The changing role of governments in corporate social responsibility: drivers and responses

The aim of this article is to contribute to understanding the changing role of government in promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR). Over the last decade, governments have joined other stakeholders in assuming a relevant role as drivers of CSR, working together with intergovernmental organizations and recognizing that public policies are key in encouraging a greater sense of CSR. This paper focuses on the analysis of the new strategies adopted by governments in order to promote, and encourage businesses to adopt, CSR values and strategies. The research is based on the analysis of an explanatory framework, related to the development of a relational analytical framework, which tries to analyze the vision, values, strategies and roles adopted by governments, and the integration of new partnerships that governments establish in the CSR area with the private sector and social organizations. The research compares CSR initiatives and public policies in three European countries: Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom, and focuses on governmental drivers and responses. The preliminary results demonstrate that governments are incorporating a common statement and discourse on CSR, working in partnership with the private and social sectors. For governments, CSR implies the need to manage a complex set of relationships in order to develop a win–win situation between business and social organizations. However, the research also focuses on the differences between the three governments when applying CSR public policies. These divergences are based on the previous cultural and political framework, such as the welfare state typology, the organizational structures and the business and social and cultural background in each country.     

Magic pelagic — An agent-based simulation of 20 years of emergent value accumulation in the North Atlantic herring exchange system

This paper presents an empirically-based simulation of an industrial network modeled as an exchange system. It uses a multi-agent simulation model to test for how variations in uncertainty of the input resource and how the changing demand patterns affect the accumulation and distribution of exchange values in the system as a whole. The empirical material is a case study of an industrial network connecting herring supply with demand. This particular network comprises two separate but related sub-networks, identifiable based on the origin of the herring as coming from either Norwegian or Icelandic catchers. While both target the same potential customers in terms of wholesalers and retailers and ultimately European and Asian consumers, they are distinct in their internal organizing aspects. The results indicate that certain types of internal organizing are more adaptive to changes in conditions and are better suited to absorb these changes. The paper contributes to both a theory and method emphasizing the modeling of emergent nonlinear patterns of networks.     

Discount curve construction with tension splines

Polynomial splines are popular in the estimation of discount bond term structures, but suffer from well-documented problems with spurious inflection points, excessive convexity, and lack of locality in the effects of input price perturbations. In this paper, we address these issues through the use of shape-preserving splines from the class of generalized tension splines. Our primary focus is on the classical hyperbolic tension spline which we derive non-parametrically from a penalized least squares criterion, but extensions to generalized tension splines—such as rational splines and exponential splines—are also covered. Our methodology allows both for best-fitting of noisy bonds and for the construction of an exact interpolatory term structure to a set of liquid instruments. We work with a local tension B-spline basis and support both fully non-parametric and user-imposed knot location strategies.     

The macro production function uniquely determines the capacity distribution of the micro units

A wellknown approach to the theory of production obtains the macro production function from an integration over a distribution of capacities of micro units. An elementary proof is given for the fact that the macro production function uniquely determines the capacity distribution.     

Prinzipien gerechter und rationaler Besteuerung

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

On optimal wage indexation when shocks are real

This note studies the optimal degree of wage indexation in the presence of real shocks. Contrary to what is indicated in the literature, it is demonstrated that the optimal degree of indexation is not limited to (0;1) but may take any value in (-∞;∞).     

Jump-Diffusion Processes: Volatility Smile Fitting and Numerical Methods for Option Pricing

This paper discusses extensions of the implied diffusion approach of Dupire (1994) to asset processes with Poisson jumps. We show that this extension yields important model improvements, particularly in the dynamics of the implied volatility surface. The paper derives a forward PIDE (PartialIntegro-Differential Equation) and demonstrates how this equationcan be used to fit the model to European option prices. For numerical pricing of general contingent claims, we develop an ADI finite difference method that is shown to be unconditionally stable and, if combined with Fast Fourier Transform methods, computationally efficient. The paper contains several detailed examples fromthe S&P500 market. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.