Recommendations for Further Reading

By Bernard Saffran

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1987

Anomalies: Weekend, Holiday, Turn of the Month, and Intraday Effects

By Richard H. Thaler

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1987

This feature will report successful searches for disconfirming evidence -- economic anomalies. As suggested by Thomas Kuhn, an economic anomaly is a result inconsistent with the economics paradigm. Economics is distinguished from other social sciences by ...

Review of Political Economy: An Introductory Text, by Edmund S. Phelps

By Michael M. Weinstein

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1987

Political Economy is a scintillating excursion into modern economic thinking. Not a stultified world of price elasticities of demand. Nor a world where transaction costs are zero and information is perfect. Rather, Phelps's world is a modernist (his word)...

Notes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1987

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1987

Symposium on Takeovers

[Symposium: Takeovers]

By Hal R. Varian

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

Of the hundred largest mergers and acquisitions on record up to 1984, 65 occurred between 1981 and 1983, and only 11 occurred prior to 1979. During the 1981-84 period, there were at least 45 transactions of over a billion dollars apiece; prior to this per...

Value Maximization and the Acquisition Process

[Symposium: Takeovers]

By Andrei Shleifer and Robert W. Vishny

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

Like the rest of us, corporate managers have many personal goals and ambitions, only one of which is to get rich. The way they try to run their companies reflects these personal goals. Shareholders, in contrast, deprived of the pleasures of running the co...

Takeovers: Their Causes and Consequences

[Symposium: Takeovers]

By Michael C. Jensen

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

Economists have accumulated considerable evidence and knowledge on the effects of the takeover market. Here, I focus on current aspects of the controversy. My assessment is that the market for corporate control is creating large benefits for shareholders ...

The Market for Corporate Control: The Empirical Evidence Since 1980

[Symposium: Takeovers]

By Gregg A. Jarrell, James A. Brickley, and Jeffry M. Netter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

In the 1980s, the market for corporate control has been increasingly active, and the quantity of output of academic researchers studying corporate control questions has mirrored the market activity. This review examines the returns to bidders and targets,...

Corporate Takeovers: The Efficiency Arguments

[Symposium: Takeovers]

By F. M. Scherer

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

In recent years, the tender offer takeover has been praised and damned with a ferocity suggesting that the survival of capitalism is at stake. The truth, as in most disputes with substantial metaphysical content, is more prosaic. Some takeovers enhance ec...

Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies for International Financial Stability: A Proposal

By Ronald I. McKinnon

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

What keeps the three major industrial blocs -- Western Europe, North America, and industrialized Asia -- from developing a common monetary standard to prevent exchange-rate fluctuations? One important reason is the differing theoretical perspectives of ec...

Doubts About the McKinnon Standard

By Rudiger Dornbusch

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

[This paper responds to "Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies for International Financial Stability: A Proposal," by Ronald I. McKinnon, in this same issue.] For over ten years, Ronald McKinnon has advocated a new monetary system centered on fixed exchange...

Comment on McKinnons's Monetary Rule

By John Williamson

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

[This paper responds to "Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies for International Financial Stability: A Proposal," by Ronald I. McKinnon, in this same issue.] While McKinnon's criticisms of the regime of floating exchange rates are almost entirely justified...

Frequentist and Subjectivist Perspectives on the Problems of Model Building in Economics

By Dale J. Poirier

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

I plan to discuss, in as simple and nontechnical a fashion as possible, the subjectivist-Bayesian attitude toward model building in econometrics and to contrast it with the standard frequentist attitude. To convey what I believe is the principle distingui...

Comment on Poirer: The Subjective Perspective of a "Spiritual Bayesian"

By John Rust

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

[This paper responds to "Frequentist and Subjectivist Perspectives on the Problems of Model Building in Economics," by Dale J. Poirier, in this same issue.] Professor Dale Poirier has preached a rousing sermon for the Bayesian cause and in doing so has co...

Comment on Poirier: Dogma or Doubt?

By Adrian Pagan

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

[This paper responds to "Frequentist and Subjectivist Perspectives on the Problems of Model Building in Economics," by Dale J. Poirier, in this same issue.] Poirier appeals to the latent statistician that he hopes is lurking behind every economist. Like a...

Comment on Poirer: Operational Bayesian Methods in Econometrics

By John Geweke

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

[This paper responds to "Frequentist and Subjectivist Perspectives on the Problems of Model Building in Economics," by Dale J. Poirier, in this same issue.] My purpose in this comment is to illustrate that economists can indeed act upon the agenda implied...

The Subjectivist Response

By Dale J. Poirier

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

[This paper responds to comments on "Frequentist and Subjectivist Perspectives on the Problems of Model Building in Economics," by Dale J. Poirier.] It is a rare opportunity to have one's research discussed in print by as eminent and contemplative a group...

The Status of Master's Programs in Economics

By Robert J. Thornton and Jon T. Innes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

It is the purpose of this article to report the results of a recent survey which we undertook concerning the content and structure of master's programs in economics. During the fall of 1985, questionnaires were sent to the 221 United States colleges and u...

Puzzles: Penny Stocks, Discount Brokers, Better Bidding, and More

By Barry Nalebuff

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1988

In presenting economic puzzles, I have three goals in mind: some puzzles are chosen to stimulate research; others offer examples that will help undergraduate and graduate teaching; all should provide quality distractions during seminars. This feature begi...