Knowledge that Transforms

This paper treats a problem of stochastic cash management under an average compensating-balance requirement. It develops a dynamic programming formulation of the problem in which the relevant state is a unidimensional quantity equivalent to the forecasted average balance at the end of the averaging period. Under usably broad conditions, it establishes the optimality of a transient policy of simple type, similar to the two-sided inventory type policy familiar from certain earlier studies of stationary cash balance problems having absolute balance requirements. The results apply to cases in which the transactions costs contain both fixed and proportional components. The paper discusses also a numerical example drawn from the literature of the cash balance problem and shows by simulation of the optimal (and simply modified forms of the optimal) policy, that good protection is afforded against negative balances, even though the model does not explicitly constrain the negative-balance probabilities.

In this note, a loss shared by the security holders of merging firms is pointed out: separate corporate entities provide double protection against future negative cash flows that are partof any production process (e.g., when customer or employee liabilities exceed future income), independent of whether or not debt is used in the corporate capital structure. A merger involvesa relinquishment of this double protection in return for a less valuable single protection: limited liability in the merged corporation against combined negative cash flows.

A necessary and sufficient condition for linear sharing rules to be Pareto optimal, as generally accepted by the finance community, is that utility functions be of the equicautious HARA class. We demonstrate that this condition is not necessary for a fixed distribution of initial endowments and derive the necessary and sufficient condition. We show examples of utility functions satisfying our conditions.

Douglas V. DeJong, Daniel W. Collins, Explanations for the Instability of Equity Beta: Risk-Free Rate Changes and Leverage Effects, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Mar., 1985), pp. 73-94

Lawrence Fisher, Jules H. Kamin, Forecasting Systematic Risk: Estimates of "Raw" Beta that Take Account of the Tendency of Beta to Change and the Heteroskedasticity of Residual Returns, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Jun., 1985), pp. 127-149

In this paper, we attempt to blend economic theory with an understanding of the historical context and regulation of Japanese financial markets, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s. The historical and regulatory context is critical since it represents the framework within which the economic forces operated. That is, we are interested in examining how a particular structure, characterized by controlled interest rates, segmentation of markets and functions, and limited entry, gave rise in understandable ways to distinctive corporate financial practices.

This research develops and tests a model for the prediction of tender offer outcomes. Variables that increase the supply of “obtainable shares” (such as increased bid premiums or the payment of solicitation fees) are shown to increase the probability of success. Increased ownership of target firm shares by the bidder also increases the probability of success. Variables that impede the tendering of shares (such as target management opposition or a competing bid) decrease the probability of success. Tests of the model utilizing both linear and logistic analysis support the theoretical constructs and help resolve the paradoxical findings of previous research.

Common stock portfolios of large, heavily traded firms exhibit daily first-order serial correlation in excess of what would be expected, given the individual security coefficients. Further, this correlation rises as the number of securities in the portfolio increases. The direct implication of this finding is that nonsynchronous trading is not the only cause of correlation in daily market indices. Related implications are also discussed.

Several studies used a multi-factor model to examine the interest rate sensitivity of a financial intermediary's common stock. The model was re-specified in an attempt to estimate each factor's influence. This note shows that the re-specification results in biased estimators. Hypothesis tests are flawed by failure to acknowledge the bias; this casts doubt upon the reported findings

The quadratic form of the covariance-co-skewness model by Kraus and Litzenberger and arbitrage pricing theory are used for an empirical investigation of market equilibrium with skewed seecurity returns. Empirical tests similar to the ones in Black-Jensen-Scholes and Gibbons are discussed. The empirical estimates give some support to the Kraus-Litzenberger hypothesis on skewness preference. However, there is some evidence that the tested arbitrage equilibrium is not a complete description of security pricing.