Autonomy strategies of government owned business corporations in Canada

State-owned enterprises, referred to as “government owned business corporations” in this paper, are a common phenomenon in Canada, are increasing in number, and are contributing substantially to the economy. The environment for these corporations is examined to establish the principal components and to identify two dominating trends in public policy, privatization and commercialization. The paper suggests that these trends, plus management's desire for flexibility, are resulting in the formulation of autonomy strategies designed to increase management's decision making capability relating to operating and strategic management with less government interference. A final section integrates the environment and autonomy strategies discussions to develop a typology for classifying the behaviour of government owned business corporations. The paper concludes that managers of government owned business corporations in Canada are formulating and implementing autonomy strategies because of environmental factors, public policies, and management's desire for independence.     

Analysis of Systemic Risk in the Insurance Industry

In this paper, we discuss the systemic relevance of the insurance sector. Systemic risk is defined as the propensity of a financial institution to be undercapitalised when the financial system as a whole is undercapitalised. By the law of large numbers, traditional lines of insurance with idiosyncratic non-catastrophic risks cannot be systemic. On the contrary, undiversified insurers specialised in activities whose insured risks are highly correlated with GDP are systemic. In the life insurance sector, some contractual clauses such as unhedged minimum guarantees and free options to surrender raise the chance of systemic relevance. On the contrary, life insurers satisfying the classic solvency capital requirements contribute to the liquidity of financial markets thanks to the long-termist approach of their portfolio management. Finally, using historical data in the U.S. on the contribution of different sectors to the aggregate volatility of the economy, we show that investment banking is almost twice as volatile as aggregate GDP, while insurance is one fifth as volatile as aggregate GDP. The insurance sector thus appears to be a stabilising force of the economy.     

An implicit food policy : Wheat consumption changes in Venezuela

The authors examine Venezuela's wheat and maize consumption in the light of the country's historical process of economic development. They show how certain development policies and strategies affected the consumption of wheat and maize and how, although generally lacking any explicit food policy content, these policies acted as implicit food policies aiding the progressive replacement of maize as the dietary staple by wheat.     

Catastrophe Theory: Implications for Probability

ABSTRACT The work of Rene Thom relating to catastrophe theory has influenced probability theory Since so much of the research conducted by social scientists depends on calculating the probability that events will occur, an introduction to catastrophe theory is needed By discussing the social implications of the position outlined by Thom, social scientists will better understand the difficulties associated with generating probability statements