January 2008
- 2007 TAA membership renewals up 10 percent
- TAA members to get 11 issues of 'The Academic Author' in 2008
- TAA launches a new Busy TAA People section
- Register to attend the 2008 TAA Conference at Harrah's in Las Vegas, June 19-21
- 'Ghettoized Poli Sci Textbooks'
- Register for upcoming Academic Writing Club
- The truth behind the 'authors' of K-12 textbooks
- Cornell professor awarded Best Paper Prize
- Textbook authors allege Pearson Education manipulates royalty accounting
2007 TAA membership renewals up 10 percent
TAA Managing Director Janet Tucker reported at the TAA Council meeting on January 14 in St. Petersburg, Florida, that TAA membership renewals are up 10 percent this year.
TAA members to get 11 issues of 'The Academic Author' in 2008
TAA members will begin receiving The Academic Author, the association's member newsletter, monthly instead of quarterly beginning in February.
TAA launches a new Busy TAA People section
As a way to showcase members' work, TAA recently launched an expanded Busy TAA People section, which includes featured member profiles, member news such as recent books or journal articles published, promotions, etc., and links to member websites. Read the first Featured Member profile on Kimberly A. Davies: Click here
Register to attend the 2008 TAA Conference at Harrah's in Las Vegas, June 19-21
Conference fees are $195 for members before May 1 ($245 after May 1), and $245 for non-members before May 1 ($295 after May 1). Non-members can join TAA prior to the conference for $30, and save $20 off their registration. Register using TAA's secure online registration form, or download a PDF and send by mail: Click here
'Ghettoized Poli Sci Textbooks'
A study by the American Political Science Association's Standing Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession, found a relative absence of black people in 27 introductory textbooks published or in circulation from 2004-2007. Read an article about the study, "Ghettoized Poli Sci Textbooks", on Inside Higher Ed: Click here
Register for upcoming Academic Writing Club
The Academic Ladder will be holding its next Academic Writing Club Feb. 11 to March 9. Early registration (before 9 a.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 8) is $50. After Feb. 8, registration is $60. Register at http://academicwritingclub.comThe truth behind the 'authors' of K-12 textbooks
Read this expose of the politics of educational publishing, "The Muddle Machine: Confessions of a Textbook Editor", written by Tamin Ansary, a former editor at a major publisher of elementary and high school textbooks, on the edutopia website: http://www.edutopia.org/muddle-machine
Cornell professor awarded Best Paper Prize
Yaniv Grinstein, assistant professor at the Johnson School at Cornell University, was awarded the Best Paper Prize for the most significant paper published in the Journal of Financial Intermediation in 2006 for his paper, "The Disciplinary Role of Debt and Equity Contracts: Theory and Tests."
The article studies how debt and equity should be designed to align managerial incentives. Both debt and equity have features that create incentives for management to work hard. Debt holders' right to cease assets if they do not get their money back and equity holders' right to replace the manager if they do not get a reasonable return creates very powerful incentives.
"What's interesting about debt and equity is that their terms can be changed to create more powerful or less powerful incentives," comments Grinstein. "A debt contract with lenient terms and longer maturity does not provide as powerful incentives as a debt contract with stricter terms and shorter maturity. Similarly, a large number of equity holders who each hold only a small stake in the firm will have less power to replace the CEO than few strong equity holders with a large stake."
The model shows that, to provide the right incentives, both debt and equity are necessary in the capital structure, but that firms should choose either to provide incentives with strict debt terms or with strong equity holders. Having both strict terms and strong equity holders at once is suboptimal because it distorts incentives to discipline. The model has additional predictions on the determinants of the choice between strict debt terms and strong shareholders and the effect of other alignment mechanisms (such as managerial equity holdings or compensation contracts) on the results. The paper finds supportive evidence for the model's predictions in a sample of leveraged buyout transactions.
The Journal of Financial Intermediation editors cast votes to select the Best Paper Prize from all papers published in the journal during the year. The prize includes a $2,500 check, which will be presented to Grinstein during the Financial Intermediation Research Society conference in June.
Grinstein's research and teaching interests are in corporate finance and corporate governance. His current research focuses on the effect of governance regulations on firm policies, optimal executive compensation arrangements, and the determinants of board structure. Between 2006 and 2007, he worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission, continuing his research efforts in these areas.
He has published in several journals in the areas of corporate governance, capital structure, and dividend policy, including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Financial Intermediation and others. His research has been widely cited in major newspapers such as The Economist, Financial Times, Newsweek, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Forbes magazine, Time magazine, Washington Post, as well as in Congressional hearings on the new governance rules. He is the recipient of the Best Paper in Corporate Finance Award from the Southwestern Finance Association in 2005, and of the Clifford H. Whitcomb faculty fellowship in 2004-2005.
Textbook authors allege Pearson Education manipulates royalty accounting
Courtland L. Bovee and John V. Thill, authors of Excellence in Business Communication and Business Communication Today, filed suit on January 7, 2008 against Pearson Education, Inc. and its subsidiary Prentice Hall in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York alleging that the company has systematically breached its contracts with the authors and acted in bad faith in order to minimize the royalties it pays them.
Download PDF of the complaint against Pearson Education by Courtland Bovee and John Thill
"Ever since Pearson Education became the corporate parent of Prentice Hall, we have noticed changes in the way in which our royalties are paid," said John Thill. The suit alleges that there is a pattern of misstating and miscategorizing sales so that Pearson can maximize its own profits at the expense of its authors.
The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that despite specific contract provisions related to sales by Pearson Education subsidiaries, the defendants purport to license Bovee and Thill's works to its foreign subsidiary companies for sale in foreign markets in order to pay royalties based upon on a much lower license fee rather than upon the volume of sales.
The suit also alleges that Pearson engages in the systematic discounting of Bovee & Thill LLC works. Rather than calculating royalties on the "single copy price" of plaintiff's textbooks, Pearson Education arbitrarily sets an unreasonably high "list price" for plaintiff's books in order to take advantage of contractual royalty provisions related to "high discount sales." Finally, Bovee & Thill take issue with Pearson Education's treatment of "custom published" editions of their work. Resembling allegations that have been made by other authors against Pearson and other publishers, Bovee & Thill's lawsuit alleges that Pearson Education reduced its royalty payments by categorizing custom published works as "abridgements," in order to apply a lower royalty rate to their sale. Said Thill: "Everyone knows that custom published works are not 'abridgments.'" The suit alleges that Pearson Education ignores such accepted industry definitions so that they can retain more profits for themselves. "In our case, this practice results in the reduction of our royalties by about one third," he said. Bijan Amini of Storch Amini & Munves, the firm representing Bovee and Thill, said: "Adding insult to injury, Pearson Education has consistently refused our clients adequate access to their books and records. While the lawsuit currently alleges a breach of contract, Pearson's secrecy raises a distinct possibility that there is more lurking in their books than meets the eye. We look forward to helping our clients uncover any and all wrongdoing and to obtaining their bargained-for earnings."
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