This paper studies the reliability of the accounting methods of depreciation in the automobile industry. It finds that in this industry the behavior of the market depreciation is similar to the depreciation functions used by accountants for the firms' financial statements. Some rationale is supplied to support the empirical findings.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AckermanSusan Rose. “Used Cars As a Depreciation Asset.”Western Economic Journal (December 1973), 463–474.
2.
AnthonyRobert N.“Accounting Rates of Return: A Note.”American Economic Review76, no. 1 (March 1986), 244–246.
3.
BenstonGeorge J.“The Validity of Profits–-Structure Studies with Particular Reference to the FTC's Line of Business Data.”American Economic Review75, no. 1 (March 1985), 37–67.
BriefRichard P.“A Late Nineteenth Century Contribution to the Theory of Depreciation.”Journal of Accounting Research5, no. 1 (Spring 1967), 27–38.
6.
CaganPhillip. “Measuring Quality Changes and the Purchasing Power of Money: An Exploratory Study of Automobiles.”National Banking Review, reprinted in GrilichesZ., ed., Price Indexes and Quality Changes (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971), 215–239.
7.
Edmund's 1985 Used Car Prices, January–April, Vol. 19, no. 1, Edmund Publications, New York.
8.
Edmund's 1970 Used Car Prices, Summer 1970, Vol. 4, no. 3, Edmund Publications, New York.
9.
Edmund's 1975 Used Car Prices, January–April 1975, Vol. 9, no. 1, Edmund Publications, New York.
10.
FabricantSolomon. Capital Consumption and Adjustment. New York: N.B.E.R., 1938.
11.
FisherFranklin M.McGowanJohn J.. “On the Misuse of Accounting Rates of Return to Infer Monopoly Products.”A.E.R.73, no. 1 (March 1983), 82–97.
12.
HotellingHarold. “A General Mathematical Theory of Depreciation.”Journal of the American Statistical AssociationXX (September 1925), 340–353.
13.
HouthakkerH. S.HaldiJohn. “Household Investment in Automobiles: An Intertemporal Cross-Section Analysis.” In FriendIrwinJonesRobert, eds., Consumption and Saving, Vol. 1, 1960, University of Pennsylvania, 175–224.
14.
HultenCharles R.WykoffFrank C.. “The Measurement of Economic Depreciation.” In HultenCharles R., ed., Depreciation, Inflation and the Taxation of Income from Capital. Urban Institute, 1981, 81–125.
15.
LongWilliam F.RavenscraftDavid J.. “The Misuse of Accounting Rates of Return: Comment.”A.E.R. 74, no. 3 (June 1984), 494–500.
16.
NarkiewiczW.Number Theory. Translated by KanemitsuS., World Scientific, Warszawa, 1977.