Reviews the book "The Development of the Accountancy Profession in Britain to the Early Twentieth Century," by R.H. Parker.

Reviews the book "Accounting and Auditing: Thoughts on Forty Years in Practice and Education," by William D. Hall.

Reviews the book "The Growth and Efficiency of Public Spending," by M.S. Levitt and M.A.S. Joyce.

Micro data gathered by the Soviet Interview Project provide one of the first opp ortunities for Western researchers to investigate the determinants of Soviet earnings. The data show that Soviet labor markets operate in many respects like U.S. labor markets, yet institutional differences remain. The most striking institutional impact is that Soviet workers are rewarded and penalized for political behavior external to the firm. As in the U.S., education and experience are rewarded; men earn more than women. However the Soviet pattern of returns to education is different, returns to experience are lower and occupational segregation of women is less important.

Randal R. Rucker, Keith B. Leffler, To Harvest or Not to Harvest? An Analysis of Cutting Behavior on Federal Timber Sales Contracts, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 70, No. 2 (May, 1988), pp. 207-213

This paper estimates an empirical model of the choice between adjustable- and fixe d-rate mortgages using a large national database compiled by the Nat ional Association of Realtors. The explanatory variables in the probi t choice equation include borrower characteristics, regional dummies, the FRM rate, and the FRM-ARM rate differential. Since the intrerest rate on the mortgage not chosen is unobserved, this rate must be est imated in a way that eliminates selectivity bias. Simulation of the e stimated choice equation provides insight into the origin of the ARM revolution.

A current trend among oil-producing nations with private oil sectors is to move toward tax systems that are based upon pr ofits rather than production. The authors present a case study of wha t can go wrong with profit-based tax schemes. They study the implemen tation of the net profit share leasing system in the United States in the early 1980s. They conclude that the information requirements of the scheme are heavy, perhaps prohibitive, and that the net profit sh are system can easily backfire if the informational requirements can not be met. The authors also show that the U.S. government misused th e limited amount of information that was available to it.

An unemployment rate for the urban population living in the European U.S.S.R. for the late 1970s is calculated from a survey of 2, 793 former Sovi et citizens residing in the United States. Patterns of unemployment i ncidence, frequency of multiple spells, and unemployment duration by demographic characteristics are compared with U.S. patterns. In contr ast, similar unemployment rates for Soviet men and women, and a posit ive relation between education and unemployment, are found. The Sovie t unemployment rate is low compared to Western rates for the 1970s, b ut has been matched by West Germany and Japan in high-employment year s.