This paper examines the bond and stock price reactions to the announcement of insubstance defeasances, and the motivations for the transaction. We find a reliably positive bond price reaction and a reliably negative stock price reaction. However, the bond price reaction is much less than would be predicted had the defeased bonds been made riskless. We find evidence suggesting that some firms defease to window-dress their earnings, some defease to avoid restrictions in bond covenants, and some defease as a use for excess cash on hand.

This paper examines how national income and trading opportunities interact to determine the level and incidence of world pollution. We find that (i) free trade raises world pollution if incomes differ substantially across countries; (ii) if trade equalizes factor prices, human-capital-abundant countries lose from trade, while human-capital-scarce countries gain; (iii) international trade in pollution permits can lower world pollution even when governments' supply of permits is unrestricted; (iv) international income transfers may not affect world pollution or welfare; and (v) attempts to manipulate the terms of trade with pollution policy leave world pollution unaffected.