Behavioral portfolio selection and optimization: an application to international stocks

The behavioral approach of decision making has emerged as a diversified solution in the presence of risk and uncertainty. Using the popular cumulative prospect theory as an objective function for portfolio selection, this study implements the classical mean–variance model to compare the portfolio performance of high behavioral stocks with that of stocks with lower behavioral values. Based on a sample of 37 international stocks over the period from October 1998 to November 2017, empirical results from D-vine pair copula GARCH-GEV indicate that the portfolio of high behavioral prospect stocks outperforms the portfolio of stocks with low behavioral scores. This finding may suggest that portfolios with high behavioral values coincide with rational efficiency sets.     

A Radical Endeavor: Joseph Chamberlain and the Emergence of Municipal Socialism in Birmingham

Joseph Chamberlain, an industrial entrepreneur, proponent of the “civic gospel,” and emerging British Radical Liberal leader of the 1870s, established Birmingham as one of the most influential models for municipal socialism in Europe and North America. Arguing gas and water ought to be in public hands and city officials ought to take a role in securing inhabitants’ health, he set the stage for continued mayoral activism and municipal socialism in the late 19^th and early 20^th century.     

Der Vorschlag einer EG-Richtlinie zur Harmonisierung des Werberechts

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag untersucht die verbraucherpolitische Bedeutung des Richtlinienentwurfes der EG-Kommission über irreführende und unlautere Werbung. Er nimmt zu den einzelnen Angleichungs- und Reformvorschlägen auf dem Hintergrund einer vergleichenden Würdigung des sehr unterschiedlichen Werberechts der EG-Mitgliedstaaten Stellung. Der Autor kommt zu dem Ergebnis, daß zahlreiche materiell-rechtliche und verfahrensrechtliche Vorschläge, wenn sie in einzelstaatliches Recht umgesetzt werden, eine Verbesserung des Verbraucherschutzes enthalten. Auf der anderen Seite weist der Entwurf Unklarheiten, Mängel und Lücken auf, die in der weiteren Diskussion beseitigt werden sollten.

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The EC draft directive for harmonization of advertising law

The author gives a detailed analysis of the draft directive of the EC Commission on misleading and unfair advertising. He analyses the content of the draft in substantive law as well as in law enforcement, its impact on the law of the member states, and its results and consequences for the European consumer.The author concludes that in many respects the draft directive, if accepted and transformed into law, will considerably improve the position of the consumer. The consumer will be better protected against misleading advertising irrespective of whether it concerns goods or services, whether the claim was made expressly or by omission of material facts. The consumer will also benefit from prevention against unfair, discriminating, and harmful advertising. Comparative advertising, on the other hand, will be permitted. The system of sanctions will be more effectual. The burden of proof for the truthfulness of facts will fall on the advertiser.But the draft does not satisfy all demands of consumer policy. It allows no clear approach towards advertising of public utilities. There is no definite provision demanding corrective advertising. The individual consumer does not enjoy protection if he incurs damages due to advertising. The draft does not provide a definite option for creating a consumer ombudsman.

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Jules Stuyck ist erster Assistent am Institut für Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht der Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Löwen), Tiensestraat 41, B-3000 Leuven, Belgien, und Dozent für Handelsrecht an der Hochschule für Wirtschaft (Economische Hogeschool Limburg) in Hasselt, Belgien.     

EC Competition Law After Modernisation: More than Ever in the Interest of Consumers

In this paper it is argued that even though the consumer cannot (anymore) be reduced to a homo oeconomicus, competition law is the cornerstone of consumer law and that the decentralised application of EC competition law since 1 May 2004 (pursuant to Regulation 1/2003) gives new opportunities for an effective application of the EC competition rules to the benefit of consumers. While the EC Treaty (and the future Constitution for Europe) aim to protect consumers in the framework of the internal market programme, as well as on the basis of a genuine consumer protection policy, it is submitted that an effective competition policy remains crucial for consumers in a market economy. Consumer interests are generally diffuse and therefore difficult to protect via legal procedures. Nevertheless a further development of remedies which are already available in Community law (nullity of restrictive agreements, claims for damages, actions for a cease and desist order, and so on) will contribute to an increased application of the competition rules in the interest of consumers.     

Duration of unemployment in the Dutch youth labour market

Summary This paper is concerned with the specification and estimation of a one-state proportional hazard model to explain the duration of unemployment in the Dutch youth labour market. Special attention is given explaining the unequal distribution of unemployment experiences among young labour force participants. The model is estimated using data from a 1984 national random sample of young people unemployed in May and interviewed in October/November. It is found that the replacement ratio has no significant effect. The predicted youth wage on the other hand is significant. The paper also presents and compares different functional forms for modelling duration dependence and heterogeneity.A more extensive version of this paper was published by the Organisation for Strategic Labour Market Research (OSA) in The Hague as working paper nr. 14, 1985. We wish to thank this organisation for its encouragement and for its financial support. We also wish to thank M. Bom, J. Hartog, T. Manders, E. de Regt and G. Ridder for their comments and help.