This article evaluates the quality of workers' information regarding pension offerings using both administrative records and worker reports of pension provisions. Missing and incorrect information is wide-spread. Unionized employees, higher income workers, better educated workers, and those with seniority are better informed about their pensions. There are also demographic differences: minorities have less pension knowledge than whites, but women are better informed than men along several pension dimensions. Myopia about pension incentive structures is troubling since workers may save or consume suboptimally, change jobs, or retire earlier than they would have if equipped with better pension information.

Dual-class exchange offers give stockholders the oppurtunity to exchange common stock for shares with limited voting rights but higher dividends. This paper develops a model to analyze the exchange decision. It shows that exchange offers can induce outside shareholders to exchange their shares for limited voting shares even though the same shareholders, in the same circumstances but acting collectively, would choose not to exchange.

Abstract. Given the quantity of nonearnings data disclosed in firms' annual reports, and the many dimensions of performance measured, it is likely that such information is used in establishing equilibrium prices in the market for firms' shares. This study empirically tests the hypothesis that equity price‐relevant information conveyed by annual reports includes several measures other than earnings. The marginal impact of both earnings‐ and nonearnings‐based financial ratios is analyzed and reported. The ratio information is first partitioned into distinct sets using an a priori linear components (LISREL) model. Association tests then show incremental information effects for the earnings‐based ratio set as well as for several nonearnings‐based ratio sets. Résumé. Étant donné la quantité de données étrangères aux bénéfices présentées dans les rapports annuels des entreprises et les nombreuses dimensions sous lesquelles le rendement est mesuré, il est probable que cette information soit utilisée dans l'établissement de prix d'équilibre dans le marché des actions des entreprises. Dans la présente étude, les auteurs procèdent à des vérifications empiriques de l'hypothèse selon laquelle l'information pertinente aux prix relative aux participations que livrent les rapports annuels comporte plusieurs mesures étrangères aux bénéfices. Les auteurs analysent l'incidence marginale tant des ratios financiers basés sur les bénéfices que de ceux qui ne le sont pas, et ils en exposent les résultats. L'information indiciaire est d'abord partagée en jeux distincts à l'aide d'un modèle de composants linéaires a priori. Les tests d'association montrent ensuite les conséquences de l'information marginale pour le jeu des ratios basés sur les bénéfices ainsi que pour plusieurs jeux de ratios qui ne le sont pas.

[This article suggests that the lack of use of rights offerings in the United States, a phenomenon referred to as the equity underwriting paradox, can be explained by transaction-cost conditions. A sample of underwritten rights offerings provides support for the explanation. Firms making underwritten rights offerings paid lower underwriter fees but incurred significantly larger price drops just prior to the offering than did firms making underwritten public offerings. Further analysis reveals that the underwritten-rights-offering price concessions are a form of transaction cost that is not found in underwritten public offerings.]

Gordon J. Alexander, Cheol S. Eun, S. Janakiramanan, International Listings and Stock Returns: Some Empirical Evidence, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jun., 1988), pp. 135-151

On presente une definition formelle de l'identification dans un contexte non parametrique sur la base des travaux de Koopmans et Reiersol (1950)

While voluntary energy conservation programs have been extensively promoted by electric utilities and public utility commissions, their effectiveness has been insufficiently critiqued. This paper contributes to the growing evaluation of such programs by measuring the net energy savings directly attributable to an actual set of programs. The analysis explicitly corrects for the self-selection bias that can arise in program evaluation. The correction is found to be important; traditional evaluation methods are subject to considerable bias. Correcting for this bias, the amount of program-induced energy savings is found to be considerably less than traditionally believed. Copyright 1988 by MIT Press.