In the coming year 1979, is it possible to achieve a 5 percent unemployment rate and keep annual inflation down to 4 percent? To raise this question in terms of a particular econometric model, we ask whether there exist values of the policy instruments which will give rise to solutions of 5 and 4 percent, respectively, for unemployment and inflation. What is the most favorable tradeoff relationship between inflation and unemployment implicit in an econometric model of a national economy? In this paper, we wish to point out that for many econometric models actually in use, the tradeoff relationship is not rigid, but can be shifted toward the origin (but usually not all the way to the origin!) by suitable government policies. Accordingly, we suggest that the tradeoff relationship implicit in an econometric model be defined as the set of points in the unemployment-inflation diagram which cannot be dominated. We will explain the circumstances under which there exists such a southwestern boundary for the points depicting the unemploymentinflation combinations that are achievable according to a given model. We will propose a systematic way to locate points on this boundary and demonstrate that our algorithm works. Stimulated by and based upon A. W. Phillips' original paper on the relation between unemployment and the rate of change of money wage rates, numerous studies have appeared to refine, respecify, and estimate structural equations explaining the rates of change in the wage rates, the price level, unemployment and related variables. It soon became apparent that these studies, though useful, may not be sufficient for ascertaining the tradeoff relationship between unemployment and inflation. If unemployment and inflation are viewed as two of the many endogenous variables which are jointly determined by a system of simultaneous econometric equations, their relationship has to be derived by solving a whole system using alternative values for the policy variables subject to government control. The approach of deriving the unemployment-inflation tradeoff by varying the policy variables and solving for these two endogenous variables in an econometric model has been adopted by

The thesis of this symposium, organized by James Bicksler, was that while finance theory will surely inform practitioners, it seems appropriate to pay some attention to the opposite flow: practitioners can inform theory. Contributors include a distinguished group of practitioners with extensive backgrounds in economics, and economists with extensive public policy experience: Martin Feldstein, Robert Glauber, David Mullins, and Steven Wallman. Their topics range from privatizing social security, to managing market crashes, to the regulatory agency cost problem, to regulatory constraints in a technologically advanced world.

The thesis of this symposium, organized by James Bicksler, was that while finance theory will surely inform practitioners, it seems appropriate to pay some attention to the opposite flow: practitioners can inform theory. Contributors include a distinguished group of practitioners with extensive backgrounds in economics, and economists with extensive public policy experience: Martin Feldstein, Robert Glauber, David Mullins, and Steven Wallman. Their topics range from privatizing social security, to managing market crashes, to the regulatory agency cost problem, to regulatory constraints in a technologically advanced world.

This article investigates whether differences in information-based trading can explain observed differences in spreads for active and infrequently traded stocks. Using a new empirical technique, we estimate the risk of information-based trading for a sample of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listed stocks. We use the information in trade data to determine how frequently new information occurs, the composition of trading when it does, and the depth of the market for different volume-decile stocks. Our most important empirical result is that the probability of information-based trading is lower for high volume stocks. Using regressions, we provide evidence of the economic importance of information-based trading on spreads.

This paper develops a satellite account for the US health sector and measures productivity growth in health care for the elderly population between 1999 and 2012. We measure the change in medical spending and health outcomes for a comprehensive set of 80 conditions. Medical care has positive productivity growth over the time period, with aggregate productivity growth of 1.5% per year. However, there is significant heterogeneity in productivity growth. Care for cardiovascular disease has had very high productivity growth. In contrast, care for people with musculoskeletal conditions has been costly but has not led to improved outcomes.

The endowment effect, the tendency to value possessions more than non-possessions, is a well-known departure from rational choice and has been replicated in numerous settings. We investigate the universality of the endowment effect, its evolutionary significance, and its dependence on environmental factors. We experimentally test for the endowment effect in an isolated and evolutionarily relevant population of hunter-gatherers, the Hadza Bushmen of Northern Tanzania. We find that Hadza living in isolated regions do not display the endowment effect, while Hadza living in a geographic region with increased exposure to modern society and markets do display the endowment effect.

Prior research suggests that (1) politically active firms have an information advantage over firms that do not engage in the political process but also that (2) politically active firms are more likely to disclose policy-related information. We examine whether there are externalities associated with the processing of political information by politically active firms. We study this question in the setting of intraindustry information transfers around earnings announcements. Measuring firms’ political activism using campaign contributions, we find stronger intraindustry information transfers from politically active firms to their industry peers. These information transfers are stronger when there is more discussion during conference calls of political topics that have industry- or market-wide implications. Similarly, these information transfers are also stronger when there is greater political uncertainty. Our paper highlights an important information externality related to politically active firms’ disclosures and improves our understanding of how politically active firms affect their industries’ information environment. Data Availability: The data used in this study are publicly available from the sources cited in the text.

Focuses on a project by the American Accounting Association's Committees on Professional Examinations which evaluated the professional examinations for accountants. Objectives of the project; Methodology of the projects; Comparison of examinations and accounting curricula; Recommendations.

We study the link between market forces, cross-sectional inequality, and intergenerational mobility. Emphasizing complementarities in the production of human capital, we show that wealthy parents invest, on average, more in their offspring than poorer ones. As a result, economic status persists across generations even in a world with perfect capital markets and without differences in innate ability. In fact, under certain conditions, successive generations of the same family may cease to regress toward the mean. We also consider how short- and long-run mobility are affected by changes in the returns to human capital.