Applied Economics : Initial Public Offerings (A Real World Example)

Even as researchers, when we present our research to others, we are teachers. As teachers, our responsibility to others is manifold, to which we are held to a higher standard. It is upon the Truths (or falsehoods) that we teach that we are ultimately judged. This Applied Economics working paper explains the economics underlying the Initial Public Offerings (IPO) process and cycle. IPOs are a method of corporate finance, which is a topic in Finance, where Finance in turn is a field of Social Science. Finance, as Business, fits into Economics as an area of socio-economic scientific inquiry. Economics is the underlying framework, within which all practical fields of commerce are contained and measured. The problems of financing commerce (i.e., the field of Finance) and the organization and activity of commerce itself (i.e., the field of Business) are ever and always economic problems, contained within, and governed by, the matrix of Economics