Resolving distributional conflicts between generations

Summary. We describe a new approach to the problem of resolving distributional conflicts between an infinite and countable number of generations. We impose conditions on the social preferences that capture the following idea: If preference (or indifference) holds between truncated paths for infinitely many truncating times, then preference (or indifference) holds also between the untruncated infinite paths. In this framework we use such conditions to (1) characterize different versions of leximin and utilitarianism by means of equity conditions well-known from the finite setting, and (2) illustrate the problem of combining Strong Pareto and impartiality in an intergenerational setting.Received: 8 May 2002, Revised: 12 June 2003, JEL Classification Numbers: D63, Q01.Correspondence to: Geir B. AsheimWe thank Kaushik Basu, Marc Fleurbaey, David Miller, Tapan Mitra, Lars-Gunnar Svensson, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments. Asheim gratefully acknowledges the hospitality of the Stanford University research initiative on the Environment, the Economy and Sustainable Welfare, and financial support from the Hewlett Foundation through this research initiative.     

Insurance monopoly and renegotiation

Summary The mechanism design problem of a monopoly insurer — faced with privately informed insurees — is considered. It is assumed that the insurer cannot commit not to renegotiate (by using the information that customer separation reveals) before contracts are put into force. A solution is offered by modeling renegotiation-proofness in a framework inspired by Greenberg's theory of social situations. Maximizing profit within the set of renegotiation-proof outcomes always leads to a semi-separating outcome (i.e. neither full pooling nor full separation can occur) and may leave all low-risks as well as some of the high-risks self-insured.This work originated with Asheim and Nilssen (1991). The authors thank Paul Beaudry, Mathias Dewatripont, John Hillas, Terje Lensberg, Georg Nöldeke, Trond Olsen, Michel Poitevin, Eric van Damme, and especially Joseph Greenberg, as well as participants at seminars in Bergen, Cambridge, Florence, Helsinki, London, Mons, Montreal, Oslo, Stony Brook, and Tilburg for helpful comments and discussions. Asheim thanks Tilburg (CentER), McGill and Humboldt Universities for their hospitality and acknowledges support from the Norwegian Research Centre in Organization and Management and the Norwegian Research Council. Nilssen acknowledges support from Norges Bank and the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities.     

Modelling the Stochastic Component of Behaviour in Experiments: Some Issues for the Interpretation of Data

This paper considers some of the questions raised by the fact that people's behaviour—including their behaviour in experimental environments—has a stochastic component. The nature of this component may be crucial to the interpretation of the patterns of data we observe and the choice of statistical criteria for favouring one hypothesis at the expense of others. However, it is arguable that insufficient consideration has been given to the way(s) in which the stochastic element is modelled. The paper aims to explore some of the issues involved. JEL Classification: C12, C73, C91     

The Willingness to Accept Value of Statistical Life Relative to the Willingness to Pay Value: Evidence and Policy Implications

Large disparities between willingness to accept (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP) based values of statistical life are commonly encountered in empirical studies. Standard economic theory suggests that if a public good is easily substitutable there should be no marked disparity between WTA and WTP values for the good, though the disparity increases with reduced substitutability. However, psychologists have shown that people often treat gains and losses asymmetrically and tend to require a substantially larger increase in wealth to compensate for a loss than the amount they would be willing to pay for an equivalent gain. Although most transport projects may aim to improve safety, situations arise when a relaxation of an existing regulation saves resources but increases the risk of death and injuries. A survey was recently carried out in New Zealand to determine people’s willingness to pay to reduce road risks and their willingness to accept compensation for an increase in risk. This paper reports the disparity observed between the two measures and considers some of the problems posed for policymakers.     

Expectations and regime robustness in price formation: evidence from vector autoregressive models and recursive methods

The forward-looking linear quadratic adjustment cost (LQAC) model has received attention when modelling prices. Empirical evidence supporting the model seems, however, ambiguous. We find that the LQAC-model is severely at odds with price data for Norwegian machinery exports also when the pure forward-looking rule is augmented by additional lags of the targeted variable. A conditional equilibrium correction (EqCM) model explains the export price behaviour more accurately. Our findings may rule out a large class of expectations based models and not just the particular LQAC-model in the formation of export prices. We also demonstrate that the EqCM-model performs well post-sample despite that monetary policy in Norway has changed from a fixed to a floating exchange rate regime following a recent introduction of inflation targeting. This regime robustness shows that the Lucas critique lacks force empirically in our case.     

A new look for Stackelberg-Cournot equilibria in oligopolistic markets

Summary. This note deals with Cournot type oligopolies in which the market clearing price occasionally may be non-unique. A Stackelberg leading producer is present. Given that setting we explore continuity properties of the followers' reaction and provide sufficient conditions for existence of equilibrium. Received: June 20, 2000; revised version: April 24, 2001     

Governing ‘Sustainable Urban Development’ Through Self‐Build Groups and Co‐Housing: The Cases of Hamburg and Gothenburg

This article critically examines the governing of ‘sustainable urban development’ through self‐build cohousing groups in Gothenburg and Hamburg. The two case cities have been selected because both are currently involved in major urban restructuring, and have launched programmes to support self‐build groups and cohousing as part of their emphasis on promoting urban sustainable development through this process. Departing from a theoretical discussion on advanced liberal urban governance, focusing in particular on the contemporary discourse on sustainable urban development, we examine the interaction between political institutions, civil society and private actors in the construction of cohousing as a perceived novel and alternative form of housing that may contribute to fulfilling certain sustainability goals. Questions centre on the socio‐political contextualization of cohousing; concepts of sustainability; strategies of, and relations between, different actors in promoting cohousing; gentrification and segregation; and inclusion and exclusion. In conclusion we argue that, while self‐build groups can provide pockets of cohousing as an alternative to dominant forms of housing, the economic and political logics of advanced liberal urban development make even such a modest target difficult, particularly when it comes to making such housing affordable.     

LRN 2016 SPECIAL – high capacity vehicles and modal shift from rail to road: combining macro and micro analyses

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses a road transport policy of allowing high capacity vehicles (HCVs) on the roads. The purpose is to examine the effect reduced road transport costs from HCVs can have on a modal shift. Two studies of HCV implementation in Sweden were combined. A micro-based case study modelled the distribution network of a major retailer in scenarios based on actual cost and flow data. A macro analysis was conducted of the cross-elasticity between rail and road combined with detailed price changes for lorries considering the product characteristics in different industries. The results show the long-term effects of HCVs on the modal shift for heavier, and heavier and longer vehicles. The combined approach triangulates the results and highlights the effects of logistics decision-making, transport network characteristics, and time. It emphasises linkages between modal shift and road transport efficiency, price reductions, geographical characteristics, product types, train organisation, and the capacity of HCVs.     

Extensions and intensions of management control—The inclusion of health

Interest in management control of intangibles has grown remarkably during the last decades and now includes managing employee health. Research in this field is so far in the early stages: few empirical studies have been undertaken and fewer studies take into consideration the implications of such systems. In this paper we wish to contribute to the field with a qualitative study of instances of management control of health in ten Swedish organizations.Many good intentions lie behind the idea of making health and ill-health a subject for management control and the expected results are very positive—lower sick-leave rates, reduction of costs and human suffering. Such intentions stand for an intension, i.e. the ideas, properties or state of affairs that are connoted by a word or symbol, in this case what can be connoted by the concept of management control of health, its conceptual position. An intension, however, is not given insofar as a word or concept may be associated to more than one. Thus we set out to interpret management control of health in terms of two conceptual positions, modernism and postmodernism, in order to bring forth two very different intensions of management control of health: one where the practice is seen as an investment with a purpose to visualize ill-health and increase efficiency by putting in place measures to increase employee health; the other where the practice is seen as a means to make the individual accountable in order to be able to intensify control and colonize leisure.