Short-term debt maturity, monitoring and accruals-based earnings management

Most prior studies assume a positive relation between debt and earnings management, consistent with the financial distress theory. However, the empirical evidence for financial distress theory is mixed. Another stream of studies argues that lenders of short-term debt play a monitoring role over management, especially when the firm’s creditworthiness is not in doubt. To explore the implications of these arguments on managers’ earnings management incentives, we examine a sample of US firms over the period 2003–2006 and find that short-term debt is positively associated with accruals-based earnings management (measured by discretionary accruals), consistent with the financial distress theory. We also find that this relation is significantly weaker for firms that are of higher creditworthiness (i.e. investment grade firms), consistent with monitoring benefits outweighing financial distress reasons for managing earnings

THE FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE PROGRAM - AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN ACREAGE RESPONSE AND PARTICIPATION

The extent to which crop insurance programs have resulted in additional land being brought into production has been a topic of considerable debate. We extend a multi-equation structural model of crop acreage response, insurance participation, CRP enrollment, and input usage developed in Goodwin and Vandeveer (2000) to wheat and barley production in the "Northern Great Plains" region. We also update earlier results for corn and soybean production in the "Heartland" region. Our results confirm earlier findings that increased participation in insurance programs provoke a statistically significant acreage response. This response is, however, relatively modest. We find that cross-the-board decreases of 50% in insurance premiums significantly increase participation but result in acreage increases of about 0.5% for barley and 3.7% for wheat. In the modern period (1997-1998),expanded insurance participation brought about by premium rate reductions has almost no effect on acreage. Our results for the recent period show a shifting in coverage toward revenue insurance.Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

From outer circle to center stage: The maturation of heterodox economics

This is chapter 2 of the book "Future Directions in Heterodox Economics" by John T. Harvey and Robert F. Garnett, Jr., Editors. The inner circle of neoclassical economics has limited its horizons, increasing the scope for heterodox economists to claim ever more of the most important issues. Two values contend for primacy: being scientific, and being relevant. These need not—and should not—be in conflict; an important goal for economics in the future is to bring them into better harmony.Heterodox economics, contextual economics, neoclassical theory, economic goals, history of economic thought

The Demise of the Intra-Enterprise Conspiracy Doctine: Flexible Antitrust Enforcement Policy Abandoned in a Maze of Economic Certainty—Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp., 104 S. Ct. 2731 (1984)

In Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp. the United States Supreme Court held that corporations and their wholly owned subsidiaries cannot conspire and, thus, cannot violate section 1 of the Sherman Act. The decision signals an important shift in interpretation of the Sherman Act. Before Copperweld, corporations and their wholly owned subsidiaries were subject to conspiratorial liability under the Act. The Supreme Court had recognized intra-enterprise conspiracies on at least six occasions. Despite their diverging views on how broadly the doctrine was to be interpreted, the federal courts of appeals had unanimously applied the doctrine. The Court implicitly addressed the two fundamental questions underlying section 1 analysis, however, by rejecting alternative ways of resolving the intra-enterprise inconsistency. This Note suggests that the Copperweld Court implicitly concluded that it is desirable to police single-firm conduct only when such conduct violates the monopoly provisions of section 2. The Note examines the assumptions and rationales that underlie this conclusion, and challenges the persuasiveness of such assumptions in light of the specific fact pattern presented in Copperweld. Specifically, this Note challenges the efficiency interpretation of the Sherman Act adopted by the Court. Additionally, this Note questions whether a narrow interpretation of the restraint of trade provision remains faithful to the broad and flexible nature of section 1 as previously interpreted by the Supreme Court. The Note suggests that the complex philosophical and political presumptions that underlie antitrust analysis are essentially concerns for the legislature and not the courts. The Court, therefore, must make these critical presumptions explicitly and not disguise them in a circuitous maze of economic certainty. The Note proposes, in conclusion, that a rule of reason test, incorporating an open balancing of policy objectives, is a more appropriate tool for assessing the reasonableness of restraints of trade by corporations and their subsidiaries or divisions. Congress should prescribe a flexible rule of reason test to preserve legislative review of these crucial policy choice

Encouragement sermon notes

John W. Goodwin\u27s outline and notes for sermon entitled Encouragement. The typescript of the sermon outline also includes pencil annotations and blue and pink highlighting. The date of creation is estimated to be circa 1965

For the People had a Mind to Work sermon notes

John W. Goodwin\u27s outline and notes for the sermon For the People had a Mind to Work. The typescript outline includes hand written annotations and blue and pink highlighting. The date of creation is estimated to be circa 1965

Fools Make a Mock of Sin sermon notes

John W. Goodwin\u27s outline and notes for his sermon Fools Make a Mock of Sin. The typescript outline has had written annotations and blue and pink highlighting. The date of creation is estimated to be 1965