EXPLAINING THE DECLINE OF THE U.S. SAVING RATE: THE ROLE OF HEALTH EXPENDITURE

The U.S. saving rate declined by 8% between 1980 and 2009. We document that the decline can be explained by rising health expenditures. Using exogenous variation in medical expenses generated by Food and Drug Administration drug approvals, we document that a 1 percentage point increase in health expenditure generated a decline in saving rate of 0.9 percentage points. We then estimate a model of household decisions to evaluate the mechanisms behind the decline. We find that the rise in health expenses and drop in saving rate are driven by progress in health technology, reduction in copayment rates, and improvements in income processes.     

Political corruption and capture of the minority

This article presents a model of political corruption in which a briber can choose either to bribe only the incumbent party or to capture also the opposition party to sterilize its monitoring role. The analysis also explores interparty collusion, media independence, and political contestability. The model suggests that policies aiming to strengthen the role of minorities can produce ambiguous effects as they may induce bribers' avoidance behavior. Reputational sanctions appear to be less effective than criminal ones, although political contestability increases their deterrence effect. Paradoxically, harsh criminal sanctions may induce tacit collusion because minorities highly regard their outcomes once in power.     

From First Canoe to Statehood: Eight Hundred Years of Economic and Political Change in Hawaii

The Hawaiian archipelago was the last major land area on the planet to be settled, with Polynesians making the long voyage just under a millennium ago. Building on new archaeological and historical research, the lecture provides an overview of the economic and political history of Hawai‘i from the first Polynesian settlements in the thirteen century through U.S. colonisation and statehood. The analysis considers how the political and economic institutions that emerged and evolved in Hawai‘i during its centuries of global isolation changed in response to Hawai‘i's post-1778 integration into a new world of global markets and colonial politics.     

Effects of Information Technology Capabilities on Strategic Alliances: Implications for the Resource‐Based View

This paper adopts a contingency approach to the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm and seeks to establish boundary conditions for the value of certain information technology (IT) capabilities. We first identify inter‐organizational alliances as a specific strategy context in which IT capabilities are particularly valuable. We then consider more detailed boundary conditions that can shape the value of these capabilities within the alliance context. Our study shows that firms with better IT capabilities can derive greater value from an alliance, yet this effect also varies across different types of alliances depending on an individual alliance's characteristics. Specifically, IT capabilities are more valuable for alliances with a non‐equity governance structure, as well as those involving a high degree of interdependence between partners. We highlight the implications of our findings for opportunities to advance the RBV.     

On the use of measure-valued strategies in bond markets

We propose here a theory of cylindrical stochastic integration, recently developed by Mikulevicius and Rozovskii, as mathematical background to the theory of bond markets. In this theory, since there is a continuum of securities, it seems natural to define a portfolio as a measure on maturities. However, it turns out that this set of strategies is not complete, and the theory of cylindrical integration allows one to overcome this difficulty. Our approach generalizes the measure-valued strategies: this explains some known results, such as approximate completeness, but at the same time it also shows that either the optimal strategy is based on a finite number of bonds or it is not necessarily a measure-valued process.Received: November 2002, Mathematics Subject Classification: 60H05, 60G60, 90A09JEL Classification: G10, E43The first author gratefully acknowledges financial support from the CNR Strategic Project Modellizzazione matematica di fenomeni economici. We thank professors A. Bagchi, R. Douady and J. Zabczyk for helpful discussions. A special thanks goes to professors T. Björk, Y. Kabanov and W. Schachermayer for comments and suggestions which contributed to improve the final version of this paper.     

A virtual voyage through 3D structures generated by chaotic mixing of magmas and numerical simulations: a new approach for understanding spatial and temporal complexity of magma dynamics

In this contribution, we present a virtual voyage through 3D structures generated by chaotic mixing of magmas and numerical simulations with the aim to highlight the power of 3D representations in the understanding of this geological phenomenon. In particular, samples of mixed juveniles from Salina island (Southern Italy) are reconstructed in 3D by serial lapping and digital montage and numerical simulations are performed by using a 3D chaotic dynamical system. Natural and simulated magma mixing structures are visualized by using several multimedia tools including animations and “virtual reality” models. It is shown that magma interaction processes can generate large spatial and temporal compositional heterogeneities in magmatic systems. The same topological structures are observed in both 3D reconstructed rock samples and chaotic numerical simulations, indicating that the mixing of magmas is governed by chaotic dynamics. The use of 3D multimedia models gives the opportunity to penetrate into magma mixing structures and to understand their significance in the context of magma dynamics. Such an approach is very powerful since multimedia tools can strongly capture the attention of the reader bringing him/her into an interactive and memorable geological experience.     

Socioeconomic inequality in health-related behaviors: a lifestyle approach

The adoption of certain behaviors—like smoking or physical activity—is recognized as a major factor affecting health. Analyzing the social determinants of these behaviors, then, should be considered an important goal, since it may improve our understanding of the more general phenomenon of health inequalities. In this paper we analyze the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health-related behaviors among the Italian population aged 18–74 in 2004/2005. Using large-scale sample survey data and a Weberian lifestyle approach, we first identify an ordered multidimensional space of health-related behaviors, and partition this space into a meaningful set of discrete regions representing a fine-grained taxonomy of health lifestyles. Then, we use regression analysis to determine if, and to what extent, the identified lifestyles are associated with SES. Using level of education as an indicator of SES, we find that the propensity to adopt healthier lifestyles exhibits a positive educational gradient, whereas the probability of following less healthy lifestyles is inversely associated with the level of education. We conclude that, in general, focusing on health lifestyles—i.e., on combinations of multiple health-related behaviors—instead of single behaviors may lead to a better understanding of health-related practices and their relationship with socioeconomic status.     

AHP在生产企业构建电子废弃物逆向物流体系中的应用

电子废弃物逆向物流指电子产品从消费者返回到生产者的物流过程。随着经济的发展，中国电子废弃物数量急剧上升，并对生态环境造成巨大的破坏。同时，电子废弃物逆向物流的实施可以带来巨大的经济效益。此外，发达国家封电子废弃物的规制政策对中国电子产品生产企业产生了极大影响。在上述背景下，探讨生产企业如何构建电子废弃物逆向物流系统，进行相关指标分析及通过层次分析法作出模式选择有着重要的现实意义。     

Effect of diversification on capital structure

Previous empirical financial studies have paid little attention to the role of diversification strategy on financial choices. This study analyses the financing strategies of multibusiness firms, suggesting the relevance of sorting the diversification phenomena into its related and unrelated components. The implications of our findings are important because they explain earlier contradictory results on capital‐structure determinants and offer an explanation of how the degree of product specialization/diversification and the direction of diversification (related or unrelated) translate into different corporate financial behaviours.