature of the return, online, whilst interacting and learning from the environment. When applied to 57 games on the Atari 2600 environment over 200 million frames, our algorithm achieved a new state-of-the-art performance.

237 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors proxy for students non-cognitive skill using non-test score behaviors using non -test score score behaviors to measure noncognitive skills of students in the context of teachers.
Abstract: Teachers affect a variety of student outcomes through their influence on both cognitive and noncognitive skill. I proxy for students’ noncognitive skill using non–test score behaviors. These behavi...

203 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work shows that, with at least two independent proxy variables satisfying a certain rank condition, the causal effect is nonparametrically identified, even if the measurement error mechanism, i.e., the conditional distribution of the proxies given the confounder, may not be identified.
Abstract: We consider a causal effect that is confounded by an unobserved variable, but with observed proxy variables of the confounder. We show that, with at least two independent proxy variables satisfying a certain rank condition, the causal effect is nonparametrically identified, even if the measurement error mechanism, i.e., the conditional distribution of the proxies given the confounder, may not be identified. Our result generalizes the identification strategy of Kuroki & Pearl (2014) that rests on identification of the measurement error mechanism. When only one proxy for the confounder is available, or the required rank condition is not met, we develop a strategy to test the null hypothesis of no causal effect.

181 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new iterative-sampling-refinement algorithm is developed and implemented that is designed specifically to promote the accuracy of the SVR model for robust production optimization and compared with the popular stochastic simplex approximate gradient and reservoir-simulations runs.
Abstract: We design a new and general work flow for efficient estimation of the optimal well controls for the robust production-optimization problem using support-vector regression (SVR), where the cost function is the net present value (NPV). Given a set of simulation results, an SVR model is built as a proxy to approximate a reservoir-simulation model, and then the estimated optimal controls are found by maximizing NPV using the SVR proxy as the forward model. The gradient of the SVR model can be computed analytically so the steepest-ascent algorithm can easily and efficiently be applied to maximize NPV. Then, the well-control optimization is performed using an SVR model as the forward model with a steepest-ascent algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first SVR application to the optimal well-control problem. We provide insight and information on proper training of the SVR proxy for life-cycle production optimization. In particular, we develop and implement a new iterative-sampling-refinement algorithm that is designed specifically to promote the accuracy of the SVR model for robust production optimization. One key observation that is important for reservoir optimization is that SVR produces a high-fidelity model near an optimal point, but at points far away, we only need SVR to produce reasonable approximations of the predicting output from the reservoir-simulation model. Because running an SVR model is computationally more efficient than running a full-scale reservoir-simulation model, the large computational cost spent on multiple forward-reservoir-simulation runs for robust optimization is significantly reduced by applying the proposed method. We compare the performance of the proposed method using the SVR runs with the popular stochastic simplex approximate gradient (StoSAG) and reservoir-simulations runs for three synthetic examples, including one field-scale example. We also compare the optimization performance of our proposed method with that obtained from a linear-response-surface model and multiple SVR proxies that are built for each of the geological models.

87 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article proposed an instrument to identify uncertainty shocks in a proxy structural vector autoregressive model (SVAR), which equals the variations in the price of gold around events associated with unexpected changes in uncertainty.
Abstract: We propose an instrument to identify uncertainty shocks in a proxy structural vector autoregressive model (SVAR). The instrument equals the variations in the price of gold around events associated with unexpected changes in uncertainty. These variations correlate with uncertainty shocks because gold is perceived as a safe haven asset. To control for news‐related effects associated with the events we identify uncertainty and news shocks jointly, developing a set‐identified proxy SVAR. We find that the popular recursive approach underestimates the effects of uncertainty shocks and delivers responses for economic activity and monetary policy that have more in common with news shocks than with uncertainty shocks.

77 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper constructs the first linearly homomorphic proxy signature scheme, so the proxy signer can produce a linearly Homomorphic signature on behalf of the original signer.
Abstract: Linearly homomorphic signature schemes allow the performance of linear computations on authenticated data. They are important primitives for many applications, such as electronic voting, smart grids, electronic health records, and so on. Proxy signature schemes allow an original signer to delegate his/her signing power to a proxy signer, so that the proxy signer can sign on behalf of the original signer. Therefore, a signature scheme offering both of the above signatures’ properties is very desirable. In this paper, we construct the first linearly homomorphic proxy signature scheme, so the proxy signer can produce a linearly homomorphic signature on behalf of the original signer. The scheme is provably secure in the random oracle model. Moreover, the length of signature is short and constant. Linearly homomorphic proxy signature scheme can be used in applications, such as electronic business and cloud computing.

65 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the impact of green packaging on consumer behavior and measured it through willingness to pay since it acts as a proxy for actual behaviour, using a sample of 343 respondents.
Abstract: The study examined the impact of green packaging on consumer behaviour. It was measured through willingness to pay since it acts as a proxy for actual behaviour. Using a sample of 343 respondents, ...

62 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide the first comprehensive study of mutual fund voting in proxy contests, finding that shareholders tend to vote against incumbent management at firms with weak operating and financial performance, and in favor of dissidents with credible track records.
Abstract: This paper provides the first comprehensive study of mutual fund voting in proxy contests. Funds tend to vote against incumbent management at firms with weak operating and financial performance, and in favor of dissidents with credible track records. Passive funds are active monitors although they are more supportive of incumbent management than active funds. We document a positive selection effect: dissidents are more likely to initiate contests and proceed to voting when shareholders are expected to be more supportive based on observable and unobservable event characteristics as well as inherent pro-activist investor stance. Overall, institutional investors play a pivotal role in shaping the initiation and outcomes of proxy contests.

56 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Proxy quality of life ratings from professional and informal carers appear to be lower than the self-ratings of those with dementia, and a proxy rating should be judged as a complementary perspective for a self-assessment of quality ofLife by those with Alzheimer's Disease, rather than as a valid substitute.
Abstract: To assess the quality of life of people with dementia, measures are required for self-rating by the person with dementia, and for proxy rating by others. The Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease scale (QoL-AD) is available in two versions, QoL-AD-SR (self-rating) and QoL-AD-PR (proxy rating). The aim of our study was to analyse the inter-rater agreement between self- and proxy ratings, in terms of both the total score and the items, including an analysis specific to care setting, and to identify factors associated with this agreement. Cross-sectional QoL-AD data from the 7th Framework European RightTimePlaceCare study were analysed. A total of 1330 cases were included: n = 854 receiving home care and n = 476 receiving institutional long-term nursing care. The proxy raters were informal carers (home care) and best-informed professional carers (institutional long-term nursing care). Inter-rater agreement was investigated using Bland-Altman plots for the QoL-AD total score and by weighted kappa statistics for single items. Associations were investigated by regression analysis. The overall QoL-AD assessment of those with dementia revealed a mean value of 33.2 points, and the proxy ratings revealed a mean value of 29.8 points. The Bland-Altman plots revealed a poor agreement between self- and proxy ratings for the overall sample and for both care settings. With one exception (item ‘Marriage’ weighted kappa 0.26), the weighted kappa values for the single QoL-AD items were below 0.20, indicating poor agreement. Home care setting, dementia-related behavioural and psychological symptoms, and the functional status of the person with dementia, along with the caregiver burden, were associated with the level of agreement. Only the home care setting was associated with an increase larger than the predefined acceptable difference between self- and proxy ratings. Proxy quality of life ratings from professional and informal carers appear to be lower than the self-ratings of those with dementia. QoL-AD-SR and QoL-AD-PR are therefore not interchangeable, as the inter-rater agreement differs distinctly. Thus, a proxy rating should be judged as a complementary perspective for a self-assessment of quality of life by those with dementia, rather than as a valid substitute.

46 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
31 Oct 2018
TL;DR: This study estimates the locations of 2269 proxy servers from ping-time measurements to hosts in known locations, combined with AS and network information, and addresses a number of technical challenges with applying active geolocation to proxy servers, which may not be directly pingable, and may restrict the types of packets that can be sent through them, e.g. forbidding traceroute.
Abstract: Internet users worldwide rely on commercial network proxies both to conceal their true location and identity, and to control their apparent location. Their reasons range from mundane to security-critical. Proxy operators offer no proof that their advertised server locations are accurate. IP-to-location databases tend to agree with the advertised locations, but there have been many reports of serious errors in such databases. In this study we estimate the locations of 2269 proxy servers from ping-time measurements to hosts in known locations, combined with AS and network information. These servers are operated by seven proxy services, and, according to the operators, spread over 222 countries and territories. Our measurements show that one-third of them are definitely not located in the advertised countries, and another third might not be. Instead, they are concentrated in countries where server hosting is cheap and reliable (e.g. Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, UK, USA). In the process, we address a number of technical challenges with applying active geolocation to proxy servers, which may not be directly pingable, and may restrict the types of packets that can be sent through them, e.g. forbidding traceroute. We also test three geolocation algorithms from previous literature, plus two variations of our own design, at the scale of the whole world.

45 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work proposes the notion of key-policy attribute-based proxy re-encryption, which supports any monotonic access structures on users’ keys and is proved against chosen-ciphertext attack secure in the adaptive model.
Abstract: The notion of attribute-based proxy re-encryption extends the traditional proxy re-encryption to the attribute-based setting. In an attribute-based proxy re-encryption scheme, the proxy can convert a ciphertext under one access policy to another ciphertext under a new access policy without revealing the underlying plaintext. Attribute-based proxy re-encryption has been widely used in many applications, such as personal health record and cloud data sharing systems. In this work, we propose the notion of key-policy attribute-based proxy re-encryption, which supports any monotonic access structures on users’ keys. Furthermore, our scheme is proved against chosen-ciphertext attack secure in the adaptive model.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Overall, log data was not a statistically significant proxy measure of students’ self-reported cognitive and emotional engagement, and future educational research using log data will need to account for other factors that help explain trends in student engagement.
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between log data of student activity in learning management systems and self-reported student engagement survey scores. Log data has the potential to serve as a meaningful proxy for survey scores. Should this be the case, log data could be used as a minimally disruptive and scalable approach to quickly identify who needs help, evaluate design, and personalize instruction. We correlated LMS log data variables to student engagement survey scores to study the relationship between these two sources of data. Overall, log data was not a statistically significant proxy measure of students’ self-reported cognitive and emotional engagement. Our results underscore the complexity of learning and the relationship between observed and reported cognitive and emotional states. Future educational research using log data will need to account for other factors that help explain trends in student engagement. Exploring the Potential of LMS Log Data as a Proxy Measure of Student Engagement.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a formal linkage between the two indicators by introducing a factor termed the "activity correction" (AC) effect, and discussed the significance and policy implications of the AC effect.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Proxy-reported outcome scores for both physical and mental health were clinically and significantly lower than patient-reported scores for these outcomes, even after adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical variables.
Abstract: Proxy respondents are frequently used in surveys, including those assessing health-related quality of life (HRQOL). In cancer, most research involving proxies has been undertaken with paired proxy-patient populations, where proxy responses are compared to patient responses for the same individual. In these populations, proxy-patient differences are small and suggest proxy underestimation of patient HRQOL. In practice, however, proxy responses will only be used when patient responses are not available. The difference between proxy and patient reports of patient HRQOL where patients are not able to report for themselves in cancer is not known. The objective of this study was to evaluate the difference between patient and proxy reports of patient HRQOL in a large national cancer survey, and determine if this difference could be mitigated by adjusting for clinical and sociodemographic information about patients. Data were from the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance (CanCORS) study. Patients or their proxies were recruited within 3–6 months of diagnosis with lung or colorectal cancer. HRQOL was measured using the SF-12 mental and physical composite scales. Differences of ½ SD (=5 points) were considered clinically significant. The primary independent variable was proxy status. Linear regression models were used to adjust for patient sociodemographic and clinical covariates, including cancer stage, patient age and education, and patient co-morbidities. Of 6471 respondents, 1011 (16%) were proxies. Before adjustment, average proxy-reported scores were lower for both physical (−6.7 points, 95% CI -7.4 to −5.9) and mental (−6 points, 95% CI -6.7 to −5.2) health. Proxy-reported scores remained lower after adjustment (physical: −5.8 points, −6.6 to −5; mental: −5.8 points, −6.6 to 5). Proxy-patient score differences remained clinically and statistically significant, even after adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical variables. Proxy-reported outcome scores for both physical and mental health were clinically and significantly lower than patient-reported scores for these outcomes. The size of the proxy-patient score differences was not affected by the health domain, and adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical variables had minimal impact.


Journal ArticleDOI
11 Jun 2018
TL;DR: The challenges a life insurer faces, the theoretical basis of the LSMC method and the necessary steps on the way to a reliable proxy modeling in the life insurance business are outlined and the advantages are illustrated via presenting (slightly disguised) real-world applications.
Abstract: The Solvency II directive asks insurance companies to derive their solvency capital requirement from the full loss distribution over the coming year. While this is in general computationally infeasible in the life insurance business, an application of the Least-Squares Monte Carlo (LSMC) method offers a possibility to overcome this computational challenge. We outline in detail the challenges a life insurer faces, the theoretical basis of the LSMC method and the necessary steps on the way to a reliable proxy modeling in the life insurance business. Further, we illustrate the advantages of the LSMC approach via presenting (slightly disguised) real-world applications.

Posted Content
TL;DR: A gradient-based meta-learning algorithm is discussed that is able to adapt the nature of the return, online, whilst interacting and learning from the environment and achieved a new state-of-the-art performance.
Abstract: The goal of reinforcement learning algorithms is to estimate and/or optimise the value function. However, unlike supervised learning, no teacher or oracle is available to provide the true value function. Instead, the majority of reinforcement learning algorithms estimate and/or optimise a proxy for the value function. This proxy is typically based on a sampled and bootstrapped approximation to the true value function, known as a return. The particular choice of return is one of the chief components determining the nature of the algorithm: the rate at which future rewards are discounted; when and how values should be bootstrapped; or even the nature of the rewards themselves. It is well-known that these decisions are crucial to the overall success of RL algorithms. We discuss a gradient-based meta-learning algorithm that is able to adapt the nature of the return, online, whilst interacting and learning from the environment. When applied to 57 games on the Atari 2600 environment over 200 million frames, our algorithm achieved a new state-of-the-art performance.

Posted Content
TL;DR: Results on benchmark and real-world datasets demonstrate that improving fairness metrics for proxy groups can work well in practice, but it is cautioned that the effectiveness likely depends on the choice of fairness metric, as well as how aligned the proxy groups are with the true protected groups in terms of the constrained model parameters.
Abstract: We consider the problem of improving fairness when one lacks access to a dataset labeled with protected groups, making it difficult to take advantage of strategies that can improve fairness but require protected group labels, either at training or runtime. To address this, we investigate improving fairness metrics for proxy groups, and test whether doing so results in improved fairness for the true sensitive groups. Results on benchmark and real-world datasets demonstrate that such a proxy fairness strategy can work well in practice. However, we caution that the effectiveness likely depends on the choice of fairness metric, as well as how aligned the proxy groups are with the true protected groups in terms of the constrained model parameters.

Proceedings Article
25 Sep 2018
TL;DR: A number of story features are introduced that correlate with human judgments of stories and present algorithms that can measure these features and find this approach results in a proxy for human-subject studies for researchers evaluating story generation systems.
Abstract: The ability of digital storytelling agents to evaluate their output is important for ensuring high-quality human-agent interactions. However, evaluating stories remains an open problem. Past evaluative techniques are either model-specific--- which measure features of the model but do not evaluate the generated stories ---or require direct human feedback, which is resource-intensive. We introduce a number of story features that correlate with human judgments of stories and present algorithms that can measure these features. We find this approach results in a proxy for human-subject studies for researchers evaluating story generation systems.

Posted Content
TL;DR: This article employed the autoregressive distributed lag bound testing approach to investigate the dynamic impact of trade openness on economic growth in South Africa and found that trade openness has a positive and significant impact on economic development when the ratio of total trade to GDP is used as a proxy, but not when the three other proxies are employed.
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of trade openness on economic growth in South Africa. The study employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to investigate the dynamic impact of trade openness on economic growth. Unlike some previous studies, the current study uses four proxies of trade openness, with each proxy addressing a different aspect of trade openness. The first proxy of trade openness is derived from the ratio of exports plus imports to gross domestic product (GDP). The second proxy is the ratio of exports to GDP, while the third proxy is the ratio of imports to GDP. The last proxy is an index of trade openness, which accounts for the country size and geography. Based on the long run empirical results, this study finds that trade openness has a positive and significant impact on economic growth when the ratio of total trade to GDP is used as a proxy, but not when the three other proxies are employed. However, in the short run, when the first three proxies of openness are used, the study finds trade openness to have a positive impact on economic growth, but not so when the trade openness index is employed. These results, therefore, suggest that the promotion of policies that support international trade is relevant in the South African economy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a new method that point-identifies the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) via a difference-in-differences (DID) method when the data come from repeated cross-sections and the treatment status is observed either before or after the implementation of a program.
Abstract: Summary This paper considers the difference-in-differences (DID) method when the data come from repeated cross-sections and the treatment status is observed either before or after the implementation of a program. We propose a new method that point-identifies the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) via a DID method when there is at least one proxy variable for the latent treatment. Key assumptions are the stationarity of the propensity score conditional on the proxy and an exclusion restriction that the proxy must satisfy with respect to the change in average outcomes over time conditional on the true treatment status. We propose a generalized method of moments estimator for the ATT and we show that the associated overidentification test can be used to test our key assumptions. The method is used to evaluate JUNTOS, a Peruvian conditional cash transfer program. We find that the program significantly increased the demand for health inputs among children and women of reproductive age.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors disentangle investor sentiment into two components: mood and household attitudes towards the economy, and apply acoustical analysis to the daily top ten of music downloads in iTunes for Germany to derive a novel and direct measure for mood.
Abstract: In this paper, we disentangle investor sentiment into two components: mood and household attitudes towards the economy. We apply acoustical analysis to the daily top ten of music downloads in iTunes for Germany to derive a novel and direct measure for mood. We match this novel mood index with trading data of German individual investors. We find that when mood is positive, investors purchase more, particularly trading into risky and out of less-risky securities. To proxy for household attitudes towards the economy, we use an already existing index (FEARS), which bases on Google search volumes of negative economic terms. We find that FEARS drives trading in the same fashion as in previous studies and that these effects significantly depend on mood. We conclude that there are two sources of sentiment driving individual investors, which significantly interact.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined whether low access to banks is perceived as problematic when obtaining financial capital for innovation activities and found that both a longer distance to the nearest bank and fewer banks in the vicinity are related to experiencing greater difficulties in obtaining external financial capital.
Abstract: We examine whether low access to banks is perceived as problematic when obtaining financial capital for innovation activities. Data on innovation obstacles from the Swedish Community Innovation Survey are combined with geo-coded data at the firm level, which allows us to proxy access to external capital by the Euclidian distance from each firm to its nearest bank and the supply within a radius of 5 km. The results indicate that both a longer distance to the nearest bank and fewer banks in the vicinity are related to experiencing greater difficulties in obtaining external financial capital for innovations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The general national pride question is a popular item in cross-national studies of national identity as mentioned in this paper, and researchers use it as a proxy for different aspects of different countries' identity.
Abstract: The general national pride question is a popular item in cross-national studies of national identity. Although it is a single-item indicator, researchers use it as a proxy for different aspects of ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The constrained application protocol (CoAP) observe feature has the potential to achieve fast communication and low energy consumption, and the evaluation of Max-Age parameter at the proxy is implemented to maintain the freshness of cached records under random data arrivals.
Abstract: The constrained application protocol (CoAP) observe feature has the potential to achieve fast communication and low energy consumption. We have analyzed a CoAP proxy which stores observed data from multiple Internet of Things (IoT) nodes that belong to single IoT domain. To maintain the freshness of cached records under random data arrivals, we have implemented the evaluation of Max-Age parameter at the proxy. We have also implemented congestion control at both IoT nodes and proxy, and show that it interacts with data freshness estimation at the proxy. Our results demonstrate the capacity limits of a single IoT domain against cluster size, interobservation time, proxy re-registration rate, ratio of confirmable/nonconfirmable observations, and presence of congestion control.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This systematic review provides a synthesis of the empirical data reporting the ethical issues surrounding decisions made by research proxies, and the development of a conceptual framework of proxy decision-making for research.
Abstract: Background: Research involving adults lacking mental capacity relies on the involvement of a proxy or surrogate, although this raises a number of ethical concerns Empirical studies have examined attitudes towards proxy decision-making, proxies’ authority as decision-makers, decision accuracy, and other relevant factors However, a comprehensive evidence-based account of proxy decision-making is lacking This systematic review provides a synthesis of the empirical data reporting the ethical issues surrounding decisions made by research proxies, and the development of a conceptual framework of proxy decision-making for research Methods: A systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines Databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL were searched using a combination of search terms, and empirical data from eligible studies were retrieved The review followed the framework synthesis approach to refine and develop a conceptual framework Results: Thirty-four studies were included in the review Two dimensions of proxy decision-making emerged The ethical framing criteria of decision-making used by proxies: use of a substituted judgement, use of a best interests approach, combination of substituted judgement and best interests, and ‘something else’, and the active elements of proxy decision-making: ‘knowing the person’, patient-proxy relationship, accuracy of the decision, and balancing risks, benefits and burdens, and attitudes towards proxy decision-making Interactions between the framing criteria and the elements of decision-making are complex and contextually-situated Conclusions: The findings from this systematic review challenge the accepted reductionist account of proxy decision-making Decision-making by research proxies is highly contextualized and multifactorial in nature The choice of proxy and the relational features of decision-making play a fundamental role: both in providing the proxy’s authority as decision-maker, and guiding the decision-making process The conceptual framework describes the relationship between the framing criteria used by the proxy, and the active elements of decision-making Further work to develop, and empirically test the proposed framework is needed

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the determinant factors of financial statement fraud by employing the Fraud Pentagon model as a new approach and empirically examined 14 companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange that incurred sanctions from the Financial Services Authority during the period 2013-2015, and 14 comparable companies as a control sample that were similar in both industry and size.
Abstract: This study investigated the determinant factors of financial statement fraud (FSF) by employing the Fraud Pentagon model as a new approach. This study empirically examines 14 companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange that incurred sanctions from the Financial Services Authority during the period 2013-2015, and 14 comparable companies as a control sample that were similar in both industry and size. This research is an explanatory research that applies logistic regression analysis to test 10 hypotheses on the effect of pressure, opportunity, rationalization, capability, and arrogance on FSF in Indonesia. The results show that free cash flow as a proxy of pressure; independence of the audit committee as a proxy of opportunity, total accruals as a proxy of rationalization, and disclosure of doubtful debts as a proxy of Capability have significant and negative effect on FSF. Those variables must be considered by external and internal auditors, investors, and those charged with governance, as well as government in their decision-making process for consideration of the occurrence of FSF.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the hot hand hypothesis in professional darts in a near-ideal setting with minimal to no interaction between players, and they find a strong but short-lived serial dependence in the latent state process.
Abstract: We investigate the hot hand hypothesis in professional darts in a near-ideal setting with minimal to no interaction between players. Considering almost one year of tournament data, corresponding to 167,492 dart throws in total, we use state-space models to investigate serial dependence in throwing performance. In our models, a latent state process serves as a proxy for a player's underlying ability, and we use autoregressive processes to model how this process evolves over time. We find a strong but short-lived serial dependence in the latent state process, thus providing evidence for the existence of the hot hand.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study the role of proxy advice in relationship-based governance systems and find that proxy advice is both less influential and has lower predictive quality than market-based systems.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of proxy advisors in 14 European countries is investigated. But the authors focus on the analysis of proxy voting reports by Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis and find that their role varies with governance and ownership-related firm characteristics and with country-level measures of institutional strength.
Abstract: Responding to regulators’ requests and filling a void in the academic literature, this paper provides comprehensive empirical evidence on the role of proxy advisors in 14 European countries. Exploiting coverage data and using content analysis of proxy voting reports by Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, we provide descriptive analyses of proxy advisors’ firm coverage, the variation and determinants of voting recommendations, the relation between voting recommendations and shareholder voting at annual general meetings, and market reactions to the release of voting recommendations. Overall, our findings suggest an economically important role of proxy advisors in European markets. Throughout our analyses, we document that this role varies with governance- and ownership-related firm characteristics and with country-level measures of institutional strength.