This paper is an analytic treatment of the abandonment decision in capital investment analysis. It provides a methodology which has application in obtaining better estimates for project value and risk.

Financial or capital market theory is intimately concerned with the concept of a general equilibrium. But most of the empirical work in finance has been concerned with the estimation of single-equation ordinary least squares cross-sectional models. One way of capturing some of the flavor of a general equilibrium is to use a simultaneous equation valuation model. Thus the value or the return on a security can be determined simultaneously in relationship to and in competition with the other securities in the system. Simkowitz and Jones [4] have recently described how the methodology could be used. Simkowitz and Logue [5] have recently performed a study using this methodology.

The Markowitz model for the efficient diversification of investments [12] has, over the years since its original formulation, provided the basis for many investigations into the question of portfolio selection. Amongst the more notable contributions to the theory are the works of Fama [6] and Mandelbrot [11], Smith [17], Latané [10], Arditti [1], and Blume [2].

Professor Huntsman's paper is a welcome addition to the growing literature on portfolio theory. Traditional mean-variance analysis, in spite of its obvious simplicity and its ability to explain portfolio diversification, has come under increasing attack, both for the theoretical weaknesses underlying the technique and for its failure to recognize that investors manifestly prefer returns that are positively skewed to those that are not.

Aggregation of monies must be determined in accord with the theory using the aggregate. This theory must specify aggregation (1) eligibility rules and (2) weights. Four current methods are evaluated on this basis: Fisher's aggregation bases eligibility on significant quantities Vi of monies Mi and attaches quantity weights Vi/Vn (Vn being numeraire). Pesek-Saving aggregation merely substitutes social marginal value weights Vipi/Vnpn. Friedman-Schwartz aggregation has eligibility depend on good subsequent statistical performance and uses weights given by private marginal values (gross of subsidies). Chetty's aggregation has all assets eligible and weighted by cross-elasticities of demand.

P. A. Tinsley, Capital Structure, Precautionary Balances, and Valuation of the Firm: The Problem of Financial Risk, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Mar., 1970), pp. 33-62

John P. Shelton, Stockholder Distribution Decisions: Share Repurchases on Dividends?: Discussion, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 1, No. 1, Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Western Finance Association (Mar., 1966), pp. 26-28a

Robert P. Flood, Peter M. Garber; The Linkage Between Speculative Attack and Target Zone Models of Exchange Rates, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volu

I provide an analysis of vertical relations in markets with imperfect competition at both layers of the supply chain and where exchange is intermediated either with wholesale prices or revenue-sharing contracts. Revenue-sharing is extremely attractive to firms that are able to set the revenue shares but often makes the firms that set retail prices worse off. This is so whether revenue-sharing lowers or raises industry profits. These results are strengthened when a market moves from “the wholesale model” of sales to “the agency model” of sales, which results in retailers setting revenue shares and suppliers setting retail prices. I also show that retail price-parity restrictions raise industry prices. These results provide a potential explanation for why many online retailers have adopted the agency model and retail price-parity clauses.