Third Quarter 1996
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Economic Review was published until 1999.

Corporate Finance in International Perspective: Legal and Regulatory Influences on Financial System Development
Stephen D. Prowse

In the postwar period, systems of corporate finance and governance have emerged in the United States, Japan, and Germany that are dramatically different from one another. To date, there has been little focus on why. Stephen Prowse argues that differences in three aspects of the legal and regulatory environments in these countries are responsible. First, the severity of legal and regulatory restraints on financial institutions being "active" investors in firms. Second, the degree to which corporate securities markets are suppressed by regulation. Finally, the degree to which securities markets are "passively" suppressed by the absence of mandated disclosure requirements.

Prowse compares the merits of each system and argues that the U.S. system may be more favorable to the growth of high-technology firms. He discusses the future evolution of each system. The German and Japanese regulatory environments are changing rapidly to increase the role of securities markets in corporate finance. The U.S. environment is also changing to give financial institutions more latitude to be active investors in firms. Over the long term, the regulatory environments of all three countries appear to be converging. The focal point of this convergence is an entirely new environment in which financial institutions are free to be active investors and corporate securities markets are unhindered by regulatory obstacles.

Capacity Utilization as a Real-Time Predictor of Manufacturing Output
Evan F. Koenig

In this article, Evan F. Koenig demonstrates that the Federal Reserve Board's initial estimate of manufacturing capacity utilization is helpful in predicting subsequent growth in manufacturing output. Together with lagged real-time output growth and growth in the composite index of leading indicators, capacity utilization explains more than 50 percent of the variation in output growth at a four-quarter horizon. Based on data available at the beginning of the year, the forecasting equation predicts little or no growth in manufacturing output during 1996.

Externalities, Markets, and Government Policy
Roy J. Ruffin

Before the work of Ronald Coase, economists argued that externalities-unpriced benefits or costs-constituted the main exception to the rule that Adam Smith's invisible hand will efficiently allocate resources. Coase showed that externalities may or may not require a government solution, depending on the institutional setting of the problems and the size of transaction costs. Moreover, even in the absence of externalities, market transactions require low transaction costs. Firms exist to economize on those costs. In shifting the terms of the debate, Coase single-handedly moved economics from presuming specific roles for government action to a more neutral position requiring detailed analysis. In this article, Roy Ruffin explains Coase's contribution to understanding the role of government.