This study attempts to resolve two important issues. First, it investigates the diversification benefit of crude oil for equities. Second, it examines whether or not crude oil derivatives transactions by oil and gas producers can change shareholders' wealth. With these two major goals in mind, I...

Models for valuing an option to exchange one commodity for another, or any combination of n input commodities for some combination of m outputs, are applied to the capital budgeting problem, making it possible to draw sound conclusions about the valuation effects of flexibility and...

We provide a clinical perspective on corporate governance, shareholder activism and corporate restructuring by studying Sears, Roebuck amp; Co. In particular we focus on Sears' diversification into financial services during the 1980's, the poor performance that followed, and the ensuing...

This paper examines whether PERCS, Preferred Equity Redemption Cumulative Stocks, have been properly priced with respect to the equivalent packages consisting of longing the common stock and shorting the long-term call option. Test results indicate that PERCS have been overpriced in comparison...

Value based incentive systems could be improved if they explicitly reward management actions that create or enhance the firm's real options. Such systems often focus exclusively upon cash flows relative to resource investment; yet, share values are often substantially greater than the amount...

Although there is growing discussion about share value as a management goal, the ways to enhance value sometimes seem mysterious to executives. Indeed, the commentary surrounding the recent accounting scandals has questioned the validity of share value maximization as a business goal, but has...

The volume includes two contributions on hedge funds. One evaluates the performance of hedge funds in market environments that are conducive to active management versus environments that are not. The other provides an empirical study of the market timing skills of hedge fund managers....

This paper provides a first look at estimates of the price elasticity of the housing supply in China at both the national and city levels. Using a panel dataset consisting of 35 cities in China from 1998 to 2009, the findings show that the implied national price elasticity of housing supply is...