ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ABOUT PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION

We introduce asymmetric information about consumers’ transportation costs (i.e., the degree of product differentiation) in the model of Hotelling. When transportation costs are high, both firms have lower profits with asymmetric information than with perfect information. Contrarily, if transportation costs are low, both firms may prefer the asymmetric information scenario (the informed firm always prefers the informational advantage, while the uninformed firm may or may not prefer to remain uninformed). Information exchange is ex‐ante advantageous for both firms, but ex‐post damaging if transportation costs turn out to be low. If the information is unverifiable, the informed firm does not represent a reliable source of information, since it always prefers to announce that transportation costs are high and there is no contract that induces truthful revelation.     

Development banking and technological development: a case study of industrial development banks in the GCC countries

This article explores the important role of Industrial Development Banks in promoting the quality of technological development. It is argued that the historical experiences of the developed economies and several developing economies during recent times support the need and potentials of a more pro-active role by Industrial Development Banks. Against this background, the specific experiences of Industrial Development Banks in the Gulf Co-operation Council Countries are examined and the results of a select field survey are reported. This exploratory study suggests that some fundamental steps are needed in order to develop Industrial Development Banks from being comparatively passive conduits of technological aid to more active promoters of technological development.     

Inter-industry Technology Spillover Effects in China： Evidence from 35 Industrial Sectors

The present paper calculates 35 industrial sectors’ similarity matrices for the period of 1997-2008 using China’s input-output tables for 1997,2002 and 2007,and uses these to measure inter-industry technology spillover to analyze the spillover effects on industrial sectors’ labor productivity.The empirical analysis shows that inter-industry technology spillover has a significant positive effect on the labor productivity of each industry.The elasticity of productivity effects of inter-industry technology spillover is not only larger than that of direct R&D input,but also increases over time.We group the industries into four major categories and find that the inter-industry technology spillover effect within the categories is,on average,greater than that between the four categories,indicating that technology spillover occurs more easily between similar industries.This research shows that the interindustry technology spillover effect in China has begun to increase,and the government should take advantage of this effect.     

The new public management and the UK Police Service

This article explores the impact of the introduction of the New Public Management (NPM) within the UK Police Service since the mid-1990s. A specific focus upon individual performance management (one of the central features of NPM) is examined from the perspective of the police sergeant who has primary responsibility for managing performance and ultimately the delivery of policing services within one of the UK's ‘essential’ public services. After a discussion of the literature on individual performance management within the context of the NPM, the article identifies four major research questions relating to: the job role demands of performance management; access to valid and reliable performance management information; the capacity to provide follow-up development and support; and the wider integration of performance management with organization strategy and service objectives. After reporting on interview data collected from role sets in which the sergeant is a focal member, the article concludes with a discussion of the constraints upon effective performance management within the NPM.     

The transmission mechanism in a changing world

The paper aims to identify those factors that cause changes in the speed and strength of the international transmission of output shocks from the USA to specified European economies. These factors are identified through the use of generalized impulse response functions conditioned on histories defined by an abrupt transition VAR. The chosen transition variables comprise changes in exchange rates, financial prices, international capital flows, trade links and monetary policy instruments. Besides the identification of asymmetric responses, the proposed model is useful in analyzing the strong effect of the recent US recession on the European economies and changes in business cycle synchronization over time. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Insuring Banks Against Liquidity Shocks: The Role of Deposit Insurance and Lending of Last Resort

Abstract.  It has long been recognized that banks' simultaneous provision of monitoring and liquidity services is advantageous but leaves them susceptible to liquidity shocks that may culminate in a system failure. Because a system failure is costly, this provides a rationale for adopting arrangements, including a lender of last resort and deposit insurance (DI), to insure banks against liquidity shocks. These arrangements have proven themselves very successful, but they have also been the source of problems. Researchers have identified some of the main sources of these problems and have suggested ways to improve the design of these arrangements, but there are still many issues that remain unaddressed. This paper reviews the literature on the two arrangements that most countries have adopted to insure banks against liquidity shocks, a lender of last resort and DI, and compares the design of these arrangements across countries. The paper ends with a brief summary of the key lessons learned about the design of these arrangements and the issues related to them that remain unaddressed.     

Hysteresis and sluggishness in Portuguese unemployment, 1977–88

The phenomenon of unemployment persistence led to the development of alternative theories of unemployment. Among these the ‘hysteresis’ concept by Blanchard and Summers (1987) received a wide interest. Based on this notion we developed a generalized model that nests Blanchards and Summers' theory. Using this framework we conducted an empirical investigation for the Portuguese labour market (1977–88). The results obtained point towards the existence of labour demand sluggishness, wage inertia and unemployment hysteresis. The model also suggests the existence of a rather inelastic labour demand curve.     

Applications of Fuzzy Regression in Actuarial Analysis

In this article, we propose several applications of fuzzy regression techniques for actuarial problems. Our main analysis is motivated, on the one hand, by the fact that several articles in the financial and actuarial literature suggest using fuzzy numbers to model interest rate uncertainty but do not explain how to quantify these rates with fuzzy numbers. Likewise, actuarial literature has recently focused some of its attention in analyzing the Term Structure of Interest Rates (TSIR) because this is a key instrument for pricing insurance contracts. With these two ideas in mind, we show that fuzzy regression is suitable for adjusting the TSIR and discuss how to apply a fuzzy TSIR when pricing life insurance contracts and property‐liability policies. Finally, we reflect on other actuarial applications of fuzzy regression and develop with this technique the London Chain Ladder Method for obtaining Incurred But Not Reported Reserves.