From equality to inequality: The Diamond–Sen criticism of Harsanyi's criterion of social justice

It is difficult to resolve conflicts of interests even in a society consisting of identical persons. Such an issue has been perceived as a serious difficulty posed to Harsanyi's axiomatic utilitarianism by Diamond's critique which Sen seemed to approve. Recent treatments tried to resolve this criticism by modifying Harsanyi's analytical framework so as to render it immune to Diamond's view about fairness. This paper shows that Diamond's view of fairness may be read as a "simple form" of Rawls' justice as fairness; and hence its clash with Harsanyi's social welfare criterion reflects the Harsanyi–Rawls debate about social justice. Sen's position on the debate is also discussed. In the case where individual preferences share some common characteristics in the manner described in Harsanyi's 1955 axiomatization of utilitarianism, various conceptions of equal treatment of equals are possible. To each of these conceptions corresponds a specific social welfare function, and there is no way to find which one is the best, from the scientific or ethical points of view.     

The temporal effects of relative and firm‐level absorptive capacity on interorganizational learning

We examine how determinants of absorptive capacity influence learning in alliances over time. Using longitudinal patent cross‐citation data, we find an inverted U‐shaped pattern over time that is influenced by firm‐level and relational factors. Technological similarity only modestly increases learning in the initial stages of a relationship, but moderate levels substantially increase knowledge flows later in the alliance. High technological diversity is related to higher initial learning rates, but the effects diminish over time. Somewhat surprisingly, research and development intensity is negatively related to initial learning rates but has a considerable positive effect later in the relationship. We suggest that initial learning rates in alliances may be constrained by the capacity to absorb knowledge, while later‐stage outcomes are constrained by exploitation capacity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in insider ownership and changes in the market value of the firm

The empirically-observed cross-sectional relation between the level of insider share ownership and the level of firm value has often been interpreted to mean that a change in share ownership can lead to a change in firm value. Such an interpretation has been criticized for ignoring potential endogeneity. In this paper, we perform two sets of tests to circumvent this alleged endogeneity. First, we measure changes in value over the 6-day interval around announcements of insider share purchases and find that the cross-sectional variability in changes in value is described by a curvilinear relation between firm value and insider ownership where the value of the firm first increases, then decreases, as insider share ownership increases. Second, we conduct tests to determine (1) whether the insider purchases are a response to changes in firm characteristics that require a new optimal equilibrium ownership level or (2) whether insiders are purchasing shares to signal that the firm is undervalued. We find no evidence to support these interpretations. Overall, our results are consistent with a causal interpretation of the empirical relation between insider ownership and firm value.     

What drives corporate liquidity? An international survey of cash holdings and lines of credit

We survey chief financial officers from 29 countries to examine whether and why firms use lines of credit versus non-operational (excess) cash for their corporate liquidity. We find that these two liquidity sources are employed to hedge against different risks. Non-operational cash guards against future cash flow shocks in bad times, while credit lines give firms the option to exploit future business opportunities available in good times. Lines of credit are the dominant source of liquidity for companies around the world, comprising about 15% of assets, while less than half of the cash held by companies is held for non-operational purposes, comprising about 2% of assets. Across countries, firms make greater use of lines of credit when external credit markets are poorly developed.     

A proposed set of nine regions for the United States and the inequality of population densities

A nine-region division of the United States is discussed and compared with the U.S. Census and BEA (Bureau of Economic Analysis) regional groupings. The discussion includes the population density of the regions as well as the inequality of the population densities between and within regions. First version received: October 1999/Final version received: February 2000     

The Impact of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and the Nias Earthquake on the Spatial Distribution of Population in Northern Sumatra

After the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Northern Sumatra experienced three shocks: a negative shock from the tsunami itself and the Nias earthquake that followed in 2005; a positive shock from the massive allocation of recovery funds; and another positive shock from the peace deal between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement, also in 2005. We analyse the consequences of these shocks on the spatial distribution of the population in Northern Sumatra, building on the approach developed by Davis and Weinstein (2002). We conclude that there have been no significant changes in the relative position of regions in Aceh and North Sumatra, considering their population size. Our model of estimated population growth suggests that the twin disasters had only a temporary impact, which supports the locational fundamentals theory. Our results also reveal that the peace deal is important in explaining the dynamics of population growth in the region.     

Microeconomic uncertainty and macroeconomic indeterminacy

We propose a stylized intertemporal macroeconomic model wherein the combination of decentralized trading and microeconomic uncertainty (taking the form of privately observed and uninsured idiosyncratic shocks) creates an information problem between agents and generates indeterminacy of the macroeconomic equilibrium. For a given value of the economic fundamentals, the economy admits a continuum of equilibria that can be indexed by the sales expectations of firms at the time of investment. The Walrasian equilibrium is one of these possible equilibria but it is reached only if firms are optimistic enough. With a weaker degree of optimism, equilibrium output, employment and real wages will be lower than in the Walrasian equilibrium. Moreover, the range of possible equilibria will depend positively on the wage elasticity of the labour supply and on the magnitude of the information problem between buyers and sellers (in our case, the variance of the idiosyncratic shocks).Stochastic simulations performed on a calibrated version of the model show that pure demand expectation shocks may generate business cycle statistics that are not inconsistent with the observed ones.