Cross-Hedging: Basis Risk and Choice of the Optimal Hedging Vehicle

The basis between a futures contract and its underlying instrument is an important measure of the cost of using the futures contract to hedge. In a cross-hedge, the relative size of the basis of alternative hedging vehicles often plays a decisive role in the selection of the optimal hedging vehicle. After adjusting hedge ratios for basis risk, a genuine risk-cost trade-off is seen in hedging 90-day certificates of deposit with either the Treasury bill contract or the Eurodollar contract. The Eurodollar contract was not uniformly superior as generally believed.     

A Backward Induction Experiment

This paper reports experiments with one-stage and two-stage alternating-offers bargaining games. Payoff-interdependent preferences have been suggested as an explanation for experimental results that are commonly inconsistent with players' maximizing their monetary payoffs and performing backward induction calculations. We examine whether, given payoff-interdependent preferences, players respect backward induction. To do this, we break backward induction into its components, subgame consistency and truncation consistency. We examine each by comparing the outcomes of two-stage bargaining games with one-stage games with varying rejection payoffs. We find and characterize systematic violations of both subgame and truncation consistency. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C70, C78.     

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ALLOCATION OF DECISION‐MAKING ACROSS STAKEHOLDER GROUPS: THE CASE OF PERSONAL CARE INDUSTRIES

ABSTRACT 1 : The article compares the allocation of decision‐making across stakeholder groups in for‐profit, nonprofit and local government personal care facilities in one state in the United States. We analyze detailed survey data on nursing homes, childcare centers and group homes. We find that in comparison to nonprofit and government organizations, for‐profit firms delegate more decision‐making power to executives and owners, and less to their employees, consumers, families, boards of directors, and community representatives. The differences, although generally small, support the hypothesis that decision‐making is allocated to different groups in accord with the broad objectives of the organization.     

Cobden's stance on the currency and the political forces behind the approval of the Bank Charter Act of 1844

Contemporary scholars consider the banking legislation of the first half of the nineteenth century, to have inhibited the development of British industry, However, some doubts about this conception should have arisen due to Richard Cobden's stance on the currency question in general and on the Bank Charter Act of 1844 in particular. Cobden, who is usually viewed as a representative of industrial interests, was expected to oppose the Bank Act. However, he did not.

This paper attempts to show how can Cobden's views regarding monetary policy be reconciled with his stand as one of the most prominent leaders of industry at the time.     

Local human capital formation and optimal FDI

This paper lends both theoretical and empirical support to the notion of optimal foreign direct investment (FDI) levels. It does so by uncovering an inverted-U-shaped relationship between FDI and human capital formation. The optimality of a particular FDI inflow depends on the educational incentives induced by FDI on the local, heterogeneous population. Our estimates confirm the significance of a positive (linear) and a negative (non-linear) impact of FDI stocks on tertiary schooling, which are exclusively relevant in developing countries.     

Bifurcated Effects of Place‐of‐Origin Diversity on Individual and Team Performance: Evidence from Ten Seasons of German Soccer

How does diversity affect performance? We develop a theoretical framework in which diversity of prevention employees (protecting the organization from harm) and of promotion employees (advancing positive outcomes) have different effects on individual and organizational performance. We use data for twenty‐eight soccer teams and 1723 players that played in 6120 games during ten seasons and find that diversity of defensive (prevention) players has a positive effect on player and team performance whereas the opposite holds for offensive (promotion) players. Joint tenure of offensive players tends to amplify these effects.     

文化信仰和社会的制度结构:从历史和理论的角度看集体主义社会和个人主义社会

本文整合了博弈论和社会学方面的概念，对文化和制度性结构之间的关系进行了比较的历史分析。文章研究了那些影响两个中世纪后期的社会（一个来自穆斯林世界，另一个来自拉丁世界）沿着不同的道路发展而形成的两个截然不同的制度性结构的因素；揭示了文化在决定制度性结构，在促进路径依赖的形成和在阻碍社会内制度成功地被采用方面的理论上的重要意义，强调了在经济发展中不同文化在历史上的重大意义。