Additive and Multiplicative Uncertainty Revisited: What Explains the Contrasting Biases?

above the certainty level while for additive uncertainty the price should be lower than the certainty level. This note gives an intuitive explanation for the result after first presenting a parsimonious review of the two models. We also discuss which, if either, of the two models is more realistic. Received December 14, 2001; revised version received July 16, 2002 Published online: April 30, 2003 We thank referees for helpful comments. Ciaran Driver would like to acknowledge the research facilities from ANU, Canberra for their help in writing this paper.     

iTV: A major opportunity for financial services,or not?

Interactive television has arrived, thanks to substantial technology investments that have been made by Sky and others. It is growing in importance as innovative interactive applications are developed for broadcast programmes (eg the BBCi service and Big Brother), and for advertising — and will develop further when broadband deployment gets to critical mass. Readers should not expect a television-variant of the world wide web, however. This was tried during 2000–2002 in the form of web look-alike, interactive ‘walled garden’ sites, and failed to attract critical mass footfall. The model has evolved and now revolves around interactive content synchronised with broadcast, which offers financial services companies an interesting new way to increase awareness and to differentiate the service presentation. Furthermore, over the next ten years, broadband is expected to usher in a new era of personalised television — in which specialised broadcasts (such as personal pensions advice programmes) can be made available on demand. The observations in this paper are mainly drawn from the UK, where digital television penetration is high; the lessons can be applied more broadly, however, and are relevant to any organisation thinking of promoting its service through entertainment channels.     

中小企业板的推出对我国创业投资的影响

2004年5月，中小企业板在深交所获准设立，一时间，围绕中小企业板对创业投资运作影响的讨论空前热烈。笔者认为，要研究中小企业板对创业投资的影响，就必须从创业板和创业投资的内在机理出发，来研究中小企业板的制度安排是否能保证二者形成良性互动，关键的就是要研究中小企业板在制度上离一个成熟的创业板有多远。目前，学者和业内人士普遍对中小企业板的作用不甚乐观，而近一年来的实践也似乎验证了这一观点，因此，加强中小企业板的制度建设，使之尽快过渡为创业板，已经成了管理者的当务之急。     

无锡考古五十年

无锡的考古工作，新中国成立后才开始起步，从1953年无锡发现仙蠡墩遗址和宜兴周氏家族墓地发掘至今，已经整整半个世纪。五十年来，在省、市文物部门的领导下，经过几代文物考古工作者的不懈努力，无锡的文物考古工作取得了丰硕成果，发现了众多的古文化遗址的墓葬，极大地丰富和加深了对无锡历史文化的认识。