We calculate the incidence of recent changes to the New Jersey state tax system on a sample of homeowners. Our analysis distinguishes between business-as-usual responses to an evolving fiscal situation and tax changes that constitute a surprise. The latter have incidence effects; the former do...

This paper exploits yearly accounting data from 1977 to 1994 to test the relative signaling power of dividends and net stock repurchases. The specification controls for potential agency cost and asset dissipation effects. Specifically, we regress changes in future income before extraordinary...

Calculates the incidence of the recent changes to the New Jersey state tax system on a sample of homeowners and conclude that the policies redistribute wealth on average from higher-income homeowners toward lower-income homeowners and from owners of suburban residential property toward owners of...

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that restrictions on independent political expenditures by corporations and labor unions are unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds (Citizens United v. FEC, 2010). In this paper, we test the hypothesis that the decision gave an electoral boost to...

Matching provisions in state clean elections acts have been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds (Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, 2011). By modeling political speech as a costly advertising activity in an electoral contest, we...

The accounting for business combinations has long been one of the most controversial financial reporting issues, generating numerous opinions and interpretations by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB), Securities and Exchange...