Demand uncertainty and foreign trade in the UK tobacco industry

The concern about the potential health harzards of various tobacco products in the UK has led many tobacco companies to exploit markets in underdeveloped countries. These markets are relatively safe since the health risks of tobacco are not yet fully known. The possibility, therefore, arises that domestic producers might exploit certain markets to provide a form of profit insurance, exporting surpluses when domestic demand is unexpectedly low. This study concentrates on the UK cigarette industry. However, similar analysis could be performed for any uncertain market where a certain alternative exists that can be exploited at relatively low cost.     

Is a Policy of Free Movement of Workers Sustainable?

In this paper, we study the costs and benefits of the adoption of a policy of free movement of workers. For countries to agree on uncontrolled movements of workers, short‐run costs must be outweighed by the long‐term benefits of better labor‐market flexibility and income smoothing. We show that such a policy is less likely to be adopted when workers are more impatient and less risk‐averse, when production technologies display stronger decreasing returns, and when countries trade a significant share of their products.     

Competition and Fan Substitution Between Professional Sports Leagues

Review of Industrial Organization - A peculiarity in professional sports is the fact that leagues regularly hold monopoly power within their sports. However, whether and to what extent these...     

Daniel Yergin: The new map: energy,climate, and the clash of nations

Business Economics -     

Constrained dynamic futures portfolios with stochastic basis

Annals of Finance - We study the problem of dynamically trading multiple futures contracts on different underlying assets subject to portfolio constraints. The spreads between futures and spot...     

Inflationsziel und Inflationsmessung in der Eurozone im Wandel

Wirtschaftsdienst - Viele Menschen im Euroraum haben zunehmend das Gefühl, dass der allgemeine Kaufkraftverlust des Geldes sehr viel höher ist als die offiziell gemessenen...