OPTIMAL CONSUMPTION AND PORTFOLIO DECISIONS WITH PARTIALLY OBSERVED REAL PRICES

We consider optimal consumption and portfolio investment problems of an investor who is interested in maximizing his utilities from consumption and terminal wealth subject to a random inflation in the consumption basket price over time. We consider two cases: (i) when the investor observes the basket price and (ii) when he receives only noisy observations on the basket price. We derive the optimal policies and show that a modified Mutual Fund Theorem consisting of three funds holds in both cases. The compositions of the funds in the two cases are the same, but in general the investor's allocations of his wealth into these funds will differ. However, in the particular case when the investor has constant relative risk-aversion (CRRA) utility, his optimal investment allocations into these funds are also the same in both cases.     

Computerized Delphi: An Application to Quota Value Determination in the Quebec Dairy Industry

In an effort to develop a substitute for the consensus panel, a Delphi experiment was conducted based on five simulated benchmark dairy farms in Quebec and communicated to an expert farmer panel by means of a microcomputer model. Farmers were asked to make decisions about quota purchase or sale at alternative quota prices given the detailed data base in the computer model. The results in terms of the convergence analysis, analysis of variance, estimation of fluid quota demand, supply and the equilibrium price are realistic. The method appears to be free from the danger of possible manipulation by individual panelists and hence a good way of generating unbiased information.
Pour essayer de développer un substitut pour le panneau à majorité simple, une expérience "Delphi" a été conduite à partir des données fournies par une simulation de cinq fermes laitierès typiques et communiquée à un panneau agricole au moyen d'un modéle micro-ordinateur. On a demandé aux fermiers de faire des décisions sur l'achat ou la vente d'un contingent à des prix alternatifs pour le contingent étant donnée la base detaillée des données contenue dans le modèle d'ordinateur. Les résultats quant à l'analyse par convergence, l'analyse des variations, l'évaluation de la demande des contingents de fluide, l'offre et l'équilibre des prix sont réalistes. La méthode semble être libre du danger de manipulation possible par un individu dans les panneaux et en conséquence est un bon moyen de produire de l'information objective.     

A comparison of the technical efficiencies of health districts and hospitals in Botswana

An attempt is made here to construct and present relative efficiency indices for the services rendered by health districts and specific hospitals in Botswana, using Stochastic Frontier Regression analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis. The analysis indicated that three districts - Kweneng East, Kgalagadi and Boteti - have efficiency scores below the optimum level. Among the 13 hospitals considered, Tsabong Primary Hospital was found to have an efficiency score of less than one. Since the health services involve a number of factors, these indices ought to serve as indicators for further scrutiny of those units (health districts and hospitals) that fall below the optimum efficiency level. The data used for the analysis are from the published material by the Central Statistics Office, Botswana for the year 1997. Health is considered one of the major concerns of the government of Botswana. As a consequence, the authors feel that this study will be useful to policy makers and health planners in giving them some kind of relative ranking among health districts and hospitals.     

Technical efficiency of high technology medicine

Intensive care units (ICUs) are classic examples of high technology medicine. The ICU has become an essential step in the clinical management of patients passing through a phase of critical illness, However, the costs are extremely h9gh (1% of GNP in the USA), whereas it has not ben adeqyately demonstrated that routine admission to intensive care is associated with an increase in survival rate and a decrease in morbidity. Consequently, intensive care is a logical arena in which to encourage more efficient use. The paper focuses on determinates of the technical efficiency of the ICU. Technical efficiency can only be ensured when the ICU is conceived as a responsibility centre where inputs, throughputs and outputs are measured. The reaponsbility centre in characterized by management control, which is dependent on reliable information regarding incentives and constraints of ICU performance. On the basis of the medical and economic literature, conjectures are made on determinants of ICU performance. In addition, some results are presented of a feasibility study commissional by the Netherlands Ministry of Health.     

Examining CSR disclosure strategies within the Australian food and beverage industry

This study examines intra-industry variation in CSR disclosure practice. Specifically, it investigates whether companies from industry sub-sectors with different CSR profiles have varying patterns of CSR disclosure. The industry analysed is the Australian food and beverage industry. The paper finds that companies from industry sub-sectors with higher CSR profiles engage in greater ‘symbolic’ disclosures. Further, the relationship between CSR profile and disclosure strategy was found to be influenced also by the centrality of the CSR issue under examination to the company's business. While the small sample size limits generalisability, these findings have implications for both CSR research and practice.     

Early-Life Circumstances Predict Measures of Trust among Adults: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post-War Germany

Can a major shock in childhood permanently shape trust? We consider a hunger episode in Germany after World War II, and we construct a measure of hunger exposure from official data on caloric rations set monthly by the occupying forces, providing regional and temporal variations. We correlate hunger exposure with measures of trust using data from a nationally representative sample of the German population. We show that individuals exposed to low caloric rations in childhood have significantly lower levels of trust as adults. This finding highlights that early-life experiences can have long-term effects in domains other than health, where such effects are well documented.     

Strategic management accounting and strategy practices within a public sector agency

Empirical strategic management accounting (SMA) research has paid insufficient attention to the practices through which strategising occurs. SMA research has also overlooked the importance of strategy in the public sector and the specificities of this context that problematise existing knowledge of techniques that might make up SMA. Consequently, this study examines the role of management accounting in organisational practices through which strategy is enacted, and does this by way of a longitudinal study of a public sector agency. It is informed by the strategy-as-practice perspective that increasingly features in strategy research. The study identifies roles for management accounting in strategising that extend beyond the typically ascribed functions of decision-facilitation and decision-influencing. Its main contribution is the detailing of specific ways in which management accounting is constitutive of strategising through specific organisational practices. The findings of particular management accounting techniques being used for strategising by entities in the public sector provide a useful counter-point to the private sector orientation that has dominated SMA research to date. The study also outlines particular directions that a rebalanced SMA research agenda might take.