A bivariate model for evaluating equity-linked policies with surrender option

This article proposes a bivariate lattice model for evaluating equity-linked policies embedding a surrender option when the underlying equity dynamics is described by a geometric Brownian motion with stochastic interest rate. The main advantage of the model stays in that the original processes for the reference fund and the interest rate are directly discretized by means of lattice approximations, without resorting to any additional transformation. Then, the arising lattices are combined in order to establish a bivariate tree where equity-linked policy premiums are computed by discounting the policy payoff over the lattice branches, and allowing early exercise at each premium payment date to model the surrender decision.     

Increasing inequality,consumer credit and financial fragility in an agent based macroeconomic model

We investigate the interplay between increasing inequality and consumer credit in a complex macroeconomic system with financially fragile heterogeneous households, firms and banks. Simulation results show that there are pros and cons of introducing consumer credit: on the one hand, for a certain time, it leads to lower unemployment through boosting aggregate demand; on the other hand, it accelerates the system tendency to the crisis. Since the increase of financial profits goes with a decline of households’ real wealth, a policy trade-off emerges.     

Firm Recruitment Behaviour: Sequential or Non‐sequential Search?

In the extensive job search literature, studies assume either sequential or non‐sequential search. This article introduces a novel method to test the hypothesis that firms search sequentially based on the relationship between the number of rejected job applicants and the number of filled vacancies. We distinguish between ten different search methods. For most search methods, including methods that rely on social networks and temporary help agencies, we find that sequential search cannot be rejected. However, when firms use advertising or public/private employment agencies, sequential search is rejected. Hence, we find that both forms of search are relevant for our understanding of the labour market. Further, the form of search is closely related to the search method used.     

CONFIDE: A Collective Decision-Making Procedure Using Confidence Estimates of Individual Judgements

An algorithm (termed CONFIDE) is proposed that may capture many of the benefits of group decision making without the necessity of face-to-face interaction. The algorithm allows individual decision makers to differentially weight the contributions from members according to the confidence with which each member holds to their opinions. The CONFIDE algorithm is compared to both face-to-face group decisions and simple averaging of group members opinions on the Lost-at-Sea ranking task. Results indicate that, in terms of decision quality, the CONFIDE algorithm produces solutions equal to that of the face-to-face group decision method and significantly better than the solution achieved by simple averaging of group members responses.     

Estimating Market Power with Weak A Priori Information: An Exploratory Approach to the Model-Specification Problem

Choosing the wrong theoretical model to describe an industry??s behavior may lead to biased estimates of the degree of market power. This paper presents a two-step, data-driven methodology to reduce the risk of mis-specification bias. In the first step, a sliced inverse regression identifies the significant factors that affect the industry??s pricing behavior. In the second step, a non-parametric regression of price on the SIR factors estimates the link functions. The output of the algorithm offers useful information to identify the model that best approximates the industry??s pricing behavior. In addition, the output of the algorithm is used to develop a post-estimation test for model specification.     

A note on contribution games with loss functions

Decisions on joint funding of continuous public goods between two agents often involve heterogeneous targets. We introduce loss functions in a contribution game in order to study the effect of this conflict. Unlike Varian (1994), joint contribution occurs only if the players’ targets are sufficiently close and the sequential game reduces free riding problems, while total contribution is higher in the simultaneous game.     

Formal vs. Informal CSR Strategies: Evidence from Italian Micro, Small, Medium-sized, and Large Firms

Recent research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) suggests the need for further exploration into the relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and CSR. SMEs rarely use the language of CSR to describe their activities, but informal CSR strategies play a large part in them. The goal of this article is to investigate whether differences exist between the formal and informal CSR strategies through which firms manage relations with and the claims of their stakeholders. In this context, formal CSR strategies seem to characterize large firms while informal CSR strategies prevail among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. We use a sample of 3,626 Italian firms to investigate our research questions. Based on a multi-stakeholder framework, the analysis provides evidence that small businesses’ use of CSR, involving strategies with an important impact on the bottom line, reflects an attempt to secure their license to operate in the communities; while large firms rarely make attempts to integrate their CSR strategies into explicit management systems.     

Search Channel Use and Firms' Recruitment Behaviour

In the present paper we examine the impact of firms' attitudes towards key aspects of the recruitment process on the number of search channels activated. Furthermore, we address the issue of the timing of the activation of additional search channels. It is found that firms that attach importance to search effort and to applicants' motivation generally use more search channels than firms that do not attach any importance to the aforementioned aspects of recruitment. Furthermore, it appears that employers generally use fewer search channels for permanent positions. However, firms with a personnel department which are hiring for a vacancy requiring specific work experience usually activate multiple search channels. Finally, the choice of advertising as the first search channel appears to negatively affect the chances of considering additional channels.     

Growth Effects of Capital Income Taxes: How Much Does Endogenous Innovation Matter?

The paper compares the way economies with exogenous and endogenous innovation respond to capital income taxes. If innovation is exogenous, tax cuts increase saving. If innovation is endogenous, tax cuts increase innovation as well. Faster innovation raises capital productivity and calls forth still more saving. A larger capital stock lowers the discount rate, increases the present value of monopoly profit and calls for faster innovation. How large a difference endogenous innovation might make is an open question. We calculate numerical solutions of a model including features of the U.S. tax code that affect incentives to innovate. The results suggest that models with exogenous innovation substantially underestimate long–run effects of capital income taxes.