SPECULATIVE INTENSITY AND SPOT AND FUTURES PRICE VARIABILITY

This paper develops a simultaneous stochastic rational-expectations model of futures- and spot-price determination. Using the model, we find that increases in what we term speculative intensity increase spot-price variability arising from storage-cost shocks, but decrease spot-price variability arising from demand shocks. In contrast, increases in speculative intensity unambiguously decrease futures-price variability, regardless of the underlying source of disturbances. We are able to develop these comparative-static results because the model has a unique equilibrium.     

THE EFFECT OF STATE SECURITIES STATUTES ON TENDER OFFER ACTIVITY

The Williams Act passed in 1968, established Federal regulation of cash tender offers. Despite the additional constraints on tender offers provided by this federal legislation, thirty-six states have enacted more stringent securities laws since then. This paper briefly investigates the motivation for the state statutes, and then empirically tests the deterrent effects of these laws on tender offer activity for firms headquartered in the states affected. The evidence indicates that the presence of state statutes does deter tender offers, and that the recently enacted SEC tender offer rules will, ceteris paribus, decrease the total number of offers made by 8%.     

THE ROLE OF ASSETS IN LABOR SUPPLY FUNCTIONS

This paper examines the argument advanced by Smith (1977) that it is inappropriate to include current assets in labor supply functions, under the assumption that a life-cycle model underlies both the asset accumulation process and the labor supply process. It is shown that on a theoretical level current labor supply may still be viewed as a function of current assets. It is also demonstrated that in empirical work based upon a life-cycle labor supply model, it may or may not be appropriate to use current assets or current wealth as an independent variable in a labor supply regression     

STOCHASTIC INPUT DELIVERIES

The subject of this paper is the theory of the firm confronted with uncertain deliveries of its inputs. Examples of this form of uncertainty may be found in interruptible natural gas or electricity supply contracts, labor absenteeism and allocations of gasoline. Analyses of the firm's order quantity expansion path and order intensities are conducted. Comparisons are made between the optimal values of inputs selected under certainty and uncertainty, as well as comparisons between expected out-put and certainty output.