Browsing by Author "Grace-Webb, Eli"

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Open Access
Ageing infrastructure investment: 'wall of wire' or 'wall of confusion'? What are the issues and what do they tell us?
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2008) Beardow, Margaret; Grace-Webb, Eli
When network regulation was introduced in New Zealand the implications for investment on ageing assets went largely unrecognised. Consequently even though wide-ranging power outages have signalled the need for substantial replacement investment in infrastructure there is no 'replacement investment' model in the regulatory tool kit. Consequently there is an emerging belief that ageing assets are replaced on basis of age - the "Wall of Wire" - but this is not generally the case. This seminar argues that there is no need to re-invent the wheel with age-centric replacement models: robust engineering models for measuring efficient and prudent replacement investment already exist. An outline of a typical probability model will be presented some discussion on its provenance and a likely application in regulatory price setting will be proposed.
Open Access
Meat Industry Performance and Organisational Form
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2008) Evans, Lewis; Grace-Webb, Eli
The purpose of this report is to review the contemporary history of the meat packing industry and particularly the role of cooperatives and investor-owned firms in its development. The report that follows is divided into three parts. Part One reports briefly the contemporary history of the meat industry, Part Two looks at the changing structure and performance of this industry, Part Three assesses the evolution and performance of the now-large cooperative processor PPCS, and Part Four reviews the evolution of the now-investor firm AFFCO.
Open Access
Sarbanes-Oxley and its Aftermath: A Review of the Evidence
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Boyle, Glenn; Grace-Webb, Eli
Introduced in response to several high profile US corporate collapses the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 has proven to be a gold mine for academic researchers: after only five years no less than 528 studies of SOX appear on the Social Sciences Research Network (www.ssrn.com). This essay seeks to review the results of this research and provide a concise summary of the available evidence as of late 2007. Overall although SOX appears to have had some beneficial effects it has also: increased the costs of auditing governance and human capital and compliance more generally; induced a mis-match between auditors and firms; encouraged firms to delist or otherwise stay below the regulatory radar; lowered corporate investment and risk-taking; and had ambiguous effects on the quality of investor information and capital market eeffciency.