When purchasing a ticket to a performance good, such as a movie or sporting event, the consumer does not actually buy the product, but simply access to viewing the product. Although the performance is the primary impetus for the ticket purchase, many performance goods offer complementary...

We estimate a translog production function based on data from a Japanese automobile plant in the Midwest where output is determined by capital and different supervisory time inputs. We fit a model which allows for heteroskedastic errors, where this heteroskedasticity is a function of various...

In this paper we consider some factors which are of potential importance in the debate concerning the sources of performance for intermediaries. Using data from depository institutions (banks and savings and loans), we find that the distributional intensity (provided by standardized number of...

Using survey data on a random sample of 2000 mutual fund investors, we classify investors by their level of financial literacy and their place of mutual fund purchase. After using a probit model to separately estimate the determinants of an investor's choice of distribution channel and level of...

This study assesses the inventory and productivity performance of the Japanese and US automotive industries in recent decades. Within each country we distinguish between vehicle assemblers and parts suppliers. In Japan, assemblers and suppliers made dramatic inventory reductions and productivity...

Under SEC Rule 10b-5, shareholders can sue a corporation that they believe has materially misled them about the firm's prospects. Recent legislation calls for reform of the rules governing shareholder class action litigation. Writers for the business press and experts testifying before the US...

This paper attempts to find an explanation of why empirical evidence does not confirm the signalling hypothesis that income- increasing accounting methods, such as linear depreciation, are typically chosen by firms with positive inside information. First, specific characteristics of the legal...

In 1984, NKK corporation, a leading Japanese steel maker, acquired from the National Intergroup Inc. (NII), an American holding company, its 50% equity interest in National Steel Corporation (NSC), the fourth largest integrated steel firm in the US. In spite of the US economic recovery that...