This note represents a preliminary step in the study of accounting. Accounting serves many purposes, and it is not easy to decide where to begin ; we begin by exploring the relationship between accounting numbers and the value of a firm and its assets. Market structure affects value, and...

In this paper we examine a simple but suggestive setting in which the income number arises naturally (and directly) from competitive markets. While no explicit assumptions are made about individual firm's objectives, it turns out that equilibrium is consistent with the maximization of a number...

A simple two-period model with information asymmetry and restriction on transfers is used to induce an inter temporal relationship between a sequence of investment decisions. The owner's reputation for honoring commitments to ex post inefficient production decisions allows her to make efficient...