A Paleoeconomic Theory of Co-Evolution and Extinction of Domesticable Animals

One Pleistocene mystery is why early North Americans eradicated their large, potentially domesticable animals (e.g., horses), whereas early Europeans did not. A commonly‐held hypothesis is that European species were evasive due to co‐evolution with hominids, whereas North American animals were naïve and unable to adapt quickly enough when experienced human hunters arrived from Eurasia. We explore this hypothesis with a paleoeconomic model of co‐evolution that integrates human hunting investments and wildlife population responses. We find that investments in hunting ability, based on the relative scarcity of prey species, could have mattered more than wildlife ‘naivety’ in explaining the extinction.     

Inter-industry technology flows in the US food-processing industries

The study examines the origins of technology important to improving productivity in the food-processing industries. Technology flows were measured both by patents in patent classes closely identified with six food industries, and by a sample of significant food-processing innovations. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that interindustry technology flows are the most significant determinant of productivity improvements in the food industries. These findings solve the enigma that the food-processing industries have enjoyed rapid improvements in productivity despite making very modest investments in research and development.     

Neuroeconomics: Why Economics Needs Brains

Neuroeconomics uses knowledge about brain mechanisms to inform economic theory. It opens up the “black box” of the brain, much as organizational economics opened up the theory of the firm. Neuroscientists use many tools—including brain imaging, behavior of patients with brain damage, animal behavior and recording single neuron activity. The key insight for economics is that the brain is composed of multiple systems which interact. Controlled systems (“executive function”) interrupt automatic ones. Brain evidence complicates standard assumptions about basic preference, to include homeostasis and other kinds of state‐dependence, and shows emotional activation in ambiguous choice and strategic interaction.     

“济南就是我的家”——济南外商服务月侧记

5月下甸,又是一个烈日炎炎的夏日,杰克·史密斯先生按照惯例早早就起了床。但与平日不同的是,作为公司行政总监的他并没有直接去自己的办公室开始一天的工作,而是手拿一份查体表来到了济南市中医院,成为济南市第二届外商服务月活动中的首项内容“为济南市外企员工查体活动”的第一批受益者。在经过非常细致的心、脑、血液等项目的     

诚实守信是构建和谐社会的前提--中国社会信任危机成因分析

诚实守信是构建和谐社会的前提.信任危机是当代中国构建和谐社会的最大障碍,其产生于社会的转型变革,形成于社会制度性体制的缺失,加深于人的存在危机.而消除的唯一途径只能是积极地构建一种新型的社会信任保障制度体制,以强化人们对制度性承诺的信任理念意识,为构建和谐社会创造条件.     

新巴塞尔协议与我国的银行风险管理

新巴塞尔协议代表了国际银行业风险管理的发展方向,已经成为世界银行业风险管理的国际准则。文章分析了巴塞尔协议的制度变迁,结合新巴塞尔协议的基本框架,分析了新巴塞尔协议对我国的影响,提出了新巴塞尔协议下我国银行风险管理的制度选择原则。     

DYNAMIC ASSET ALLOCATION AND CONSUMPTION CHOICE IN INCOMPLETE MARKETS*

We study the optimal investment and consumption problem of a CRRA investor when the drift and volatility of the stock are driven by a correlated factor. The myopic and non‐myopic components of the optimal portfolio process are characterised in terms of the market price of traded and non‐traded risk of the minimax martingale measure. We find that the optimal policies depend crucially on the nature of the agent, aggressive versus conservative, and the market incompleteness, improving versus deteriorating investment opportunities. Furthermore, we show that the original problem cannot be decomposed into a pure consumption and a pure terminal wealth problem, unless the market is complete.     

The price adjustment and lead-lag relations between stock returns: microstructure evidence from the Taiwan stock market

This paper investigates the price adjustment and lead-lag relations between returns on five size-based portfolios in the Taiwan stock market. It finds evidence that the price adjustment of small-stock portfolios is not slower than that of large-stock portfolios. Additionally, limited evidence supports a positive leading role of large-stock portfolio returns over small-stock portfolio returns. These two findings are substantially different from the results of previous research on developed markets.