The Importance of Geographic Wine Appellations: Hedonic Pricing of Burgundy Wines in the British Columbia Wine Market

To examine the buying habits of British Columbia (BC) wine consumers and their appreciation of French wine attributes, we estimate a hedonic price function for Burgundy wines which comprise an array of different appellations, vintages, and alcohol levels. BC ranks among the top three wine-consuming provinces in Canada and residents' wine preferences are likely linked to an emerging sophistication in tastes. This study uses weekly retail sales data and attributes of Burgundy wines reported by the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. The results confirm the collective reputation effects of the Burgundy wine region and show that the implicit values differ between white and red Burgundy wines with village designation and vintage having a relatively larger effect on white wine prices than in the case of red wines. Burgundy white wines, such as Aloxe-Corton, Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru, Meursault Premier Cru, and Chablis Grand Cru, were associated with larger price premia. Afin d'examiner les habitudes d'achat des consommateurs de vin de la Colombie−Britannique et leur appréciation des caractéristiques des vins français, nous avons estimé une fonction de prix hédoniste des vins de Bourgogne d'appellations, de millésimes et de degrés d'alcool variés. La Colombie−Britannique figure parmi les trois provinces canadiennes où l'on consomme le plus de vin, et les préférences des consommateurs de vin découlent probablement d'un raffinement des goûts. Dans la présente étude, nous avons utilisé les données des ventes au détail hebdomadaires et les caractéristiques des vins de Bourgogne fournies par la Société des alcools de la Colombie-Britannique (BC Liquor Distribution Branch). Les résultats confirment les effets de la réputation de la région viticole de la Bourgogne et montrent que les valeurs implicites diffèrent entre les vins de Bourgogne blancs et rouges, et que l'appellation «village» et le millésime influent davantage sur les prix des vins blancs que sur ceux des vins rouges. Les prix des vins de Bourgogne blancs, tels que Aloxe-Corton, Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru, Meursault Premier Cru et Chablis Grand Cru, ont présenté des primes plus élevées.     

Valuation of an early exercise defined benefit underpin hybrid pension

In this paper, we consider three types of embedded options in pension benefit design. The first is the Florida second election (FSE) option, which has been offered to public employees in the state of Florida since 2002. The state runs both defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Employees who initially join the DC plan have the option to convert to the (DB) plan at a time of their choosing. The cost of the switch is assessed in terms of the ABO (Accrued Benefit Obligation), which is the expected present value of the accrued DB pension at the time of the switch. If the ABO is greater than the DC account, the employee is required to fund the difference. The second is the DB Underpin option, also known as a ‘floor offset’ or a ‘Greater-of-benefit’ plan, under which the employee participates in a DC plan, but with a guaranteed minimum benefit based on a traditional DB formula. The third option can be considered a variation on each of the first two. We remove the requirement from the FSE option for employees to fund any shortfall at the switching date. The resulting plan is similar to the DB underpin, but with the possibility of early exercise. We adopt an arbitrage-free pricing methodology to value each option. We analyse and value the optimal switching strategy for the employee by constructing an exercise frontier, and we illustrate numerically the difference between the FSE, DB Underpin and Early Exercise DB Underpin options.     

Risk can be good for self-esteem: beyond self-determination theory

Abstract

Despite many decades of research that has highlighted all risk-taking sport activities as a means to satisfy sensation seeking needs (e.g., Zuckerman 1979 Zuckerman, M. 1979. Sensation Seeking: Beyond the Optimal Level of Arousal. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]), recent research has challenged that view and has revealed that some high-risk activities provide opportunities for agentic emotion regulation during participation, and are not driven by sensation-seeking needs (e.g., Barlow, Woodman, and Hardy 2013 Barlow, M., T. Woodman, and L. Hardy. 2013. “Great Expectations: Different High-Risk Activities Satisfy Different Motives.” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 105: 458–475. doi:10.1037/a0033542.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Participation in high-risk sports is also associated with increased self-esteem (e.g., A?çi, Demirhan, and Dinç 2007 A?çi, F. H., G. Demirhan, and S. C. Dinç. 2007. “Psychological Profile of Turkish Rock Climbers: An Examination of Climbing Experience and Route Difficulty.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 104 (3): 892–900. doi:10.2466/pms.104.3.892-900.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The aim of the present study was to investigate the link between the agentic and emotion regulation benefits of specific high-risk activities and any associated self-esteem benefits. We hypothesized that the emotion regulation and agency experiences in high-risk physical activities would mirror the elevated self-esteem derived from these activities. We examined high-risk activity (n?=?84), low-risk activity (n?=?65), and control (n?=?45) groups and found that the experience of agentic emotion regulation was greater during participation for high-risk sport participants. High-risk sport participants also had less post-activity difficulty with emotion regulation and higher self-esteem. This study provides the first support that activities that require greater agentic emotion regulation during participation also lead to elevated self-esteem. Basic psychological needs satisfaction did not account for the differences between groups, suggesting that people have other needs (e.g., the need to self-regulate) that are not incorporated into self-determination theory.     

Determinants of the grant lag and the surrender lag of horticultural crop plant breeders’ rights applications: Survival analysis with competing risks

Obtaining a Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) certificate provides horticultural institutions the exclusive right to produce and reproduce new varieties, which directly motivate new plant variety innovations. This study investigates how the grant and surrender lag of PBR certificates is influenced by the crop type and applicant characteristics using the Canadian Food Inspection Agency horticultural crop PBR application data for the period 1992–2014. Results from the Fine and Gray subdistribution hazard model reveal that the grant lag and surrender lag of Canadian PBR applications significantly vary by the country of origin of the applicant, whether the applicant is a public institution or private company/individual, horticultural crop types, and the decades when applications are filed. The policy implications of the results provide useful information to stakeholders of the Canadian Plant Breeders’ Rights System regarding how the lifespan of PBRs is influenced by crop type and applicant characteristics.     

Collection of recyclables from cubes – A case study

Collection of recyclable materials is a major part of reverse logistics and an important issue in sustainable logistics. In this paper we consider a case study where paper and glass are collected from recycling cubes and transported to a treatment facility and processed for reuse. We show how outsourcing the planning and transportation of this service may result in conflicts of interest and unsustainable solutions. Finally, we suggest an alternative payment structure which can lead to a common goal, overall financial sustainability, and an improved financial situation for both the public company and the logistics provider.     

Are Odd-Lot Orders Informed?

Using a version of the ITCH data set time stamped to the millisecond, O'Hara, Yao and Ye find that odd-lot trades are highly informed. However, NASDAQ reports trades based on the size of the resting limit order, creating a bias in the count of odd-lot trades. Using ITCH data from 2013, time stamped to the nanosecond, we find that roughly 50% of odd-lot trades are created by the resting limit order and are part of larger marketable orders. We show that odd-lot marketable orders are not more informed than round/mixed lot marketable orders.     

Reframing resistance to organizational change

We examine the literature on resistance to organizational change and identify two dominant yet contrasting approaches: the demonizing versus the celebrating of resistance to change. We show that both of these approaches fail to address power relations adequately and, in so doing, raise practical, ethical and theoretical problems in understanding and managing change. We propose an alternative, more critical approach, which shows how both power and resistance constitute organizational change. We highlight how power-resistance relations lie at the heart of organizational change.     

Do asset sales lead to improvements in operating performance?

The changes in operating performance associated with asset sales are investigated for a sample of UK firms. Asset sales are followed by an improvement of 11% per annum in the level of operating performance relative to the pre-sale performance level. Further, improved abnormal operating performance is found, which is measured after controlling for the performance of the industry, the pre-sale performance of the firm and the level of competition in the market for asset sales. The abnormal operating performance of the remaining assets improve by 2.4% per annum, on average, for three years after the asset sales. This study also finds that the market for asset sales is imperfectly competitive.     

经济全球化和一体化进程对政府竞争政策的影响

随着经济全球化和一体化进程的迅速发展 ,在改善经济环境以增强国内和国际市场的竞争力方面 ,政府的角色已经发生了根本性的变化。在对外经济政策中政府曾经通过关税 ,取消或者部分取消限制以及调整外汇汇率等手段的使用来对经济活动施加巨大的影响。后来由于一些多边条约以及双边条约的签订 ,政府干预手段施行的空间被大幅度的压缩了 ,与此相适应国际经济组织的各成员国在制定宏观和微观经济政策时必须遵循一定的准则并采取相应的措施 ,以促进国家竞争力的提高。波兰作为转轨经济国家 ,在全球化和欧盟一体化背景下 ,政府经济政策正面临艰难的选择