Efficient Dynamic Pollution Taxation in an Uncertain Environment

This paper analyzes efficient pollution taxation within a stochastic model of endogenous growth. Pollution is a by-product of production and causes disutility. Furthermore, the productivity which results from environmental quality is uncertain. This reflects e.g. uncertain capital depreciation induced by natural disasters like hurricanes or floods. This uncertainty is shown to raise an ambiguous impact on the optimal pollution level as well as on optimal environmental taxation. Market equilibrium turns out to be suboptimal, since the households mis-perceive their individual impact on pollution. Conditions for welfare maximizing pollution taxation are stated and it is shown that a direct pollution tax is not appropriate to yield Pareto-optimal growth. Instead, a linear capital income tax together with a linear abatement subsidy build an efficient tax scheme, if secondarily the governmental budget is balanced. Moreover, an increase in the riskiness of environmental productivity may even lead to an increase in the optimal pollution level and to a decrease in optimal environmental taxation, depending predominantly on the preference parameters.      

Continuous utility functions for noninferior demand functions

Summary It is shown that if a demand function with no inferior goods satisfies the Slutsky conditions and has a convex range, then it is generated by a continuous utility function. The same conclusion holds when the Slutsky conditions are replaced by the strong axiom of revealed preference.     

Disability management and the Disability Discrimination Act

This article examines the implications that the Disability Discrimination Act is likely to have for existing organisational practices relating to the treatment of employees who acquire a disability during the course of their employment. Drawing on claims experience under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the authors conclude that if employers are to minimise their legal difficulties they need to adopt a proactive approach to disability management, encompassing both preventive and remedial strategies. They further suggest that the HR function is the best place to locate responsibility for ensuring that such an approach is adopted and effectively implemented.     

On continuous utility functions derived from demand functions

In the theory of revealed preference and in the approach to integrability theory of Hurwicz and Uzawa certain conditions are proposed implying the existence of a utility function generating the given demand function. This article presents a hypothesis which, under supposition of some well-known axioms of those models, is necessary and sufficient for the existence of a continuous utility function. This hypothesis implies the existence of a utility function u with the property that all of the boundary points of the set $\text{{x|u(x)≧α}}$ for every $\text{α?}\text{R}$ are lower boundary points, being fundamental for the continuity of the utility function.     

Mineral economies— Indebtedness without growth

Developing countries with considerable mineral reserves might be expected to have fewer problems with debt-servicing than other developing countries lacking these resources. In fact, during the past decade a not insignificant number of the former had to apply for a rescheduling of their foreign debts. What are the reasons behind this unexpected development?     

Almost sure local limit theorems

C HUNG E RDÖS (1951) are among the first to prove some form of an almost sure local limit theorem (cf. C SÁKI et al., 1993). Here we propose a formulation of such statements and discuss related problems.     

Adverse selection in the annuity market with sequential and simultaneous insurance demand

This paper investigates the effect of adverse selection on the private annuity market in a model with two periods of retirement and two types of individuals, who differ in their life expectancy. In order to introduce the existence of time-limited pension insurance, we consider a model where for each period of retirement separate contracts can be purchased. Demand for the two periods can be decided sequentially or simultaneously. We show that only a situation where all risk types choose sequential contracts is an equilibrium and that this outcome is favourable for the long-living, but is unfavourable for the short-living individuals. JEL Classification D82 · D91 · G22     

Ads for Mature Consumers: The Importance of Addressing the Changing Self-View Between the Age Groups 50+ and 60+

This paper investigates how to address mature consumers in advertisements in an appropriate, appreciating, and effective way. A 2 × 2–experiment with 125 consumers suggests that the more the advertisement model reflects the self-concept of the respondent on the dimensions of activity and modesty, the more positive is the attitude toward the ad. The study reveals differences between different age groups within the over-50s, which reflect a shift of values from modesty to activity. Although all mature consumers tend to prefer advertisement models that represent the concept of activity, this effect is stronger for the group 50+ than for the group 60+.