Chapter 2: The Business, Tax, and Financial Environments
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11. Tax incentives are the result of special interest groups influencing legislators. For example,
exporters influenced the passage of DISCs. Doctors and attorneys influenced the passage of
12. The purpose of the carryback and carryforward provisions is to allow the cyclical company
with large profit swings to obtain most of the tax benefits available to a company with more
13. Financial markets allow for efficient allocation in the flow of savings in an economy to
ultimate users. In a macro sense, savings originate from savings-surplus economic units
whose savings exceed their investment in real assets. The ultimate users of these savings are
14. Financial intermediaries provide an indirect channel for the flow of funds from savers to
ultimate users. These institutions include commercial banks, savings and loan associations,
15. Differences in maturity, default risk, marketability, taxability, and option features affect
yields on financial instruments. In general, the longer the maturity, the greater the default
risk, the lower the marketability and the more the return is subject to ordinary income
16. The market becomes more efficient when the cost of financial intermediation is reduced.
This cost is represented by the difference in interest rate between what the ultimate saver