Trade and the distribution of human capital

We develop a two-country, two-sector model of trade where the only difference between the two countries is their distribution of human capital endowments. We show that even if the two countries have identical aggregate human capital endowments the pattern of trade depends on the properties of the two human capital distributions. We also show that the two distributions of endowments also completely determine the effects of trade on income inequality. We also look at a simple majority voting model. It turns out autarky and free trade with and without compensation may be the voting outcome.     

Annual patient and caregiver burden of oncology clinic visits for granulocyte-colony stimulating factor therapy in the US

Objective:

Prophylactic treatment with granulocyte-colony stimulating factors (G-CSFs) is indicated for chemotherapy patients with a significant risk of febrile neutropenia. This study estimates the annual economic burden on patients and caregivers of clinic visits for prophylactic G-CSF injections in the US.

Methods:

Annual clinic visits for prophylactic G-CSF injections (all cancers) were estimated from national cancer incidence, chemotherapy treatment and G-CSF utilization data, and G-CSF sales and pricing information. Patient travel times, plus time spent in the clinic, were estimated from patient survey responses collected during a large prospective cohort study (the Prospective Study of the Relationship between Chemotherapy Dose Intensity and Mortality in Early-Stage (I–III) Breast Cancer Patients). Economic models were created to estimate travel costs, patient co-pays and the economic value of time spent by patients and caregivers in G-CSF clinic visits.

Results:

Estimated total clinic visits for prophylactic G-CSF injections in the US were 1.713 million for 2015. Mean (SD) travel time per visit was 62 (50) min; mean (SD) time in the clinic was 41 (68) min. Total annual time for travel to and from the clinic, plus time at the clinic, is estimated at 4.9 million hours, with patient and caregiver time valued at $91.8 million ($228 per patient). The estimated cumulative annual travel distance for G-CSF visits is 60.2 million miles, with a total transportation cost of $28.9 million ($72 per patient). Estimated patient co-pays were $61.1 million, ～$36 per visit, $152 per patient. The total yearly economic impact on patients and caregivers is $182 million, ～$450 per patient.

Limitations:

Data to support model parameters were limited. Study estimates are sensitive to the assumptions used.

Conclusions:

The burden of clinic visits for G-CSF therapy is a significant addition to the total economic burden borne by cancer patients and their families.     

Generalized parameter functions for option pricing

We extend the benchmark nonlinear deterministic volatility regression functions of Dumas et al. (1998) to provide a semi-parametric method where an enhancement of the implied parameter values is used in the parametric option pricing models. Besides volatility, skewness and kurtosis of the asset return distribution can also be enhanced. Empirical results, using closing prices of the S&P 500 index call options (in one day ahead out-of-sample pricing tests), strongly support our method that compares favorably with a model that admits stochastic volatility and random jumps. Moreover, it is found to be superior in various robustness tests. Our semi-parametric approach is an effective remedy to the curse of dimensionality presented in nonparametric estimation and its main advantage is that it delivers theoretically consistent option prices and hedging parameters. The economic significance of the approach is tested in terms of hedging, where the evaluation and estimation loss functions are aligned.     

Long-Term Financial Contracts and Technological Choice

The paper establishes a theoretical link between financial innovation and economic development. In an economic environment where product development takes place, it is shown that the gains from long-term financial contracting go beyond the minimization of costs associated with frictions in the capital markets. They can also result in the adoption of more efficient technologies by the production sector. Furthermore, the model suggests that financial innovation is also a byproduct of economic development, providing a possible explanation for the lack of long-term financial markets in less-developed economies.     

On the Trade-off Between Work-related Training and Labor Mobility: The Role of Firing and Exit Costs

Within an incomplete-contract framework, we examine the consequences of contract renegotiation for contract design/enforcement and training market efficiency. Specifically, we show how the imposition of either firing costs or exit costs can bind together employers and employees in longer-lasting employment relationships that allow both agents to amortize their training investments. Nevertheless, the model implies that, although firing and exit costs provide institutional solutions to the training under-investment problem, this is achieved at the expense of allocative efficiency (efficient separations). Empirical evidence supports the existence of such a trade-off.revised version received July 23, 2003     

Is R & D Financially Constrained? Theory and Evidence from Irish Manufacturing

We re-examine the effects of liquidity constraints on R & D investment. Inour theoretical section we extend the neoclassical framework of investmentin physical capital by introducing R & D and liquidity constraints. Weanalyse this issue empirically using firm-level data for R & D activemanufacturing firms in the Republic of Ireland. Our results provide evidencethat suggests that R & D investment is financially constrained. This is inline with previous studies of U.S. firms.     

Contingent Claims on Foreign Assets Following Jump-Diffusion Processes

In this paper we price contingent claims on several foreign assetsthat follow jump-diffusion processes. Discontinuities (jumps) arise dueto the assets' movement in the respective countries, or the exchangerates, or both. We assume the existence of multiple classes (sources)of jumps. Each jump can affect one or more state-variables and is definedby its intensity of arrival and by the joint probability distributionof its magnitude. The existence of jumps gives rise to significant deviationsfrom the joint lognormality assumptions of the multivariate geometricBrownian motion, and affords more flexibility in capturing the empiricallyobserved asymmetry and fat tails in asset returns. Analytic solutionsare provided for the European option on the best of several assets withoutor with exchange rate (quanto-type) protection. A Markov-chainnumerical method that can also handle American claims is given and itsaccuracy is demonstrated. Neglecting the effect of jumps causes seriousmisspricing and leads to erroneous decision-making when purchasing orexercising such options.     

Hysteresis Models of Investment with Multiple Uncertainties and Exchange Rate Risk

In this article we use the hysteresis model of investment developed by Brennan and Schwartz, and Dixit, and we extend it to capture the impact of interacting uncertainties on a firm with foreign operations. We develop a three-country, four-factor model where both continuous revenues and continuous costs are stochastic and are generated in countries other than the home country of the investor, who has to carry foreign currencies' risk. All four state-variables follow geometric Brownian motion processes. A critical assumption is made that the capital outlays for switching between the idle and the active states are constant fractions of the costs. An efficient numerical solution is used to demonstrate applications of the model on a multinational corporation facing operating and exchange rate risks in a multistage investment setting with interacting investment and operating options.     

The United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade: insolvency aspects

Breaking new ground, the UN Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade refers all priority conflicts with respect to receivables to the law of single and easily determinable jurisdiction, and one that is most likely going to be the insolvency jurisdiction, namely to the law of the assignor's place of business or, in the case of places of business in more than one State, the assignor's central administration. In the case of an insolvency proceeding in another jurisdiction, the mandatory rules of that juridiction displace any priority rule of the law of the assignor's location only if that priority rule is manifestly contrary to the public policy of that jurisdiction. In such a case, the balance of the priority rules of the law of the assignor's location prevails over the priority rules of the insolvency jurisdiction with the exception of rules relating to preferential rights. In any case, the Convention ensures that priority rules do not interfere with basic insolvency rights, such as those relating to stays, avoidance actions and to the performance of contracts or maintenance of the estate. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

International aspects of public infrastructure investment

Abstract.  Modelling infrastructure as an international public good in a two‐country model of trade where each country's social planner behaves strategically, we show that, in general, the equilibrium levels of infrastructure are not optimal from a global perspective. Utilizing an appropriate econometric framework and data from 16 European countries over the period 1987–95, we find evidence that is consistent with the predictions of our model. JEL Classification: F10, F42, H42
Aspects internationaux de l'investissement public dans les infrastructures.  Les auteurs présentent un modèle de commerce international entre deux pays dans lequel (1) les planificateurs des deux pays ont un comportement stratégique et (2) les infrastructures sont un bien public international. Ils montrent que, en général, les niveaux d'équilibre des investissements en infrastructure ne sont pas optimaux d'un point de vue global. A l'aide d'un cadre économétrique approprié, et de données pour 16 pays européens entre 1987 et 1995, ils valident les prédictions de leur modèle.