Social Security Reform and National Wealth

Recent trends in common stock prices suggest a distinction between increases in national net worth and flows of physical investment. In this paper we present a simple overlapping generations model in which such differences can arise: technological progress occurs exogenously, yet firms own new technologies for a time. We examine possible consequences for social security reform. Reform which increases private saving depletes part of its force raising the (capitalized) price of proprietary technologies. A calibrated example suggests an increase in physical capital one-third smaller than without inelastic factors. Both steady states and transition paths are considered.     

Economic and Social Security in the Twenty-first Century, with Attention to Europe

A partly heuristic attempt is made to explore long-run policies aimed at a second-best compromise between ex ante risk-sharing efficiency and ex post productive efficiency. Wage subsidies for low-skilled workers financed by taxes on high wages are advocated, together with improved risk sharing between capital and labour, between generations and among the countries belonging to EMU. The scope of the policies advocated is limited by considerations of moral hazard, time consistency and fiscal competition. Moreover, estimates of some key economic parameters remain very imprecise. Several avenues of further research are identified.     

Arrow's equivalency theorem in a model with neoclassical firms

Summary. In this paper we consider a two-period general equilibrium model with uncertainty and real assets as financial instruments. The novelty of the analysis is that real assets are the stocks of neoclassical firms, so that both returns and yields depend on anticipated spot goods prices (and, of course, the yield matrix may change rank with prices). Assuming that financial markets are potentially complete, we establish generic existence of financial equilibrium and prove that there exists a dense set of economies such that financial equilibria are efficient.Received: 19 April 2001, Revised: 23 April 2003, JEL Classification Numbers: C60, D51, G10, D60.I am extremely grateful to Dave Cass for drawing my attention to this problem and inspiring me to work on it as well as for many stimulating discussions. I also benefited from discussions with H. Polemarchakis, M. Stinchcombe, and A. Villanacci. I am thankful to the anonymous referee of the first versions of the paper for thoughtful comments and suggestions, and to participants of a recruiting seminar at the University of Texas at Austin (January 2001), the Conference on Economic Design SED 2000, Istanbul, Turkey (June 2000), and Inter-University Student Conference, New York University, New York (May 2000).     

Information, trade and incomplete markets

The no-trade result of Milgrom and Stokey, J Econ Theory 26:17–27 (1982), states that if rational traders begin with an ex-ante Pareto optimal allocation then the arrival of information cannot generate trade. This paper allows traders to trade before and after the arrival of information. If there are enough securities to hedge against all payoff relevant risk, then the preinformation-arrival allocation is Pareto optimal and information arrival has no effect. This no-retrade result is the competitive analog of the no-trade result of (1982). However, information generically generates trade when markets are state-contingent incomplete.We thank seminar participants at Cambridge, Carnegie Mellon,Cornell, Essex, London, Maastricht, USC, and York and participants at the 2003 SITE, the 2003 SAET and the Fall 2002 Cornell–Penn State Macro Conference. We also thank Karl Shell and a referee for this journal for useful comments     

Sequentially complete markets remain incomplete

We show by means of an example that the result of Arrow [Arrow, K.J. (1953), Le rôle des valeurs boursières pour la répartition la meilleure des risques, Econométrie, 41–47, CNRS, Paris; translated as The role of securities in the optimal allocation of risk bearing, Review of Economic Studies, 31, 91–96] is problematic when there exist multiple equilibrium continuations to the initial-period component of an intertemporal equilibrium.     

The Effect of Better Information on Income Inequality

We consider an OLG economy with endogenous investment in human capital. Heterogeneity in individual human capital levels is modelled by a distribution of innate ability across agents. This distribution is common knowledge but, at young age, no agent knows his/her ability. The production of human capital depends on each individual’s investment in education. This investment decision is taken only after observing a signal which is correlated to his/her true ability, and which is used for updating beliefs. Thus, a better information system affects the distribution of human capital in each generation. Assuming separable and identical preferences for all individuals, we derive the following results in equilibrium: (a) If the relative measure of risk aversion is less (more) than 1 then more information raises (reduces) income inequality. (b) When a risk sharing market is available better information results in higher inequality regardless of the measure risk aversion. We are grateful to Alex Cukierman, Zvi Eckstein, Yona Rubinstein and Daniel Tsiddon. An anonymous referee made extremely useful comments and suggestions. Financial support from the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF) is gratefully acknowledged.     

发展中国出口信用保险的对策研究

我国出口信用保险发展落后,除了有种种历史原因外,与我国出口信用保险体制、与出口企业甚至保险公司对出口信用保险缺乏了解有很大的关系。随着对外贸易在国民经济中的地位越来越重要,国家制定了一系列扩大出口的政策。深入了解我国目前出口信用保险存在的问题,对于出口信贷体系和出口风险保险制度的建立、完善有着非常重要的意义。     

关注公众利益 健全公众责任保险

公共场所事故的频繁发生造成了大量人财物的损失。当业主补偿成问题,政府救助又不能充分满足需求,公众责任保险就成了人们分散风险的重要手段之一。然而,中国公众责任保险的发展并未充分发挥其应有的社会管理功能,其原因包括民事赔偿法律制度、目标投保人意识等多个方面。有针对性地在上述方面加强措施,将有助于为这一符合社会友展规律的险种迎来蓬勃的发展契机。     

市场风险与信用风险:风险管理中存在的悖论

利率、汇率波动的加剧,使金融衍生市场的风险成为影响金融体系稳定运行的最重要因素之一。在金融风险定价理论和资产组合技术的支持下,金融衍生工具已成为防范基础性金融风险的有效工具。但金融衍生工具在用于金融风险管理中也存在市场风险、信用风险、流动性风险等基本金融风险。不仅存在着市场风险与信用风险的替代性,还存在着加大金融风险总量的可能。金融风险管理的实质是寻求风险损失与风险收益的平衡。     

Insurance and the behavior of competitive firms under revenue risks: a note

This paper re-examines the model of Ford, Mpuku, and Pattanaik [“Revenue Risks, Insurance, and the Behavior of Competitive Firms”.Journal of Economics 64 (1996): 233–246] wherein a risk-averse competitive firm faces insurable revenue risk. The optimal output and insurance cover of the firm are shown to be deterministically related in that the marginal costs of self-insurance and market insurance are equated. In response to increasing risk aversion, the firm always takes a higher insurance cover. Increasing fixed costs generate an income effect which induces the firm to take a higher insurance cover should the preference of the firm satisfy decreasing absolute risk aversion. Market insurance and self-insurance can be either substitutes or complements, depending on the shape of the variable insurance-premium schedule.     

现代金融风险管理中若干难点问题

本文对现代金融风险管理问题进行专题探讨,分析了金融全球化对现代金融管理的影响及现代金融管理中的几个难点问题,并探讨了我国金融风险管理应采取的主要对策。     

Economic implications of better information in a dynamic framework

Summary. We consider an OLG model with accumulation in human capital and analyze the economic implications of information about individual skills. Agents in each period differ by the random innate ability assigned to each individual. When young, all agents are screened for their abilities and this screening process (signal) constitutes a public information which is used in choosing the level of private investment in education. We demonstrate that in the presence of risk sharing markets better information may be harmful for all in equilibrium, and find conditions under which better information either enhances growth or reduces growth.Received: 8 September 2003, Revised: 3 March 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: D80, J24.Correspondence to: Bernhard EckwertWe are pleased to acknowledge the useful comments and suggestions of R. Benabou, Z. Eckstein, E. Helpman, B. Ravikumar and D. Tsiddon. Also, special thanks are given to two anonymous referees. This research was supported by a Grant from G.I.F., the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development.     

金融市场系统风险与资产证券化的相关性

美国金融市场的资产证券化使金融市场的系统风险陡增,并引发了席卷全球的金融危机。资产证券化增加金融市场系统风险的主要原因在于倒买倒卖的市场运作模式、资产支持的证券流动性不足以及资产证券化交易的复杂性所产生的负面效应。金融危机后应加强我国资产证券化金融监管工作,坚持以有限管制和间接管制为原则,减少直接干预;坚持慎重选择资产证券化类型,逐步推进资产证券化原则;坚持以规范的信息披露为原则,防范系统风险。     

Unemployment insurance: The role of electoral systems and regional labour markets

Levels of insurance against unemployment vary considerably across countries. Replacement rates, the ratio relating income from unemployment to what people earned when they were employed, are higher in countries with proportional electoral systems than in countries with majoritarian systems. Also, replacement rates are positively correlated with per capita income and negatively correlated with the countries' unemployment rates. I develop an electoral competition model that replicates these stylized facts.     

金融市场的复杂性与金融风险管理——一个基于非线性动力学视角的分析原理

迄今为止,对金融市场的研究与分析基本上是在经典资本市场理论的线性分析范式下展开的.然而,经典资本市场理论的线性化分析方法有其内在的局限性,它不能解释现实金融市场资产价格的变化,更不能用来分析美国股市\"1987年股灾\"等市场突变行为.在这样的背景下,金融市场的研究出现了从线性转向非线性分析,从均衡走向演化的新趋势.本文在考察金融系统的非线性本质与作为虚拟经济系统的内在特性的基础上,提出了金融市场的非线性动力学分析原理,并形成了风险管理的整体观、内生观与过程观.这些原理将为研究金融市场与风险管理理论提供新的方向.     

Utility Regulation and Risk Allocation: The Roles of Marginal Cost Pricing and Futures Markets

The effects on consumer welfare of requiring a utility facing cost or demand risk to use either a fixed retail price or marginal cost pricing are assessed. With marginal cost pricing and cost volatility an efficient futures market allows consumer welfare to be at least as high in every state as with the fixed price. With demand risk marginal cost pricing can benefit the consumer in every state without harming the firm if the profit difference is transferred to the consumer. A futures market can act as a partial replacement for the transfer.     

我国寿险公司的利率风险及防范

由于法律不健全、制度不完善、监管体制弱化等原因,我国人寿保险产品基本是利率敏感型的产品,这使得产品极易受国家宏观经济环境的影响,致使寿险公司形成了利率风险.具体来说,防范与化解利率风险的途径是,加快寿险产品转型步伐;加强资产负债匹配管理;建立自动调节机制;设立专项准备金.