Innovation strategies in the electronic mail marketplace

The author examines several crucial aspects of three types of office communications technologies: facsimile, communicating word processors, and computer based message systems. By identifying the technical, service and cost characteristics of each, he analyzes and compares their potential patterns of adoption and innovation.     

Sampling distribution of the relative risk aversion estimator: Theory and applications

Brown and Gibbons (1985) developed a theory of relative risk aversion estimation in terms of average market rates of return and the variance of market rates of return. However, the exact sampling distributions of the relative risk aversion estimators have not been derived. The main purpose of this paper is to derive the exact sampling distribution of an appropriate relative risk aversion estimator. First, we have derived theoretically the density of Brown and Gibbons' maximum likelihood estimator. It is shown that the centralt is not appropriate for testing the significance of estimated relative risk aversion distribution. Then we derived the minimum variance unbiased estimator by a linear transformation of the Brown and Gibbons' maximum likelihood estimator. The density function is neither a central nor a noncentralt distribution. The density function of this new distribution has been tabulated. There is an empirical example to illustrate the application of this new sampling distribution.     

Markets for Organs to Reinforce Altruism

The suggestion that a market in human organs should be allowed to enhance the supply of kidneys, corneasand other human parts given for transplant is likely to be met by outrage among economists and doctors alike. Marvin Brams, Professor of Economics at the University of Delaware, reveals how a market in organs can stimulate supply, relieve suffering and save lives.     

Structural changes,competition and bank stability in Malaysia’s dual banking system

This paper assesses Malaysia’s competition landscape and its risk implications subsequent to conventional banking consolidation and Islamic banking penetration in the aftermath of the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis. Employing a panel sample of conventional and Islamic commercial banks, it arrives at the following conclusions. First, the consolidation exercise, which has led to a significant reduction in the number of domestic commercial banks, has not stifled banking competition. Second, the paper provides empirical support for the competition-stability relationship, particularly for the conventional banking sector. Islamic banking sector risk appears to be neutral to market competition or market power, although there is limited evidence that it increases with overall market concentration. Finally, the analysis uncovers the risk-increasing effect of the Islamic banking market structure on the conventional banking sector. By contrast, conventional banking market concentration tends to reduce the credit risk of Islamic banks.