Disagreement-Based Trading and Speculation: Implications for Financial Regulation and Economic Theory

Lynn Stout's paper develops an insightful legal-economic analysis of speculative trading. From one hand, the paper discusses the legal-economic framework of speculation and its recent transformation, making reference to the case of derivatives markets crash (and related financial crisis) of 2007. From another hand, the paper foreshadows a thought-provoking economic model of trade (and speculation) based on disagreement, advocating further developments that take into account market manipulation and conflict of interest, whilst relaxing alleged assumptions (and beliefs) on universal fundamental value and perfect forecasting.economic theory; financial regulation; speculation; hedging; heterogeneous beliefs

Governing the Business Enterprise: Ownership, Institutions, Society

For those concerned with nature and role of the business firm in economy and society, these are challenging times. Past and ongoing financial crises and scandals have focused attention on the system of regulation, governance and disclosure in a way many may never have imagined and few welcomed. Those shortcomings relate to the primacy of shareholder value that frames and shapes the received system. Not only do reforms appear to be necessary to protect shareholders as well as other stakeholders, but also a different understanding of the relationship between the Share Exchange and the business firm. This paper introduces the proceedings of the EAEPE international conference at the CNAM (Paris, on 22 and 23 May 2008). From different disciplines and perspectives, all the featured authors will critically discuss the received system and look for a more comprehensive approach integrating accounting, economics, and law of the business enterprise.

Capital budgeting under relational contracting: optimal ranking and duration criteria for schemes of concession, project-financing and public-private partnership

Project-financing and public-private partnership schemes are joint projects of investment that are generally submitted to investment valuation criteria based on compound discounting. However, the theoretical basis of these criteria is at issue nowadays. According to recent studies on relational contracting economics and behavioral finance, joint projects of investment can be considered as special relational environments where the project's returns improve on alternative replacement opportunities. This article aims to bridge the gap between new theories and widespread valuation techniques by providing a generalised approach to investment valuation. This article suggests new valuation criteria that fit those theoretical developments, including an endogenous optimal duration that the project's contractual agreement may integrate.discounting; investment decision criteria; capital budgeting; project finance and public private partnerships; endogenous optimal duration; cost of capital for government

The Governance and disclosure of the Firm as an Enterprise Entity

Recent financial crises and scandals have focused attention on the system of governance and disclosure in a way many may never have imagined and few welcomed. Not only do reforms appear to be necessary to protect shareholders as well as other stakeholders, but also to develop a different understanding of the relationship between the financial markets and the business firm. This paper criticises two daydreams concerning the firm - as a 'black-box' or an 'owner-entrepreneur' - and contrasts them to the idea of the firm as an enterprise entity. The latter implies a comprehensive approach that integrates economics, accounting, and law. The firm is then understood as a managed dynamic system, characterized by different structures of production: institutional, organizational or epistemic (related to the place and role of institutions, internal organization, and knowledge within the firm). Accordingly, the accounting system is an integral part of this framework, one that demonstrates the joint implications of economic, accounting, and legal matters within the firm. In a business affair fraught with unfolding changes coupled with asymmetries of resources, access, control and information, the accounting system copes with the economic and monetary processes generated by the whole enterprise, by representing the enterprise capital (assets and liabilities) and income (revenues and costs). In this way, the accounting system allows this special process to exist and function autonomously from (and interactively with) financial holding of shareholders' claims traded on the Share Exchange.corporate governance; financial reporting and disclosure; accounting; theory of the firm; performance measurement; shareholders' equity interest

The formation of share market prices under heterogeneous beliefs and common knowledge

Financial economic models often assume that investors know (or agree on) the fundamental value of the shares of the firm, easing the passage from the individual to the collective dimension of the financial system generated by the Share Exchange over time. Our model relaxes that heroic assumption of one unique "true value" and deals with the formation of share market prices through the dynamic formation of individual and social opinions (or beliefs) based upon a fundamental signal of economic performance and position of the firm, the forecast revision by heterogeneous individual investors, and their social mood or sentiment about the ongoing state of the market pricing process. Market clearing price formation is then featured by individual and group dynamics that make its collective dimension irreducible to its individual level. This dynamic holistic approach can be applied to better understand the market exuberance generated by the Share Exchange over time.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure

Capital budgeting under relational contracting: optimal ranking and duration criteria for schemes of concession, project-financing and public-private partnership

International audienceProject-financing and public-private partnership schemes are joint projects of investment that are generally submitted to investment valuation criteria based on compound discounting. However, the theoretical basis of these criteria is at issue nowadays. According to recent studies on relational contracting economics and behavioral finance, joint projects of investment can be considered as special relational environments where the project's returns improve on alternative replacement opportunities. This article aims to bridge the gap between new theories and widespread valuation techniques by providing a generalised approach to investment valuation. This article suggests new valuation criteria that fit those theoretical developments, including an endogenous optimal duration that the project's contractual agreement may integrate

The Governance and disclosure of the Firm as an Enterprise Entity

International audienceRecent financial crises and scandals have focused attention on the system of governance and disclosure in a way many may never have imagined and few welcomed. Not only do reforms appear to be necessary to protect shareholders as well as other stakeholders, but also to develop a different understanding of the relationship between the financial markets and the business firm. This paper criticises two daydreams concerning the firm - as a 'black-box' or an 'owner-entrepreneur' - and contrasts them to the idea of the firm as an enterprise entity. The latter implies a comprehensive approach that integrates economics, accounting, and law. The firm is then understood as a managed dynamic system, characterized by different structures of production: institutional, organizational or epistemic (related to the place and role of institutions, internal organization, and knowledge within the firm). Accordingly, the accounting system is an integral part of this framework, one that demonstrates the joint implications of economic, accounting, and legal matters within the firm. In a business affair fraught with unfolding changes coupled with asymmetries of resources, access, control and information, the accounting system copes with the economic and monetary processes generated by the whole enterprise, by representing the enterprise capital (assets and liabilities) and income (revenues and costs). In this way, the accounting system allows this special process to exist and function autonomously from (and interactively with) financial holding of shareholders' claims traded on the Share Exchange

Disagreement-Based Trading and Speculation: Implications for Financial Regulation and Economic Theory

http://www.bepress.com/ael/vol1/iss1/11International audienceLynn Stout's paper develops an insightful legal-economic analysis of speculative trading. From one hand, the paper discusses the legal-economic framework of speculation and its recent transformation, making reference to the case of derivatives markets crash (and related financial crisis) of 2007. From another hand, the paper foreshadows a thought-provoking economic model of trade (and speculation) based on disagreement, advocating further developments that take into account market manipulation and conflict of interest, whilst relaxing alleged assumptions (and beliefs) on universal fundamental value and perfect forecasting