SIMPLE RESOURCE ALLOCATION RULES: A NOTE ON A GENERALISATION

A stream of literature exists on the ability to pick payback hurdles such that use of the payback method replicates decisions based on net present value (NPV) analysis under circumstances where the basic shape of the cash inflow pattern associated with the investment opportunity facing the firm is assumed known. The literature has derived such payback hurdles for specific cash inflow pattern shapes (e.g., level, exponentially increasing/decreasing, arithmetic growth, etc.) The main concern of this note is to identify an expression for a general class of cash inflow pattern shapes (of which the specific shapes in the previous literature are examples) from which can be derived the payback hurdle corresponding to any specific shape belonging to the general class.     

A COMMENT ON TWO SIMPLE DECISION RULES IN CAPITAL RATIONING

The elegant solution of the capital rationing problem through linear or integer programing is of limited use in practical situations due to strong requirements of available information. The purpose of the article is to give conditions under which two simpler decision rules, present value per dollar outlay and internal rate of return, will lead to essentially the same solution as the linear programming approach. The conditions are given in terms of the shadow discount rates of the linear programing solution.
L'elégénte solution apportée au problème de rationement du capital au moyen de la programmation linèire, a une application limitée dans des situations réelles étant donné les stricts besoins d'informations dont il faudrait disposer. Dans cet article, on donne les conditions ous lesquelles deux principes simples de décision (la valeur actuelle et "Internal rate of return") permettraient d'aboutir au même résultat que celui de la méthode linéaire de progammation. Les conditions sont données au moyen de taux d'escompte correspondants appropriés a la solution fournie par la progarnation linéaire.
Die elegante Lösung des Investitionsplans bei beschränkten Finanzierungsmitteln durch lineare oder ganzzahlige Programierung ist von begrenztem Nutzen in der Praxis, da die nötigen Informationen nicht zure Verfüngung stehen. Der Zweck des Beitrages ist eine Erleuterung der Bedingungen, worin zwei einfachere Entscheidungsregeln, Kapitalwert pro Dollar des Anschaffungspreises und interner Zinfuss, grundsätzlich zur selben Lösung als die lineare Programierung führt. Die Bedingungen werden als Schattendiskontierungsätze der Lgsung eines linearen Programs dargestellt.     

A NOTE ON CORPORATE INVESTMENT DECISIONS AND OPTION PRICING

Using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, numerical examples are given which illustrate the known fact that shareholders in a levered firm might reject investments which are profitable for the company as a whole and accept investments which are unprofitable for the company as a whole. Even the assumption that side-payments are allowed can be inadequate to handle a possible succession of unprofitable projects which are acceptable to shareholders. However, existing company law attempts to provide a solution procedure. The analysis helps to explain why such law has been thought necessary.     

TAX UNCERTAINTIES AND THE INVESTMENT DECISION

This paper investigates how the firm's investment decision is affected by uncertainties in the tax laws under an asymmetric structure of income taxation. Tax liability is modelled as a call option, and tax uncertainties are modelled as randomness in the exercise price of the call option. The effects on the investment decision are derived by evaluating the comparative statics of the optimal investment level with respect to the volatility of the exercise price. The central result is that the disincentive effects of the tax uncertainties are generally exacerbated under the tax asymmetry.