Incorrect Inferences When Using Residuals as Dependent Variables

We analyze a procedure common in empirical accounting and finance research where researchers use ordinary least squares to decompose a dependent variable into its predicted and residual components and use the residuals as the dependent variable in a second regression. This two‐step procedure is used to examine determinants of constructs such as discretionary accruals, real activities management, discretionary book‐tax differences, and abnormal investment. We show that the typical implementation of this procedure generates biased coefficients and standard errors that can lead to incorrect inferences, with both Type I and Type II errors. We further show that the magnitude of the bias in coefficients and standard errors is a function of the correlations between model regressors. We illustrate the potential magnitude of the bias in accounting research in four commonly used settings. Our results indicate significant bias in many of these settings. We offer three solutions to avoid the bias.     

No Evidence of Compensating Wages for Occupational Fatalities

This study combines new estimates of occupational mortality with industry death rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to test for compensating wages associated with job hazards. The new estimates apply to 347 three-digit occupations in the United States. An unexpected result emerges: Evidence for compensating wages is apparent only when the BLS industry death rates are used; evidence is absent with the new occupational death rates.     

Credit Crunches from Occasionally Binding Bank Borrowing Constraints

We present a model in which banks and other financial intermediaries face both occasionally binding borrowing constraints, and costs of equity issuance. Near the steady state, these intermediaries can raise equity finance at no cost through retained earnings. However, even moderately large shocks cause their borrowing constraints to bind, leading to contractions in credit offered to firms, and requiring the intermediaries to raise further funds by paying the cost to issue equity. This leads to the occasional sharp increases in interest spreads and the countercyclical, positively skewed equity issuance that are characteristics of the credit crunches observed in the data.     

ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN MINING – ASSESSING UPPER BOUNDS WITH SIMULATION

As part of the trend towards increasing levels of mechanisation and automation, mines are turning to the use of larger equipment in order to achieve economies of scale. Larger trucks, for example, result in fewer hauls and fewer drivers required to haul the same quantity of ore. resulting in lower production costs. This paper uses simulation to show that larger capacity trucks also have higher maintenance costs, primarily associated with lost production due to unscheduled downtime. Specific recommendations on how to estimate the scale and impact of these costs are included.     

The Impact of the 2007 Liquidity Shock on Bank Jumbo Mortgage Lending

This paper explores the consequences of the collapse of the private‐label residential mortgage‐backed securities market in 2007 on banks’ originations of jumbo mortgages. We show that jumbo lending declined by more at banks that were more dependent on this market and were less well capitalized. In contrast, banks that had little dependence on this market and were well capitalized increased jumbo originations. These findings highlight how dependence on the secondary market may cause amplification of financial shocks, and the potential value of capital requirements that are higher during periods of economic growth in mitigating the amplification effects.     

Prospects: A Missing Piece of Current Selling Price Reporting

This article seeks to provide insights about a conceptual objection to current selling price reporting: that, in its determination of asset amounts, such reporting ignores the reporting entity's prospects (potential, promise, outlook) for achievement of possession of or of access to consumer general purchasing power beyond its achievement to date of such possession or access. The article argues that financial reports should provide (a) information that is helpful to the users to evaluate the prospects of the reporting entity, including financial statement information based on current selling price reporting, (b) a section of the income statement presenting amounts spent during the reporting period to enhance the reporting entity's prospects, and (c) various kinds of supplementary information to aid the evaluations, such as the kinds discussed in this article.