Fixed-step anonymous overtaking and catching-up

We investigate criteria for evaluating infinite utility streams that satisfy fixed-step anonymity and include some notion of overtaking or catching-up. We do so in a generalized setting that does not require us to specify the underlying finite-dimensional criterion (e.g. utilitarianism or leximin). We present axiomatizations that rely on weaker axioms than those in the literature, and which in one case is new. We also provide a complete analysis of the relationships between the symmetric parts of these criteria and likewise for the asymmetric parts.     

Implied volatility and future portfolio returns

Prior studies find that the CBOE volatility index (VIX) predicts returns on stock market indices, suggesting implied volatilities measured by VIX are a risk factor affecting security returns or an indicator of market inefficiency. We extend prior work in three important ways. First, we investigate the relationship between future returns and current implied volatility levels and innovations. Second, we examine portfolios sorted on book-to-market equity, size, and beta. Third, we control for the four Fama and French [Fama, E., French, K., 1993. Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds. Journal of Financial Economics 33, 3–56.] and Carhart [Carhart, M., 1997. On persistence in mutual fund performance. Journal of Finance, 52, 57–82.] factors. We find that VIX-related variables have strong predictive ability.     

Influence of cultural divergence on consumers' perception towards reconstructed products: A qualitative enquiry

The purpose of this study is to understand whether consumers from different cultures have varied perception towards reconstructed products. Cultural divergence concept provides the theoretical support for the study. Data are collected from consumers of two culturally diverse societies (India and the United States). We use grounded theory for interview and data analysis. From the data, 23 open codes and 8 axial codes for Indian consumers and 28 open codes and 8 axial codes for the American consumers are generated. The key finding of our study suggests that culture plays a decisive role in shaping consumers' perception towards reconstructed products. The other findings of our study indicate that consumers of both societies are influenced by other factors that include product‐ or process‐related factors, brand‐ or store‐related factors, and individual factors. We discuss policy level, firm level, and nonprofit or charity level implications. Finally, limitation and scope for future research are outlined.     

Breadth-of-impact frontier: How firm-level decisions and selection environment dynamics generate boundary-spanning inventions

In this paper, we provide an ex-ante explanation for why some technologies such as James Watt’s steam engine move successfully across broad technological fields, while other technologies do not. Using a sample of VC-backed biotechnology firms, we examine firm knowledge exploration choices along three dimensions—the decision to build from technologies across broad fields, the decision to explore application domains that are new to the firm, and the decision to mix these two options at the same time. We argue that firm-level invention decisions find differing responses when received by the selection environment. We find evidence of a “breadth-of-impact frontier” for technologies, wherein the choice of whether a firm should enter into a new application domain than those of the past should be informed by the degree to which the technology is citing prior work narrowly or broadly. The findings suggest that the belief that broad sourcing diversity will always result in greater citation diversity requires some caveats. The results contribute to the understanding of not only how entrepreneurial firms evolve but also how individual firms contribute to collective progress.     

Foreign capital inflow,skilled–unskilled wage inequality and unemployment of unskilled labour in a fair wage model

This paper has developed a three-sector general equilibrium framework that explains unemployment of both skilled and unskilled labour. Unemployment of unskilled labour is of the Harris–Todaro (1970) type while unemployment of skilled labour is caused due to the validity of the FWH in the high-skill sector. There are two types of capital one of which is specific to the primary export sector while the other moves freely among the different sectors. Inflows of foreign capital of either type unambiguously improve the economic conditions of the unskilled working class. However, the effects on the skilled–unskilled wage inequality and the extent of unemployment of both types of labour crucially hinge on the properties implied by the efficiency function of the skilled workers.     

From information technology to bioinformatics: Evolution of technological capabilities in India

This paper explores a trend in the development of innovation in emerging economies: exaptive technological capabilities. A growing proportion of innovation is originating in emerging economies that, being resource-constrained in a dynamic and uncertain environment, requires leveraging existing capabilities and recombining with new knowledge resources. An evolutionary biology model is applied to a process model whereby initial technological capabilities are renewed by the firm given an external selection event. Using a detailed case study across 6 years, this paper investigates the exaptation process of Information Technology (IT) capabilities into bioinformatics by an Indian IT firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Findings suggest that just leveraging existing technological capabilities alone is a model set for failure. Such a tactic ignores the environment of the new technology application area. By investing in the needed complementary resources, TCS corrected its initial path to open source their software and offer consulting services on how to utilize the software and, thus, create intellectual property. These insights are valuable not only for the innovation management of traditional IT services to life sciences, but more broadly for firms in emerging economies that hope to renew and build exaptive technological capabilities to enter unforeseen new application areas by leveraging existing technological capabilities.     

The political economy of public research investment and commodity policies in agriculture: an empirical study

The paper tests a political economy theory of simultaneous government decision‐making on income redistribution through commodity policies and on public research investment in agriculture. We use data from 37 countries on agricultural protection and public agricultural research expenditures (PARI). The empirical results are consistent with the political economy hypotheses. The analysis suggest that structural changes in the economy have important effects on the political incentives for governments not only to subsidize or tax farmers, but also to invest in public agricultural research. Furthermore, the analysis supports the hypotheses that the impact of such structural changes on government decision‐making on PARI is non‐linear and conditional on other factors. Regarding the impact of political institutions, the results suggest that more democracy neither leads to more distortionary transfers (agricultural protection), nor to lower investment in public goods (PARI). ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.     

A distribution-free newsvendor model with balking and lost sales penalty

In this paper, we extend the classical single period newsvendor model in an environment of customer balking, which occurs when customers are reluctant to buy a product if its available inventory falls below a threshold level. Since failure to make a sale usually results in a cost penalty, in addition to the opportunity cost of lost sales, we incorporate such costs in our model. Furthermore, we extend our model to include fixed ordering costs. Our analysis is based on the assumption that only the mean and the variance of the distribution of demand are known, without assuming any specific distributional form. We illustrate the concepts developed here through simple numerical examples and demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by solving a set of 1000 randomly generated test problems.     

Locally minimax test of independence in elliptically symmetrical distributions with additional observations

Summary LetX=(X _ij )=(X ₁, ...,X _n )’,X’ _i =(X _i1, ...,X _ip )’,i=1,2, ...,n be a matrix having a multivariate elliptical distribution depending on a convex functionq with parameters, 0,σ. Let ϱ²=ϱ ₂ ^-2 be the squared multiple correlation coefficient between the first and the remainingp ₂+p ₃=p−1 components of eachX _i . We have considered here the problem of testingH ₀:ϱ²=0 against the alternativesH ₁:ϱ ₁ ^-2 =0, ϱ ₂ ^-2 >0 on the basis ofX andn ₁ additional observationsY ₁ (n ₁×1) on the first component,n ₂ observationsY ₂(n ₂×p ₂) on the followingp ₂ components andn ₃ additional observationsY ₃(n ₃×p ₃) on the lastp ₃ components and we have derived here the locally minimax test ofH ₀ againstH ₁ when ϱ ₂ ^-2 →0 for a givenq. This test, in general, depends on the choice ofq of the familyQ of elliptically symmetrical distributions and it is not optimality robust forQ.