In addition, depreciation deductions track historical cost rather than rapidly rising replacement costs, adding to short-term profit during inflationary times.

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How should assets be measured--by their historical cost, as they are presently?

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Because all banks except Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi have now chosen historical cost accounting, however, all will report capital levels greater than the 8% minimum.

ECONOMIST: Japanese banks

Historical data confirm that the cost disease is real.

ECONOMIST: Free exchange

Present low-carbon energy deployment strategies assume that greater economies of scale will drive big cost reductions, but the historical record suggest that this is less the case than normally assumed.

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She may be fully committed to the project, but for her Europe is a cost-benefit calculation rather than historical destiny.

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Despite lasting six months longer than originally thought, the 2001 recession was still remarkably mild by historical standards, shallower even than the 1991 recession that cost George Bush senior the election.

ECONOMIST: The economy

This is done by extrapolating a company's earnings out five years, then weighing its expected earnings and dividend streams against its historical stock price volatility (reflecting risk) and the AAA bond yield (reflecting opportunity cost).

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