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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2009
Recent literature, as it has been developing in this journal and others, suggests that a significant change has taken place in the field of finance. The “new finance” has broader and deeper analytic and empirical content. Its relevant characteristics are: (1) a weakening of the traditional distinction between security analysis and corporation finance; (2) an increased emphasis upon financial management as an integral part of the overall management function; (3) greater emphasis upon the relevance of economic theory in the analysis of financial relations; and (4) more attention to the measurement and testing of hypotheses.
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23 A time-sharing computer system has been available to students at the Amos Tuck School since September 1964. The Department of Economics of Florida Atlantic University began its Time-Sharing-Aided Research and Instruction Program 3 years later by leasing a commercial time-sharing system. In the summer of 1970, in-house time-sharing capabilities were made available on the University's Ibm 360. A description of this Tsari Program, including lists of programs used in the program and an explanation of their use, can be obtained from John M. Scheidell.
The achievement of the type of learning environment described here is not done without some direct and opportunity costs, and, although a detailed cost benefit analysis can not be provided here, some ideas can be gained from the Dartmouth experience. At the Amos Tuck School, the 220 first- and second-year Mba students may access the computer from 12 terminals in their classroom building or 18 terminals at the nearby Kiewit Computation Center. There is no direct charge to the students for this use; no sign-up sheets and no formal system of rationing. There may occasionally be a queue for terminals but only during late morning, afternoon, and early evening hours. From a student's point of view, the computer, like the library, offers a free good and he decides how much of this good to use considering a zero price. The institution and its students do pay to have this service available, and the allocation of computer center costs plus direct cost of terminals for the Amos Tuck School was about $160,000 in 1969–1970. Clearly, other things were sacrificed to provide the quality and quantity of timesharing computer power that is available at Dartmouth. At Dartmouth there is a prevailing, strongly held view that the benefits far outweigh the costs. However, the problems in supporting this view are substantial. They involve analyzing revenue feedback effects, incremental gains for students, side benefits of Dartmouth software to firms and schools, etc. We can not deal with these issues here, but the text that follows provides an indication of some of the benefits that may follow from the easy access, nonrationing policy being practiced at Dartmouth.
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25 This manual and 15 others are included in Manuals for Computer Programs in Finance and Investments (Dartmouth: The Amos Tuck School, September 1970).
26 This manual is also contained in Ibid.
