Efficient Capital Markets, Corporate Disclosure and Enron

Yale Law School Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository Faculty Scholarship Series Yale Law School Faculty Scholarship 1-1-2004 Efficient Capital Markets, Corporate Disclosure and Enron Jonathan R. Macey Yale Law School Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Macey, Jonathan R., Efficient Capital Markets, Corporate Disclosure and Enron (2004). Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 1419. http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/1419 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Yale Law School Faculty Scholarship at Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty†¦show more content†¦The downfall of Enron also illustrates both the importance of corporate governance to corporate performance, and the inherent susceptibility to corruption present in any system of corporate governance. Further, from an international perspective, one is tempted to ask whether the Enron debacle could happen in Europe or Japan or whether it demonstrates a vulnerability unique to the U.S. system of corporate governance. I have three observations to make on this issue. First and foremost, the Enron fiasco demonstrates the acute pressure felt by U.S. corporate management to produce superior performance results. As discussed later in this Article, Enron s financial maneuvering, which led to the company s massive 2001 restatement of earnings, was prompted only in 1997 whe n Enron came under significant pressure from investors. Essentially, Enron s corporate performance was consistent for a considerable period of time prior to 1997. 4 However, between 1996 and 1997, the firm s profits and return on equity each declined by ninety percent. 5 The sudden deterioration in performance pressured management to engage in transactions that increased revenue and moved debt off of the firm s 3 This monitoring tradeoff is developed in more detail in my Article coauthored with Arnoud Boot, also presented in this Symposium. See ArnoudShow MoreRelatedA Report On Corporate Finance Management1485 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction This coursework on corporate finance management is based on real-world, based on Sainsbury’s grocer. Sainsbury’s is one of the largest supermarkets in the UK, founded in 1869, by John James Sainsbury. In 1922 Sainsbury’s becomes the largest grocery retailer. 7th May 2014, Sainsbury’s posted a 5.3 percent rise in annual profit, its slowest growth in nearly a decade. In October 1st 2014 Sainsbury’s announces, cutting its annual sales forecast and said it would review its dividend asRead MoreSignificance of Financial Reporting1702 Words   |  7 PagesPatel The Collapse of the Corporate Giants like Enron and WorldCom have raised the imminent question, which always remains in the back of an investor ¡Ã‚ ¦s mind,  ¡Ã‚ §Can I trust my hard earned Capital in somebody else ¡Ã‚ ¦s hand ? ¡Ã‚ ¨ This is not the first time that investors have lost their trust in companies however the fact does not change that the cost of capital from the market has increased significantly for the companies. Investors have started to invest their capital in risk free securities ratherRead MoreSarbanes Oxley Act of 20021322 Words   |  6 Pagesenvironment as well as efficiency in management, integration of capital flow and domestic savings. For instance, the Securities Act of 1933 which provides regulations and laws to those offering corporate stocks to the public (University of Phoenix, 2014). Another regulatory environment is the Securities Act of 1934. The Securities Act of 1934 regulates and uses laws for trading stocks on markets that are consider as secondary markets like the New York Stock Exchange. The Securities Act of 1933 alsoRead MoreCorrelation Between Corporate Transparency N Business Performance3603 Words   |  15 PagesExamine the correlation between corporate transparency and business performance. Is there a relationship between good governance and on-going business practices? What criteria are or should be considered? Ranjitha Subramanya MBA 600 Capital University Ranjitha Subramanya MBA 600 Final paper 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Abstract Corporate governance Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) principles, objectives and standards. Transparency in doingRead MoreRegulation of Financial Accounting and Reporting: the Pro-Regulation Perspective1237 Words   |  5 PagesLundholm, the accounting disclosures specifically for firms that make equity offerings has a significant increase within the six months before the offering occurs particularly in those categories the firm has discretion (cited in Healy and Palepu 2001, p.421). It shows that the business might not disclose all relevant information to users or is withholding information unless the disclosures is for their benefits, which posts a question of the reliability of voluntary disclosures. 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Essentially these companies lied to investors to steal their money. Numerous scandals broke out in the early 2000s, losing the trust of investors in the public market. Similar to the Great Depression, investors lost trust quickly. President Bush was practically forced to signRead MoreEssay on Ethics And Enron1901 Words   |  8 PagesENRON Introduction Enron was the country’s largest trader and marketer for electric and natural gas energy. Its core business was buying energy at a negotiated price and later, selling the energy when prices increased. As an energy broker, Enron provided a service by allowing producers to negotiate a certain price while Enron took the risk that prices would fall below what it bought energy. Buyers of energy also benefited because Enron could ensure the supply of energy. In 2000 Enron was listed

Changes in Synapses That Happen During Classical Conditioning

QUESTION 1 Describe in detail, the simple changes in synapses that happen during classical conditioning. Discuss the extent to which all forms of learning can be explained by these simple synaptic synaptic changes. The brain’s ability to learn, to change in response to experience and to store/retrieve learning through memory it is a fascinating process fundamental to one’s existence. The first scientific study of animal learning demonstrated a form of associative learning - classical conditioning; it can be described as a process of learning where a neutral stimulus (e.g. bell) is paired with an unconditional stimulus (e.g. food) and as a consequence, the neutral stimulus becomes conditioned and comes to elicit the same†¦show more content†¦Aplysia is perhaps the most simple example of biological changes at synapses resulting in encoding environmental events and thus learning. This animal is able of non-associative learning brought about by changes in synaptic connections between sensory and motor neurons. If a mild stimulation is applied to the siphon, it withdraws its gill, however repeated mild stimulation decreases its reponse, i.e. habituation occurs, due to a reduct ion in the number of synaptic connections which leads to a decrease in synaptic efficiency. But, if an intense stimulus is applied to the tail or head this results in withdrawal of the gill, i.e. sensitization occurs, due to an increase in the number of synaptic connections, leading to increased synaptic efficiency (Murphy Naish, 2006). The different examples of learning presented can to some extent be supported by Hebb’s proposal of changes in synaptic efficiency. Since synaptic changes are all we have available as a physical basis of learning they could perhaps be further explored as the physical basis of all forms of learning. Word count: 984 References Murphy, K., Naish, P. (2006). Learning and Memory, Learning and Language, 2nd ed., pp.1-29, 42-48, The Open University, Milton Keynes. QUESTION 2 a.i. For dopamine (DA) to â€Å"skyrocket†, it means that high levels of it wereShow MoreRelatedLearning Into Three Sub Categories1825 Words   |  8 Pagesdivide learning into three sub-categories, known as classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. In classical conditioning, an individual learns how to link two stimuli in a way that help anticipate an event to which he or she has a reaction. Many psychologists have spent countless hours of research and trial to understand this concept. A noteworthy psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, displayed the concept of classical conditioning in a more feasible way through the salivation ofRead MoreEssay about 2301 Final Exam Workbook 2 6510 Words   |  27 Pageshis students attendance rates to their grades. She found that students with fewer absences tended to get higher grades. b. 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Comparing the US Constitution to the 1918 Free Essays

In 1918, while the rest of Europe was still engaged in World War I, a newly formed communist government was developing in Russia. Much like 18th century Americans, they had just managed to overthrow what was viewed as a tyrannical government and hoped to form a new nation free of the injustices of the previous rule. Both countries wrote a new constitution as well as a declaration of rights to facilitate this, but their respective documents had vast differences. We will write a custom essay sample on Comparing the US Constitution to the 1918 or any similar topic only for you Order Now These disparities stemmed from differences in the ideologies of the new governments. The primary objectives of the Russian Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People and the later constitution were the â€Å"abolition of all exploitation of man by man, complete elimination of the division of society into classes, merciless suppression of the exploiters, socialist organization of society, and victory of socialism in all countries. † Americans wanted equality of opportunity and personal freedom instead of the social equality desired by the Russians. The American constitution and Bill of Rights were created to protect personal liberties and individual freedom while the Russians were more concerned with the welfare and equality of the population as a whole. This difference is partially due to the differences in the conditions leading to revolution in each country. The American Revolution was initiated by the wealthy in response to what they considered unfair treatment by a foreign ruler while the Russian revolution was instigated by the poor in reaction to centuries of oppression and exploitation by the wealthy within their own country. In the years leading up to World War I, social unrest among the Russian people was spreading rapidly. There was a huge social gulf between the peasants who were former serfs and the landowners. The peasants regarded anyone who did not work as a parasite. They had always regarded as all land belonging to them. They regarded any land retained by the landowners at the time serfs were freed as stolen and only force could prevent them from taking it back. By the time Russia entered the war, one peasant rebellion had already been suppressed and several socialist revolutionary movements were developing. In February of 1917 a group of female factory workers and led a revolt in which the Tsar was dethroned, only to be replaced by a provisionary government composed of the Russian elite. When this government did not live up to its promises of an end to Russian involvement in World War I, the Bolsheviks (â€Å"majority†), a revolutionary movement led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisionary government in what bacame known as the October revolution. Upon seizing control, they immediately withdrew from the war and began constructing the world†s first ever communist government. One of the new government†s first acts was to write the Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People. On July 10, 1918 the 5th Soviet Congress approved a constitution that, together with the Declaration of Rights, formed â€Å"the single fundamental law of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic†. Unlike the American Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People seems to have been meant to apply to all of mankind eventually, as is shown in Article 4: Expressing firm determination to wrest mankind from the clutches of finance capital and imperialism, which have in this most criminal of wars drenched the world in blood, the Third Congress of Soviets unreservedly endorses Soviet policy of denouncing the secret treaties, organizing most extensive fraternization with the workers and peasants of the combatant armies and achieving at all costs by revolutionary means a democratic peace for the working people, without annexations of indemnities, on the basis of free self-determination of nations. Their commitment to self-determination of nations was at least partially valid in that they gave Finland complete autonomy and withdrew their troops from Persia, but this may have resulted more from a lack of resources than altruism. Limited self-determination for the nations within the R. S. F. S. R. was also provided for in that the federal government was to be confined to â€Å"promulgating the fundamental principles of a federation of Soviet republics of Russia† while leaving the citizens of each region free to decide â€Å"whether they wish to participate in the federal government†¦ nd on what terms. † Several other liberties were provided for in the Russian constitution, many of which appear remarkably similar to freedoms provided for in the American Bill of Rights. Article 14 provided for freedom of expression, while Article 15 ensured â€Å"genuine freedom of assembly† and Article 13 guaranteed a separation of church and state as well as freedom of religious and anti-religious propaganda. All of these seem similar to the First Amendment of the U. S. onstitution, but they even went farther. Article 14 not only provided for freedom of press, but even promised every citizen access to â€Å"all the technical and material requisites for the publication of newspapers, pamphlets, books and all other printed material† as well as promising â€Å"their unhindered circulation throughout the country. † Article 15, besides guarantying freedom of assembly, promised to provide heated, lighted and furnished buildings for their gatherings. All things come at a price however, and all of these gifts from the government came at the price of true freedom of expression and assembly, as illustrated by Article 23: â€Å"Guided by the interests of the working class as a whole, the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic deprives individuals and groups of rights which they utilize to the detriment of the socialist revolution. † In America, where distrust of the government is common, this passage would have been viewed as tyrannical and would not have been allowed in the constitution. The legislative powers of both the United States and Russia were given to a congress of elected officials. In the United States this is further divided into two houses of more or less equal power. In Russia, the All-Russia Congress of Soviets met only twice a year except in emergencies. During the rest of the year a smaller group called the All-Russia Executive Committee took on the responsibilities of the All-Russia Congress of Soviets. This group was chosen from the congress and remained accountable to it for all its actions. For decisions of major political importance they were required to check with the Congress before taking action. Unlike the United States congress however, both of the Russian bodies also had some degree of executive power, though most executive power was relegated to the Council of People†s Commissars. This council was created to exercise â€Å"general management of the affairs of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. † This branch is given slightly more power than its American equivalent. In order to fulfill its responsibilities, the Council is given the freedom to take â€Å"what measures are necessary to ensure the proper course of life of the State. This may seem like limitless power, but they were also required to immediately notify the All-Russia Central Executive Committee of any orders or decisions it made. The Council of People†s Commissars was divided into 18 Commissariats: Foreign Affairs, Military Affairs, Maritime Affairs, Interior, Justice, Labor, Social Security, Public Education, Post and Telegraph, Nationalities Affairs, Finance, Transport, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Food Supply, State Control, the Supreme Economic Council, and Public Health. Each division consisted of the Commissar and a small number of advisors. The All-Russia Executive Committee appointed the Commissars who then appoint advisors to their board. The appointments then had to be approved by the Executive Committee. In this way a system of checks and balances somewhat similar to the American system was put into effect. How to cite Comparing the US Constitution to the 1918, Essay examples

Apparent Mental Illness In A S Essay free essay sample

, Research Paper In the clip that Tennessee Williams # 8217 ; Streetcar Named Desire transpires, depression is non recognized as a valid mental unwellness. Peoples that were depressed, or suffered from assorted other chemical instabilities were called loony and carted off to insane refuges by friendly aliens. Depression is now recognized as a valid mental unwellness worldwide, for the most portion in states that are developed. While hapless states suffer from sick physical wellness, fighting with meningitis and malaria, people in developed states who have their physical demands attended to fall back onto a rickety mental construction, which doctors predict will take to depression being the 2nd highest cause of decease in the universe by the twelvemonth 2020. In A Streetcar Named Desire several of the characters suffer from evident mental unwellness or instabilities. These are obvious to our twenty-first century, but in the 1940 # 8217 ; s, the clip that the drama was written, would hold merely passed for eccentricities. We will write a custom essay sample on Apparent Mental Illness In A S Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Mental illness went untreated to most people and those that were # 8220 ; treated # 8221 ; were merely locked off and non given effectual attention. Mitch is a character in the drama who seems to be enduring from a signifier of depression and likely childhood injury which has prevented him from come oning into normal big life. He compulsively concerned about his female parent, who possibly was non even every bit ill as he allow on. Mitch may hold an Oedipus complex draging him, despite the fact that his male parent is out of the image, he merely wants love from a adult females and he sees his female parent as person who can make that unconditionally. Mitch could hold used the aid of a head-shrinker to steer him towards independency and ego realisation, but this was non available to him. He merely had bowling, poker-nights and a self-enforced curfew. Stanley, on the other manus does non endure from the low energy, clemency that inflicts his friend. Stanley is evidently capable to the status known as # 8220 ; super-male # 8221 ; . He was born with an excess Ten chromosomes, which we know today consequences in: higher degrees of testosterone, easier ability to go angry, strong sexual thrust and a more # 8220 ; manfully # 8221 ; construct. Stanley has all of these. Today person populating with an excess Ten chromosomes and moving irrationally as an affect of it would probably happen themselves in reding larning anger direction exercisings and attend sensitiveness categories. Stanley did non acquire his attention and attending. He did what he pleased to make and it was those around him who had to larn how to populate with his status. When Stanley threw the wireless out the window, Stanley’s physical physique and his colza of Blanche all point to him as a super-male. He was a super-male running amuck and destroying lives. Finally, there is Blanche. Blanche is a image of what the universe will come to if it continues on it current way. Blanche was raised similar to how everyone in the western universe is raised today. Blanche was born into the universe with all the secular things one could want. She grew accustomed to that life. She didn # 8217 ; t believe, she did. In her young person, she was beautiful and she had power and money to travel with it. As she aged, the expressions faded and so did the money. Blanche # 8217 ; s disbursals were more than she had. She needed what her young person had brought her and she reached out to acquire it. She found a 17-year-old male child, and that led to the loss of her occupation, on top of the loss of her estate, the Belle Reve. She began making images and memories in her head in order to do up for the life that she didn # 8217 ; Ts have. She sunk into depression. She became a prevaricator and an alcoholic and as she tumbled down this way she began to lose th e ability to state what was the truth and what was non and the spectacless of whisky blurred the two. Blanche could hold been treated. With guidance and Prozac she could hold learned to populate a normal life, but before these things were known as valid wellness jobs they would be left untreated until the individual reached such a province that they could no longer live in society. After Blanche was raped any sherds of saneness crumbled. She was taken off, to be put in a straight-jacket and locked in a cushioned room, non to be cured, but to be forgotten. Knowledge of mental wellness has come really far in the past 50 old ages. Depression and other mental unwellnesss are now recognized as valid diseases. However, with this ability to name comes an copiousness of diagnoseses. They are turning. Many characters in A Streetcar Named Desire were affected by these complaints, but merely one was even dealt with, and when she was it was in a barbarous mode. The hereafter will convey alteration and advancement. We have so many remedies and vaccinums for the sources and viruses that one time plagued world, but clearly with these jobs conquered, room has been left room unfastened for a new enemy to travel in.