An autoregressive jump process for common stock returns

This paper develops a new distribution theory for common stock returns. The model is composed of a calendar time diffusion process and a jump process where the magnitudes of the jumps may be autocorrelated. Empirical tests are performed on a month of transactions returns for twenty New York Stock Exchange securities. The data analysis supports the validity of the proposed theory.     

Distribution effects and the business demand for money

This paper examines whether and how changes in an industry's firm-size distribution affect the per-firm demand for money. The size distribution of an industry potentially affects the demand for money through several channels. We examine four of those channels: 1) economies of scale; 2) decentralization in cash management; 3) cost of credit; and 4) compensating balances. We conclude that increasing the size inequality increases the industry's per-firm demand for money.     

Cities in Europe 2000

Until 1970 most old European cities did not show the US trend of population and employment losses. But a forthcoming study suggests that this is changing. Europe's established industries are being challenged on the world market by the developing countries, European youth is rejecting (or failing to gain entry to) the industrial system and new technologies are altering traditional spatial distributions. These trends may herald the emergence of a new Europe-in a small-scale, convivial decentralised future as visualised by Schumacher and Illich.     

Regional Market Variations: The Northeast Versus The South

The notion of the “rise of the Sunbelt” and the “decline of the Northeast” has raised the spectre of relentless economic disintegration of the northeastern states and the lure of boundless affluence across the southern and southwestern rim. What is myth and what is reality in these emerging perceptions? This paper reviews the trends of the past fifteen years, and speculates on the possibility of unsettled economic weather in the Sunbelt and valid investment potentials in the Northeast. Alternative future scenarios are suggested in the light of the marked acceleration of the thrusts of change of the last five years.     

On the explanation of schooling,occupation and earnings: Some alternative path analyses

Summary Jencks's well-known sociological path analysis connecting parental socio-economic characteristics and some ability measure of the person investigated with his or her schooling, occupation and income is available for the United States, Sweden and the Netherlands in various versions. For the United Kingdom the analysis has now been applied to the new General Household Survey, supplying over 5000 observations. This article compares the various results and offers a few alternative models, using the American and British data. These alternatives do not offer, in the British case, improvements in variance explained. Moreover, most regression coefficients show wide variations between countries. A suggestion for improvement is derived from a recent study using at least three occupation characteristics.We are grateful to the British Office of Population Census and Surveys for making available to us the data from which the UK results reported in this article were obtained.     

Changing marketing opportunities in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

The changes in the business environment of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union indicate that U.S. firms must adjust their perceptions of socialist markets if they are to compete successfully with Western European and Japanese firms. Consensus among the managers of socialist enterprises agree that U.S. firms fail in these markets because they have made little effort to understand the general business environment and the market dynamics that are characteristic of countries in Eastern Europe and the Soviet union. The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss the key elements of the techniques needed to penetrate socialist markets. Sufficient understanding of these factors should produce a strong competitive position for the U.S. firms that are actively pursuing these marketing opportunities.