Versicherungstechnische Gesichtspunkte auf die finanziellen Fragen der Lebensversicherung

Kapitel I. Bibliographisches

Die versicherungstechnische Litteratur hat sich verhältnismässig wenig mit den aktuariell-finanziellen Fragen befasst. Bemerkenswert ist es deshalb, dass die meisten von den bis jetzt abgehaltenen neun internationalen Aktuarkongressen die eine oder die andere Frage aus oben erwähntem Gebiet in ihrem Programm aufgenommen haben. So z. B. beschäftigte sich der erste Kongress, der 1895 in Brüssel tagte, mit dem Gegenstand: “Des mesures qui pourraient être prises par les institutions qui contractent des engagements à long terme, pour se premunir contre les conséquences des variations du taux d intérêt.” Der Kongress im Jahre 1900 in Paris hatte in seinem Programm das Thema: “Méthodes à employer pour evaluer les titres mobiliers compris dans l'actif d'une Société quelconque.” Bei dem New Yorker Kongress 1903 wurde die Prage über “The Probable Future Course of the Rate of Interest” erörtert. Dem Wiener Kongress 1909 war die Frage über “Kapitalsanlagen der Versicherungsgesellschaften mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der modernen Entwickelung” zur Behandlung vorgelegt. Das Programm des Londoner Kongresses 1927 enthielt das Thema “Currency Depreciation as affecting Life Assurance Contracts”.     

Robust monopoly pricing

We consider a robust version of the classic problem of optimal monopoly pricing with incomplete information. In the robust version, the seller faces model uncertainty and only knows that the true demand distribution is in the neighborhood of a given model distribution. We characterize the pricing policies under two distinct decision criteria with multiple priors: (i) maximin utility and (ii) minimax regret. The equilibrium price under either criterion is lower then in the absence of uncertainty. The concern for robustness leads the seller to concede a larger information rent to all buyers with values below the optimal price without uncertainty.     

The Triumph of American Capitalism: An Assyrian Perspective

The collapse of communism, the success of the US economy and the rise of the internet have led many to argue that the rest of the world should adopt American capitalism. This article uses evidence from the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East to argue that the most successful form of capitalism in each area (and era) depends on the context of the time, the culture of the people and the history of the region.     

The Impact of Trade Liberalization on the International Oilseed Complex

One approach to trade liberalization is the zero-for-zero sectoral approach which involves agreements to eliminate export subsidies, import tariffs, and export taxes in a sector. This article provides an assessment of the impact of border trade liberalization on oilseeds and oilseed products trade. The analysis suggests that under all of the scenarios examined, North American oilseed crushers and oilseed producers gain from trade liberalization. The exact size and the distribution of these gains depends on the number of countries that participate in trade liberalization. The results suggest that the United States and Canada would gain from the adoption of the zero-for-zero proposal.     

Aus einer Hand: Wirksame Hilfe für den Einzelfall

Unser Sozial- und Gesundheitssystem bietet eine Fülle von Angeboten zur Gesundung, Rehabilitation und Wiedereingliederung. Doch wie sieht im Einzelfall die optimale Unterstützung aus? Case Manager sind die Schnittstelle zwischen Patient, sozialem Umfeld, professionellem System und Kostentr?gern. Sie sind die Profis für eine bedarfsgerechte und effiziente Rund-um-Versorgung.     

Sectoral Heterogeneity in New Service Development: An Exploratory Study of Service Types and Success Factors

The service industry is of fundamental relevance for the economies of industrialized countries, as the service industry produces the highest growth in the gross domestic product. In this regard, new service development (NSD) represents a critical resource for competitive survival and a decisive factor of growth in the service industry. However, service firms across many industries are increasingly faced with the challenge of determining how best to manage their development of new service offerings. Although researchers have shown growing interest in NSD issues, this area is still underutilized. Furthermore, although the heterogeneity of the service industry has been emphasized for years, the current body of research on NSD mainly focuses on specific service environments, providing data that are often not comparable across different service sectors. Additionally, there is no study to date that comprehensively examines innovation activities and the relevance of service innovations’ success factors within different service industries. The aim of this exploratory study is to establish a more balanced picture of the nature of innovation activities in terms of NSD characteristics and success factors in the heterogeneous service industry. From this perspective, this paper begins with an examination of the factors that contribute to the success of NSD. Based on a meta‐analysis of new service success factor studies, 17 different success determinants are classified and aggregated to service‐related success determinants. Subsequently, a cluster analysis of 1016 service companies is used to identify different service innovation types. For the service sector, four service innovation types are determined: efficient developers, innovative developers, interactive adopters, and standardized adopters. Furthermore, based on interviews with service innovation managers, the previously identified success factors are examined for each innovation type using a standardized survey. Finally, based on the results of this exploratory study, the paper concludes with recommendations for NSD management and research propositions for each service innovation type. These propositions support innovation managers to successfully manage service innovations for the innovation type they are operating in.