Inf-convolution of risk measures and optimal risk transfer

We develop a methodology for optimal design of financial instruments aimed to hedge some forms of risk that is not traded on financial markets. The idea is to minimize the risk of the issuer under the constraint imposed by a buyer who enters the transaction if and only if her risk level remains below a given threshold. Both agents have also the opportunity to invest all their residual wealth on financial markets, but with different access to financial investments. The problem is reduced to a unique inf-convolution problem involving a transformation of the initial risk measures.Received: December 2004, Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 60G35, 91B28, 91B30, 46N10JEL Classification: C61, D81, G13, G22     

Battling pirates? Patents may be the best defense

In the perilous high seas of international trade, girding the corporate ship with patents may be the best defense against piracy of your product or service ideas.     

Music format effects in radio advertising

Radio advertising performance was experimentally investigated to determine whether music format can moderate the persuasive effect of ads for low involvement type products. Recall, attitude toward the product, attitude toward the advertisement, and behavioral intention scores each provide support for the research hypothesis. As predicted, a highly involving music format produced the most consistently favorable effects for the products tested.     

Two-Stage Acquisitions, Free-Riding, and Corporate Control

This study examines two-stage acquisitions, focusing upon first- and second-stage excess returns for both acquired and acquiring firms, and analyzing the relation between acquisition returns and ownership interest. The evidence suggests that target firm shareholders do not free-ride. Evidence is also provided indicating that premiums are paid by the majority holder to acquire a remaining minority interest.     

RESTRUCTURING THE NHS AGAIN: SUPPLY SIDE REFORM IN RECENT ENGLISH HEALTH CARE POLICY

Introducing market-like structures to public services is a key aspect of New Public Management. The restructuring of the NHS into an internal market of the 1990s is an example. Recent policies have further developed this notion. A new aspect of the restructuring is a focus on increasing the diversity of types of provider of healthcare organisations. The objectives of the restructuring policy entailing the increase in supply side diversity are examined, and the challenges raised by these changes are discussed. It is argued that the government is too optimistic about the benefits, and insufficiently concerned about possible undesirable consequences.     

Valuing high altitude spruce-fir forest improvements: importance of forest condition and recreation activity

High altitude spruce fir forests are typical around the world and are often subjected to multiple forms of recreational use. In this paper, we use household and recreation group data for a spruce fir forest high in the Appalachian Mountains of the U. S. to evaluate the benefits from forest protection (i. e., from improving the forest condition). Our benefits estimation procedures use the referendum-type, contingent valuation (CV) approach of Cameron (1988). We modify the usual practice of obtaining a single willingness-to-pay (WTP) value by using alternative questionnaire scenarios and conducting tests to examine i) household and recreation group value sensitivity to forest condition, and ii) recreation group differences in WTP for forest protection. A first sample of southeastern U. S. households was asked to value a forest protection program for a spruce-fir forest showing no impact from insect disturbance or atmospheric deposition. The second sample was asked to value a protection program for a forest already experiencing impact from insect infestation and air pollution. Logit analysis of the two samples revealed no statistically significant difference in household WTP between the two forest protection programs. Further analysis indicated that consumptive forest users (i. e., hunters and anglers) held forest protection values that were sensitive to a change forest condition, while nonconsumptive forest users (i. e., campers and hikers) held values that were insensitive to the same condition change. Recreation group comparisons revealed that consumptive forest users also held lower values for forest protection than nonconsumptive recreationists. These results demonstrate the importance of estimating public values for forest protection in terms of heterogeneous groups rather than as a homogeneous whole.