This paper develops a general preference model for analyzing parental allocations of resources among their progeny. The implications fro this model for the distribution of educational resources and earnings potentials among siblings are examined. A particular version of the preference model is estimated using data on the education and earnings of adult male twins. The estimates imply that parents care about offsprings' earnings inequality and provide more (less) resources to the less (more) able than is consistent with an investment model.

Recent results in the theory of pure rule demonstrate the genericity of rule cycles. As established by Richard McKelvey (1979), L. Cohen (1979) and N. Schofield (1978), rule nearly always breaks down and, when it does, the breakdown is complete. The theorems given below may be summed up in the following three assertions: 1) For any policy or alternative, there exists a set of alternatives that command a of votes against it; 2) this situation is not an abberation but rather is the general case; and 3) it is almost always possible in multidimensional choice settings to find a sequence of votes that begins at any point and ends at any other point. Majority rule may wander anywhere. Yet, when these theoretical assertions are applied to legislatures based upon rule, they contain no obvious policy content or predictions. The key insight which we elaborate in this paper is that rule is not self-implementing-there is no majority rule machine into which we feed preferences and out of which come outcomes. Rather, there is a complex series of institutional arrangements underpinning the operation of rule legislatures-arrangements from which theorists have (mistakenly) abstracted. In fact, rule theorists have not focused at all on institutional details; instead they have restricted themselves to the rule dominance relation, operating under the implicit assumption that what may be proved true about this relation is true of all legislative institutions based upon it. In this paper, we show that this assumption is misleading and that the the results based upon it must be reinterpreted in order to be useful for understanding real world committees and legislatures.

This study investigates the nature of price changes in a variety of major and minor foreign exchange markets. The results suggest that the log of price changes over one (trading) day intervals seems to follow a non‐normal stable distribution function. Different measures of location (and to lesser extent scale) are present for different days of the week. Dollar denominated price changes are high on Mondays and Wednesdays and low on Thursdays and Fridays for all currencies. The Wednesday‐Thursday result is consistent with the settlement procedures used in foreign exchange transactions in the dollar. The Friday‐Monday result is consistent with an increase in demand for the dollar prior to the weekend.

This study investigates the nature of price changes in a variety of major and minor foreign exchange markets. The results suggest that the log of price changes over one (trading) day intervals seems to follow a non-normal stable distribution function. Different measures of location (and to lesser extent scale) are present for different days of the week. Dollar denominated price changes are high on Mondays and Wednesdays and low on Thursdays and Fridays for all currencies. The Wednesday-Thursday result is consistent with the settlement procedures used in foreign exchange transactions in the dollar. The Friday-Monday result is consistent with an increase in demand for the dollar prior to the weekend.

In this paper we consider the role of financial intermediaries in the valuation of firms and projects. We show that security prices should reflect both used and unused debt capacity if some corporations can act as financial intermediaries and can capture the tax benefits of debt capacity unused by the operating firm. We also provide some reasons why the value of the firm might be increased if the financing and operating risks of the firm are separated and financial intermediaries issue debt rather than the unit operating the asset.

In this paper we consider the role of financial intermediaries in the valuation of firms and projects. We show that security prices should reflect both used and unused debt capacity if some corporations can act as financial intermediaries and can capture the tax benefits of debt capacity unused by the operating firm. We also provide some reasons why the value of the firm might be increased if the financing and operating risks of the firm are separated and financial intermediaries issue debt rather than the unit operating the asset.