In this paper we study algorithms for pricing of financial contracts using a lattice process of interest rates. If the cash-flows generated by the contract depend on the history of the interest rates (path dependent contracts), then the pricing algorithms are typically of exponential complexity. We demonstrate that for some models, there exist polynomial algorithms for path dependent contracts....

Colin Xu, two anonymous referees and seminar participants at the University of Virginia, the World Bank, the University of California at Davis and the Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association are gratefully acknowledged. The usual disclaimer applies. The findings, interpretations and conclusions in this paper are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the view ...

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A fundamental property of accrual accounting is to smooth temporary timing fluctuations in operating cash flows, indicating an inherent negative correlation between accruals and cash flows. We show that the overall correlation between accruals and cash flows has dramatically declined in magnitude over the past half century and has largely disappeared in more recent years. The adjusted R 2 from ...

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Why doesn’t capital flow into fast-growing countries? This paper provides a model incorporating heterogeneous producers and underdeveloped domestic financial markets to study the joint dynamics of total factor productivity (TFP) and capital flows. When a large-scale reform eliminates idiosyncratic distortions and liberalizes capital flows, the TFP of our model economy rises gradually and capita...

financial markets has a major impact on MNCs. First, this type of trading can influence the level of interest rates in a specific country (and therefore the cost of debt to an MNC) because it affects the amount of funds available there. Second, it can affect the price of an MNC’s stock (and therefore the cost of equity to an MNC) because it influences the demand for the MNC’s stock. Third, it e...