The Quantity Theory is Always and Everywhere Controversial—Why?*

Controversy about the Quantity Theory has been marked by common themes since the 18th century. These include the definition of money, the relationship between correlation and causation, and the transmission mechanism. Controversy has continued because of the technical difficulty of sorting out the direction of causation running between money and prices, and, on a deeper level, because ideological concerns about the viability of market mechanisms are at stake in the controversy.     

The “LIFO Reserve” and the Value of the Firm: Theory and Empirical Evidence*

Abstract. A valuation approach is used to examine the effect of the LIFO inventory method on the relation between the market value of a firm's stock and the book value of equity. The paper develops three competing hypotheses that have different predictions regarding the relation between the LIFO reserve and the market value of equity. Results indicate a significant negative relation between the LIFO reserve and the value of equity, inconsistent with the pricing of LIFO reserves as unbooked assets, but consistent with a model that views the LIFO reserve as a measure of the effect of increases in factor input prices on firm value. Résumé. Les auteurs ont recours à une évaluation pour examiner l'incidence de la méthode DEPS de détermination du coût des stocks sur la relation entre le cours de l'action d'une société et sa valeur comptable. Ils élaborent trois hypothèses concurrentes qui débouchent sur des prédictions différentes en ce qui a trait à la relation entre la réserve résultant de l'utilisation de la méthode DEPS et la valeur marchande de l'entreprise. Les résultats indiquent une relation négative significative entre cette réserve et la valeur comptable de l'entreprise, relation qui ne concorde pas avec le prix de ladite réserve que l'on voudrait assimiler à un actif non comptabilisé, mais qui cadre avec un modèle selon lequel la réserve résultant de l'utilisation de la méthode DEPS est considérée comme une mesure de l'incidence des hausses du prix des intrants sur la valeur de l'entreprise.     

Unionism in State and Local Governments: Ohio and Illinois, 1982-87

Census of Governments (COG) data for 1982 and 1987 were analyzed to assess growth in state and local government unionism in Ohio and Illinois, two states that enacted comprehensive public employee bargaining legislation in 1983. Against a backdrop of stable state and local government unionism across the United States, Ohio and Illinois recorded substantial gains in certain sectors. The greatest gains were observed in sectors that had been only lightly unionized prior to enactment of law. Laws had much less impact on more heavily unionized sectors. In spite of the gains, Ohio and Illinois remain substantially less unionized, on average, than do states that enacted comprehensive bargaining legislation earlier.