Measurement plays a vital role in the creation of markets, one that hinges on efficiencies gained via the universal availability of precise and accurate information on product quantity and quality. Fulfilling the potential of these ideals requires close attention to measurement and the role of...

Huge resources are invested in metrology and standards in the natural sciences, engineering, and across a wide range of commercial technologies. Significant positive returns of human, social, environmental, and economic value on these investments have been sustained for decades. Proven methods...

The efficient market hypothesis looms large in 10b-5 open market securities fraud cases. That hypothesis underlies the fraud-on-the-market doctrine, which permits stock buyers to proceed in these cases by class actions because the doctrine allows the buyers to avoid proving that they...

In response to the financial scandals at the turn of the century, Sarbanes-Oxley and related reforms radically changed the relationship between accountants and the companies they audit. As a result, auditors exert greater power in the negotiations with management that produce critical numbers in...

After 150 years of business, Lehman Brothers ran out of cash and credit, and filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. As a publicly traded company, Lehman had filed all the reports required by U.S. securities law. But the hundreds of pages of words and numbers provided no timely warning of...

Rasch’s unidimensional models for measurement show how to connect object measures (e.g., reader abilities), measurement mechanisms (e.g., machine-generated cloze reading items), and observational outcomes (e.g., counts correct on reading instruments). Substantive theory shows what...

In 2008 and 2009, the federal government effectively hired and fired directors at American International Group and Bank of America. At AIG, the government exercised its power through the ownership of voting stock, which meant that the company’s public securities filings revealed the government...