Tariff (De‐) Escalation with Successive Oligopoly

This paper explores the issue of a simultaneous reduction in tariffs at different stages of a vertically related market where each stage is oligopolistic. When vertically related markets are characterized as a successive oligopoly, reducing tariffs by an equivalent amount on upstream and downstream imports will have a differential effect on market access and hence profits at each stage as a result of a combination of horizontal and vertical effects. These differential effects have implications for the tariff structure post‐trade reform.     

Pricing Annuity Guarantees Under a Regime-Switching Model

Abstract

We consider the pricing problem of equity-linked annuities and variable annuities under a regimeswitching model when the dynamic of the market value of a reference asset is driven by a generalized geometric Brownian motion model with regime switching. In particular, we assume that regime switching over time according to a continuous-time Markov chain with a finite number state space representing economy states. We use the Esscher transform to determine an equivalent martingale measure for fair valuation in the incomplete market setting. The paper is complemented with some numerical examples to highlight the implications of our model on pricing these guarantees.     

Markov Aging Process and Phase-Type Law of Mortality

Abstract

In this article, we propose a finite-state Markov process with one absorbing state to model human mortality. A health index called physiological age is introduced and modeled by the Markov process. Under this model the time of death follows a phase-type distribution. The model possesses many desirable analytical properties useful for mortality analysis. Closed-form expressions are available for many quantities of interest including the conditional survival probabilities of the time of death and the actuarial present values of the whole life insurance and annuity. The heterogeneity or frailty effect of a cohort can be expressed explicitly. The model is also able to explain some stylized facts of observed mortality data. We fit the model to some Swedish population cohort data and life tables compiled by the U.S. Social Security Administration. The fitting results are very satisfactory.     

Time Affluence as a Path toward Personal Happiness and Ethical Business Practice: Empirical Evidence from Four Studies

Many business practices focus on maximizing material affluence, or wealth, despite the fact that a growing empirical literature casts doubt on whether money can buy happiness. We therefore propose that businesses consider the possibility of “time affluence” as an alternative model for improving employee well-being and ethical business practice. Across four studies, results consistently showed that, even after controlling for material affluence, the experience of time affluence was positively related to subjective well-being. Studies 3 and 4 further demonstrated that the experience of mindfulness and the satisfaction of psychological needs partially mediated the positive associations between time affluence and well-being. Future research directions and implications for ethical business practices are discussed.     

Book Notices

Books review in this article:
The German Dilemma: An Appraisal of Anti-Semitism, Ultra-Nationalism and Democracy in West Germany.
Diary of a Strike. By Bernard Karsh
A Short History of New York State. By David M. Ellis, James A. Frost, Harold C. Syrett and Harry J. Carman
Dalla puberta alia prostituzione. By Primo Sacripanti
Dictionary of Personnel and Industrial Relations. By Esther L. Becker     

Employers' Unfair Advantage in the United States of America: Symposium on the Human Rights Watch Report on the State of Worker's Freedom of Association in the United States, continued

Articles featured in the symposium:
Author's reply to Wheeler–Getman–Brody papers by Lance Compa, School of Industrial and Labor Relations
The Wagner Act Model: A Toxic System beyond Repair by Roy J. Adams De Groote, School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Choosing an Interpretation of the Right to Freedom of Association by Sheldon Leader, Department of Law and the Centre for Human Rights, University of Essex