Project selection based on the net-present-value can be optimal only if the discount rate is optimal. The optimal discount rate for a government project can be a riskfree rate, a market rate, or an adjusted market rate, depending on circumstances. This paper clarifies the conditions for each...

Fundamentally, stocks are a good hedge against inflation if corporate profitability keeps up with inflation. Using monthly stock-market data covering over 151 years from 1871 to 2022, this paper analyzes the relationship between inflation and corporate profitability, measured by...

Yields on long-term municipal bonds reflect both current and expected future tax rates. This paper derives expected changes in tax rates from yields on short- and long-term municipal bonds and examines the relationship between expected changes in tax rates and the financial condition of the...

[Deposit insurance involves catastrophe risk because bank failures spike during a banking crisis. Although mutual insurance is ill-suited for catastrophe risk, the U.S. government structures deposit insurance like a mutual company owned by policyholders. The mutual structure produces several...

Deposit insurance systems are designed to balance the benefits of preventing bank runs and protecting ordinary savers against the costs of reduced market discipline and potential burdens on taxpayers. Design flaws of deposit insurance make the benefits too low and the costs too high. This paper...

This paper analyzes the effect of asymmetric information on investment efficiency and the ways in which government credit can mitigate the inefficiency caused by asymmetric information. The inefficiency caused by asymmetric information critically depends on the way in which the project return is...