Financial Advice and Individual Investor Portfolio Performance

This paper investigates whether financial advisers add value to individual investors’ portfolio decisions by comparing portfolios of advised and self‐directed (execution‐only) Dutch individual investors. The results indicate significant differences in characteristics and portfolios between these investor groups, but no evidence of differences in risk‐adjusted performance. The findings indicate that portfolios of advised investors are better diversified and carry significantly less idiosyncratic risk. In addition, evidence from an analysis of investors who switch to advice taking indicates that these findings (at least in part) reflect the effect of advisory intervention.     

A simple model of endogenous agricultural commodity price fluctuations with storage

A debate has been raging for centuries regarding the effects of interannual storage on commodity prices. Most analysts consider storage to function as a price stabilizer, while others place it at the core of an explanation of intriguing features of commodity price series, such as skewed distributions. Most studies have been developed in the context of the theory of competitive storage where random shocks affect supply or demand. Recently, the endogenous chaotic behavior of markets has become another possible hypothesis regarding the origin of commodity price fluctuations. We develop a nonlinear cobweb model with intra‐ and interannual storage, risk averse agents, and adaptive expectations. Like the theory of competitive storage, this nonlinear cobweb model with storage can reproduce some of the stylized facts of agricultural commodity prices (autocorrelation of first rank, low kurtosis, and skewness). In addition, the effects of storage on price variation are mixed. In the presence of interannual storage, chaotic price series show less variation compared to a situation without interannual storage but we find that storage contributes to the endogenous volatility of prices by making chaotic dynamics more likely.     

THE IMPACT OF FEMALE WORK ON FAMILY INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES: BLACK-WHITE DIFFERENTIALS*

Using data from the 1973 National Survey of Family Growth, the present study analyzes, for blacks and whites separately, the impact of female market activity on the inequality of the income distribution among households. The family life cycle is divided into three stages, according to the presence and age of children: (1) the interval between marriage and the birth of the first child, (2) the child-rearing interval, and (3) a final period which begins when all the children have reached school age. Using the coefficient of variation as an indicator of inequality, the empirical results show that in period 1, the contribution of white working wives has a large equalizing impact, while that of their black counterparts results in a slight increase in dispersion. In the child-rearing and post child-rearing stages, the labor supply of mothers decreases family income inequality by a small amount for both black and white households. A decomposition of the squared coefficient of variation of family income is presented to aid in the interpretation of these findings.     

6 Does Kant Have Anything to Teach Us about Environmental Ethics?

A bstract .   Immanuel Kant's thought typically is represented as hostile to environmental concerns, but his aesthetics offers significant resources for environmental ethics. His account of the disinterestedness of taste raises the possibility of a manner of motivating a noninstrumental and responsive—rather than self-interested and consumerist—attitude toward nature. The aesthetic consciousness thus can help situate us within rather than pit us against the natural world. Kant's thinking about the beautiful and the sublime point to an ambiguous conception of subjectivity, a picture of the subject who experiences itself both as immersed within a meaningful world and as raised above a world to which it is morally superior. Such a conception may orient investigations in environmental philosophy by providing a more realistic view of the relationship between human beings and nature than do either dualistic or monistic theories.     

CONSUMERS' INFLATION EXPECTATIONS AND MONETARY POLICY IN EUROPE

This article analyses the effects of monetary policy decisions on inflation expectations of European consumers. Using a novel approach, I convert qualitative survey responses of consumers in various European countries into a quantitative time series of inflation expectations. I investigate the effects of unanticipated movements in interest rates and inflation on inflation expectations across European countries. I inter alia seek to explore whether the reaction differs of consumers in countries with more credible central banks than those in less credible countries.     

Heteroscedasticity and the use of Box–Cox transformations

Direct and inverse power Box–Cox transformations are used to characterize the form of heteroscedasticity in models where the variables themselves are subjected to direct Box–Cox transformations. Resulting formulations are extended to take serial correlation simultaneousy into account.     

The impact of the national minimum wage on the apparel industry

This analysis of the NMW’s initial impact in the apparel industry focuses on organisational and institutional factors in explaining the effects on pay and related issues. The NMW had a marked effect on national terms and conditions, in particular raising the minimum earnings level. At the local level, it impacted directly on the pay of a small number of employees in almost half the 42 organisations surveyed in the East Midlands and Northern Ireland. These tended to be the larger employing units facing foreign competition and selling into the domestic market. Also, in some workplaces, the NMW adversely affected the piecework system. The reaction of local management to these changes is discussed.     

The determinants of immigration-policy preferences in advanced economies: A cross-country study

This paper employs survey data to examine the determinants of immigration-policy preferences among ten advanced economies. Ordered probit specifications suggest that skill level is a robust determinant of immigration-policy preferences and that less-skilled workers are more likely to express a preference for policies that restrict immigration. The results also suggest that older individuals, members of trade unions, and those who classify their political ideology as conservative are more likely to favor limiting immigration while non-citizens are less likely to favor such policies. Individual country-level regression results vary, in particular with regard to the influence of trade union member-ship, which is a robust determinant of immigration-policy preferences for both measures of skill in only a subset of nations.     

US bombing and Afghan civilian deaths: the official neglect of ‘unworthy’ bodies

This article outlines the ways in which the US and allies’ bombing campaign in Afghanistan has resulted in well over 3,000 civilian deaths due to bombing impacts, the indirect deaths of tens of thousands of internally displaced persons, and thousands of injured in an agricultural society where limbs are crucial. In addition, the landscape and environment have been polluted with cluster bombs and depleted uranium. The intense bombing campaign destroyed urban and village residences, bridges, mosques, electricity and water supplies, communication systems, cratered roads etc. In contrast to the victims of September 11th, the dead Afghan civilians remain largely uncounted, faceless, de facto unworthy bodies. Cet article expose comment la campagne de bombardement des Etats–Unis et des alliés en Afghanistan s’est traduite par plus de 3,000 morts civils sous les impacts de bombes, par le décès indirect de dizaines de milliers de personnes déplacées sur le territoire, et par des milliers de blessés dans une société agricole où l’usage d’un membre est crucial. De plus, paysage et environnement ont été pollués par des bombes à fragmentation et de l’uranium appauvri. Les bombardements intenses ont détruit les habitats urbains et villageois, les ponts, les mosquées, les réseaux d’alimentation en électricité et en eau, les systèmes de communication, les routes défoncées, etc. Par rapport aux victimes du 11 septembre, les civils afghans morts restent pour beaucoup non dénombrés, dans l’anonymat, de facto des corps indignes.     

HORIZONTALISM, STRUCTURALISM, LIQUIDITY PREFERENCE AND THE PRINCIPLE OF INCREASING RISK

It is shown that the horizontal post-Keynesian view of credit-money endogeneity is reasonable rather than extreme. One can argue in favour of a horizontal credit-money supply curve while still taking into account the non-accommodating behaviour of the central bank, financial innovations, protfolio adjustments, liquidity perference theory, and the principle of increasing risk. The differences between horizontalists and other post-Keynesian monetary theorists are matters of emphasis rather than substantial differences of opinion. The only real topic of contention is the ultimate determinant of the base rate of interest.