Evaluating Agricultural Energy Policies Under Uncertainty: The Case of Electricity in South India

Farmers' attitude towards risk associated with the availability of energy inputs will influence their investment behavior and demand for energy inputs. In order to analyze policies that reduce the risk in energy availability, some modifications in methods are required. This study, using a mean-variance framework, demonstrates how cross-sectional data and time-series data on crop yields and prices can be used to analyze agricultural energy policies under uncertainty in a developing country context. It is argued that the farmers risk attitudes, their crop allocation behavior, changes in the demand for energy inputs and the stochastic relationship between various forms of energy inputs can be explained by the various energy constraints faced by them. Furthermore, using the same methods the impact of policies which affect these constraints, can be analyzed.     

Optimal hedging of contingent exposure: the importance of a risk premium

The focus of this article is how a non‐zero risk premium affects an economic agent's optimal hedging decision when exposed to a nonmarketed event. The analysis is not confined to the optimal use of one particular hedging instrument, rather, the optimal payoff based on the agent's preferences is derived. We show, for various preferences, how the size of a risk premium affects the degree of nonlinearity in the optimal hedging instrument. This result is in contrast to known results for contingent exposure in the case of a zero risk premium. We demonstrate an inefficacy of the approach of confining the analysis to one particular hedging instrument in the case of standard exposure. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 20:823–841, 2000     

New standard regulations regarding allocation to the safety reserve in Sweden

Abstract

This paper describes a statistical investigation of observed loss ratios and run-offs for a number of Swedish insurance companies within different lines of business. The main aim of the investigation was to revise existing upper limits for allocation to the so-called safety reserve, which is an untaxed contingency reserve. The effort was successful in that new rules were established by the Swedish Supervisory Authority in accordance with the results of the investigation. This paper also contains an exposition of the general principles underlying the Swedish safety reserve.     

Exploring Relationships Between Recreation Specialization,Restorative Environments and Mountain Hikers’ Flow Experience

This study explored the relationships between the perception of restorative natural environments, specialization in mountain hiking and flow experience. On-site interviews were conducted at mountain huts in the Salzkammergut, Austria, in 2009. The analysis of 369 hikers suggests that a relationship exists among recreation specialization, the perception of restorative environments and flow. With increasing specialization, people are more likely to experience flow. The restorative quality dimensions of “being away,” “fascination” and “compatibility” with the mountainous landscape were positive predictors of flow experience.     

Versicherbarkeit von Terrorismusrisiken

After the terrorist attack of September 11 the ongoing discussion about terrorism in the insurance industry focuses especially on the question to what extent terrorism risk is insurable at all. In this context the subsequent analysis of insurability draws the conclusion that from a theory perspective the statement — ?terrorism is not insurable“ — cannot be sustained. Simultaneously this thesis is supported both by insurance practice and also by a comparison of other extreme risks which have a similar risk exposure like the terrorism risk and which equally violate the established limits of insurability.     

Suspending Group Debate and Developing Concepts

The ability of new product development (NPD) teams to generate ideas and develop high‐quality concepts for new products is a crucial determinant of NPD success. Although prior research in this area has developed various interventions to enhance the ability of teams to generate ideas, such interventions have limited impact on innovation management theory and practice. Partly, this is because of practical reasons: The interventions are often costly and impractical. However, there are also more fundamental, theoretical issues regarding these interventions: Knowledge of which interventions are effective in what situations is lacking. Even more importantly, there is no theory (or empirical evidence) about the effects of these interventions on the success of developing initial ideas into concepts. Together, this has caused the usefulness of these interventions for NPD teams to be uncertain at best. To remedy this situation, this study focuses on a costless and easy‐to‐implement intervention: suspending group debate. Suspending group debate refers to a team idea generation and concept development process in which groups debate a problem, ideas for solutions are generated individually, and these ideas are debated and developed into concepts collectively. The authors developed a new theory about the impact of suspending group debate on idea generation and on further concept development. Specifically, they argue that suspending group debate causes groups to generate a higher number of ideas, a higher number of original ideas, and a more diverse set of ideas, but that only the number of original ideas and the diversity of the set of ideas will translate into higher concept quality. The authors also developed new theory about when suspending group debate is especially effective. Specifically, they argue that suspending group debate is especially effective when at least one group member is low on extraversion. This theory is tested using an experimental design in which groups generated ideas and developed concepts for a specific organizational problem. Some groups suspend group debate, while others do not. Results show that suspending group debate indeed causes groups to generate a higher number of ideas, a higher number of original ideas, and a more diverse set of ideas. Importantly, results demonstrate that the effects of suspending group debate are more pronounced for groups with one or more group members that are low on extraversion. Furthermore, suspending group debate also affects concept quality, mediated by the number of original ideas and the diversity of ideas that groups generate (and thus not by the sheer number of ideas generated). Specifically, results show that both the diversity of the idea set as well as the number of original ideas positively influence the innovativeness of the final concept, while only the diversity of the idea set influences the comprehensiveness of the final concept.     

Sectoral labour market effects of the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Using the case of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, this study is the first to test the employment effects of a mega-sporting event on the basis of data that combines both regional and sectoral data. It is also the first study of sporting events to use a semi-parametric test method. Earlier studies on the World Cup could hardly identify any employment effects. In contrast, we find a small but significant positive employment effect on the hospitality sector.