Modeling the Reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy for Arable Crops under Uncertainty

The size of the insurance and wealth effects of a change in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for arable crops is estimated. The impact of price uncertainty is accounted for in the specific decision-making structure of the European Union (EU) arable crop producers under nonlinear mean-variance risk preferences. A system of output supply, input demand, and land allocation equations is estimated on a sample of Italian specialized arable crop farms. The simulation of the impact of the recent reforms confirms that farmers' output responses are consistently affected by the size of the insurance and wealth effects.     

A transaction level study of the effects of central bank intervention on exchange rates

We study the effects of sterilised intervention operations executed on behalf of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) using tick-by-tick transactions data between 1986 and 1995. We extend the preliminary analysis of [Economic Journal 109 (1999) 662] by matching these data with indicative intra-day exchange rate quotes and news-wire reports of central bank activity. Using an event study approach we find that intervention has important short-run effects on exchange rate returns. In particular, among various results, we find that i) intervention has a stronger impact when the SNB moves with-the-market and when its activity is concerted with that of other central banks and ii) exchange rate returns move in the 15 min interval prior to interventions.     

ROBUST PORTFOLIOS AND WEAK INCENTIVES IN LONG‐RUN INVESTMENTS

When the planning horizon is long, and the safe asset grows indefinitely, isoelastic portfolios are nearly optimal for investors who are close to isoelastic for high wealth, and not too risk averse for low wealth. We prove this result in a general arbitrage‐free, frictionless, semimartingale model. As a consequence, optimal portfolios are robust to the perturbations in preferences induced by common option compensation schemes, and such incentives are weaker when their horizon is longer. Robust option incentives are possible, but require several, arbitrarily large exercise prices, and are not always convex.     

关于宏观经济政策的若干反思

大稳健时期让宏观经济学家和政府决策者误以为大家已熟练掌握了宏观经济政策运用,本次危机显然对此观点提出了挑战。为此,国际货币基金组织（IMF）专家对危机前的宏观经济政策进行了重视审视,分析了主要共识,指出其中存在的失误,以及哪些危机前的框架原则当前仍能适用,并尝试建立新的宏观经济政策框架。建议应该对通货膨胀目标进行重视审视,协调运用货币政策和监管政策,统一通货膨胀目标制与汇率政策,更广泛地提供流动性,注意积蓄财政政策空间,设计更好的财政自动稳定机制。     

Exploring Postconsumption Guilt and Pride in the Context of Sustainability

This research explores the feelings of guilt and pride experienced by consumers after a purchase decision that involves issues of environmental and social sustainability. Through a multi‐method design, the authors examine key dimensions that influence the process of emotional appraisal, illustrate the characteristics of appraisals of guilt/pride and investigate the consequences that emotions have on future choices. In this exploratory research, when a purchase decision includes an ethical dilemma, consumers were found to express guilt or pride even when the purchase is not intentional, i.e. forced by circumstances. Moreover, the study explores how emotions experienced after decisions may have a positive influence on the future purchase of sustainable alternatives. Finally, the paper proposes a new model that describes the process of emotional appraisal and reports on a number of dimensions that were found to lead to guilt and pride. The insights presented extend knowledge of two key consumer emotions and present important implications for practitioners promoting ethical products.     

Dimensions of self-selected leisure activities,trait coping and their relationships with sleep quality and depressive symptoms

Although leisure is presumed to be beneficial, certain profiles of leisure may be especially good. This paper tests whether dimensions of self-selected leisure activities (SSLAs) differentially relate to depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality, including (a) positivity (SSLA-PO), (b) difficulty (SSLA-DF), (c) distraction (SSLA-DI) and (d) thinking about negative events (SSLA-TN). Furthermore, it tests whether those low in perseverative cognitions (PCs) and high in ‘John Henryism’ active coping are equally likely to benefit from leisure. Participants (n = 362, 76% female) at a large university in Wisconsin rated two SSLAs on the dimensions above and completed measures of depression, sleep quality, PCs and active coping. Regression analyses showed that SSLA-TN predicted greater depression and poor sleep quality. For the moderators, more SSLA-DI and SSLA-TN each predicted greater depression for those more prone to PCs, and more SSLA-DI predicted more depression and worse sleep quality at lower active coping levels. Results suggest that not all leisure is equally beneficial, and have implications for the design of leisure-based interventions.     

Implicit transaction cost management using intraday price dynamics

Using the Exchange Liquidity Measure, we show that implicit transaction costs exhibit intraday regularities around specific price change signals for a sample of European blue chips publicly quoted on Euronext. Not only transaction costs follow a reverse J-shape throughout the day but they also decrease significantly around specific patterns of price dynamics. By focusing on these signals during the trading day, liquidity traders may detect intraday windows of opportunities during which implicit transaction costs are lower.     

Minimum income in a transition economy

The Albanian Ndihma Ekonomike is one of the first poverty reduction programmes launched in transitional economies. Its record has been judged positively during the recession period of the 1990s and negatively during the more recent growth phase. This article reconsiders the programme using a regression‐adjusted local linear matching estimator first suggested by Heckman et al. (1997, 1998). We find the programme to have a weak targeting capacity and a non‐significant impact on different household outcomes.