Abstract Reviews the book 'The Financial Desk Book.'

Abstract Reviews the book 'Dictionary of Banking and Financial Services,' 2nd ed., by Jerry M. Rosenberg.

David S. Kidwell, Eric H. Sorensen, John M. Wachowicz, Jr., Estimating the Signaling Benefits of Debt Insurance: The Case of Municipal Bonds, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Sep., 1987), pp. 299-313

Proponents of the new federalism argue that nonprofit organizations and local governments will fully offset federal social service expenditure cutbacks. The author analyzes this proposition as a competitive game in which donations are motivated by private and public good considerations. The author characterizes the response of political-economic equilibrium to exogenous changes in federal expenditures when local voters are cognizant of donor reactions. Partial replacement is the most likely outcome, though others are possible. Copyright 1987 by American Economic Association.

High labor costs in large Midwestern metropolitan areas have significantly reduced their manufacturing capital stock. For the period 1974 to 1978, the authors estimate that sixteen metropolitan areas in the Midwest, taken together, had approximately $2.8 billion less capital stock than they would have had if their labor costs had been at the national average. This difference is equal to 4 percent of the capital stock in these areas. The results are simulated from the estimation of a labor demand equation that is derived from a generalized Leontief cost function. Copyright 1987 by MIT Press.

This paper points out an error and implications of the error in the model of hedging effectiveness proposed by Howard and D'Antonio (1). The error would lead to ambiguous results if the model were used in practical applications to select the best hedging instrument. This paper proposes a new measure of hedging effectiveness that eliminates the error in the original model and resolves the ambiguity.

This study identifies part of the social loss attendant upon displacement as the remaining value of the assets specific to the severed employment relationship. A bargaining model is used to link wage-tenure profiles to the amount of information firms and workers possess about the duration of that relationship. If information is good, the profile will flatten as displacement approaches. Using PSID data for workers separated between 1977 and 1981, wage-tenure profiles are found not to change. This suggests that either workers, or both firms and workers, are surprised by the displacement. The present value of that part of the social loss attributable to the worker's share of firm-specific capital is around $7,000 (1980 dollars).