Firm export diversification and change in workforce composition

Review of World Economics - The objective of this paper is to show that part of the fixed cost of a firm’s trade expansion is due to the acquisition of new internal capabilities (e.g.,...     

Extreme Value Theory and Statistics of Univariate Extremes: A Review

Statistical issues arising in modelling univariate extremes of a random sample have been successfully used in the most diverse fields, such as biometrics, finance, insurance and risk theory. Statistics of univariate extremes (SUE), the subject to be dealt with in this review paper, has recently faced a huge development, partially because rare events can have catastrophic consequences for human activities, through their impact on the natural and constructed environments. In the last decades, there has been a shift from the area of parametric SUE, based on probabilistic asymptotic results in extreme value theory, towards semi‐parametric approaches. After a brief reference to Gumbel's block methodology and more recent improvements in the parametric framework, we present an overview of the developments on the estimation of parameters of extreme events and on the testing of extreme value conditions under a semi‐parametric framework. We further discuss a few challenging topics in the area of SUE. © 2014 The Authors. International Statistical Review © 2014 International Statistical Institute     

Pareto Index Estimation Under Moderate Right Censoring

Real claim data sometimes are censored from above at a high value induced by the sum insured. In this note we examine the behaviour of extreme-value methods in such settings and propose an adaptation of the popular Hill (1975) estimator. It is argued that the censoring typically cannot exceed 5% for an effective use of the methods suggested.     

A folding methodology for multivariate extremes: estimation of the spectral probability measure and actuarial applications

In this paper, the folding methodology developed in the context of univariate Extreme Value Theory (EVT) by You et al. is extended to a multivariate framework. Under the usual EVT assumption of regularly varying tails, our multivariate folding allows for the estimation of the spectral probability measure. A new weakly consistent estimator based on the classical empirical estimator is proposed. Its behaviour is illustrated through simulations and an actuarial application relative to reinsurance pricing in the case of an insurance data-set.     

Teamwork in factories within the French automobile industry

This article analyses teamwork in French car manufacturing plants and those of their suppliers. During the 1990s, the introduction of 'autonomous production units' was aimed at reducing costs, increasing quality and shortening delivery deadlines. Teamwork in a unit involved delegating responsibilities to workers and led to an increased workload.