What Do We Know About Annuitization Decisions?

Against the background of aging societies and increasing life expectancies, the protection of individuals from outliving their savings has become increasingly relevant. Annuities represent insurance against longevity risk and can prevent old‐age poverty. The aim of this article is to present the current state of theoretical, empirical and experimental evidence with regard to annuitization decisions. Toward this end, we conduct a systematic literature review that includes 89 articles. Based on this, we study welfare effects of mandatory annuitization, annuitization rates and the optimal fraction of wealth to be annuitized, as well as determinants of retirees’ choice to annuitize and their impact on annuity demand. Finally, we present possible solutions for overcoming the low uptake of annuities based on its causes. One main result is that behavioral biases in annuitization decisions particularly require considerably more theoretical research and empirical evidence, and that theoretical models already appear to well explain empirically observed annuitization rates.     

Overcoming consumer resistance to innovations – an analysis of adoption triggers

Traditionally, innovation adoption research has focused on the determinants of the states ‘adoption’ and ‘nonadoption’. Aiming at a more detailed understanding of innovation adoption and resistance behavior, this study takes a different perspective and analyzes the transition stage between the nonadoption state and the adoption state to investigate triggers that overcome initial consumer resistance. The study seeks to answer three questions within this novel perspective: (1) What are triggers that lead nonadopters to become adopters? (2) Do adopters and nonadopters differ in their assessment of adoption triggers? and (3) How do adoption triggers relate to innovation adoption barriers? We apply a qualitative exploratory approach that relies on 160 face‐to‐face interviews with both adopters and nonadopters about nine different innovations to generate a framework of adoption triggers. The results reveal that adoption triggers fall into three broad categories: ‘increasing innovation attraction’, ‘reducing barriers’ or ‘tilting the system’. In addition, we find that adopters and nonadopters differ significantly in their assessment of (potential) adoption triggers. Nonadopters mention performance improvements more frequently as crucial adoption triggers than adopters do. In contrast, adopters indicate knowledge acquisition and a social system push significantly more often than nonadopters do. However, adoption triggers and corresponding adoption barriers do not appear to be linked in a systematic way. Instead, adoption triggers such as a social system push exert influence independent of the existing adoption barriers. We suggest strategies for pre‐ and postlaunch strategies to facilitate adoption triggers. We also discuss the implications of our findings for theory and present further research opportunities.     

The Role of Media Coverage in Explaining Stock Market Fluctuations: Insights for Strategic Financial Communication

This study investigates the reciprocal relationships between the fluctuation of the closing prices of three companies listed on the Amsterdam exchange index, namely ING, Philips and Shell and online media coverage related to these firms for a period of two years (2014–2015). Automated content analysis methods were employed to analyze sentiment and emotionality and to identify corporate topics related to the companies. A positive relation of the amount of coverage and emotionality with the fluctuation of stock prices was detected for Shell and Philips. In addition, corporate topics were found to positively Granger cause stock price fluctuation, particularly for Philips. The study advances past research in showing that the prediction of stock price fluctuation based on media coverage can be improved by including sentiment, emotionality, and corporate topics. The findings inform strategic communication, and particularly investor relations, in suggesting that media attention, sentiment, and certain corporate topics are crucial when managing media relations and with regard to securing a fair evaluation of listed companies. Furthermore, the innovative research methods are useful for researchers and practitioners alike in showcasing how media coverage related to firms and their stock fluctuations can be identified and analyzed in a reproducible, hands-on and efficient manner.     

IS FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR PRIVATE R&D ALWAYS JUSTIFIED? A DISCUSSION BASED ON THE LITERATURE ON GROWTH

Many economists have long held that market failures create a gap between social and private returns to research and development (R&D), thereby limiting private incentives to invest in R&D. However, this common belief that firms significantly underinvest in R&D is increasingly being challenged, leading the rationale behind public support for private R&D to be questioned. In this paper, we attempt to clarify the perspectives of two sources: the theoretical literature on endogenous growth, and its recent developments in integrating a geographical dimension, and the empirical literature that measures the social returns to R&D in relation to the private returns. Ultimately, we are able to clearly distinguish among different types of market failures and compare their relative impact on the gap between the private and social returns to R&D. Two main conclusions are reached. First, systematic firm underinvestment in R&D is not demonstrated. Second, even though instances of underinvestment do occur, they are mainly explained by surplus appropriability problems rather than by knowledge externalities. This suggests the need for a new policy mix that employs more demand‐oriented instruments and is more concentrated on identifying efficient allocations among activities rather than merely increasing global private R&D investment.     

From Birth through Transition to Maturation: The Evolution of Technology‐Based Alliance Networks

This article considers the evolution of interfirm networks within a context of technological change. More specifically, it studies the evolution of structural and positional embeddedness in a network of technology‐based alliances when it moves from an early period of invention creation to a subsequent period of new product development and commercialization. Empirically, we study the evolution of technology‐based alliance networks in the biopharmaceutical industry over a period of about 25 years, from 1975 until 1999. Examining interorganizational networks over such an extended time period allows us to move beyond more static approaches that have characterized most network studies until now, and consider network evolution along its various phases of birth, growth, and early maturation instead. Our findings indicate that the evolution of both structural and positional embeddedness does not follow the common idea of a path of linear progression, but instead strongly exhibits nonlinearity by resembling a sigmoid pattern. These findings have a number of implications. First, the break in the process of linear progression contrasts with the standing literature that (implicitly) assumes the informational and resource value of a network structure to remain constant over time or to evolve linearly from carrying low value to progressively higher value. Instead, our finding that the evolution of structural and positional embeddedness is nonlinear echoes the speculative idea, as expressed by Gulati and Garguilo, that network change may possibly be nonlinear when seen over the long run. A second implication concerns the validity of standing insights from the social network literature such as Coleman's theory of social capital and Burt's theory of structural holes. These theories may not apply to the extent that there are strong changes in environmental conditions like environmental uncertainty and/or munificence, such as during a transition phase as considered in this study.     

The role of headquarters in multinational profit shifting strategies

This paper stresses the special role of multinational headquarters in corporate profit shifting strategies. Using a large panel of European firms, we show that multinational enterprises (MNEs) are reluctant to shift profits away from their headquarters even if these are located in high-tax countries. Thus, shifting activities in response to corporate tax rate differentials between parents and subsidiaries are found to be significantly larger if the parent has a lower corporate tax rate than its subsidiary and profit is thus shifted towards the headquarter firm. This result is in line with recent empirical evidence which suggests that MNEs bias the location of profits and highly profitable assets in favor of the headquarter location.     

Reflections on the Euro Area Fiscal Stance

Avoiding the mistakes of the past, when the good times were not used to build buffers, will be crucial to avoid countries again being forced to engage in a pro-cyclical fiscal tightening in the next downturn.     

TESTING THE STRUCTURE OF CONDITIONAL CORRELATIONS IN MULTIVARIATE GARCH MODELS: A GENERALIZED CROSS‐SPECTRUM APPROACH*

We introduce a class of generally applicable specification tests for constant and dynamic structures of conditional correlations in multivariate GARCH models. The tests are robust to the presence of time‐varying higher‐order conditional moments of unknown form and are pure significance tests. The tests can identify linear and nonlinear misspecifications in conditional correlations. Our approach does not necessitate a particular parameter estimation method and distributional assumption on the error process. The asymptotic distribution of the tests is invariant to the uncertainty in parameter estimation. We assess the finite sample performance of our tests using simulated and real data.     

Green, Brown, and Now White Certificates: Are Three One Too Many? A Micro-Model of Market Interaction

In recent years, European environmental policy has focused primarily on the reduction of carbon emissions and on fostering the expansion of renewable energy production. In 2008, the EU established the 20/20/20 vision, demanding that carbon emissions and energy consumption both be reduced by 20%, and that the production of Green Energy be further increased in order to account for 20 percent of total energy production by 2020. Regarding the reduction of emissions, a cap-and-trade system (Brown Certificates) was implemented. for the fostering of so called renewable, i.e. Green, energy different nations chose different measures, such as direct subsidies, feed-in-tariffs (e.g. Germany), or Green Certificate markets based on a quota system (e.g. Denmark). Recently, a market-based instrument (White Certificates) intended to improve efficiency of non-commercial energy consumption is also on the agenda of several European nations (demand side management). All of these instruments are directed towards the energy market. Therefore, this paper deals with identifying interdependencies and trade-offs that might occur, if both, supply and demand side, of a single market are regulated by different policy measures. Our results show that, in fact, significant interdependencies and trade-offs exist. In our model, a feed-in tariff in combination with an emission cap or tax renders the most favorable results??in the absence of demand side management.     

Frühkindliche Essstörungen: Der Kampf ums Essen

H?ufigkeit, Risikofaktoren, Symptome - Wenn Babys und Kleinkinder die Nahrungsaufnahme boykottieren, sind die Eltern zurecht besorgt und suchen Hilfe beim Kinderarzt. Als Risikogruppe gelten insbesondere Frühgeborene. Weshalb gerade sie betroffen sind, wurde in einer Studie in Gie?en untersucht.