Research and development with publicly observable outcomes

This paper studies the simultaneous evolution of costs and research incentives in a model in which two firms research each period by purchasing a draw from a stationary distribution of possible production costs. Research decisions each period are based on the results of previous research which are common knowledge. When research stops a Bertrand pricing game occurs. We give conditions under which the perfect equilibrium of this game involves a race by both firms to reach some endogenously determined critical cost level. The first firm to reach this critical level wins the race, capturing the entire market, and continues to research until a second critical cost level is reached.     

MM定理与科斯定理的"理想状态"研究

MM定理与科斯定理虽然分属会计学资本结构划分理论和经济学产权结构划分理论,却有看相同的思想核心.将MM定理类比于科斯定理进行重新表述,得出了能涵盖MM定理和权衡理论的结果.科斯定理的模型化又得益于MM定理原有模型的启发.二者通过比较又形成结构与形式的借鉴与统一,体现了哲学恒定论的观点.MM定理与科斯定理通过起点于"理想状态"的结构比较分析后,有助于拓展思维,深化各自领域的研究.这是财务理论研究"理想状态"研究方法的尝试.     

Measuring the timing ability and performance of bond mutual funds

This paper evaluates the ability of bond funds to “market time” nine common factors related to bond markets. Timing ability generates nonlinearity in fund returns as a function of common factors, but there are several non-timing-related sources of nonlinearity. Controlling for the non-timing-related nonlinearity is important. Funds’ returns are more concave than benchmark returns, and this would appear as poor timing ability in naive models. With controls, the timing coefficients appear neutral to weakly positive. Adjusting for nonlinearity, the performance of many bond funds is significantly negative on an after-cost basis, but significantly positive on a before-cost basis.     

Potenziale zur Erhöhung des regionalen Markenkerns im Stromvertrieb am Beispiel der regionalen Grünstromkennzeichnung gemäß EEG 2017

The regional green power labeling according to the EEG 2017 represents an extension of the possibilities for labeling green electricity. In this paper we investigate the extent to which the implementation of regional green power products using the green power labeling regime under the EEG 2017 can help to strengthen the regional brand core of German power marketers, and which is the best alternative for raising the regional brand core of these firms. To this end, the different options for green power marketing with regional reference are discussed in detail, and it is elaborated which additional marketing models are enabled through the regional green power labeling. Furthermore, the criteria are identified with which the various green power labeling models with regional reference—with respect to their potential to raise the regional brand core—ought to be compared with each other. The results from our analysis show that the regional green power labeling based on EEG 2017 can be used to systematically upgrade the options for the marketing of regionally generated electricity already in place before the EEG 2017 entered into force.     

Natural Environments and Leisure among Rural–to–Urban Immigrants: An Application of Bourdieu's Concepts of Habitus,Social and Cultural Capital,and Field

This study explored the use of natural environments for leisure among rural-to-urban immigrants by adopting Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, social and cultural capital, and field. Data were collected with the use of individual interviews with 27 participants, including Mexican immigrants in the United States, Ukrainian immigrants in Poland, Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands, and Turkish immigrants in Germany. The findings showed that for some immigrants, practices of social capital maintenance became disconnected from recreation in natural environments, while for all participants, nature-related cultural capital had low transferability in a migratory situation. Depending on their position in a new social field, immigrants developed different strategies to use local natural environments for leisure. Some strategies contributed to preserving old habitus, while one strategy (finding substitutes) contributed to gradual changes in immigrants' nature-related habitus. We suggest that embodied and emplaced skills of using nature should be incorporated in the notion of cultural capital.     

A Hierarchical Marketing Communications Model of Online and Offline Media Synergies

We propose a new hierarchical model of online and offline advertising. This model incorporates within-media synergies and cross-media synergies and allows higher-order interactions among various media. We derive the optimal spending on each medium and the optimal total budget. We also develop three hypotheses on the effects of within- and across-media synergies on both the total budget and its allocation. We estimate media effectiveness as well as the within- and cross-media synergies of offline (television, print, and radio) and online (banners and search) ads using market data for a car brand. We show that both types of synergies —within-media (i.e., intra-offline) and cross-media (online-offline)— exist. We show how within- and cross-media synergies boost the total media budget and online spending due to synergies of the online media with various offline media.     

International Environmental Agreements and Strategic Voting*

This paper explores the outcome of an international environmental agreement when the governments are elected by their citizens. It also considers a voter's incentives for supporting candidates who are less green than she is. In the extreme case of “global” pollution, the elected politicians pay no attention to the environment, and the resulting international agreement is totally ineffective. Moreover, if governments cannot negotiate and have to decide non‐cooperatively (and voters are aware of this), the elected politicians can be greener, ecological damage can be lower and the median voter's payoff can be higher than in the case with bargaining.     

Accounting for Trends in Productivity and R&D: A Schumpeterian Critique of Semi-Endogenous Growth Theory

This paper argues that long-run trends in R&D and TFP are more supportive of fully endogenous "Schumpeterian" growth theory than they are of semi-endogenous growth theory. The distinctive prediction of semi-endogenous theory that sustained TFP growth requires sustained growth of R&D input is not supported by co-integration tests and forecasting exercises, as TFP growth has been stationary even though the growth rate of R&D input has fallen three-fold since the early 1950s. In contrast, the prediction of Schumpeterian theory that sustained TFP growth requires a sustained fraction of GDP to be spent on R&D is not contradicted by similar tests.     

Evolutionary Stability in the Ultimatum Game

Biologically motivated concepts of evolutionary stability, like the ESS, consider robustness against tiny invasions of mutants. This paper considers larger invasions and proposes an extended stability calculus. The new concept is applied to the ultimatum game and gives an evolutionary explanation for the emergence of egalitarian, "fair" behaviour.