IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/v116y2008i5p931-950.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intertemporal Cost Allocation and Investment Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • William P. Rogerson

Abstract

This paper considers the profit-maximization problem of a firm that must make sunk investments in long-lived assets to produce output. It is shown that if per-period accounting income is calculated using a simple and natural allocation rule for investment, called the relative replacement cost (RRC) rule, under a broad range of plausible circumstances, the firm can choose the fully optimal sequence of investments over time simply by choosing a level of investment each period in order to maximize the next period's accounting income. Furthermore, in a model in which shareholders delegate the investment decision to a better-informed manager, it is shown that if accounting income based on the RRC allocation rule is used as a performance measure for the manager, robust incentives are created for the manager to choose the profit-maximizing sequence of investments, regardless of the manager's own personal discount rate or other aspects of the manager's personal preferences. (c) 2008 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

Suggested Citation

  • William P. Rogerson, 2008. "Intertemporal Cost Allocation and Investment Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 931-950, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:116:y:2008:i:5:p:931-950
    DOI: 10.1086/591909
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/591909
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/591909?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rogerson, William P, 1992. "Optimal Depreciation Schedules for Regulated Utilities," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 5-33, March.
    2. Timothy J. Sheehan, 1994. "To Evatm Or Not To Eva: Is That The Question?," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 7(2), pages 85-87, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. William P. Rogerson, 1993. "Inter-temporal Cost Allocation and Managerial Investment Incentives," Discussion Papers 1060, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    2. Rogerson William P, 2011. "On the Relationship Between Historic Cost, Forward Looking Cost and Long Run Marginal Cost," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-31, June.
    3. Rogerson, William P, 1997. "Intertemporal Cost Allocation and Managerial Investment Incentives: A Theory Explaining the Use of Economic Value Added as a Performance Measure," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(4), pages 770-795, August.
    4. Guthrie, Graeme, 2006. "Regulating Infrastructure: The Impact on Risk and Investment," Working Paper Series 18946, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    5. Kent Fellows, "undated". "Capital Input Decisions under Rate of Return Regulation," Working Papers 2014-37, Department of Economics, University of Calgary, revised 06 Nov 2014.
    6. Küpper, Hans-Ulrich & Pedell, Burkhard, 2016. "Which asset valuation and depreciation method should be used for regulated utilities? An analytical and simulation-based comparison," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 88-103.
    7. Graeme Guthrie, 2006. "Regulating Infrastructure: The Impact on Risk and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 925-972, December.
    8. Jennergren, L. Peter, 2018. "A note on the linear and annuity class of depreciation methods," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 123-134.
    9. G. Fellows, 2015. "The capital structure of a firm under rate of return regulation: durability and the yield curve," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 273-299, June.
    10. Konstantinos J. Liapis, 2010. "The Residual Value Models: A Framework for Business Administration," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 83-102.
    11. Schober, Dominik & Weber, Christoph, 2015. "Refinancing under yardstick regulation with investment cycles: The case of long-lived electricity network assets," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-065, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. John Christensen & Joel Demski, 1995. "Project selection and audited accrual measurement in a multi-task setting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 405-432.
    13. repec:vuw:vuwscr:18946 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Graeme Guthrie, 2006. "Regulating Infrastructure: The Impact on Risk and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 925-972, December.
    15. Kidokoro, Yukihiro, 1998. "Rate of return regulation and rate base valuation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 629-654, September.
    16. Dominik Schober, 2013. "Refinancing under Yardstick Regulation with Investment Cycles–The Case of Long-Lived Electricity Network Assets," EWL Working Papers 1321, University of Duisburg-Essen, Chair for Management Science and Energy Economics, revised Jun 2013.
    17. Fellows, G. Kent, 2011. "Negotiated settlements with a cost of service backstop: The consequences for depreciation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1505-1513, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:116:y:2008:i:5:p:931-950. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.