R&D Intensity and Corporate Financial Policy: Some International Evidence

This paper presents evidence on the financial policies of firms strongly engaged in research and development activities. By referring to the under-investment paradox, the asset substitution problem, the asset specificity proposition and the information asymmetry literature, we postulate that R&D-intensive firms should adopt specific financial policies. In conformity with our hypotheses, empirical results based on a sample of R&D-intensive and non-R&D firms in four major industrialized countries (Europe, the UK, Japan and the US) show that R&D-intensive firms exhibit significant lower debt and dividend payment levels, but shorter debt maturities and higher cash levels than non-R&D ones.     

INCOMPLETE MARKETS IN INFINITE HORIZON: DEBT CONSTRAINTS VERSUS NODE PRICES1

The general equilibrium model with incomplete markets is here extended to infinite horizon economies populated by a finite number of infinitely lived agents. the crucial issue that divides the infinite horizon setting from the finite horizon setting is in the nature of borrowing constraints, which added to spot constraints, define a plausible budget set for individual agents. the paper relates seven alternative definitions of equilibrium and states corresponding equilibrium existence theorems when assets are one-period and purely financial.     

Politique du logement et lutte de classes au Chili (1970-75)*

To analyse the historical evolution of the building sector in Chile, and the way in which it reflects and affects the social structure as a whole, it is necessary to consider two aspects:

• 1 the building sector, considered as a specific part of the production sphere, a specific system of economic and social interests;
• 2 the building front, where the social practices of the conflicting forces express the needs of the reproduction of the labour force, and the class struggle in the building sector, opposed to speculation and capital accumulation processes.

Before 1970, the capital interests were dominant, strongly organized through the Chilean Building Chamber and its influence on government policy-making, and linked with US imperialism, particularly at the finance level. With the Popular Unity Government, a series of measures expressed the shift to the dominant interests of the working class: nationalization of the main private banks; control of the housing market; organization, control and partial socialization of the building industry; breaking of urban segregation patterns; national agreement on wages policy. The construction front was affected by new forms of class struggle: construction brigades, unemployed brigades, popular planning and, at the same time, new forms of economic and political retaliation by capital. This led first to the employers' strike and then, through the constitution of a capitalist class bloc supported by imperialism, to the coup d'etat, which restored the fullest opportunity for exploitation, speculation, segregation, and the power of the Chilean Building Chamber.     

Regulatory competition and rules/principles‐based regulation

This paper analyses how regulatory competition affects principles‐based and rules‐based systems of regulation. Competition between regulators creates the possibility of regulatory arbitrage that generates a race to the bottom by regulators that is socially harmful. We derive the welfare effects of such competition and the regulatory response to these effects, in particular, regulatory harmonisation. We find, however, that regulators can adopt harmful regulatory harmonisation. These effects can make coordination efforts in developing global regulation socially desirable. We demonstrate, moreover, that corporate lobbying is not always harmful: it can both encourage and discourage socially desirable regulation.     

Existence of solutions in continuous-time optimal growth models

This paper studies the existence of solutions in continuous time optimization problems. It provides a theorem whose conditions can be easily checked in most models of the optimal growth theory, including those with increasing returns and multi-sector economies.      

Collapse Through Collectivisation

International banks, stimulated by a government weakening of property rights, have over-lent to uncredit-worthy borrowers and precipitated a crisis in the international financial system, according to Professor Pascal Salin of the Université de Paris-Dauphine. He argues that the return of responsibility can be accomplished only through o reliance on private - not government -capital administered by bankers who bear the risk of their own actions, and sound monetary policies to restore the value of savings through the reduction of inflation.     

On the Practical Application of the Real Options Theory

This article aims to present and explain the potential of the real options theory. This theory can help solve many corporate problems in the field of investment strategies. It incorporates a wide range of internal and external factors that are playing a potential role in strategy outcome. The real options tool has already been applied in many industries and many divisions of their business. The main advantage of this methodology is that management is forced to develop a more structured thinking pad due to the fact that real options is based on a clear and accurate procedure. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.