A cubic estimte of the term structure of interest rates for a money demand function

Heller and Khan (1979) estimate the term structure of interest rates by a quadratic equation in order to employ the estimated parameters of the term structure in a demand-for-money function. An important improvement of their estimates can be made by specifying a cubic rather than a quadratic equation in order to estimate “humped” term structures. Furthermore, the ordinal numbering of the maturities must be changed to the actual length of the maturity of each security to avoid estimation error.     

Attitudes toward the corporation and the evaluation of social data

A scale is presented to measure attitudes about the social role of corporations, and to test for any association between attitudes and perceptions of the relevance of social data. Attitudes are found to be associated with perceptions of the relevance of social data. The relationship between attitudes and perceptions is also conditioned by the source of the social data.     

Unexpected crime prevention impact of an experiment in education

This essay serves two purposes: it advocates increased public investment in Head Start-style preschool programs as a cost-effective crime prevention measure, and it links important preschool research findings to criminological literature to argue this unusual position. The focal point is a 1962 experiment in the Perry Elementary School in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Some 123 economically disadvantaged children ages three and four years took part in the experiment either as experimental (program) groups or as control (nonprogram) groups. Now, at age 27, the persons who were in the experimental groups are better off in many ways. An unexpected outcome of the exposure to preschool training as three- and four-year olds is the decrease in crimes committed by those in the experimental groups versus those in the control groups over their lifetimes.     

Editorial announcement

Editorial announcement     

Real estate development as an option

Subject to legal limitations, the owner of undeveloped real estate can determine both the date and density at which to develop his property. Alternatively, he can abandon his property. The value of these options depends partly on the stochastic evolution through time of the operating revenues and construction costs of developed property. In this paper the option pricing problem is solved analytically and numerically for the optimal data and density of development, the optimal date of abandonment, and the resulting market values of the developed and undeveloped properties.     

Ten ways for manufacturers to improve distribution management

Manufacturers lean more on channels of distribution to make their products available in today's broadening and maturing markets. “Walking a mile in the channel partner's shoes” may be the first place to start in building a smooth and profitable relationship between manufacturer and reseller.