Smith and Wilson (2019) posit that we self-regulate our actions to conform with what we believe is socially appropriate. The mechanism is Adam Smith's “Impartial Spectator,” a fictitious individual constructed in the mind who helps us predict whether our actions and motivations will earn...

We investigate the extent and nature of income conservatism as reflected in the financial statement numbers of firms in the U.S. technology sector. Technology firms are predicted to have greater income conservatism than other U.S. firms because they are subject to both higher shareholder...

We investigate the extent to which income measurement by major early 20th century U.S. railroads shows evidence of reduced income smoothing and increased conservatism following new fixed asset accounting rules issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1907 and 1908 and concurrent...