Reviews the book "Business Behavior and Information," edited by Yuji Ijiri and Isao Nakano.

This paper tests the hypothesis that differential regulations reduced the rate of capital turnover in the electric utility industry, resulting in increased emissions of sulfur dioxide. Based on a sample of forty-four privately owned electric utilities operating over the period 1969-83, the authors' results indicate that (1) regulation increased the age of capital by an average of 3.29 years (24.6 percent); (2) increases in the age of capital have no statistically significant impact on emissions; and (3) in the absence of regulation, emissions would have increased by 3.79 tons per million kWhs (34.6 percent).

This paper presents two propositions about corruption. First, the structure of government institutions and of the political process are very important determinants of the level of corruption. In particular, weak governments that do not control their agencies experience very high corruption levels. Second, the illegality of corruption and the need for secrecy make it much more distortionary and costly than its sister activity, taxation. These results may explain why, in some less developed countries, corruption is so high and so costly to development.

This study investigates the Kahn et al. (1964) measure of job‐related stressors, and the Everly et al. (1989) measure of stress (i.e., cognitive‐affective) arousal to ascertain whether the scales are measuring two distinct constructs. Data gathered from a sample of 1,618 members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants are analyzed to measure the psychometric properties of both instruments. Results from internal consistency, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and item analyses indicate that both scales are reliable measures and the two scales are measuring different constructs, This study also examines the mediating effect of stress arousal on the relationship between sources of job stress, and resultant coping behaviors and psychological stress symptoms by means of structural modeling analyses. The results indicate that stress arousal is indeed a significant mediator in the stressor‐to‐illness process. Résumé. Les auteurs analysent l'instrument de mesure utilisé par Kahn et al. (1964) pour évaluer les facteurs de stress liés au travail ainsi que la mesure de la manifestation (cognitive‐affective) du stress proposée par Everly et al. (1989) pour confirmer si les échelles utilisées circonscrivent deux concepts distincts. Ils analysent les données colligées à partir d'un échantillon de 1 618 membres de l'American Institute of Certified Public Accountants afin d'évaluer les propriétés psychométriques des deux instruments de mesure. Les résultats tirés des analyses des facteurs de cohérence interne, des facteurs exploratoires et des facteurs de corroboration, ainsi que les analyses des éléments indiquent que les deux échelles de mesure sont fiables et qu'elles circonscrivent des concepts différents. Les auteurs examinent également l'effet de médiation de la manifestation du stress sur la relation entre les sources de stress au travail et les comportements d'adaptation qui en résultent et les symptômes de stress psychologique, au moyen d'analyses de modélisation des structures. Les résultats de l'étude indiquent que la manifestation du stress est, de fait, un médiateur d'importance dans le processus qui conduit du facteur de stress à la maladie.

This paper analyzes a multiperiod monetary targeting procedure as a possible resolution to the credibility problem in policy when the monetary authority has some private information. By limiting the degree of flexibility permitted in policy, this procedure mitigates the credibility problem. As the length of the targeting horizon decreases, the severity of the credibility problem falls, but at the expense of weakening the monetary authority's ability to pursue its stabilization goals. Based on model simulations, the analysis studies the determinants of the optimal targeting horizon that balances the benefits of flexibility and discipline in policy.

Greenwald and Glasspiegel argue that adverse selection depressed the market prices of slaves, causing current researchers to overestimate the rate of return from slavery. In this paper we test for the presence of adverse selection by comparing the prices of local slaves with the prices of slaves sold from estate sales. We find no difference in the prices of these slaves, from which we conclude that there was no significant adverse selection in the market. Instead, we propose an alternative explanation for the observed pattern of slave prices based on the costs of shipping slaves to the New Orleans market.

Edward T. Gullason, Bharat R. Kolluri, Michael J. Panik, Social Security and Household Wealth Accumulation: Refined Microeconometric Evidence, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 75, No. 3 (Aug., 1993), pp. 548-551

An important issue in the debate over whether bank holding companies (BHCs) should be permitted to enter nonbanking activities is the effect of expanded nonbanking powers on BHC risk. We test this issue empirically by simulating mergers between BHCs and firms in nonbanking financial industries, calculating risk measures for the hypothetical merged firms, and comparing their risk characteristics with those of actual unmerged BHCs. We find that mergers of BHCs with life insurance or property/casualty insurance firms may reduce risk, but that mergers of BHCs with securities firms or real estate firms would likely increase risk.

Reviews the book "Accounting's Changing Role in Social Conflict," by Cheryl R. Lehman.