ECONOMICS ARTICLES MAIN PAGE

1/19/2018· Economics

Using Ex-Ante and Ex-Post Benchmarks in Estimating Damages

By: Dr. Donald M. May

Benchmarks are the basis for damages. But when the assumptions behind the benchmarks fail to stand up to Daubert scrutiny, expert testimony may be excluded.

12/14/2017· Economics

Do Managerial Motives Influence Firm Risk Reduction Strategies?

By: Dr. Donald M. May

This article finds evidence consistent with the hypothesis that managers consider personal risk when making decisions that affect firm risk. I find that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) with more personal wealth vested in firm equity tend to diversify. CEOs who are specialists at the existing technology tend to buy similar technologies. When specialists have many years vested, they tend to diversify, however. Poor performance in the existing lines of business is associated with movements into new lines of business.

11/8/2017· Economics

The Appropriate Discount Rate In A Lost Earnings Claim

By: David Nolte

Damage experts don’t always agree regarding the appropriate discount rate and underlying methodology for a lost earnings claim and certain commonly applied methods actually provide a windfall to Plaintiffs. The chosen rate can make a meaningful difference in the economic damages conclusion. A recent article, "Lost Compensation Settlement Tool Allows You To Assess Economic Damages Accurately And Efficiently, Under Various Scenarios", demonstrates the significance of the applied rate on damages.

4/23/2014· Economics

The Petroleum Matter or Mess?

By: Dr. Kenneth E. Lehrer

At the present time, the fundamental question is whether the petroleum "event" will turn out to be a blessing or a curse for the United States, especially the nations middle class. The increasing price of petroleum, especially if it remains at elevated levels for a prolonged period of time (say 6 months or longer) could have a pronounced negative effect on the Middle Class. These effects can be broken down into three (3) major categories - direct, indirect and subsequential.

10/31/2013· Economics

Inflation and the Middle Class - 2011 Onwards

By: Dr. Kenneth E. Lehrer

A person does not have to be too old to truly remember the times (mid 1960's and early 1970's) when gas stations gave away trinkets, toys, glasses, tableware and even "Green Stamps" that could be redeemed for valuable "merchandise" when you purchased a few extra gallons of gasoline. How eager the major gasoline companies were to stimulate sales, create demand and obtain their growing share of middle class consumer dollars.

5/6/2011· Economics

Why Juries Can Be Trusted

By: Dr. Stan V. Smith

Setting aside the one case in 100,000 that makes headlines, are juries generally capricious and liberal? Are verdicts frequently unreasonable?

9/5/2010· Damages

A Quick Overview of Commercial-Damages Economics

By: Jules H. Kamin, PhD

Commercial damages occur in breach-of-contract and business-tort cases that result in claims of lost profits or diminished business goodwill or business value. Intellectual-property-infringement cases and antitrust cases also can involve such loss claims. The measurement of damages in these types of cases follows a basic methodology, with some variations in intellectual-property matters. Measurement of damages in securities-fraud cases uses a different approach.

11/25/2009· Accounting

The Bias in Annual (Versus Monthly) Discounting is Immaterial

By: Jay Abrams, ASA, CPA, MBA

This article presents a discussion of the validity of using the mid-year convention from a different point of view than the March 2002 BVR article by Michael Dobner.

11/25/2009· Damages

Forecasting Cash Flow: Mathematics of the Payout Ratio

By: Jay Abrams, ASA, CPA, MBA

We all have used the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method. Many of us would agree that it is generally the best, most comprehensive, theoretically correct valuation model. It also has an empirical reason to be the best, which is that many of us calculate our discount rates using the Ibbotson data in the SBBI annual yearbooks, which are based on publicly traded stock data.

11/25/2009· Damages

Lost Inventory and Lost Profits Damage Formulas in Litigation

By: Jay Abrams, ASA, CPA, MBA

This article arose from an actual litigation. To protect the identity of the parties, I usefictional names.