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In 2009, US coupons set a new record of 367 billion coupons distributed. Yet, while coupon distribution is on the rise, redemption rates remain below 1 percent. This paper aims to show how recognizing context variables, such as proximity, weather, part of town and financial incentives interplay to determine a coupon campaign's success.

The paper reports an empirical study conducted in co‐operation with a restaurant chain: 9.880 Subway coupons were distributed under different experimental context conditions. Redemption behavior was analyzed with the help of logistic regressions.

It was found that even though proximity drives coupon redemption, city center campaigns seem to be much more sensitive to distance than suburban areas. The further away the distribution place from the restaurant, the less does the amount of monetary incentive determine the motivation to redeem.

When designing a coupon campaign for a company, coupon distribution should not follow a “one‐is‐good‐for‐all‐strategy” even for one marketer within one product category. Instead each coupon strategy should carefully consider contextual influence.

This paper is the first to the authors' knowledge that systematically investigates the impact of context variables on coupon redemption. It focuses on context variables that electronic marketing channels will be able to easily incorporate into personalized mobile marketing campaigns.

This paper analyzes economic, legal, behavioral and public policy issues pertaining to the accounting for employee stock options. The paper explains why employee stock options (ESOs) are superior to other forms of incentive compensation, why ESOs in their present form are inefficient and why particular accounting, legal and tax treatments will provide the optimal results for the economy, the government, management/employees and shareholders. The issues discussed in this article are relevant in ESO accounting, regulation of ESOs, incentive compensation, human resources analysis, tax policy, corporate governance, fraud, valuation of companies, derivatives regulation, behavioral analysis of law/rules, portfolio management and management strategy.

The purpose of this study is to examine if consumers, after missing a price discount on a desired product, prefer to buy the latter at a smaller discount or prefer to pay full price but offset some of it with windfall money.

In four experiments, participants imagine that they have missed an opportunity to buy a box of chocolates at $50 off and are offered a second chance to buy them at a less attractive discount ($25) or pay full price, but partially offset the full price with various windfall lotteries ($25, $50, $75) and gift cards ($50).

Participants are more likely to buy the chocolates at the less attractive (second) discount rather than pay full price using windfall money. In doing so, they show that they are willing to be more, rather than less, poor from an overall wealth perspective to acquire the chocolates. This anomaly surfaces irrespective of the windfall amounts or preference elicitation methods (joint versus separate evaluation). The negative transaction utility of paying full price mediates the purchase method effect (discount versus windfall) on purchase likelihood, but gift cards are able to reduce the negative transaction utility of paying full price.

The research reveals a judgmental anomaly in how consumers assess product acquisition value following a lost opportunity and suggests that marketing managers may be able to reduce consumer inertia by strategically matching rewards with the source of the lost chance.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the issues of simplicity, transparency, equity and effectively administering the United States tax code.

Based upon a literature study and discussions with leading tax professionals.

Tax systems that are difficult to comply with and administer may lack transparency. A nontransparent tax system could be difficult to administer because tax administrators may have difficulty consistently applying the law to taxpayers in similar situations. In this sense, transparency is closely linked to the simplicity and effectively administering the United States tax system.

Provides for a non‐technical read for managers who seek a high level overview of the subject and are non‐tax professionals.

The Irish fiscal position was significantly affected by the recent financial crisis. Budgetary surpluses quickly gave way to significant deficits post 2007, culminating into a lengthy excessive deficit procedure and entry into a formal EU/IMF assistance programme in 2010. Much of the deterioration in the public finances was caused by a sharp decline in property-related taxes because the Irish housing market rapidly contracted. In this paper, the authors quantify the extent to which disequilibria in the housing market can affect the tax take, finding significant implications over an extended period.

The authors attempt to quantify the extent of housing-related tax windfall gains and losses in Ireland over a 30-year period as a result of disequilibrium in the housing market. This involves a three-step modelling approach where we relate property-dependent taxes to the housing market while estimating equilibrium in the latter before solving for the tax take consistent with that equilibrium. In so doing, the authors find that the fiscal position compatible with equilibrium in the housing market has at times diverged greatly from actual outturns.

This paper confirms the significant role played by the housing market in influencing both the tax-take and the overall fiscal position. The authors find that there have been a number of instances where excesses in the housing market have spilled over into fiscal aggregates, notably in the housing bubble period between 2003 and 2008. However, with the on-going adjustments in the housing market, it would appear that prices and volumes have overcorrected in recent years. Overall, much greater emphasis should be given to the role of the housing market in forecasting key taxation aggregates.

The recent crisis highlighted how domestic policy mistakes (both in terms of budgetary planning and financial market regulation) can greatly amplify economic shocks. Irish budgetary policy in the run up to the financial crisis of 2008/2009 was clearly based on unsustainable levels of housing-related tax receipts. This paper highlights the need for a much more granular approach in framing tax forecasts and in assessing the public finances by more explicitly factoring in housing market developments.

The purpose of this paper is to identify possible tax synergies from acquisitions when the acquiring firm gains a non‐debt tax shield (NDTS) not directly associated with its own past performance, or a windfall NDTS. One possible benefit of a windfall NDTS is reduced reliance on interest tax shields to lower the firm's marginal tax rate (MTR).

This paper tests the likelihood of issuing debt following acquisitions of windfall non‐debt tax attributes with logistic regressions. Both acquirers and targets are publicly held US firms. Acquisitions are completed from 1987 to 2003, and debt issues are observed following the deal. Target firm tax attributes are defined as the total tax spread, tax loss carryforward (TLCF), and the MTR.

Target firm tax spread and TLCFs are inconsequential to the acquirer's likelihood of issuing future debt, suggesting that tax synergies are relatively unimportant motives for acquisitions. As predicted, the target firm MTR is not significant to acquirer debt issues.

This paper makes several contributions. First, the notion of tax synergies from acquisitions is unresolved. This paper continues the search for tax synergies in acquisitions by examining the importance of acquired NDTS in the post‐acquisition period. Second, this paper examines the influence of NDTS on debt issuance in a post‐event framework. Third, this paper provides additional evidence that corporate managers have leverage targets.

Much managerial and behavioural accounting research assumes that people are rational, self‐interested, expected‐utility maximisers. Often, this reduces to the central expectation that individuals are concerned only with their own material self‐interest and are unconcerned with the welfare of others. Here, we consider a preference for achieving fair outcomes in the context of an interdivisional cost and benefit allocation scenario. Consistent with prior research, we reject a simple wealth maximisation hypothesis and find that subjects actively attempt to achieve fair allocations. Interestingly, subjects were willing to adversely affect the outcome of one party to the transaction when they considered themselves to have been treated unfairly by a third party against whom they had no redress. Also, where subjects expected to have their wealth reduced by another party, who freely chose not to do so, these subjects appeared willing to give a lower share of a future windfall gain to them.

This study aims to examine the impact of the emission allowances granted under California's cap‐and‐trade program (AB 32) – the first major program of its kind in the USA – on the balance sheets and income statements of the S&P 500. So far there has been little discussion of what a cap‐and‐trade program would mean for the US companies' financial statements.

The author states and tests an economic model of the relation between greenhouse gas emissions and financial statement variables at the individual company level and use this model to predict emission allowances and obligations for the S&P 500.

The author's analysis suggests that the average S&P 500 company's balance sheet and net income will be adversely affected under several different accounting treatments for emission allowances, with the greatest impacts in the utilities, energy, and materials sectors.

US and European regulators have yet to set a single standard for emissions accounting. Without a single standard, companies acting in their own interests may use diverse or unclear accounting treatments for similar economic benefits. This can raise the cost of capital and hurt investors.

This is the first study of which the author is aware to document how the emission allowances under the AB 32 cap‐and‐trade program will affect American companies' balance sheets.