ICT Statistics at the New Millennium—Developing Official Statistics—Measuring the Diffusion of ICT and its Impact

The paper gives a short and very rough overview of the ongoing work in the field of statistics relating to the development of information and communication technology (ICT) and its impacts on the economies and on the society as a whole. It introduces three slightly different approaches with different emphasis on describing the emergence and diffusion of ICT and the respective economic and social change. These are termed the indicators approach, the new economy approach and the intellectual capital approach. The paper also discusses the basic requirements for the establishment of a new statistical system, as well as the present obstacles and problems of this work. Finally, some remarks are presented regarding further statistical co-operation in this field.     

Should there exist secondary markets for executive stock options?

This paper investigates the potential disadvantages of the secondary markets for executive stock options (ESOs). The benefits of such markets are evident, but they might also have negative effects for shareholders. Executives might, for example, use inside information to time their ESO selling. We investigate two personal motives of managers that can be assumed to affect their optimal selling decision, that is, managers' personal portfolio management issues and the use of inside information. We explore these motives by analyzing unique data from Finland, where there are secondary markets for ESOs. The results of the study support the traditional portfolio diversification hypothesis according to which managers tend to sell their ESOs when holding an ESO is equivalent to holding the underlying stock; that is, in such a case a manager's wealth is closely tied to the stock price of the firm. With respect to the use of inside information the results indicate that ESO selling activity is not related to future stock price behaviour, suggesting that managers do not use inside information to determine the selling time of their ESOs. These results imply that the existence of secondary markets for ESOs does not weaken the usefulness of ESOs as the management compensation, although the benefits of such markets are evident.     

Ambidexterity under digitalization: A tale of two decades of new media at a Swedish newspaper

The digitalization of the newspaper industry represents a significant challenge for incumbent companies to engage new technologies. Many companies in the industry have had to seek new markets through digital technologies to survive. This paper explores how one of the largest Swedish newspapers, Aftonbladet, has strategically embraced new media and new markets. We report a decade of engaged scholarship based on interviews and archival analysis that covers 20 years of strategic acts at the company. We consider this effort as a case of organizational ambidexterity under digitalization. The analysis seeks to extend theoretical understanding of the interrelationships between strategic intent and technological choice. The paper contributes to the understanding of ambidexterity under digitalization by theoretically framing it in terms of strategic acts. The research suggests that digitalization implies a more complex ambidexterity interrelationship between old and new markets and technologies. As digitalization enables the loosening of previously tight couplings, the clear theoretical distinction between old and new, and critically, the unproblematic transition, is brought into question. The paper suggests replacing the notion of an orderly shift from the old to the new with ambidexterity under digitalization as a duality of both old and new undergoing continual reconfiguration.     

Testing for Vertical Fiscal Externalities

The purpose of this paper is to design a test of whether the vertical external effects associated with tax base sharing among local and regional governments have become internalized via the intergovernmental transfer system. Such tests are important in the sense that the income tax rates chosen by different levels of government will generally be correlated, even if the resource allocation is optimal from society's point of view. By using panel data for the Swedish local and regional public sectors, the results imply that an increase in the regional income tax rate induces the municipalities in the region to decrease their income tax rates. In addition, we are able to reject the null hypothesis that the vertical external effects have become internalized.     

Quelques questions concernant les principes de la théorie des probabilités

Abstract

Il y a environ deux ans qu'avec un ami j'ai fait une vi site chez un mathématicien allemand, un adepte des mathématiques pures. En nous promenant dans la vieille ville d'université, notre hôte a exprimé quelques pensées qui ont resté dans ma mémoire. Il lui semblait, disait-il, que les mathématiques de nos temps devraient de plus en plus s'approcher des applications. Après l'activité intense des derniers lustres dans le domaine des théories bien abstraites des mathématiques pures — nommons p. ex. les théorèmes d'existence, la théorie des ensembles, l'intégrabilité des fonctions etc. — ce domaine avait besoin d'être laissé en repos pour quelque temps. Il était à attendre, que les intérêts des mathématiciens se tournent vers les questions qui, — sans être moins dignes du nom de mathématiques pures, — sont plus approchées des mathématiques appliquées, et en premier lieu vers la théorie des probabilités. J'ai souvent dit, qu'il y avait deux criterès pour l'admissibilité économique ou sociale des recherches scientifiques: ou la recherche doit-eUe s'attacher à la solution de qnelque question pratique, dont l'importance est évidente, ou qu'elle do it être utile pour 1a formation de nos idées générales sur la vie et sur l'univers. Sans nous arrêter sur la question si ce sont les difficultés économiques du temps qui causent ladite tendance de la science, nous autres actuaires, nous pouvons constater avec satisfaction que la branche des mathématiques pures qui nous intéresse spécialement, la théorie des probabilités et ses ramifications, satisfait d'une manière toute particulière à l'un et à l'autre de ces critères. En effet, les principes de notre science touchent aux extrêmes régions de la pensée humaine, et nous appliquons la théorie encore à nos soucis quotidiens.     

Estimation of zero-intelligence models by L1 data

A unit volume zero-intelligence (ZI) model is defined and the distribution of its L1 process is recursively described. Further, a generalized ZI model allowing non-unit market orders, shifts of quotes and general in-spread events is proposed and a formula for the conditional distribution of its quotes is given, together with a formula for price impact. For both the models, MLE estimators are formulated and shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. Consequently, the estimators are applied to data of six US stocks from nine electronic markets. It is found that more complex variants of the models, despite being significant, do not give considerably better predictions than their simple versions with constant intensities.     

Tax Reform,Sector‐specific Labor Supply and Welfare Effects*

This paper focuses in particular on the 1992 tax reform in Norway. In this reform the top marginal tax rates were cut considerably. We find that the impact on overall labor supply is rather modest, but these modest changes shadow for stronger sectoral changes. The tax reform stimulated the women to shift their labor from the public to the private sector and to work longer hours. A calculation of mean compensated variation, calculated within the framework of a random utility model, shows that the richest households benefited far more from the 1992 tax reform than did the poorest households.