Implementierungslücken bei der Umsetzung wertorientierter Steuerungssysteme in Schaden- und Unfallversicherungsunternehmen

In this study implementation gaps of value-based management systems for non life insurers in the German speaking countries are identified. One of the key results is the fact that the success of the implementation is lagging behind the increasing importance of value-based management systems. The results should help practitioners with the successful implementation of the new concepts and thus bridging the gap between theory and practice.     

Financial advisors: A case of babysitters?

We use two data sets, one from a large brokerage and another from a major bank, to ask: (i) whether financial advisors are more likely to be matched with poorer, uninformed investors or with richer and experienced investors; (ii) how advised accounts actually perform relative to self-managed accounts; (iii) whether the contribution of independent and bank advisors is similar. We find that advised accounts offer on average lower net returns and inferior risk-return tradeoffs (Sharpe ratios). Trading costs contribute to outcomes, as advised accounts feature higher turnover, consistent with commissions being the main source of advisor income. Results are robust to controlling for investor and local area characteristics. The results apply with stronger force to bank advisors than to independent financial advisors, consistent with greater limitations on bank advisory services.     

The characteristics of family firms: exploiting information on ownership,kinship, and governance using total population data

Family firms are often considered characteristically different from non-family firms. However, our understanding of family firms suffers from an inability to identify them in total population data; information is rarely available regarding owners, their kinship, and their involvement in firm governance. We present a method for identifying domiciled family firms using register data; this method offers greater accuracy than previous methods. We apply this method to Swedish data concerning firm ownership, governance, and kinship from 2004 to 2010. We find that the family firm is a significant organizational form, contributing over one third of all employment and gross domestic product (GDP). Family firms are common in most industries and range in size. Furthermore, we find that, compared to private non-family firms, family firms have fewer total assets, employment, and sales and carry higher solidity, although family firms are more profitable. These differences diminish with firm size. We conclude that the term “family firm” includes a large variety of firms, and we call for increased attention to their heterogeneity.     

The 2008 tax rebate and US household debt

Starting in May 2008, the US government disbursed over $100 billion to households in the form of tax rebates. Embedded in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, the rollout was aimed at limiting, or possibly reversing, the negative effects of the recession that was just starting. Substantial research concentrated on capturing the impact of the stimulus on consumption behaviour. Prior research suggests that the tax rebate had a small and/or no positive effect. This raises the question: How did individuals spent their tax rebate? Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation 2008 panel wave 1 topical module, the data suggest that more than half of the respondents, who received the rebate, used this one-time windfall to pay off debt. Our findings indicate that this effect is more pronounced among low-income individuals, who chose to service their debt burden instead of increasing immediate consumption. The findings point to a stabilizing effect of the tax rebate programme on the financial sector, suggesting that substantial distributional asymmetries exist concerning tax rebate programmes in an economy where a large share of households are indebted.     

Some calculations for Israeli options

Recently Kifer (2000) introduced the concept of an Israeli (or Game) option. That is a general American-type option with the added possibility that the writer may terminate the contract early inducing a payment exceeding the holders claim had they exercised at that moment. Kifer shows that pricing and hedging of these options reduces to evaluating a saddle point problem associated with Dynkin games. In this short text we give two examples of perpetual Israeli options where the solutions are explicit.Received: December 2002, Mathematics Subject Classification: 90A09, 60J40, 90D15JEL Classification: G13, C73I would like to express thanks to Chris Rogers for a valuable conversation.     

The “systems view” and planning theory

This paper evaluates the British “systems view” of planning in terms of its success in providing a basis for planning theory. It is argued that it falls short of fulfilling all the criteria of a satisfactory base for planning theory, i.e. it does not provide a rationale for physical planning. Instead of making full use of the potential for criticising their practise inherent to its concept, the systems view merely rationalises what physical planners do anyway. In an attempt to investigate what the rationale of physical planning might be, the author then suggests one should conceive physical development plans as resource budgets which act mainly as constraints on, rather than as guides for, action.