U.S. Moves Toward International Accounting Rules - NYTimes.com

It will be interesting to see how fastthis actually happens, but moving towards a single standard is great news as it will eventually result in lower transactions costs.U.S. Moves Toward International Accounting Rules - NYTimes.com: "The Securities and Exchange Commission moved Wednesday to allow some large American companies to begin using international accounting standards as early as next year

Is it rational to give to charity? Yes!

Giving can be its own reward? Yes!Being leader of BonaResponds (coolest volunteer group in the world! Ok, maybe I am slightly biased) has led me into some interesting discussions on charitable giving. Some strict classic economists have argued that charity and other selfless acts do not make economic sense. To that argument I always remind them that people (and I guess monkeys too!)

Does Social Security Increase Poverty?

One of the real dangers of writing a blog is becoming political. I do not want to at all. In fact I have purposely not said anything about Social Security for that reason. It is the proverbial third rail. That said, it came up in class yesterday when we were talking about the importance of compounding on future values, plus it has been a hot issue for years with friends and is covered in

SSRN-A Generalized Rank Test for Testing Cumulative Abnormal Returns In Event Studies by James Kolari, Seppo Pynnonen

This one may not be of wide general interest but it definitely will be for those who do academic financial research. From the abstract:SSRN-A Generalized Rank Test for Testing Cumulative Abnormal Returns In Event Studies by James Kolari, Seppo Pynnonen: "This paper proposes a generalized rank test that can be used both for testing cumulative abnormal returns as well as single abnormal returns.

Finance Crossword Puzzle

Custom Crossword Puzzle---I thought a crossword puzzle would be a unique way to review for class, so I made this one up. Sort of fun. It is probably too easy but really have no experience, so figured easy is preferred to hard.The answers are here.

SSRN-Executive Pay, Talent and Firm Size by Jaeyoung Sung, Peter Swan

Sung and Swan examine the pay, performance, and size relation using panel data and find that firm size matters but maybe not as much as previous authors had suggested.SSRN-Executive Pay, Talent and Firm Size by Jaeyoung Sung, Peter Swan:The authors model a pay relationship and find support for their model. Without getting into the gory details of the modeling, consider two firms (one large, one

Study Examines The Psychology Behind Students Who Don't Cheat

Study Examines The Psychology Behind Students Who Don't Cheat: "People who don’t cheat “have a more positive view of others,” said Sara Staats, co-author of the research and professor of psychology at Ohio State University’s Newark campus.“They don’t see as much difference between themselves and others.”In contrast, those who scored lower on courage, empathy and honesty – and who are more likely

Some interesting stats stemming from Mortgage Meltdown

The topic that dominated last year's classes is still at the center of attention as classes begin here this Monday. The names have changed (last August we were talking about Bear), but the basic underlying story is the same. Moreover, the size of the problem is better known now. Burdened by Mortgages, Lehman’s Options Narrow - NYTimes.com: "In the last 12 months, Freddie’s stock price has

Hedging jet fuel prices at airlines

Airline hedging has been a topic of discussion on the FinanceProfessorblog since its inception. With volatile energy prices, it is now a hot topic within the airlines as well. Here is a look at the discussion from FlightGlobal.Hedge your bets: "A large part of deciding whether or not to hedge comes down to the way in which ­airlines view hedging. Those that see it as an insurance policy which

SEC short selling rule made little impact: studies | Deals | Regulatory News | Reuters

Do you remember in July when regulators imposed short sale restrictions on 19 financial stocks due to fears of the stocks collapsing and thus leading to a market-wide panic? Well the constraints were recently lifted and now Arturo Bris finds that the regulations did little good and even hurt efficiency. SEC short selling rule made little impact: studies | Deals | Regulatory News | Reuters: "study

Damodaran Online: Home Page for Aswath Damodaran

Damodaran Online: Aswath Damodaran Ok so I am biased. I have watched him spreak several times at conference and we are using his VAluation text in Fin 410. That said, his website definitely gets top billing! Take a while and look it over. You will be amazed at what you learn.

Study Tallies Corporations Not Paying Income Tax - NYTimes.com

While it might be more of an accounting piece, it is still sort of interesting for corporate finance classes. And definitely draws into question using stated (as opposed to effective) tax rates for computing cost of capital etc.Study Tallies Corporations Not Paying Income Tax - NYTimes.com: "Two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005,

SSRN-Do Behavioral Biases Adversely Affect the Macro-Economy? by George Korniotis, Alok Kumar

Talk about ambitious! Korniotis and Kumar apparently have found a link between behavioral finance and economic difference across different US States. SSRN-Do Behavioral Biases Adversely Affect the Macro-Economy? by George Korniotis, Alok Kumar: "This study investigates whether the adverse effects of investors' behavioral biases extend beyond the domain of financial markets to the broad

FMA annual Conference

FMA ConferenceJust a reminder the FMA conference is October 8-11 this year. It is in Grapevine Texas. See you there!