Explaining International Differences in Genetically Modified Food Labeling Policies*

Many countries have adopted labeling policies for genetically modified (GM) food, and the regulations vary considerably across countries. We evaluate the importance of political‐economic factors implicit in the choice of GM food labeling regulations. Using an analytical model, we show that production and trade‐related interests play a prominent role in labeling decision‐making. This conclusion is validated by an empirical analysis of GM food labeling policy choices. We find that countries producing GM crops are more likely to have less stringent labeling policies. Food and feed exporters to the European Union (EU) and Japan are more likely to have adopted stricter labeling policies. Labeling regulations in Asia and Europe are similar to those of Japan and the EU. Countries with no labeling policies are less developed, with important rural sectors and are more likely to have ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.     

Democracy and environmental quality

We develop and estimate an econometric model of the relationship between several local and global air pollutants and economic development while allowing for critical aspects of the socio-political-economic regime of a State. We obtain empirical support for our hypothesis that democracy and its associated freedoms provide the conduit through which agents can exercise their preferences for environmental quality more effectively than under an autocratic regime, thus leading to decreased concentrations or emissions of pollution. However, additional factors such as income inequality, age distribution, education, and urbanization may mitigate or exacerbate the net effect of the type of political regime on pollution, depending on the underlying societal preferences and the weights assigned to those preferences by the State.     

Measuring Vulnerability to U.S. Foreign Economic Sanctions

Economic sanctions are an important instrument of U.S. foreign policy. While politicians look favorably on unilateral economic sanctions as a policy instrument, many scholars attribute significant long-term economic costs to the United States and have doubts about their effectiveness. We outline a simple approach to assess the vulnerability of target countries to sanctions in order to develop focused sanctions and reduce unnecessary costs to U.S. business, avoid the imposition of sanctions on countries when sanctions are unlikely to have the desired effects, and determine what other countries must join the United States in imposing sanctions if they are to be effective.JEL Classification K330,F190     

Flood Insurance Coverage in the Coastal Zone

We explore determinants of flood insurance demand in the coastal zone using micro‐data for nine Southeastern counties. Overall estimates indicate price inelastic demand, though subsidized policyholders have greater coverage and are more price sensitive. Mortgage borrowers exhibit no greater coverage; only 12 percent in 100‐year flood zone indicate flood insurance was required by their lender. Flood insurance demand is increasing in the levels of flood and erosion risk. We find a positive correlation between household income and coverage, but the effect is not monotonic. Community‐level erosion hazard mitigation projects influence flood insurance coverage, with beach replenishment acting as a complement.     

Bounds for the mean residual life function of a <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-out-of-<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> system

In the reliability studies, k-out-of-n systems play an important role. In this paper, we consider sharp bounds for the mean residual life function of a k-out-of-n system consisting of n identical components with independent lifetimes having a common distribution function F, measured in location and scale units of the residual life random variable X _t  = (X−t|X > t). We characterize the probability distributions for which the bounds are attained. We also evaluate the so obtained bounds numerically for various choices of k and n.     

Mixture of MLP-experts for trend forecasting of time series: A case study of the Tehran stock exchange

A new method for forecasting the trend of time series, based on mixture of MLP experts, is presented. In this paper, three neural network combining methods and an Adaptive Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) are applied to trend forecasting in the Tehran stock exchange. There are two experiments in this study. In experiment I, the time series data are the Kharg petrochemical company’s daily closing prices on the Tehran stock exchange. In this case study, which considers different schemes for forecasting the trend of the time series, the recognition rates are 75.97%, 77.13% and 81.64% for stacked generalization, modified stacked generalization and ANFIS, respectively. Using the mixture of MLP experts (ME) scheme, the recognition rate is strongly increased to 86.35%. A gain and loss analysis is also used, showing the relative forecasting success of the ME method with and without rejection criteria, compared to a simple buy and hold approach. In experiment II, the time series data are the daily closing prices of 37 companies on the Tehran stock exchange. This experiment is conducted to verify the results of experiment I and to show the efficiency of the ME method compared to stacked generalization, modified stacked generalization and ANFIS.     

Buffett’s alpha: further explanations from a behavioral value investing perspective

Warren Buffett has had extraordinary success as an investor, but there is no agreement as to why. Some academic researchers attribute his performance to mere luck. Frazzini et al. (Financ Anal J 74(4):35–55, 2018), concluded that his alpha is due to leveraging safe, high-quality, and cheap stocks. However, there has been no analysis to date of Buffett’s performance from a behavioral perspective. We argue that Buffett’s success is partly due to qualitative and psychological factors, including tenacity, patience, avoidance of overconfidence, organizational culture, and the reputation effect. Using information from shareholder letters, writings, interviews, and speeches by Buffett and his colleague Charlie Munger, we demonstrate how such psychological factors, together with the quantitative findings of Frazzini et al., render a more complete and satisfying explanation of Buffett’s alpha.

     

AN APPLICATION OF ACTIVITY BASED COSTING IN THE AIR CONDITIONER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

AIRCO is a manufacturer of industrial air conditioner units whose management is concerned that their current traditional cost accounting (TCA) system is not accurately representing their product cost behavior. Under certain operating conditions, an activity based costing (ABC) system can provide relevant and accurate indirect cost information that assists in making customer, product, and process improvement decisions. An ABC system was successfully developed for AIRCO that indicated that their products do not consume overhead costs on a volume basis as represented by their current TCA system. Valuable product and process information were obtained. This case study details the development process that was used and the results that were obtained during the ABC analysis.