Comment on Forward Markets,Stock Markets,and the Theory of the Firm

In a recent article, MacMinn [5] argues that the presence of forward markets eliminates the incentives of the firm's manager to choose production levels that maximize firm value. In this comment, we show that his results do not depend on the presence of forward markets. The critical assumptions are that the manager is endowed with money rather than stock in the firm and that there is no competitive labor market for managers. In addition, his results require time-inconsistent behavior on the part of the firm's manager.     

PUBLIC FINANCE AND INDIVIDUAL PREFERENCES OVER GLOBALIZATION STRATEGIES

Do preferences toward globalization strategies vary across public‐finance regimes? In this paper, we use data on individual preferences toward immigration and trade policy to examine how pre‐tax and post‐tax cleavages differ across globalization strategies and state fiscal jurisdictions. High exposure to immigrant fiscal pressures reduces support for freer immigration among U.S. natives, especially the more skilled. The magnitude of this post‐tax fiscal cleavage is comparable to the pre‐tax labor‐market effects of skill itself. There is no public‐finance variation in opinion over trade policy, consistent with U.S. trade policy having negligible fiscal‐policy impacts. Public finance thus appears to shape opinions toward globalization strategies.     

WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR AMATEUR SPORT AND RECREATION PROGRAMS

A contingent valuation method (CVM) survey in Alberta, Canada, allows estimation of the household willingness to pay (WTP) for enhancements in the province's extensive sport and recreation programs. The estimated annual WTP of $18 per household for small enhancements in the programs far exceeds the estimated WTP of households in the United States to avoid the loss of major league sports teams, as determined in previous CVM studies. Those opposed to gambling, which helps to fund the Alberta programs, are more likely to favor using income taxes to finance expansions. ( JEL H41, L83)     

Short Selling and Efficient Sets

The effect of short selling on the composition and location of the efficient set has been analyzed in a variety of ways. However, the situation typically facing investors where the initial margin requirement is less than 100 percent and the riskfree interest rate that is paid on the short proceeds is less than the rate paid on initial margin has not previously been considered. The Elton-Gruber-Padberg algorithm (1976, 1978), subject to certain modifications, is shown here to be capable of identifying the efficient set under such conditions.     

Predicting and Explaining Responses to Consumer Environments: An Empirical Test and Theoretical Extension of the Behavioural Perspective Model

The Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM) classifies consumer behaviours based on their utilitarion and informational consequences; it further categorises them by the scope of the settings in which they occur. An empirical study (N = 561) shows these outcomes to predict consumers’ verbal reports of their affective shows that Mehrabian and Russell's [1974] measures of pleasure, arousal and dominance are predicted by the structural features of consumer situations proposed by the BPM: the pattern of reinforcement and behaviour setting scope. Reported pleasure is higher for consumer behaviours defined in terms of relatively high utilitarian reinforcement; reported arousal is higher for consumer behaviours defined in terms of relatively high informational reinforcement; and reported dominance is higher for consumer behaviours enacted in relatively open settings. In light of its neo-Skinnerian derivation, the BPM interpretation currently emphasises a radical behaviourist philosophy of science. However, an alternative interpretation in terms of Staats's [1996] psychological behaviourism is proposed and the capacity of this alternative framework of conceptualisation and analysis to offer theoretical extension to the BPM research programme is explored.