Limit Order Trading

We analyze the rationale for limit order trading. Use of limit orders involves two risks: 1) an adverse information event can trigger an undesirable execution, and 2) favorable news can result in a desirable execution not being obtained. On the other hand, a paucity of limit orders can result in accentuated short-term price fluctuations that compensate a limit order trader. Our empirical tests suggest that trading via limit orders dominates trading via market orders for market participants with relatively well balanced portfolios, and that placing a network of buy and sell limit orders as a pure trading strategy is profitable.     

Fundamentals,Misvaluation, and Business Investment

Does stock market misvaluation affect business fixed investment? To answer this question, we provide evidence based on U.S. firm‐level panel data. We examine the orthogonality conditions for the investment Q and Euler equations, and our qualitative tests reject the null hypothesis that investment is unaffected by misvaluation (this result is not driven exclusively by the late 1990s). To measure the quantitative effects on investment, we introduce a measure of misvaluation into standard investment equations. Our estimates imply that a one‐standard‐deviation increase in misvaluation increases investment between 20% and 60% relative to the mean level of investment in the sample.     

Accounting for the Causes and Consequences of Industrial Employment Shift

This paper analyzes the 1981-87 employment shifts away from high-wage industries, using a shift-share framework, coupled with a two-sector general equilibrium model. I find that (1) the shift-share drag on average pay growth was unprecedented in the postwar period, on the order of 1/4-1/3 percent per year, for hourly compensation; and (2) output shifts, including the trade deficit, were a more important cause of the employment shifts than were rapid productivity growth in manufacturing and other contracting industries. As a result, the shift-share drag on average pay growth should be interpreted primarily as coming out of aggregate productivity growth, rather than as a redistributional phenomenon.     

PER UNIT COST ALLOCATION OF INVESTED CAPITAL WITH ANTICIPATED NON-LEVEL PRODUCTION: THE CASE OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES

The concept of equivalent annual annuity (EAA) has long been used as a method of costing recovery of invested capital and the required return on invested capital over the productive life of a capital project. Academic texts almost universally use EAA methodology with level payment streams (annuities) to allocate capital costs. We develop a methodology for allocating capital costs evenly over each unit of production for projects with anticipated non-level production. This methodology uses a modified EAA approach that allows non-level annuity payment streams. Capital cost allocation is an important component in computing the value of extracted minerals for severance tax purposes; however, many firms and state and federal agencies use ad hocdepreciation schedules to allocate these costs. Ad hocdepreciation methods such as modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) may be appropriate for income tax purposes but are inconsistent with commonly found requirements that severance taxes “shall be assessed on the wellhead or mine mouth fair market value.” The modified EAA approach provides a straightforward alternative that is based on sound financial methodology.     

CONSUMER SWITCHING COSTS AND FIRM PRICING: EVIDENCE FROM BANK PRICING OF DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS*

We employ extensive information on bank deposit rates and area migration patterns to examine pricing relationships implied by switching costs. We argue that, because of the trade‐off between attracting new customers and exploiting old ones, banks offer higher deposit rates in areas experiencing more in‐migration. Further, because greater out‐migration implies that a locked‐in customer will not be with the bank for as many periods, banks will offer lower deposit rates in areas exhibiting greater out‐migration. Also, because this effect of out‐migration logically depends on the extent of in‐migration, an interaction effect exists. We find evidence strongly supporting these relationships.     

Modelling the Role of Government Policy in Post-War Australian Immigration*

The authors develop and estimate a model of post-war Australian migration which highlights an endogenous treatment of government policy and includes three equations explaining the emigration rate, the Government's Immigration Programme rate, and the immigration rate. The model permits the separate identification of long-run population growth influences vis-à-vis short-run economic considerations in explaining migration. Short-run labour market conditions are found to be more important in explaining government behaviour than are long-run population considerations. Immigrant behaviour appears to be affected by both short-run and long-run influences. Very little unexplained variation remains in the estimated regressions.