Theory and theorization: A comment on Laughlin and Habermas

This essay highlights Richard Laughlin's contribution to the theorization of organizations using elements of Habermas's critical social theory. Specifically it discusses an early paper – Laughlin (1987) – and suggest how this shapes a cumulative programme of work to operationalise Habermas's key ideas at the organizational level.     

A numerical comment on an upper bound for ruin probabilities

Abstract

In a paper by de Vylder (1977) an upper bound for the probability of ruin is constructed. A numerical example is given for a Poisson-process with claim d.f.=l-e?y , the operational time T=100, the premium loading λ=0.05 (c= 1.05) and the initial reserve u=50. In this case the limit is found to be ψ(u, T)?00.0025.     

A comment on the role of prices for excludable public goods

Blomquist and Christensen [(2005). The role of prices for excludable public goods, International Tax and Public Finance, 12 ,61–79] argue that welfare is initially decreasing in the price of an excludable public good and that the case for a positive price for an excludable public good price is weak. We argue that this result follows from their particular characterization of the public good and that an alternative and equally reasonable characterization overturns their result. Hence, the policy case for a positive price on the public good is stronger than Blomquist and Christiansen suggest. JEL Classification H21 · H41     

The effect of deposit-rate ceilings on bank risk: A comment

In a recent issue of this journal, Mingo (1978) analyzed the effect of deposit-rate ceilings on bank risk. The analysis showed that deposit-rate ceilings increase a bank's total risk. The purpose of this note is to examine a different but related question: Is systematic risk affected by Regulation Q ceilings ceteris paribus? The results of our empirical test indicate that systematic risk is not affected by deposit-rate ceilings. Taken together then, Mingo's and the present results show that removal of deposit-rate ceilings would not increase bank risk.     

A comment on the foundations of the precautionary demand for money

The model of the precautionary demand for money presented by Plessner and Reid (1980) is critically examined. It is shown that households derive no benefit from unscheduled consumption (in the model in question) and will therefore choose not to hold precautionary balances. Positive balances were obtained only by ensuring that scheduled consumption was chosen sub-optimally. However, this note confirms the Plessner-Reid hypothesis by explicitly modelling the benefits of unscheduled consumption.     

我国银行问债券市场进一步创新的路径探讨

近年来我国银行间债券市场发展成效显著,其中,在防范风险前提下对创新的鼓励为市场发展提供了重要动力。该文从宏观和微观两个层面归纳了我国银行间债券市场的创新原则,并从基础产品创新、金融衍生品创新、做市商及其配套制度创新、发行与结算方式创新等多个角度提出银行间债券市场进一步创新的潜在方向。     

Aggregate investor preferences and beliefs: A comment

A recent study in this journal presents encouraging results of a daunting simulation analysis of the statistical properties of a centered bootstrap approach to stochastic dominance efficiency analysis. However, by relying on the first-order optimality condition in a situation where multiple optima may occur, the empirical analysis draws the questionable conclusion that some of the toughest data sets in empirical asset pricing can be rationalized by the representative investor maximizing an S-shaped utility function, consistent with the so-called Prospect Stochastic Dominance criterion. Further research could be directed to developing global optimization algorithms and consistent re-sampling methods for statistical inference for general risky choice problems.