Axiomatizations of two types of Shapley values for games on union closed systems

A situation in which a finite set of players can obtain certain payoffs by cooperation can be described by a cooperative game with transferable utility, or simply a TU-game. A (single-valued) solution for TU-games assigns a payoff distribution to every TU-game. A well-known solution is the Shapley value. In the literature various models of games with restricted cooperation can be found. So, instead of allowing all subsets of the player set N to form, it is assumed that the set of feasible coalitions is a subset of the power set of N. In this paper, we consider such sets of feasible coalitions that are closed under union, i.e. for any two feasible coalitions also their union is feasible. We consider and axiomatize two solutions or rules for these games that generalize the Shapley value: one is obtained as the conjunctive permission value using a corresponding superior graph, the other is defined as the Shapley value of a modified game similar as the Myerson value for games with limited communication.     

Macroeconomic effects of corporate default crisis: A long-term perspective

Using an extensive data set on corporate bond defaults in the US from 1866 to 2010, we study the macroeconomic effects of bond market crises and contrast them with those resulting from banking crises. During the past 150 years, the US has experienced many severe corporate default crises in which 20–50% of all corporate bonds defaulted. Although the total par amount of corporate bonds has at times rivaled the amount of bank loans outstanding, we find that corporate default crises have far fewer real effects than do banking crises. These results provide empirical support for current theories that emphasize the unique role that banks and the credit and collateral channels play in amplifying macroeconomic shocks.     

Do Anglo countries still form a values cluster? Evidence of the complexity of value change

To what extent does the Anglo Cluster remains a cultural cluster in today's managerial and professional workforce? Across six Anglo countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.), we found significant differences in values orientations (openness to change, conservation, self-enhancement, and self-transcendence values) that challenge the concept of a cohesive Anglo cluster. We also explored the influence of micro-level factors on values orientations and found consistent life-stage and gender differences across countries. We conclude that, even within a group of countries perceived as similar, multi-level analyses are needed to fully capture the essence of values differences across and within countries.     

The Current State of the Russian Agricultural Sector

Russia's agriculture produces around 3.7 per cent of the country's GDP, employs 9.2 per cent of the national workforce and contributes around 6 per cent of the country's exports. The sector has shown remarkable resilience in the face of wider economic turbulence. Self‐sufficiency rates for the main agricultural commodities are relatively high. Agricultural exports have grown very significantly since 2000 especially for wheat and meslin (wheat and rye mixture). Meat production has been growing steadily, particularly in the poultry and pork sectors. Whilst the agri‐food sector has great potential to play an even more prominent role in Russia's economy, it suffers from relatively low productivity and an outdated technological base. The main drive for efficiency has come mainly from the relatively large‐scale agricultural firms, who generated more than half of the total value of agricultural output in 2016. Foreign policy instability, including economic sanctions, the devaluation of the national currency and declining economic growth have weakened the sector and caused an increase in the prices of imported goods and equipment. At the same time Russian products have replaced high value‐added imports and Russia's agricultural producers are expanding into new markets.     

Collusion, Exclusion, and Inclusion in Random-Order Bargaining

This paper examines the profitability of three types of integration in a cooperative game solved by a random-order value ( e.g. the Shapley value). Collusion between players  i  and  j  is a contract merging their resources in the hands of one of them, say  i  . This contract can be represented as a combination of exclusion, which lets  i  exclude  j  's resource but not use it himself, and inclusion, which lets  i  use  j  's resource but not exclude  j  from it. This representation yields a third-difference condition on the characteristic function that determines the profitability of collusion, generalizing existing results for specific games. Namely, collusion is profitable [unprofitable] when the complementarity of the colluding players is reduced [increased] by other players.     

Intragroup transfers,intragroup diversification and their risk assessment

When assessing group solvency, an important question is to what extent intragroup transfers may be taken into account, as this determines to which extent diversification can be achieved. We suggest a framework to explicitly describe the families of admissible transfers that range from the free movement of capital to excluding any transactions. The constraints on admissible transactions are described as random closed sets. The paper focuses on the corresponding solvency tests that amount to the existence of acceptable selections of the random sets of admissible transactions.     

Structural Change,Expanding Informality and Labor Productivity Growth in Russia

Strong growth, intensive structural change, and expanding informality have characterized many developing and emerging economies in recent decades. Yet most empirical investigations into the relationship between structural change and productivity growth overlook informality. This paper includes the informal sector in an analysis of the effects of structural changes in the Russian economy on aggregate labor productivity growth. Using a newly developed dataset for 34 industries covering the period 1995–2012 and applying three alternative approaches, aggregate labor productivity growth is decomposed into intra-industry and inter-industry contributions. All three approaches show that the overall contribution of structural change is growth enhancing, significant, and decreasing over time. Labor reallocation from the formal sector to the informal sector tends to reduce growth through the extension of informal activities with low productivity levels. Sectoral labor reallocation effects are found to be highly sensitive to the methods applied.     

When a celebrity endorser is disgraced: A twenty-five-year event study

This paper investigates how the announcement of negative information about a celebrity endorser impacts firm value, as measured by abnormal stock returns. The unique data sample consists of 93 celebrity disgraces that occurred between 1986 and 2011, affecting firms listed on US stock exchanges. Some evidence is documented of negative and statistically significant abnormal returns around these events. Returns are lower when the disgrace attracts much media attention, or when the celebrity itself is prominent. No significant returns are observed when a firm decides to terminate its endorsement contract with the disgraced celebrity. Endorsement contracts for “edgy” products, for which consumers may actually be attracted by negative publicity, are less likely to be terminated.     

Structural models of credit risk are useful: Evidence from hedge ratios on corporate bonds

Structural models of credit risk provide poor predictions of bond prices. We show that, despite this, they provide quite accurate predictions of the sensitivity of corporate bond returns to changes in the value of equity (hedge ratios). This is important since it suggests that the poor performance of structural models may have more to do with the influence of non-credit factors rather than their failure to capture the credit exposure of corporate debt. The main result of this paper is that even the simplest of the structural models [Merton, R., 1974. On the pricing of corporate debt: the risk structure of interest rates. Journal of Finance 29, 449–470] produces hedge ratios that are not rejected in time-series tests. However, we find that the Merton model (with or without stochastic interest rates) does not capture the interest rate sensitivity of corporate debt, which is substantially lower than would be expected from conventional duration measures. The paper also shows that corporate bond prices are related to a number of market-wide factors such as the Fama-French SMB (small minus big) factor in a way that is not predicted by structural models.     

Performance Implications of Ties to the Government and SOEs: A Political Embeddedness Perspective

In many countries governments not only regulate business activities, but also become involved in the corporate governance of individual firms through ownership and board ties. While existing studies usually focus either on benefits of political connections or on costs of government influence, a political embeddedness perspective helps us consider both advantages and constraints associated with ties to the government. In particular, firms with direct ties to the government will experience significant costs associated with government officials' involvement in the corporate governance process. In contrast, firms with ties to state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) are connected to the government indirectly and thus, while getting access to state‐owned resources, avoid costs associated with the government's interventions. This study compares the performance consequences of board and ownership ties to the government with the consequences of board and ownership ties to SOEs. I find that ties to SOEs are associated with higher profitability, while no significant differences are discovered for firms with direct ties to the government.