In a recent paper in this journal Knapp (1977) examines the relationship between education and the intensity and time span of postschool human investment. By utilizing the Mincer (1974) specification of the human capital earnings function, and a technique developed in Knapp and Hansen (1976), Knapp estimates that the initial investment ratio upon entering the labor market, ko, is lower for thos...

A variety of alternative definitions and sources of actual earnings realizations are available to investors. In addition to “traditional” earnings numbers produced in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), these alternative measures include the so-called Street earnings numbers that are based on proprietary de...

Why would migrant workers in rich countries ever return to poorer countries of origin? In a model of migration and household investment, with borrowing constraints and minimum investment thresholds, return migration occurs for either target-earnings or life-cycle reasons. This paper exploits a unique quasi-experiment to distinguish between these potential explanations for return migration. I ex...

Estimates the possible reductions in suicide attempts resulting from investment in ASIST and estimates the financial return to Californians from reduced medical costs associated with suicide attempts and increased earnings from each life saved.

Reports results of a survey to assess the impact of CalMHSA's investments in mental health programs at California public colleges and estimates the return on investment in terms of student use of treatment, graduation rates, and lifetime earnings.

We develop a model of investment under uncertainty for a firm facing external financing costs. Such a firm prefers to fund its investment through internal funds, so that the firm’s optimal investment policy and value now depend on the size of its retained earnings. We show that the standard real options results are significantly modified when there are external financing costs. Importantly the ...

This study investigates the impact of IT investments and several contextual variables on the volatility of future earnings. We find evidence that IT investments strongly increases the volatility of future earnings and that four contextual factorsindustry concentration, sales growth, diversification, and leveragestrongly moderate IT’s effect on earnings volatility. It is notable that while the m...

This paper suggests a solution to the puzzling finding documented in Moskowitz and Vissing-Jorgensen (2002) that the return to an index of private equity is equal to the return to the CRSP index of public equity even though investment in private firms is substantially riskier. It presents an occupational choice model where human and financial capital can be jointly invested in a private busines...

Most prior studies assume a positive relation between debt and earnings management, consistent with the financial distress theory. However, the empirical evidence for financial distress theory is mixed. Another stream of studies argues that lenders of short-term debt play a monitoring role over management, especially when the firm’s creditworthiness is not in doubt. To explore the implications ...

This study develops a theoretical model and presents empirical evidence on crosssectional variation in managers’ choice of AEM and REM. In particular, it studies how AEM and REM are jointly affected by firms’ growth prospects, managers’ market-based compensation incentives, and the cost of real earnings management. The model yields several testable hypotheses. First, when the firm’s growth pros...