INNOVATIONS IN PARTITIONING A SHARE OF STOCK

This paper presents a synthesis of innovations in the slicing and dicing of cash flows of a share of a firm's common stock. It begins by discussing PRIMEs and SCOREs, then Unbundled Stock Units (USUs), and finally three proposed hybrid equity options called DIVS, OWLS, and RISKS.
Decomposing a share of stock into components that can be traded separately allows investors to choose between the different investment attributes constituting the underlying share. An investor who desires only cash dividend income may buy only DIVS, and another who values capital appreciation but not current income can purchase only the residual claim.
Derivatives seem to go through a developmental process that is analogous to the biological phenomenon of natural selection and adaptation. The engines that drive this evolutionary process are changing domestic and international market conditions, international tax and regulatory arbitrage, and, of course, the financial innovators who learn from their own mistakes, and from the experience of others. These innovators continually develop new products that represent improvements over the old, if only by their ability to adhere more closely to the guidelines laid down by the regulators. The histories of PRIMEs and SCOREs, of USUs, and, most recently, of DIVS, OWLS and RISKS together provide a nice illustration of this developmental process.     

The Aggregate Demand for Private Health Insurance Coverage in the United States

This article estimates the aggregate demand for private health insurance coverage in the United States using an error correction model for the period 1966–1999. Both short- and long-run price and income elasticities of demand are estimated. The empirical findings indicate that both private insurance enrollment and the completeness of insurance are relatively inelastic with respect to changes in price and income in the short and long run. Moreover, the results suggest that an increase in the number cyclically and frictionally uninsured generates less welfare loss than an increase in the number of structurally uninsured.     

Some generalized distributions based on Stacy's generalized gamma distribution

Abstract

The generalized gamma distribution having the density function was introduced by Stacy (1962), who studied some of its properties. As observed by Stacy, many standard distributions are special cases of (1). For example d=p=1 gives the exponential, p=1 gives the gamma p=1 and d=n/2 (n is a positive integer) gives the chi-squared, and d=p gives the Weibull distribution. Furthermore, certain functions of a normal variable— viz., its positive even powers, its modulus, and all positive powers of its modulus, have Stacy's gamma form.     

Differences of Opinion of Public Information and Speculative Trading in Stocks and Options

We analyze the effects of differences of opinion on the dynamicsof trading volume in stocks and options. We find that disagreementsabout the mean of the current- and next-period public informationlead to trading in stocks in the current period but have noeffect on options trading. Without options, we find that disagreementsabout the precision of all past and current public informationaffect trading in stocks in the current period. With options,only disagreements about the precisions of the next- and current-periodinformation affect stocks and options trading in the currentperiod. Our results suggest that options trading is concentratedaround information events that are likely to cause disagreementsamong investors, whereas trading in stocks may be diffusiveover many periods.     

The effect of audit firm size on audit prices: A study of the Australian Market

The effect of audit firm size on prizes is a complex function of competition in the market for audit services, product differentiation, and scale economics to large firms. In this study, a competitive market is supported in Australia with product differentiation to Bif Eight accounting firms. Specially, Big Eight accounting firms have significantly higher audit prices than non-Big Eight firms. This results holds for ‘large’ and ‘small’ auditees. A test is also made of price cutting in the Australian market. Price cutting is defined as lower initial audit fees than continuing engagement fees for a comparable audit. Test results do not evidence price-cutting behavior by accounting firms. There is in fact weak evidence that initial audit fees are higher than continuing engagement fee levels. Higher initial fees suggest that accounting firms may recover at least some of the audit start-up costs immediately.     

The signalling process in initial public offerings

This study uses a sample of Singapore IPOs to examine the signalling process at the time of a new issue of shares. The multiple regression analysis results support three testable implications of the Grinblatt and Hwang model. We show that (1) the value of the firm is positively related to the fractional holding of the issuer, (2) the degree of underpricing is an increasing function of the variance, and (3) firm value is positively related to the degree of underpricing.     

Security price formation and informed trading with constrained short selling

Short sale orders account for a substantial portion of trading volume in recent years. This paper develops a sequential trade model with constrained short selling to derive the effect on prices when the market maker can observe short selling in the order flow. The model predicts that market quotes will adjust differently to short sales and regular sales. Furthermore, the model shows that the probability of informed trading is impacted both by the level of short sale constraints and the intensity of actual short sale trades. Simulation evidence confirms that estimates of the probability of informed trade are improved when accounting for past short selling activity. The results demonstrate the information benefits of short selling transparency.