We study the intertemporal properties of conservatism with a focus on managerial incentives. In our main model, conservatism results in smaller expected payouts to the manager (agent) in early periods and larger expected payouts in later periods. Conservatism shifts (ambiguous) evidence that might be used to recognize good performance in early periods to later periods. In later periods, good pe...

We examine IPO underpricing, valuation, and wealth allocation in relation to investor sentiment, information asymmetry, and underwriter reputation. We find that underpricing is significantly higher for overvalued IPOs than for undervalued IPOs, and is positively correlated to investor sentiment. Information asymmetry is also positively correlated to the magnitude of underpricing but only for un...

This paper presents a contribution to the debates surrounding the culpability of accounting in the recent financial crisis. It adopts a Marxist theoretical perspective concentrating mainly on Marx’s work on fictitious capital. Fictitious capital is any form of investment (for example bonds, stocks, derivatives, and collateralized debt obligations) which is based upon the expectation of future r...

‘Racial’ disparities among cancers, particularly of the breast and prostate, are something of a mystery. For the US, in the face of slavery and its sequelae, centuries of interbreeding has greatly leavened genetic differences between ‘Blacks’ and ‘whites’, but marked contrasts in disease prevalence and progression persist. ‘Adjustment’ for socioeconomic status and lifestyle, while statistically...

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) provide the basis for measuring, valuing, and presenting financial information to investors and creditors. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) promulgates GAAP through its Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS). To guide its thinking in the promulgation of SFAS, the FASB employs as conceptual framework, called Qualitative ...

for their provision of data and projections necessary for this paper's computations.

Discounted-utilitarian welfare, the commonest social objective studied by economists, is the basis for the theory of green accounting in terms of social utility. Sustainability is a different type of social objective. Consequently, green accounting as derived in many empirical models is not appropriate for studying sustainability. Maximin is a consistent foundation for the analysis of sustainab...

The services offered by Internet Data Centers involve the provision of storage, bandwidth and computational resources. A common business model is to charge consumers on a pay-per-use basis where they periodically pay for the resources they have consumed (as opposed to a fixed charge for service provision). The pay-per-use model raises the question of how to measure resource consumption. Current...

The influence of heterogeneous time preferences on the term structure is investigated. Motivated by the Preferred Habitat Theory of Modigliani and Sutch, a model for intertemporal preferences accounting for preferred habitats is proposed. In a heterogeneous world, preferred habitats can explain humps in the yield curve. Agents with a long habitat prefer long term bonds to shorter instruments as...